Spreading Atheism

[TheDrunkNinja]

This is the problem I have with most atheists. Not all, mind you. I mean, for the love of god, 80% of my friends are atheists or agnostic. Atheists, especially ones on the internet, seem to only boast a creed that is offensive for the sake of being offensive. I mean, is there really nothing else about atheists except that they don't believe in God? Hell no. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that they embrace the ideology of the progression of an intelligent species to be alone in the struggle of survival and, therefore, skeptical of and not reliant upon any outside source of power.

The point is, they could have put up anything and still wouldn't have been pointing their accusing fingers at one specific religion and it's denominations. If they said, "There is probably no Allah" we would still have the same problem. Same with any other religion they could pick on, though it seems Christianity is the hometown favorite of the atheist scoff.

Imagine if any other religious group did that. Imagine if your university's Christian club wrote, "Everybody else is going to hell," it'd be the same bloody thing. It's not favoritism, you idiot. It's a university's duty to restrict any potentially offensive messages that would paint the campus in a bad light. I don't know why it would be hard for anybody to get this. Act like a prick, and people will have a problem with that. It's simple human nature, so stop feeling sorry for yourselves and actually try to be productive without pissing everybody off.

 

[4fromK]

surely theres a legal case for discrimination here...

 

[Vuljatar]

By saying there is no God they are not trying to be dicks. Atheists are just spreading their beliefs about life. Many people see religious people trying to convert others to their religions as being very rude. But in reality they are just trying to spread their religion and beliefs. It is all equal.

Oh, I understand they're not trying to be dicks, it's just the way they go about their 'battles' against 'inequality' in the US. We're not even talking about how Atheists are treated Globally. What if OP had been attending a school abroad and it didn't have Christians on campus, but maybe Hindi or Muslim religious people? Would we be having this discussion at all?

Hell, in a lot of other countries there would not even be an Atheist club.

Yes, but let's also not forget that those other Countries don't HAVE a Constitution that states that, and I'm going to quote it because people take the term "Freedom of Speech" far out of context sometimes, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Ah, doesn't it feel nice to be able to say "I hate Allah" and Not have someone black bag you, never to be seen again.

This.

The United States is one of few places where you can get away with being openly atheist and not be murdered by a bunch of lunatics.

Hell, Christianity isn't that bad when you compare it to Islam.

 

[Rathy]

Eh, its kind of an instigating post. Saying "there probably is no God" is kind of on par with a christian group saying "your probably going to hell" it serves no purpose other than to antagonize.

No, it is on par with a Christian group saying "Jesus died for you".

Eh, still the intent is to somewhat antagonize. Its not an ad for a group it's a statement against another. Granted not everyone will see it like that but schools usually go on the side of caution.

Some atheist groups would probably stop advertising if Christians stopped handing out pamphlets, Bibles, and advertising religious-based services.

Just curious why do atheist groups need to advertise? I've never seen a group so adamant about the idea of non-belief as atheist.

Anyways back OT the school would probably limit speech of similar nature by a Christian group, so as long as the standard holds then no biggie. 1A doesn't apply to schools anyways.

As I see it, many atheists advertise to try to show it in general. Many people are brought up in families where you are shown there is a god, if you deny it then its wrong, and sometimes they need to be shown a different side. Exactly how it works for why other religions try to convert.

And I do see a problem or two with calling people out on the cannon. I guess I'd be interested to know if theres been any other religious writings on it to create the double standard, or if the school did just get angry because it felt it was targetting people.

And for more on topic, its Canada, so we don't quite have the Constitution to go by.

 

[Beartrucci]

I believe they were forced to paint over it because to me, it looks like they are trolling by painting that on the cannon.

 

[Weaver]

This is the problem I have with most atheists. Not all, mind you. I mean, for the love of god, 80% of my friends are atheists or agnostic. Atheists, especially ones on the internet, seem to only boast a creed that is offensive for the sake of being offensive. I mean, is there really nothing else about atheists except that they don't believe in God? Hell no. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that they embrace the ideology of the progression of an intelligent species to be alone in the struggle of survival and, therefore, skeptical of and not reliant upon any outside source of power.

The point is, they could have put up anything and still wouldn't have been pointing their accusing fingers at one specific religion and it's denominations. If they said, "There is probably no Allah" we would still have the same problem. Same with any other religion they could pick on, though it seems Christianity is the hometown favorite of the atheist scoff.

Imagine if any other religious group did that. Imagine if your university's Christian club wrote, "Everybody else is going to hell," it'd be the same bloody thing. It's not favoritism, you idiot. It's a university's duty to restrict any potentially offensive messages that would paint the campus in a bad light. I don't know why it would be hard for anybody to get this. Act like a prick, and people will have a problem with that. It's simple human nature, so stop feeling sorry for yourselves and actually try to be productive without pissing everybody off.

I'm pretty sure they meant God as a blanket statement regarding all religions. It is, after all, the word used in English to refer to God.

 

[shockd]

I have a quick question for the OP:

I know that you said that Christians can advertise on campus with brochures and the like, but have they ever decorated the cannon? I am almost 100% sure that I know which university you're referring to, and the way I understand this tradition is that painting the cannon is a late-night, 'secret' thing (a covert operation, if you will ), but that it's not really an official university sanctioned thing. Like, they allow it because it's 'for the students'.

I'm just wondering if the administration painted it over to prevent such a tradition from potentially becoming vandalism, considering the obvious sensitive material (like a back-and-forthing of progressively worse messages [flamewar-style]). It'd be sad if the tradition had to be stopped because the cannon was irreparably damaged. I understand that it has quite the history.

 

[Alex_P]

It's mostly a comment that Atheism is something that an individual must make an informed and calculated decision to become atheist, and at that point, there's no reason for him to need to preach his values to others. "No business" was kinda harsh, I guess, but what I meant was that if atheists want to "recruit" others into their way of thinking, then that just makes them closer to the religions that they have so much contempt for.

(Reminder -- me: atheist, existentialist, blah blah, okay, let's get started...)

Damn straight I want to recruit people to my way of thinking. Why shouldn't I, if I trust myself?

Now, that doesn't actually mean atheism, because believing or not believing in God is rather trivial compared to developing the theory of knowledge and philosophy of mind needed to deeply scrutinize your own thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs. Regardless of culture or religious affiliation, the ability to really understand how you think and why you think what you think is essential to being a good human being. And I see an appalling deficit of that all around me -- nobody does it perfectly, of course, but loads of people seem to be nearly incapable of doing it all (more for want of experience and education than want of natural ability).(*)

To reiterate: if you think you've actually found a "way of thinking" that works for you, why shouldn't you be telling other people all about it?

-- Alex
__________
* - I think some of those pop-atheist writers condemning "religious thinking" are really going on and on about what I said above; they're just butchering the terminology or committing massive category error as they do so, so their words come out fitting poorly (and I don't expect them to change any time soon because pop-atheism books are almost as bad as all the paper wasted writing about the new "conservatism"). Let's not act like we can all be one big happy family, though -- some sects definitely do encourage a philosophy of mind that actively suppresses it adherents' ability to understand how their thoughts are being influenced by authority and culture, though, and those groups absolutely need to be challenged and opposed.

 

[coldshadow]

hardly call it a religion considering most religions have guidelines, where atheism is just not beleaving ina god. And as for this form of "spreading", I feel its wrong cause its like assualting the religions.

but at least there not street preaching *shudders*

 

[Alex_P]

At least with a general philosophy club you'd have a reason to talk about the benefits/drawbacks of your philosophy with followers of other philosophies.

Well, there's definitely virtue in not having to rehash the same fundamental area of disagreement over and over again.

Also, in my experience -- and we're talking exceedingly self-obsessed intellectual liberal-arts college here, -- every student group is, like, 90% social gathering anyway. So, it's really not that bad to have a club that doesn't have that much to talk about: you'll seldom be talking about it, anyway.

-- Alex

 

[Socius]

hahaha Atheism maybe the weak spot of christianity, Jewishm and islam but you cannot fight the buddhist! we don't have a god

 

[scotth266]

At least with a general philosophy club you'd have a reason to talk about the benefits/drawbacks of your philosophy with followers of other philosophies.

Well, there's definitely virtue in not having to rehash the same fundamental area of disagreement over and over again.

-- Alex

You mean, as opposed to the same fundamental areas of agreement/disagreement that you'd be going over if you were just discussing one philosophy all the time?

I don't know: I just don't see the point in discussing what I believe in with other people who believe the same/almost the same thing as I do. I'd much rather discuss with others of different beliefs.

It's just my mindset, I suppose.

 

[Brett Alex]

Personally, I don't see the point of an Atheist society. What's to discuss? How you don't believe in a god/gods? Not exactly much to talk about there that can't be discussed in some sort of philosophy club, in my opinion.

I'd be sad if I couldn't hold a single discussion that didn't boil down to god is/isn't real.

That said, I'm not a believer in the Greek mythological pantheon yet I've still been able to hold lengthy conversations about the intricacies of Zeus' ascension to power with others who also don't believe it.

 

[SonicKoala]

Why would you spread a lack of belief in something? That doesn't make any sense. Atheism is not something that is practiced, nor is it a belief system that requires you do anything whatsoever - it is simply a definition. Therefore, no, there shouldn't be any groups that "spread Atheism", because that's just stupid. You know how you often see environmental activist groups around College or University campuses? Well, would it make any sense if you saw a similar group who was spreading a message of complete and utter apathy towards the environment? No, because that would be fucking retarded.

That being said, I do agree that there is a double-standard in allowing religious groups to spread their message, but as long as they aren't hurting anyone, I don't see the problem in letting them hand out their bibles or put up their posters. You don't have to believe in God, just as you don't have to care about the environment if some hippy activist gives you a pamphlet about the poor polar bears. Just throw it away, or ignore it. It's simple.

 

[Kron_the_mad wants to be deleted]

theres always the pastafarian option. if christianity gets preference then demand equal coverage of the flying spaghetti monster

 

[Mad World]

I'm not sure if atheism is really a religion or not (probably not).

Anyway, I'm a Christian, so I don't think atheists should be allowed to spread their message. And, they shouldn't be able to spread their message in any manner they please. If they're going to do it, they should do so in a respectful fashion. The same goes for Christians and their ways of spreading the Word of God; they, too, should not be disrespectful when providing their views.

 

[Gmano]

Well I have been surfing around these hallowed forums for many months and I really like the community and the objective points of view of many members here so I have a question for you. On campus we have an old war cannon which is cemented to the ground in the center of campus and it is tradition for the various clubs and organizations on campus to paint it to advertise what their group is all about, and one day the Atheist society on campus decided they wanted to paint it. So one morning we woke up to see the following message on the cannon, "There is probably no God".

This seems fine to me but apparently the school did not think so and while there are no official rules regarding what can be painted on the cannon they were made to paint over it which is almost never done. What I do not understand is that we have an organization on campus called "Campus for Christ" and they are allowed to advertise with posters, give out free bibles and brochures and even conduct Christianity-based surveys during lectures but the Atheist society is not allowed to broadcast their message for one day?

I think that this is a double-standard on the part of the university and that the Atheists should be allowed to spread the word about their "religion" or lack thereof, depending on your point of view. So I ask you two things, is Atheism a religion, and should they be allowed to spread their message in any manner they please?

(Edited in paragraph form)

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