i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
I agree with religion and evolution you two. If you are choosing to stay stuck in a religious idea you haven't evolved. Man had many imaginative ideas during his evolution, they thought that disaster were brought on when ever a comet passed.
You should both do some reading on the role that Oxytocin plays on both our social evolution and morality. Instead of crediting a bronze age desert god maybe you guys could give credit where credit is due.
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
In 2013 a report was released by the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons.The report looks at all the federally run prisons in the U.S. — that makes up about 218,000 prisoners — and the inmates’ religious affiliations. When they say that less than one percent identify as atheist, they actually mean 0.07 percent. That’s right, 0.07 percent. That is way less than one percent.
In reality, that number could be even lower. Seeing as how 17 percent don’t identify with any religious preference, this could mean more don’t believe in God(s) but choose not to identify as atheist. At the very least, they do not identify with any of the world’s major religions.
So how can this be? When the religious right is constantly claiming a moral authority in this country, how can it be that they make up more than half (the report shows 28.7 percent identify as Protestant and 24 percent Catholic) of the prison population?
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
Ruby456 I don't even know where to begin with what you said... we are here in the western world because of religion??? Ask the native Americans how they feel about that. They were organized and while they have religion of their own they don't have your imperialistic arrogant Abrahamic mind virus.
Belief comes from background. And if you were born with no god, you would be an atheist, if you are interested in survival of self, and survival of self is improved by work in a group, as an individual you will protect the group ie morals.
I think all the religious folks posting on this have got something twisted. Atheism is not another hair brained religion. It's absence of your desert god, or any other myth, it's the lack of belief in him or her and not a claim. Atheism is not a church and does not dictate morals to people who might subscribe to the thinking. Many of us, myself included, find that in this absence of GOD we have a freedom to practice good motivated from a truer source. Not for reward or punishment. Not because the church of atheism tells us to. I consider myself without title but close to humanist. I think you desert Sheppard god worshippers are mixing the two. Atheism and humanism. Humanism is more of a philosphy on morality atheism is nothing of the sort, it's about believing in your magic sky daddy or not. I know it makes you guys uncomfortable to think that anyone could have a moral action without being commanded it by yhwh but it's happening every single day. Yhwh is not the ultimate source or morals. Atheism is no source of morals at all! Get it right, this is why when religion ruled is was known as the dark ages
one or two of you have noticed that i use derogatory terms when talking about matters religion.
i offer no apology.
you do, however, deserve an explanation.. my father, bless him and now dead, was a survivor of belsen, the german concentration camp.
Thank you for sharing my godless brother 
I support fully your unapologetic ridiculous of religion. We should not be forced to accept bad ideas, and religion is just one after another.
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
Lisarose you took the words right out of my mouth. Same experience for me.
Island man. Well said as well.
in our super cappy fallacious public talk today.
i kept hearing "we do jehovahs will" "do jehovahs will" "not our will...jehovahs" there was a lot of crap in the talk to be irritated by.
but this got me thinking.... if you are required under penalty of death!
The Christian God is defined as a personal being who knows everything. According to Christians, personal beings have free will.
In order to have free will, you must have more than one option, each of which is avoidable. This means that before you make a choice, there must be a state of uncertainty during a period of potential: you cannot know the future. Even if you think you can predict your decision, if you claim to have free will, you must admit the potential (if not the desire) to change your mind before the decision is final.
A being who knows everything can have no "state of uncertainty." It knows its choices in advance. This means that it has no potential to avoid its choices, and therefore lacks free will. Since a being that lacks free will is not a personal being, a personal being who knows everything cannot exist.
Therefore, the Christian God does not exist.
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
Alternatively it could just be that animals that live in herds are more successful if they cooperate rather than antagonise the group and will often reap rewards for positive behaviour.
Cantleave this is very true. Evolution shows success can be improved through cooperation, then bam, now you have society, what keeps society strong, certain standards.
Anyone who says morals come from knowing the Supreme Being (yhwh) who sheep herders made up not so long ago, how do you explain social "moral" standards present in ancient isolated tribes complete untouched by our silly middle easter religions (and the've been around since before your supposed YHWH made man). Because they are the same evolutionary success story.
So certain basics are inherent to a strong social group trying to survive, ie don't murder your fellow tribe member, don't steal from him, and so on. Basics!
i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.
if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.
FusionTheism, the people you listed shouldn't be measured by their beliefs but behavior, just like anyone else. Morality always boils down to behavior not what you believe. And I personally take the Humanist approach to morality as abrahamic religions have a lot of nonsensical baggage that is false morality in my opinion.
And TTWSYF what you are saying is not true whatsoever I am afraid, I think the standards of morality that we now have are because of people of faith in a supreme God. The fact is that once someone said there is one and only god and he is MY god, that's when the moral shit hit the fan for the human race, case and point, the middle east!
look what the Pagan Egyptians had long before any of the Desert God worshipping sheep herders wrote down a single word:
I hate to break it to you but a good part of the original ten moral laws given by the desert god to the nomads, were in fact a few principles plagiarized from good ol pagan Egypt. Who seemed to have a better version quite honestly.
if you were at the watchtower how many times did you hear this idiotic condescending word?
i think i must have heard it 500 times.
the learner.
