Announcement

Collapse

Forum Rules (Everyone Must Read!!!)

1] What you CAN NOT post.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is:
- abusive
- vulgar
- hateful
- harassing
- personal attacks
- obscene

You also may not:
- post images that are too large (max is 500*500px)
- post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or cited properly.
- post in UPPER CASE, which is considered yelling
- post messages which insult the Armenians, Armenian culture, traditions, etc
- post racist or other intentionally insensitive material that insults or attacks another culture (including Turks)

The Ankap thread is excluded from the strict rules because that place is more relaxed and you can vent and engage in light insults and humor. Notice it's not a blank ticket, but just a place to vent. If you go into the Ankap thread, you enter at your own risk of being clowned on.
What you PROBABLY SHOULD NOT post...
Do not post information that you will regret putting out in public. This site comes up on Google, is cached, and all of that, so be aware of that as you post. Do not ask the staff to go through and delete things that you regret making available on the web for all to see because we will not do it. Think before you post!


2] Use descriptive subject lines & research your post. This means use the SEARCH.

This reduces the chances of double-posting and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Using the search function will identify existing threads on the topic so we do not have multiple threads on the same topic.

3] Keep the focus.

Each forum has a focus on a certain topic. Questions outside the scope of a certain forum will either be moved to the appropriate forum, closed, or simply be deleted. Please post your topic in the most appropriate forum. Users that keep doing this will be warned, then banned.

4] Behave as you would in a public location.

This forum is no different than a public place. Behave yourself and act like a decent human being (i.e. be respectful). If you're unable to do so, you're not welcome here and will be made to leave.

5] Respect the authority of moderators/admins.

Public discussions of moderator/admin actions are not allowed on the forum. It is also prohibited to protest moderator actions in titles, avatars, and signatures. If you don't like something that a moderator did, PM or email the moderator and try your best to resolve the problem or difference in private.

6] Promotion of sites or products is not permitted.

Advertisements are not allowed in this venue. No blatant advertising or solicitations of or for business is prohibited.
This includes, but not limited to, personal resumes and links to products or
services with which the poster is affiliated, whether or not a fee is charged
for the product or service. Spamming, in which a user posts the same message repeatedly, is also prohibited.

7] We retain the right to remove any posts and/or Members for any reason, without prior notice.


- PLEASE READ -

Members are welcome to read posts and though we encourage your active participation in the forum, it is not required. If you do participate by posting, however, we expect that on the whole you contribute something to the forum. This means that the bulk of your posts should not be in "fun" threads (e.g. Ankap, Keep & Kill, This or That, etc.). Further, while occasionally it is appropriate to simply voice your agreement or approval, not all of your posts should be of this variety: "LOL Member213!" "I agree."
If it is evident that a member is simply posting for the sake of posting, they will be removed.


8] These Rules & Guidelines may be amended at any time. (last update September 17, 2009)

If you believe an individual is repeatedly breaking the rules, please report to admin/moderator.
See more
See less

Religion and Atheism

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Religion and Atheism

    It doesn't matter if you vote democrat or republican, the results are decided by higher powers that are out of your control. This is called corruption.

    It doesn't matter if you are a spiritual being who makes decisions based on empathy or an atheist robot that makes decisions based on statistics and data. You're prone to manipulation either way.

    It doesn't matter either way and people are wasting their time over the debate.

    What does matter is being sucessful in life and the goal of either camp is to make sure that doesn't happen.

    The U.S.S.R was founded on state sponsered Atheism and built a Communist Empire. Religion was forbidden. America fought for the freedom of religion and built a Capitalist Empire under the belief of a deity. Both systems have been successful in controlling human life.

    Truth is knowledge. Knowledge is freedom.

    Why all the fuss?
    "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

  • #2
    Re: Religion and Atheism

    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post

    It doesn't matter if you are a spiritual being who makes decisions based on empathy or an atheist robot that makes decisions based on statistics and data. You're prone to manipulation either way.
    Quite the assumption. Being an atheist doesn't make one a robot nor does it preclude empathy.

    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
    It doesn't matter either way and people are wasting their time over the debate.
    What debate is that?


    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
    What does matter is being sucessful in life and the goal of either camp is to make sure that doesn't happen.
    The goal of which camps? Are you talking about theists and atheists or political parties?
    How do you arrive at the conclusion that the goal is to prevent the highly subjective outcome of "success"?

    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
    The U.S.S.R was founded on state sponsered Atheism and built a Communist Empire. Religion was forbidden. America fought for the freedom of religion and built a Capitalist Empire under the belief of a deity. Both systems have been successful in controlling human life.
    Hmm... Perhaps someone that knows more about this can jump in, but I believe that religion was still permitted under Communism. What was not permitted was state sponsored religion, i.e. teaching religion in public schools.

    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
    Truth is knowledge. Knowledge is freedom.
    Atheists are after truth and knowledge. This is why we require evidence for belief.
    [COLOR=#4b0082][B][SIZE=4][FONT=trebuchet ms]“If you think you can, or you can’t, you’re right.”
    -Henry Ford[/FONT][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR]

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Religion and Atheism

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      Quite the assumption. Being an atheist doesn't make one a robot nor does it preclude empathy.
      If someone requires evidence supported by data and numbers to base decisions, empathy is pushed aside. It is a way of thinking... a robotic way of logic. It's an ideology.

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      What debate is that?
      The thousands of videos on the internet forcing people's ideology on each other. What are they trying to prove and why?

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      The goal of which camps? Are you talking about theists and atheists or political parties?
      Same difference.

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      How do you arrive at the conclusion that the goal is to prevent the highly subjective outcome of "success"?
      The widespread poverty caused by both Communism and Capitalism using either Atheism or Religion to control the mass populations for the benefit of states and/or governments. Communism helps the poor. Capitalism helps the rich. The ideology enforced on the people makes no difference as long as they all are all forced to believe the same thing.

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      Hmm... Perhaps someone that knows more about this can jump in, but I believe that religion was still permitted under Communism. What was not permitted was state sponsored religion, i.e. teaching religion in public schools.
      Churches were destroyed, priests were killed prior to Russia's conversion from Orthodox Christianity to Communist/Atheist U.S.S.R. Widespread corruption was the result.

      Originally posted by Siggie View Post
      Atheists are after truth and knowledge. This is why we require evidence for belief.
      Evidence can be created to manipulate belief... it's rather simple for those who have the power to do so. Unless the evidence is first hand or can be proven repeatedly, the belief is blind. It's like somebody trusting a car mechanic about diagnosis when they know nothing about cars or everything they know, they learned from their mechanic.
      "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Religion and Atheism

        I didn't know the definition of empathy so I looked it up:

        1 : the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
        2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

        I have to say I am even more confused now than when I started this thread. What does empathy have to do with the rejection of the notion of "God"?

        The way I see it, the difference between the religious and the atheists is that one group says God is responsible for things we can't explain while the other side says no way.

        They are both exhibiting robotic behavior and obviously neither can prove their case or we wouldn't be having all these endless debates.
        this post = teh win.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Religion and Atheism

          Also I see the terms "spiritual" and "atheist" often used as if they are mutually exclusive. I don't think that's correct. One can certainly reject God while still being highly spiritual ... I don't know much about Buddhists but it strikes me that they are more of this mixed category.
          this post = teh win.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Religion and Atheism

            Originally posted by Sip View Post
            Also I see the terms "spiritual" and "atheist" often used as if they are mutually exclusive. I don't think that's correct. One can certainly reject God while still being highly spiritual ... I don't know much about Buddhists but it strikes me that they are more of this mixed category.
            I agree... spirtuality comes from the understanding of mankind and nature. While there are many that believe in an almighty and intelligent creator, they don't believe in a personal God which would make them atheist in terms of the American concept of God (all controlling).
            "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Religion and Atheism

              People who believe in some type of supernatural being or power(s) but don't know who it is, are generally called Agnostic.

              People who don't believe in any type of super natural being or powers(s) are generally called Atheists.

              People who believe in many gods are Polytheists.

              People who believe in one God are Monotheists.

              There are other descriptions of what people believe as well. But the difference is in America all the above have a right to some type of self determination. So all the groups of people listed above have a right to their belief in America. So when it comes down to politics everyone has an equal vote, the Agnostic, Atheist, Polytheist and Monotheist. What the focus needs to be on is the people running governments.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Religion and Atheism

                Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
                If someone requires evidence supported by data and numbers to base decisions, empathy is pushed aside. It is a way of thinking... a robotic way of logic. It's an ideology.
                Science is a means of acquiring knowledge. Sure, we should try to make rational decisions, but that doesn't push aside empathy. I don't see the incompatibility.
                Robots do what they are programmed to, there's not thought, so this isn't a good analogy. Finally it's a METHOD of acquiring knowledge not a belief system, so no, it's not an ideology.



                Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
                Evidence can be created to manipulate belief... it's rather simple for those who have the power to do so. Unless the evidence is first hand or can be proven repeatedly, the belief is blind. It's like somebody trusting a car mechanic about diagnosis when they know nothing about cars or everything they know, they learned from their mechanic.
                That's not how it works. They don't just publish or report their conclusion, but exactly what pre-existing information supports their prediction, precisely how they tested their prediction, describe the data, the results of that test, and what those results can mean. Then people go over that to make sure there aren't problems with that specific study's methodology, statistics, reasoning, etc. Even if there's not, others attempt to replicate the findings. We don't just take one dude's word for something. Replication is very central to science.
                [COLOR=#4b0082][B][SIZE=4][FONT=trebuchet ms]“If you think you can, or you can’t, you’re right.”
                -Henry Ford[/FONT][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR]

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Religion and Atheism

                  Originally posted by Yeznik View Post
                  People who believe in some type of supernatural being or power(s) but don't know who it is, are generally called Agnostic.

                  People who don't believe in any type of super natural being or powers(s) are generally called Atheists.

                  People who believe in many gods are Polytheists.

                  People who believe in one God are Monotheists.

                  There are other descriptions of what people believe as well. But the difference is in America all the above have a right to some type of self determination. So all the groups of people listed above have a right to their belief in America. So when it comes down to politics everyone has an equal vote, the Agnostic, Atheist, Polytheist and Monotheist. What the focus needs to be on is the people running governments.
                  So Monotheists have met God whereas Agnostics haven't?

                  As far as America goes... the government clearly states one nation under God. Not one nation under gods or one government that doesn't care what you do or think. Further more, if it was up to the government... it would rephrase it to one world under God.

                  Originally posted by Siggie View Post
                  Science is a means of acquiring knowledge. Sure, we should try to make rational decisions, but that doesn't push aside empathy. I don't see the incompatibility.
                  Robots do what they are programmed to, there's not thought, so this isn't a good analogy. Finally it's a METHOD of acquiring knowledge not a belief system, so no, it's not an ideology.
                  It's a way of making decisions... much like a business decision which is made on what is more profitable, empathy doesn't play a role in a data/evidence based decision. The data/evidence presented (whether true or false) overrules any gut feeling or personal sentiment. Robots make decisions based on logic... their actions/thought processes depends on the data/input. It is an ideology (way of looking at things).




                  Originally posted by Siggie View Post
                  That's not how it works. They don't just publish or report their conclusion, but exactly what pre-existing information supports their prediction, precisely how they tested their prediction, describe the data, the results of that test, and what those results can mean. Then people go over that to make sure there aren't problems with that specific study's methodology, statistics, reasoning, etc. Even if there's not, others attempt to replicate the findings. We don't just take one dude's word for something. Replication is very central to science.
                  You're confusing how it's supposed to work with the corruption that is involved at top levels.
                  "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Religion and Atheism

                    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
                    If someone requires evidence supported by data and numbers to base decisions, empathy is pushed aside. It is a way of thinking... a robotic way of logic. It's an ideology.
                    So true. I believe the moment you 'open your mouth', it is inspired with an ideology.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X