Am I the only atheist that utterly hates religion and its sympathizers? I really am fed up with the whole thing. Watching the current AAI convention, one of the speakers says "don't be a dick". Well, fuck her. I am a dick and I am out to rid this country of this bullshit. Is conversational tolerance enough? Will that end the silly "god bless you" and other bullshit expression those insipients spew out of their oft times willfully ignorant mouths. They say that Dawkins is "shrill and strident". They are so stupid they have to say the same thing as their peers. I hope people have a problem with this post. I am militant and I think atheists who sympathize with religion and do not go out of their way to challenge them are no better than they are.

Hugh Gass said, "Am I the only atheist that utterly hates religion and its sympathizers?"

No, I sincerely doubt that you are.

Hugh Gass said, "I really am fed up with the whole thing. Watching the current AAI convention, one of the speakers says "don't be a dick". Well, fuck her. I am a dick and I am out to rid this country of this bullshit.

If you are "out to rid this country of bullshit" or (give America an enema) stick the hose in Washington. At least it wouldn't be the biggest waste of time and money that anyone could possibly waste time and money on. I don't recall seeing the "dick" remark you mentioned. Is it a coincidence that an atheist is named Richard "dick"? Gee when there are so many things that could have been discussed.

Hugh Gass said, "Is conversational tolerance enough? Will that end the silly "god bless you" and other bullshit expression those insipients spew out of their oft times willfully ignorant mouths. They say that Dawkins is "shrill and strident". They are so stupid they have to say the same thing as their peers. I hope people have a problem with this post. I am militant and I think atheists who sympathize with religion and do not go out of their way to challenge them are no better than they are."

I have never known an (atheist religion sympathizer) I'm not speaking of (people who claim they are atheists) that I don't know.

I agree it is amazing that they call Dawkins "shrill and strident". Is that a euphemism for "get the better of them". There are some nonbelievers that are all over the place with "shrill and strident" that are rarely mentioned. Some people want to apply critical thinking to religious beliefs. To some people this seems "shrill and strident" but to everyone else it makes sense. Dawkins (and others) debate theists on religion and point out the errors in their beliefs - that is what many atheists are doing.Except for those in America who are still in hiding, and actually "shrill and strident" wouldn't come close to describing the offensive behavior towards American atheists who are not still hiding under their beds.

Yeah man I'm with you on this. You aren't the only anti-theist out there, I think any atheist would be lying if they said they didn't have a problem with at least some aspects of religion, if not all. That's why I don't have a problem with telling people I'm an atheist, If they ask me, I tell them. And if I see something about religion I don't like, I express my problems with no hesitancy.

I fail to see how this demonstrates the 'positive atheism' that this forum claims to promote. Hatred is rooted in misunderstanding and at best results in a stalemate. How can we ever hope to have any impact if we build the same petty walls as the more virulent theists?

Count me out.

I think the original post was about remarks made at an international atheist convention to inform atheist how to behave (the etiquette) when theists convey some little religious message to them by remarks or deeds. I think it's a bit contradictory to be giving advice about how atheists shouldn't be rude when they respond to being blessed by some idiot's god - at a convention that supports atheism.

These faith bots also believe it's rude for atheist groups to dare to put up a few billboards telling people they exist, yet there should be nothing standing in the way of advertising their savior and informing people they will burn in hell if they don't accept their bullshit.

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist at Oxford. His 2006 book 'The God Delusion' was on the New York Times bestseller list for almost a full year. He is never "shrill and strident," he doesn't need to be. It's fundies and creationist idiots that are "shrill and strident" because that is all they have going for them. They abhor anyone who writes a book debunking their bad science. They also don't appreciate those who point out that Christianity is a mixture of Pagan and Jewish mythology morphed into the Bible - the Christian religion was synchronized to bring discordant groups together. Nobody expects believers to be convinced by any amount of evidence.

Although, the theists usually know less about their own religion than most atheists do, I don't know of any atheists that go out of their way to lecture theists about religion, and the few who do don't expect to convince them of anything. Atheists usually let theists know that they are not going to be converted. This is what some of these people are calling shrill and strident. It's not, and it isn't rude. Someone waving religious beliefs under one's nose in a public place is rude. There is a place for all of that - it's called your own church where you can express your own personal beliefs with those who appreciate your efforts.

Telling someone (who is obviously proselytizing) "I'm not interested because I don't believe the way you do" is not rude. What is rude is someone interrupting whatever I'm doing by coming to my door or calling me on the phone to bore my ass off with insane delusive fantasies. When someone barges into my life with the threat of torture in order to "save me" I'm going to be the biggest Dick I can be.

I'm sure it's not rude for theists to ask if I have ever read the Bible? However, it would be terribly rude if I asked them if they have read Particle Physicist William J Stenger's book "God: The Failed Hypothesis?" He says, "If we have no evidence or other reason for believing in God, then we can be pretty sure that God does not exist."

Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth.

I'm not at all suggesting that anger isn't appropriate, or that cathartic venting should be avoided in this forum. Rather, my concern is that the step beyond that into outright 'hatred' accomplishes nothing except to further entrench dogmatics on both sides.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the OP, and I certainly empathize with his/her frustration. But I can assure you that once the boundary between anger into hatred/contempt has been crossed, dialogue is finished. You've seen it on the show all the time when Theists run out of ideas, what do they resort to? Exactly.

Do we really want to be like that too? Most Theists already see us as the 'enemy', but stooping to their level just confirms it in their eyes.

This message board (like every message board) is here for everyone who wants to post topics of interest - discuss issues - or express opinions. They can give any kind of response to the messages. That's what it's all about nobody owns their thoughts but them. Nobody on atheist message boards tries to controls what people think. That usually happens on other types of message boards.

The moderators of atheist message boards may step in if someone is using too foul a language or being very abusive - but not always. Other than that there is usually no thought police.

Everyone has the chance to express their own personal opinion or to disagree with comments but that has nothing to do with the entire community. There is no reason to bring the entire community into my disagreement with people who express an opinion that I don't like. The entire community is perfectly capable of expressing their own opinions if they are interested in doing that.

It's crystal-clear that many times the entire community would not agree with many of the offensive posts from believers that everyone does not respond to. It would be ridiculous to try and bring the entire community into every disagreement that someone has on a message board.