July 2012
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Atheists Have Lowest 'Retention Rate' Compared to... →
Those who grow up in an atheist household are least likely to maintain their beliefs about religion as adults, according to a study by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). Only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults. This “retention rate” was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in...
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nataliesteiner asked: As for the post about forgiveness vs. mercy - Words like Love, and Mercy are words that are often twisted. Ex: Love = Sex. Not true. Love is a choice. Mercy has two definitions, the one Anon gave and "out of a desire to relieve suffering; motivated by compassion". If you accept the mercy, then you allow yourself to be forgiven! It's like when you do something bad, and your...
nataliesteiner asked: "At this point you are simply presenting your own interpretation of what you want god to be" - Isn't that your opinion since your view would be that He is cruel and unloving. While I'm getting my information from Scripture and 2000 years of Wisdom... Try reading Hosea, it's beautiful! And again with the punishment thing, we went over that, I don't want anyone to...
Anonymous asked: Hello! I grew up in a Muslim home, my whole family is *loosely* religious (they follow some parts of the religion, only when they feel like it..-__-), but I am an atheist. It's currently Ramadan and my mother gets very angry/sad with me for not fasting or being religious…they don't quite know I'm atheist because they'd just flip out and whats the purpose in sharing...
“I know how vain it is to gild a grief with words, and yet I wish to take from...”
– Robert G. Ingersoll (At A Child’s Grave, January 8 1882)
I only want to make one comment related to the tragedy in Aurora Colorado and the insensitive, callous, idiotic remarks made by Jerry Newcombe. I only personally knew one victim of the shooting, Matt McQuinn, who was the 27 year old that took a bullet and died in order to protect his gf and her brother. I only met Matt a few times and we only spoke briefly before but from everything I have heard...
Anonymous asked: Funny how the budhhist chick is white.
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Anonymous asked: What are your thoughts on Martin Luther?
littledarlinglilith asked: Of course it's about removing the need for materialistic things in your life, yes. It is still possible to practice Buddhism without doing that though. Perhaps someone doesn't want to reach enlightenment just yet. I love my cats and there is no way I'm ever going to give them up to become enlightened. I still agree with Buddhism fundamentals though. I haven't practiced...
Anonymous asked: :| you don't have to become a monk to be a buddhist, just like you don't have to become a priest to be catholic.
littledarlinglilith asked: You've certainly got it all wrong. As someone who has lived in a Buddhist center (a house where people meet up to meditate and discuss Buddhism) for 4 years of her life, I know a lot about Buddhism and it's not all about monks and starving yourself. There are also many different forms of Buddhism just like there are many different forms of Christianity.
Anonymous asked: How do you feel about atheist buddhists, i.e. those who don't believe in god but follow the path of peace, serenity, and mental enlightenment?
whatacatchdonnie asked: I could read your blog all day, there's something so satisfying about seeing you 'correct' the indoctrinated whose only defense for believing what they do is 'god is love'. If that's what love is then I'll happily live a life of hate, also liberated by the fact that I have torn myself from His arms and if anyone asks why I chose to do so I will answer...
Anonymous asked: is there any religion you dont hate?
Anonymous asked: what are your thoughts on the belief of "universal salvation" that many of the more liberal christians hold?
dawdler asked: I saw a bumper sticker today that said "God is Pro-Life" and it took me about half a second to realize what a ridiculous statement that is. This is a deity that supposedly wiped out nearly everyone on Earth just because we weren't behaving nicely (one would have to assume that there were even some unborn children in the mix). There's not even a mention of abortion in the Bible....
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Anonymous asked: I just wanted to point out to nataliestiener that to forgive and to have mercy on a person are two entirely different things. Eg if a friend were to kiss a person you fancied, if you were forgive them, you move on. You forget their mistake and youdon't hold a grudge. If you had mercy on them, it's like saying, 'you deserve to be beaten up, you did something really horrible, but I...
fuggina asked: The Western (i.e. white) world, and some of East Asia (Japan for example) have already gone through their demographic transitions. The rest of the world, to varying degrees, is still going through demographic transition, in some cases (Muslim world, sub-Saharan Africa) with absurdly high birth rates and lowering death rates. When you look at these centers of population growth, these are not...
Anonymous asked: Do you know anything about 'the God gene'? Do you know of any good informational sites that talk about it?
nataliesteiner asked: As soon as I find more on the 'change His mind' thing, I'll let you know. Though one thing I most certainly CAN defend is how He is LOVING... You said "a loving being would interject to prevent people from suffering for all of eternity." - You're right! and HE DOES! God is merciful before He is just. So unless you reject His mercy, then that's when He has to...
nataliesteiner asked: Okay, well first off-God is unchanging. He exists out of time, He's present to everything at every time. God's also not trumpet my free will, you didn't take what I said to heart-He wouldn't take control of someone's life, we need to LET Him. It's as simple as respect. Yes, He COULD do all that, but that's not how love works. Love is freely given and received,...
Anonymous asked: People say that they see "heaven" during near death experiences. How do they know they aren't just dreaming?
Anonymous asked: Something I don't get is the "Love Jesus because he died for you" etc. But people die everyday fighting for their countries and their loved ones. Even if I'm an anti war person I still think we should give our soldiers more love and respect than a guy whom we don't even know existed. What do you think?
Anonymous asked: In philosophy we've been studying the problem of evil and I think that people often miss the argument. To the person who asked about free will- the problem of evil stresses an inconsistant triad. If there is evil in the world, God can't be omipotent, omnibenevolent and omnicient. We've already established that with free will in the mix, God can no longer be omipotent because as long...
Anonymous asked: maybe i'm slow right now, but can you explain again why you have no leniency towards non-religious god believers like deists? people who don't cause any trouble for humanity because although they believe in a creator, they don't follow any rules or books or say that god demands/believes in anything right or wrong. you've said you don't accept people believing in god no...
General Question
To Christian who say that free will is why there is suffering. Is there free will in heaven? It is described as a paradise without suffering. So when you go to heaven do you give up all free will? If heaven exists and free will exists there, doesn’t it mean that it is possible to have a world with free will and no suffering? If that’s possible, why don’t we have that here? Just...
nataliesteiner asked: Thank you, that was a valid answer! Though, you ask questions I know you already know the answer to - it's about faith. One answer you may not hear often is that - if He stopped bad things from happening, that could mean taking control of someone's free will, and He wouldn't do that, if He did, He wouldn't be the loving God that He is. God is Love, and we don't...
nataliesteiner asked: So, if it would only take proof, are you seeking it at all?! It would make sense that you wouldn't be because you believe there's nothing to seek. Though, if this is correct, than wouldn't that mean you are just as 'close minded' as the rest of us in claiming that you are correct that there is nothing when you aren't constantly seeking to prove yourself correct? ...
Anonymous asked: I follow this blog because it always reminds me why I don't follow religion. Every time I feel myself softening up and feeling some sympathy in the name of religion, I always come here and remind myself why I left in the first place. thank you.
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Karzai Calls for Arrest of Taliban in Public... →
A video of a woman being publicly executed, supposedly for adultery, sparked outrage in Afghanistan—and now President Hamid Karzai has ordered the arrest of the Taliban involved. Officials actually believe the woman was killed—shot nine times as a throng of people cheered—because two Taliban commanders both had a relationship with her and ended up fighting over her; the adultery charge, they...
Anonymous asked: What do you gain from being an atheist? I mean, what difference makes to someone who doesn't believe?
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itdoesntworklikethatanymore asked: Athiests are generally more intelligent than theists , discuss. Further do you believe people jump on the athiesm "bandwaggon" simply in order to appear more intelligent.
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Anonymous asked: What would it take for you to believe in God?
verisimilitude-and-veracity asked: People who think that image was trivializing domestic abuse have it backwards- the image is supposed to point out that religion is a legitimate form of domestic abuse. It's supposed to make people realize that religion is bad for your health, not to make them think that domestic abuse is any less serious than it is. In short, I think it just went over a lot of peoples' heads.
I find it somewhat funny how many angry comments are getting added on to a recent picture post from the other day yet I have only had one message regarding it. No one else seems to want to ask about it but since there is so much uproar let me throw out my 2 cent anyways. People are mad that it seems to be trivializing domestic abuse, that is not the intent of course, I would think instead people...
Anonymous asked: I don't know what you have against "Zeitgeist" - Part 1 of the film about religion is 100% true (at least it confirmed what I had independently researched on my own Prior to seeing the movie). Though I'm a little Iffy on 9/11 and some of the later topics, there is such a thing as too many coincidences for it to be a coincidence. This is all a far cry from the far left-field...
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Anonymous asked: How do you respond to the logic statement that Jesus speaks to Catholics and Satan speaks to Atheists? For that matter, that Atheists are Anti-'s: Anti-Christ, Anti-Love, Anti-Family, Anti-Life, Anti-Fulfillment, Anti-Soul...
Anonymous asked: The smartest family I knew were brilliant people. Two doctors and their twin children; they were intelligent, quick-witted, very heavy into science. The kids were absolute shoe-ins for MIT and other ivory league schools. But somehow they were also Christian. Very, very Christian. Very into God and Jesus. Only now, years later and having not spoken to them in a while, am I completely baffled by how...
