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Debate Info

50
119
Yes, they pick and choose fact No, they are perfect
Debate Score:169
Arguments:84
Total Votes:230
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 Yes, they pick and choose fact (33)
 
 No, they are perfect (59)

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Thewayitis(4071) pic



Atheist, the double standard

Ever notice how atheist use facts all the time and then refuse to acknowledge them when it is not to their benefit. 

 

American Heritage defines Religion as  #4 "A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion."   and somehow the only meaning of religion that they acknowledge are the ones that refer to god.

 

They claim they are not members of a cult and by definition are.  Merriam-Webster  defines Cult: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad  What is the follow of science if not an intellectual fad?

 All this critical thinking and atheist think their perfect.  I fail to find any logic in that.

 

Yes, they pick and choose fact

Side Score: 50
VS.

No, they are perfect

Side Score: 119
5 points

First, let me say that I am an atheist. I am an atheist who happens to think that most atheists (considered as a large group, not as individuals) are just as ignorant and prone to irrationality as believers are.

Those of us who embrace a scientific worldview often fall prey to the same logical fallacies that devoutly religious persons do. One example of the popular appeal to authority: "Famous and Intelligent people have said X, thus X is more likely to be true". I often see atheists trumpeting quotations from famous scientists and thinkers which support their view. Often, a quote from Einstein or Dawkins is used in place of original logic or evidence. This is the same sort of argument used by theists when they assert that since their priest or pope said X, then X is more likely true because that pope or priest has some supposed authority on the subject of divinity.

My point is that you and I believe scientists because we trust their authority. We trust their method, so we believe that a water molecule is composed of a specific composition of atoms even though we personally have no empirical evidence that this is true.

Unless you have personally examined a water molecule (which some of you may have done), you probably learned about its structure from a teacher or a book. Thus you have no more justification for your belief than does the devoutly religious person in his or her belief in the resurrection of Christ. He or she trusts the methodology of their religion, and so is willing to take the words of the clergy at face value without a careful examination of the facts.

I anticipate that someone will counter that the methodology of science is obviously superior to that of religion, because it is based on rigorous observation rather than metaphysical speculation. I would challenge you to ask yourself WHY you believe that empiricism is superior to metaphysical speculation? Why do you believe that the universe is composed only of physical objects interacting in a strictly causal fashion to produce events. Remember, I am an atheist. If you are honest like I was when I asked myself this question, I think you will probably have to admit that it is because lots of other people around you also have faith in empiricism and materialism (the belief that the world is composed only of observable physical objects).

To me, this means that the epistemological basis for my belief as an atheist is similar to that of a religious person. As an atheist committed to reason, I feel a duty to honestly admit that logical fallacy is just as rampant on this side as it is on the other.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
casper3912(1581) Disputed
2 points

I have noticed logical fallacy from atheists, as I have noticed them from some supporters of most if not all positions which I have heard. I have however found atheists to be more insightful, critical and more honest when compared to a religious person.

Honestly, Empricalism isn't supported by me because everyone likes it. if anything its rare. I don't know of very many people who really stick to it. If your from north America, I doubt you do either.

It is true that perception can not be used to validate perception, I have no guarantee the laws of the universe will continue to work tomorrow, and i could be a brain in a vat or a program in the matrix. There are things that observation are unable to tell me, but if not observation then what will? Nothing, is the honest answer.

Side: No, they are perfect
protazoa(427) Disputed
2 points

You make an interesting point, in that I only know about H2O because i learned from it, as you put it, from a book.

So, I will begin from the beginning

I see water. I immediately note that it is clear and liquid

I electrolyse the water, and I notice bubbles from either end of the electrical current

I do not know what electricity is, so I sit and watch. the water level is decreasing. Therefore, I conclude that the bubbles are components of water.

I capture one of the gases. I notice that it is flammable, and "pops" when combusted.

I see hydrogen gas, which also "pops" when combusted. No other gas does this

so I conclude that hydrogen is present in water

I capture the gas at the other end. I notice that it is much more flammable, flaring when combusted.

Oxygen gas, too, does this. No other gas does this so I conclude that Oxygen is also present in the water.

Eventually, all of the water is electrolyzed, so I conclude that only Hydrogen and Oxygen are present in the water. I measure the captured gas, and see that there is twice as much hydrogen by volume as there is oxygen by volume, so I conclude that there is two hydrogens for every oxygen.

The wonderful thing about this is that you can repeat this, anywhere in the universe, and get similar results.

Although the title is leading, atheists as a whole will only accept scientific fact that has undergone a rigorous process of testing before being accepted as a valid theory (note that almost nothing in science is truly regarded as fact anymore, it is all just theory).

Side: No, they are perfect
3 points

An atheist has faith in his decision. They are not omnicient, they do not know all there is to know in the universe, therfore they cannot know that there is no God.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
aveskde(1935) Disputed
1 point

An atheist has faith in his decision. They are not omnicient, they do not know all there is to know in the universe, therfore they cannot know that there is no God.

Faith in one's decision is not the same as possessing a faith. Don't confuse the two. Also, strong atheists know in colloquial terms that there is no god. One cannot prove a vague, poorly defined concept like "god" to be false, but there is strong evidence that the idea is a human invention and this is sufficient for most people until theists make an actual argument in favour of god's existence which doesn't rely on faith, but actually meets academic standards of integrity.

Side: No, they are perfect
2 points

They do pick and choose. Many of them.

You see, the thing is that Atheism is a religion, but Atheists refuse to accept that. This is why they're so choosy about facts.

You see, when I say I don't understand, but I know that God will reveal it one day either now or in the next life . . . The Atheist says i don't understand it but whatever the answer is, it has nothing to do with the divine or God.

I put my faith, my trust that God has the answer. The Atheist puts his/her faith, his/her trust that the answer is has nothing to do with God.

We both have our faith, the only difference is that I admit my answer is my faith, however, the Atheist refuses to acknowledge that their answer is also their faith.

This is why the Atheist is so easily able to be choosy about facts and not even realize it. They refuse to acknowledge one fact, the fact that they have faith in no-God, the fact that the religion of no-God rejects anything, even facts that indicate there is a God, which makes them more a religion than many others. At least most world religions will agree on some concepts that they share, Atheism will agree on no concept of any other religion.

Well, when one starts down the path of denying one fact, it becomes that much more easy to deny other facts as well.

Also, it doesn't help that Atheists tend to have a superior elitest opinion of themselves as being open-minded when in reality they ignore, reject, and ostracize anything at all that disagrees with their religion of no-God.

Another fact that Atheists deny is that the no-God God has been responsible for the worse atrocities in recent human history. Most of the world's communism operates on the no-God religion of Atheism, and somewhat Buddism, which is really just another form Atheism that believes there is a higher place of nirvana we should all strive for.

Then there is Hitler. He acted and talked like man who had no conscience to any God, an Atheist, yet because Catholicism was so popular in that time and Hitler said a few things about God here and there as any dictator desparate to maintain his power would in a nation dominated by a particular religious persuasion, Atheists utterly refuse to accept that Hitler was an Atheist.

They even ignore history. There are very few that did what Hitler did with such an utter lack of conscience to a higher power in all of human history, yet Atheists, even with these facts, they'll utterly ignore the obvious atheistic actions and attitudes of Hitler.

Despite these facts, they also ignore the very real fact that the freest nation in the world was founded by people who did in fact believe in the Biblical Christ Jesus who said that all men are equal in the sight of God, who said that God shows no favoritism, who said that the slave shall be greater than the master in the kingdom of heaven, who said and supported many of the very ideals on which this nation was founded.

Yet the Atheist believe that our founding fathers got those ideals and believed so strongly on those ideals that they were willing to die for them because of theories from Greeks and Romans. Greeks and Romans came up with some good theories, but those theories would never have gotten far without the Christian religion supporting them in the ancient and more recent words of prophets and Christ. Atheists utterly refuse to accept the faith of Christianity was the rock on which this nation founded and established it's ideals and constitution. Unalienable rights had nothing to do with the divine even though without the divine unalienable rights can't possibly exist because the fact is, one man's opinion is another man's joke. But God's opinion, well that holds quite a bit more weight.

One cannot dispute the fact that Christianity solidified the ideals that we hold so dear.

Yet even despite this, what is the main religion that above all others is ridiculed by Atheists? What is the main religion that above all others, Atheists would have regulated and indoctrinated into something that could be more easily controlled? What is the one religion that above all others Atheists would abolish, probably before any other? We all know the answer, Christianity. Christianity is the primary religion about which Athiests complain. Christianity is the primary example that Atheists use when they want to argue that religion should be regulated and controlled, if not completely abolished. Christianity is the primary religion that should take a back seat to society and law.

Yet Christianity never sought to establish a superior race or obliterate another. Yet Christianity never sought to establish complete control of the people in the hands of a few.

Yet Christianity never sought to force all people into one religion, at least not the religion itself didn't. Some who wanted power and wealth may have attempted to and failed.

Yet Christianity never sought to usurp the rights of the people for the sake of a pretend social equality. Atheism did at the hands of just about all of the Communist nations.

So yes, Atheists ignore a lot of facts, they just refuse to admit it, thus they continue in their ignorance of self-believed superior open-mindedness ignoring every fact that indicates that their religion is wrong or harmful in a society.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
aveskde(1935) Disputed
0 points

You see, the thing is that Atheism is a religion, but Atheists refuse to accept that. This is why they're so choosy about facts.

No it isn't. A religion is a belief in a doctrine shared by more than one person, which invokes the supernatural. The adjective religious is used to describe dedication towards a cause or activity which is pursued with zeal. That is where the equivocation begins, in that people assume religious must mean that a person has a religion - it does not, but merely takes the concept of religious dedication into adjectival form.

The reason that religious people make this equivocation is so that they may transfer the silliness of religion onto atheism and whatever other idea they presently wish to criticise. It is a silent admission that all religions are bogus acts of faith without evidence, simply it is the case that the group masquerade which holds together the theist's religious following creates a sort of blind spot so that this admission isn't a confession that the theists' religion is ridiculous.

You see, when I say I don't understand, but I know that God will reveal it one day either now or in the next life . . . The Atheist says i don't understand it but whatever the answer is, it has nothing to do with the divine or God.

The first part is religious, the second part is not, since atheism isn't religious by matter of category.

We both have our faith, the only difference is that I admit my answer is my faith, however, the Atheist refuses to acknowledge that their answer is also their faith.

For the same reason that medical doctors do not admit that theirs is a faith in pathogens which cause disease, and therefore they must possess a religion called medicine.

Also, it doesn't help that Atheists tend to have a superior elitest opinion of themselves as being open-minded when in reality they ignore, reject, and ostracize anything at all that disagrees with their religion of no-God.

This is more a projection of your own intellectual dishonesty.

Another fact that Atheists deny is that the no-God God has been responsible for the worse atrocities in recent human history. Most of the world's communism operates on the no-God religion of Atheism, and somewhat Buddism, which is really just another form Atheism that believes there is a higher place of nirvana we should all strive for.

Communism is an ideology and an economic policy. Religion is banished under communism because one cannot be loyal to their nation when they serve another master known as a priest.

Buddhism is a religion because it shares a common doctrine and a supernatural component.

Then there is Hitler. He acted and talked like man who had no conscience to any God, an Atheist, yet because Catholicism was so popular in that time and Hitler said a few things about God here and there as any dictator desparate to maintain his power would in a nation dominated by a particular religious persuasion, Atheists utterly refuse to accept that Hitler was an Atheist.

If you bother to read Meine Kampf then you'd realise that Adolf Hitler was a creationist, which is incompatible with atheism. Just one more example of the historical revisionism which takes place within theists' minds so as to prevent acceptance of their culpability for yet another war with religious roots. Did you know that the Catholic Church seeded all kinds of antisemitism throughout the middle ages across Europe? That this in combination with Hitler's appeal to German nationalism helped to seal the fate of so many innocent people.

They even ignore history. There are very few that did what Hitler did with such an utter lack of conscience to a higher power in all of human history, yet Atheists, even with these facts, they'll utterly ignore the obvious atheistic actions and attitudes of Hitler.

So your argument isn't based on Hitler's writings, his historical deeds like the Wehrmacht belt buckle logo "Gott mit uns" or his speeches. No, you ascribe his atheism to deeds which were so horrendous that in your personal opinion only an atheist could perform them. Forgetting, of course, the long history of evil deeds performed in the name of god.

Despite these facts, they also ignore the very real fact that the freest nation in the world was founded by people who did in fact believe in the Biblical Christ Jesus who said that all men are equal in the sight of God, who said that God shows no favoritism, who said that the slave shall be greater than the master in the kingdom of heaven, who said and supported many of the very ideals on which this nation was founded.

Again, if you study history you would know that many of the founding fathers were deists and freethinkers (an 18th century term which is fairly equivalent to atheist). However this still misses the entire fact that the United States was founded with Europe in mind, that is to say it was widely understood in those days to those men that a religious state is an oppressive one. This is why they created the United States as the first secular state, in order that we might enjoy freedom from religion in our lives.

Yet the Atheist believe that our founding fathers got those ideals and believed so strongly on those ideals that they were willing to die for them because of theories from Greeks and Romans. Greeks and Romans came up with some good theories, but those theories would never have gotten far without the Christian religion supporting them in the ancient and more recent words of prophets and Christ.

You're joking, right? Christianity signaled the end of the great Roman Empire and the beginning of the period known as the Dark Ages, which was where we saw all sorts of proto-Christian factions fighting each other for dominance until the Roman Catholic Church achieved superiourity through bloody supression of heretics and heterodoxy. This was the age of divine right by kings to rule over their people without question. It was a period of no individual liberty, and where the peasants had no voice.

Of course, you need to deny this if you're a Christian, otherwise it might reveal a flaw in your religion.

Atheists utterly refuse to accept the faith of Christianity was the rock on which this nation founded and established it's ideals and constitution. Unalienable rights had nothing to do with the divine even though without the divine unalienable rights can't possibly exist because the fact is, one man's opinion is another man's joke. But God's opinion, well that holds quite a bit more weight.

"God's opinion" merely means the Church's opinion which as we all know had no bearing on the founding of the United States. European states were founded on Church authority, and this lead to interfaith wars, and brutal suppression of human liberties. Remember Galileo? He was under house arrest for the remainder of his life, for undermining Church doctrine that the Sun orbited the Earth. Try looking up "The Recantation of Galileo."

Our founding fathers were wise men, they knew better than to make our state a religious one. Do you want to see some religious states for comparison?

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Basic_Law_of_Saudi_Arabia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Pakistan#Islamic_provisions

Note the lack of ambiguity. Islam is the state religion, period. No other religions have authority.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Text

Note what our constitution says. It isn't religious at all.

Yet even despite this, what is the main religion that above all others is ridiculed by Atheists? What is the main religion that above all others, Atheists would have regulated and indoctrinated into something that could be more easily controlled? What is the one religion that above all others Atheists would abolish, probably before any other? We all know the answer, Christianity.

What is the primary religion is the United States? In Europe? Christianity. What is the primary religion in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Northern Africa? Islam. What religion do Atheists criticise (in secret, lest they be put to death) over there? Islam.

Of course, if you study history, mere criticism of Christianity is nothing, because Christians have a history of torturing dissenters, freethinkers, and heretics.

Yet Christianity never sought to establish a superior race or obliterate another. Yet Christianity never sought to establish complete control of the people in the hands of a few.

Yet Christianity never sought to force all people into one religion, at least not the religion itself didn't. Some who wanted power and wealth may have attempted to and failed.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/recantation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings#Historical_parallels_in_the_West

So yes, Atheists ignore a lot of facts, they just refuse to admit it, thus they continue in their ignorance of self-believed superior open-mindedness ignoring every fact that indicates that their religion is wrong or harmful in a society.

Says the man who doesn't know about Divine Right, the Inquisition, the founding of the Church, the founding of the United States, Adolf Hitler or Communism.

Side: No, they are perfect

They dance around everything, but never dispute what they cannot prove or disprove. Not one will contest the definition of religion or cult, because both are fact. To do so would destroy all that they have imagined. A weak religion, but a religion just the same.

One will throw a word or two to derail the subject, but not address it. Equivocal, and sophistry is destined to be among them. Excuses, excuses.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
TheHallow1(78) Disputed
3 points

Continue to throw your temper tantrum. Just because you don't agree with them or the evidence they have against your religion you find it necessary to try and delude yourself into believing that your perspective is absolute. You may not be a kid, but you have alot of growing up to do.

Side: No, they are perfect
Elvira(3446) Disputed
1 point

I'll dispute anything :)

And your argument goes both ways.

I could tell you there are really millions of deities, seven planes, four realms and eight forces of nature- neither atheist or christian would believe it: but that doesn't make it impossible. Atheism goes against dogma and doctrine- it only accepts proof.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

Atheists use evolution and the big bang as their primary reasons for their faith.

Yet even those two primary reasons do not disprove or indicate that their is no God. Even Christianity, the bain of Atheism is not effected by those two things, even if they were proven facts.

Yet those primary two reasons have never ever been observed in any fashion. They will say that it has, but if that were true, it would not be a theory anymore. What has been observed is the ability of the body to adapt and overcome adversity in it's environment. The body's ability to overcome and survive changes in environment. That's what's been observed and established as a fact.

However, Atheists even ignore that fact.

The fact is, there is way too much that we don't know yet to say that evolution is a fact or that the big bang is a fact. The Atheist merely chooses to put their faith, their trust that those theories or a version of them are, in fact, true.

/

If they are right, who cares, God still exists, Christ is still the Son of God. The Bible account in Genesis was only demonstrating what we could understand that God did to create all of life on the earth.

/

However, if they're wrong, then well, I hope that they can look a truly just creator, Christ, in the face and truthfully and honestly tell Him that they honestly sought Him out and that Atheism was honestly and truthfully the logical answer from where all of their honest searching and seeking of the one true God, who ever He is, led them.

/

Because if they didn't, then God will have to ask why? Why didn't you make sure by honestly seeking me out? Why didn't you trust that the God of all there is and ever was and ever will be, the only truly just that there is would draw closer to you and reveal Himself to you if you only sought Him out? I just hope that the Atheist has a good answer, after all God truly is just and will hear out their answer in all honesty. I guarantee you, you will have no answer because a truly just God as God is, would not allow your seeking to be in vain. He will reveal Himself if you honestly seek Him out. It only make logical sense if God is in fact God, he'd have to be truly just, and a truly just God would not ignore one who is honestly seeking Him out. Also the Bible says that God will draw closer to those that seek Him.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
protazoa(427) Disputed
2 points

You are right. We do not know enough to call them fact.

That is why they are called 'theory'

Side: No, they are perfect
aveskde(1935) Disputed
1 point

Atheists use evolution and the big bang as their primary reasons for their faith.

Atheism has existed long before modern science. Try another canard.

Yet even those two primary reasons do not disprove or indicate that their is no God. Even Christianity, the bain of Atheism is not effected by those two things, even if they were proven facts.

Probably because atheism isn't based on science, but you would know that if you did your research.

The fact is, there is way too much that we don't know yet to say that evolution is a fact or that the big bang is a fact. The Atheist merely chooses to put their faith, their trust that those theories or a version of them are, in fact, true.

I have two points which should speak for themselves:

Constructing Primate Phylogenies from Ancient Retroviral Sequences: Source Chart

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation: Source

If they are right, who cares, God still exists, Christ is still the Son of God. The Bible account in Genesis was only demonstrating what we could understand that God did to create all of life on the earth.

That's because these theories cannot disprove the concept of god. They can only disprove the empirical claims of the Christian god.

However, if they're wrong, then well, I hope that they can look a truly just creator, Christ, in the face and truthfully and honestly tell Him that they honestly sought Him out and that Atheism was honestly and truthfully the logical answer from where all of their honest searching and seeking of the one true God, who ever He is, led them.

As said before. Science cannot disprove the concept of god, since it is nebulous and ever shifting. The claims made about Christ can, however, be disproven: men do not rise from the dead. It isn't possible. Therefore Christ did not rise from his tomb.

Because if they didn't, then God will have to ask why? Why didn't you make sure by honestly seeking me out? Why didn't you trust that the God of all there is and ever was and ever will be, the only truly just that there is would draw closer to you and reveal Himself to you if you only sought Him out?

A god that existed wouldn't need others to find him. He would be self-evident. The Christian god is not self-evident, and requires mental gymnastics to evade the obvious pitfalls of faith in him. For example, if your god is compassionate then he cannot condemn people to hell, but this logical contradiction is one of the defining features of your god. Your god is proven by things which cannot happen, and the more impossible they are, the more you display them as great proofs of his existence.

I guarantee you, you will have no answer because a truly just God as God is, would not allow your seeking to be in vain. He will reveal Himself if you honestly seek Him out. It only make logical sense if God is in fact God, he'd have to be truly just, and a truly just God would not ignore one who is honestly seeking Him out. Also the Bible says that God will draw closer to those that seek Him.

Note the qualifier "honestly" because for all the billions of people who died seeking him out in vain, you can always say "they must not have been honest about it."

Side: No, they are perfect
7 points

Nobody's perfect. But Atheists do make the effort to thoroughly research something before believing in it.

Side: No, they are perfect
Swryght(161) Disputed
3 points

"Atheists do make the effort to thoroughly research something before believing in it."

First, that seems like an awfully broad generalization. Of course, that is what this debate is about: Making an absurdly broad judgment about an ideological group.

Secondly, I believe your argument is logically invalid. This is how I interpret your argument:

Premise 1: Whichever group, atheists or theists, conducts more thorough research when generating beliefs, is doxastically superior to the other

Premise 2: Atheists conduct thorough research into the basis for there beliefs.

Conclusion: Therefore, Atheists are doxastically superior to theists.

Premise 2 seems to be the critical point you are trying to make. Your assertion would be logically true if at least two atheists conducted thorough research, since the word "atheists" is plural and nonspecific about the exact number of atheists being referred to. I do not doubt the truth of your premise, as I personally know at least two atheists who conduct their research thoroughly when forming beliefs. I myself am an atheist who tries to conduct detailed research in this regard.

However, since I also happen to know at least two people who belief in God, and yet are also very thorough in their research regarding their beliefs, you have presented insufficient evidence that atheists are more thorough than theists. Therefore, while your premise is true, the premises do not lead logically to the conclusion. The argument is invalid. You need to provide evidence that atheists put more effort into their research.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
Mustafa(6) Disputed
1 point

well they don't technically do as they say. they believe there is a first cause. which is all that matters. its not about A religion in particular. its a bout the existence of god or not. tho even you as an atheist believe its better to be called an agnostic-atheist. does that make sense? atheism is the biggest contradiction/act of hypocrisy in mankind because it only allows the atheist to believe that there is a chance that a scientific breakthrough will end religion once and for all. why would you even hope for that chance toprove religion wrong? i think its an excuse to be bad.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
-1 points

If this were true then they would acknowledge Atheism is a religion, because the facts say so. To call theist stupid for not automatically accepting science theories and then ignoring proof of their own state of affairs, makes them just as stupid. "It is the pot calling the kettle black."

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
Smile(18) Disputed
3 points

TheHallow1 makes a good point. Theists do have a knack of choosing what they want to believe in regardless of what the experts announce to the world. It's only when science says something that works in their favor do they choose to acknowledge it. They are hypocrites of the finest.

Side: No, they are perfect
selfgov(89) Disputed
2 points

Thewayitis...

I'd like to take a look at the facts the atheists are ignoring. What debate is this this rant about?

Side: No double standard
TheHallow1(78) Disputed
1 point

Atheists won't acknowledge something that simply isn't true. Just because YOU believe Atheism to be a religion, that's not going to make it one. Your so-called "facts" are merely opinions. You're far to biased and that's why you continue to lose these debates. It's not our fault you choose to ignore the evidence that supports our claims. You behave like immature children most of the time. Throwing tantrums whenever you don't get your way or whenever someone doesn't believe in your dying religion. Time to grow up child.

Side: No, they are perfect
2 points

A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion

Please tell us what single cause, principle, or activity is pursued with zeal by every atheists or even most atheists. Then tell us what person or entity gave them that cause, principle or activity, and why they choose to 'pursue it with zeal or conscientious devotion'. Finish up by enlightening us a little about atheist dogma and religious rituals. Oh and could someone tell me where to find our holy book that tells us how to behave because I'm way behind.

(PS: Atheists are not the Borg. If you're talking about more than one of us, use an 's'.)

Side: No double standard
3 points

Your challenge is superfluous. Not only does the first definition preclude atheism from being a religion - since atheism isn't an activity, does not advocate any cause, nor espouse a principle on which one ought act with any zeal or conscientious devotion, but the second turns all religions into cults, which they rightly are.

Thewayitis' contention is not only necessarily meaningless pertaining to atheism, but he just identified stamp collectors, political activists, non-profit advocates, sports fans, educators and artists as people belonging to their respective religions - even if they already belong to religions or are also atheists or agnostics. Thewayitis just devalued and made completely meaningless the use of the word "religion", and has made basically useless his point.

He also places himself and his religion in the the same category as the Koolaid drinkers at Jonestown, Scientologists, Raelians and the Manson family. Which is fine by me, because that's the category in which he and others like him belong. The Manson reference is particularly poignant given his generally disheveled avatar.

But, what's less funny, yet equally enlightening is that he thinks that a lexical definition constitutes a "fact".

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

I realize there is no honest way to look at that arbitrary definition, answer the challenge and still hold that atheism is a religion. I am, nevertheless, expecting him to try, and I like to count how many logical fallacies, ironies, and self-contradictions he can use in one post.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

Oh and could someone tell me where to find our holy book that tells us how to behave because I'm way behind.

If fundamentalists are to be believed, the atheists' bible is either On the Origin of Species, or The God Delusion.

Side: No, they are perfect
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
0 points

Such simple creatures are atheist, they claim to be logical and then fail to use any. The answer is science. You seek answers and look to science for them. You run to scientific journal, read its words, believe them and pray thanks to the community. A follow of science, blindly is nothing but the mere definition of cult. Lie, deceive yourself, and what ever else you conjure up with not change this fact. After all it is facts you desire, file this one with those other ones you refuse to take into account.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
2 points

Atheism is simply the lack in a belief of a higher being, nothng more. All further juxtapositions with atheism are naturally irrespective.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

Anyone else think Thewayitis is kind of an ironic name for this guy?

Because I do.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

Anyone else think Thewayitis is kind of an ironic name for this guy?

I think of him as thewayitisnt.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

thewayitisbutonlyinmyhead.

------------------------------

Side: No double standard
1 point

Oh goody! I get to recycle a paragraph I wrote a while ago. Let's see if you understand it:

Why Black is a Colour

It is commonly accepted that darkness is the absense of light but today I wish to challenge this preconception. A common encyclopedia tells us that colour is simply a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Darkness is commonly assumed to be the absense of this radiation. This is wrong. As a matter of fact, a Black Body emits radiation just as a white body may. A black body emits what may be called thermal radiation, however this is still part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It follows therefore that if colour is defined by electromagnetic wavelengths, then darkness must belong to a subset of colours, for it is characterised by emitting electromagnetic wavelengths as well.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

no....................................................................................................................................

Supporting Evidence: rta cabinets (www.cabinetsdirectrta.com)
Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

MAN created god, not the other way around.

we needed to have a power greater than we could possibly have on earth to deal with a whole range of subjects - initially, like thunder, lightning, droughts etc - but also to deal with reward and punishment as MAN came face to face with his own foibles and shortcomings.

we (MAN) cannot come up with a punishment, for example that matches our outrage at a misdeed, so we invent a being outside our realm that will mete out the eternal punishment.

likewise, we must have a place where we will once again meet our loved ones (dealing with death).

in closing: god did not create MAN, men created god

Side: No, they are perfect
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
1 point

To state something that no man can prove or disprove doesn't make one grand. Prove that man created God. I'll even make it easier than this, prove you exist.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
1 point

no comment.......................................................................................................................

Supporting Evidence: rta kitchen cabinets (www.cabinetsdirectrta.com)
Side: No, they are perfect

I don't think we are perfect, but the title of this debate is kinda a bad way of putting it. Not all atheists do that. I admit some do, but lumping every last one of them together is stupid. I'm atheist, but I listen to facts if they can be proven to me. And I tell facts if they have been proven to me.

Side: No, they are perfect
1 point

A simple note by the way.

These two things aren't same: rejecting the existence of god and believing that there isn't god.

Side: No, they are perfect
0 points

"Ever notice how atheist use facts all the time and then refuse to acknowledge them when it is not to their benefit."

That isn't entirely true. Atheists (at least most Atheists) will consider something that another claims to be a fact and research it. Only after bringing together the evidence and weighing the pros and cons of their find will they draw their conclusion. The problem is, there are very few facts and mostly opinions. In relation to that point, most Theists don't present facts, just biased opinions. Their thought process is extremely corrupt because of their religious beliefs and are otherwise left incapable of processing pure information correctly.

Side: No, they are perfect
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
1 point

An opinion and not facts. Blinded by your own religion.

Side: Yes, they pick and choose fact
TheHallow1(78) Disputed
0 points

Ignore the facts all you want, kid. It won't change them. An opinion and not facts. Blinded by your own religion.

Side: No, they are perfect