401. Disquiet over schools' moment of silence

Comment #103037 by FightingFalcon on December 24, 2007 at 8:29 am

Ugh....I hate reading stuff like this. Why do Atheists always choose the wrong battle at the wrong time?

We aren't going to win these battles and it only alienates prospective allies. At least the school is offering a moment of silence as opposed to prayer in school. It's only 15 seconds of sitting in silence - is that so wrong?

I wish my fellow Atheists would pick their battles wiser and with more consideration for the rest of us.

402. 'Christian God is not to blame'

Comment #102709 by FightingFalcon on December 23, 2007 at 12:51 pm

How....how long do we have to live with the myth that Hitler was an Atheist?

Certainly no Christian but since when did a European rejecting Christianity automatically make him or her an Atheist? Hitler's obsession with the occult (even sending research teams to Tibet and the Andes to find the origin of the Aryan race) is painfully obvious but we still have to live with this lie that he was an Atheist.

Certainly Stalin was an Atheist but the evidence is still lacking to prove that these men were motivated by their Atheism to kill non-Atheists and to purge the world from Atheism. The same can not be said, however, for Theists.

403. The Pagan Christ

Comment #102200 by FightingFalcon on December 22, 2007 at 1:54 am

Goose - I'll have to check out those books. I have to admit that I'm very weak on early British history and paganism in Britain. I usually concentrate on Roman History, Christianity and Eastern/Egyptian religions. Hopefully those books will be a good place to start research into British paganism.

Elise - trust me, I agree with you 100% that we need to fully expose the connection between Christianity and the faiths that it "borrowed" from. That's why I'm writing my Master's on its connections to Mithraism and (hopefully) my PhD on Christianity's connections to all sun religions. Anything I can do to help the cause =D

404. The Pagan Christ

Comment #102184 by FightingFalcon on December 22, 2007 at 1:04 am

Slightly off topic, isn't this recycling of myths pretty common place? Isn't there a striking similarity between the story of Noah and of the Mesopotamian (where the Jews spent a great deal of time if I've got my facts right)flood story of Gilgamesh?

Among the ancients it was very common. The flood story, like you mention, was shared by many faiths in the Mesopotamian region, probably because there were indeed several floods in that region due to unnaturally high rainfall. No divine intervention, no mystery, etc. Just religion being used to explain what the ancients didn't understand - a very commonplace event.

Recycling of myths was common among ancients but modern day religions absolutely cringe at the idea of their modern practices coming from somewhere else. Hell, the idea of Christians worshiping on Sunday is a direct result of the Romans worshiping various sun-gods (Sol Invictus, Mitrhas, Elha Gabal, etc.) being worshiped on Sunday and not Saturday. Keeping the day of worship the same made it easier for Christians to convert people to the faith. Even if this did cause problems with the new converts still worshiping the sun on the steps of the church, which were mostly converted pagan temples.

Modern religion does not want to hear that a large majority of their practices, beliefs, etc. come from pagan faiths. This would destroy the uniqueness of Jesus and undo 2,000 years of pagan persecution.

BTW: I saw you mention that you didn't have a Bible - my advice is to get one. I'm a former strong Theist and read the Bible several times while I still believed. Now, armed with a strong knowledge of the Bible and the Christian faith/mindset, I can use it against Theists because I know what they're thinking before they even tell me. It's a nice trait to have in a debate with a Theist =)

405. The Pagan Christ

Comment #102114 by FightingFalcon on December 21, 2007 at 3:29 pm

I'm halfway through and I have to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying this. I'm currently working on my MA in the Classics by examining Mithraism in the Roman Empire and I'm hoping to get my PhD in the connection between sun-religions and Christianity, so this is right up my alley.

Still, the connections between Jesus and Horus, Isis, Mithras, etc. do not prove his non-existence. What it does prove is that, although Jesus may or may not have existed, clearly many of the stories about him were "borrowed" from pagan faiths.

Jesus' existence or non-existence is rather inconsequential, IMHO. It's inconsequential because the evidence is overwhelming that Christianity is simply the amalgamation of numerous pagan faiths. While we can't be certain over whether Jesus existed or not, we can be fairly certain that very few (if any) of the stories of the Bible are original and unique to him.

Just my two cents.

406. For the Love of Christ

Comment #101758 by FightingFalcon on December 20, 2007 at 10:37 pm

OK, watching that first YouTube video - how is that anything but child abuse? Or at least physical violence?

Can I beat the shit outta people in the name of Atheism? O I forgot....we aren't violent psychos.

407. Religious Freedom in Military Questioned

Comment #101574 by FightingFalcon on December 20, 2007 at 2:22 pm

Yea, living in a foreign country has definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things. I still love my country and its people but I just wish more Americans would try to learn about other cultures and realize that "different" doesn't equal "worse". For sure, sometimes I miss the luxuries of my home country but at least I don't get made fun of in Europe for loving wine and techno :-). Overall my experience in Europe has been great though...all very nice people for the most part. Even if the Brits do drive on the wrong side of the road =)

As for GWB, you'd be surprised at the range of opinions that you'll find about him in the military. All spoken in private, of course. Publicly we are 100% behind him but give us a few drinks and some of us might say otherwise....

I'll have to post more often...I've been lurking for a few months. I come here after working all day and it brightens my day to see other people laugh at the delusions of religion as much as I do :)

408. Religious Freedom in Military Questioned

Comment #101539 by FightingFalcon on December 20, 2007 at 1:44 pm

Altho I read almost all of the articles on RD.net, I usually refrain from posting until I read some of the comments here.

I would appreciate if people avoided blanketed statements about the US military. No, we aren't the most popular organization in the world right now but please don't judge all of us by the actions of some.

I'm an Officer in the USAF currently serving in England and I'm a strong Atheist (#6 on Dawkins' list in TGD). I believe very firmly in the search for objective knowledge and the rights of the individual. I also love traveling as much as I can throughout Europe/Africa so that I can experience all different types of cultures.

Please don't lump us all into one giant mindless robot stereotype. We aren't all that way...

As a caveat, I do have to admit though that I keep my religious beliefs (or lack of them) to myself. The presence of Christianity isn't overwhelming but I would surely do unnecessary harm to my career by "coming out" as an Atheist. I keep that a very well guarded secret.

409. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #38475 by FightingFalcon on May 8, 2007 at 8:49 am

After being introduced to Prof. Dawkins a few months ago, I've read TGD and watched several of his interviews now. The thing I like the best about him is that he's not only a great spokesperson for Atheism but also a symbol of how happy Atheists can be.

Theists constantly attack us (Atheists) as being mean, dishonest and unhappy individuals. They think we led a life of misery and are purely evil. On the contrary, Prof. Dawkins seems like such a happy and nice man - surely someone I would love to share a pint with. Sure, he has some "nasty" things to say about religion in general but never about the people themselves.

I'm glad that Prof. Dawkins is our leading spokesperson right now. I hope that through his example, we can show the world that Atheists are actually quite peaceful, nice and honest people.

410. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #38186 by FightingFalcon on May 7, 2007 at 7:30 am

"Fanatical" Atheists spend their time studying evolution, science, etc. and ponder ways in which we can solve mankind's most pressing questions.

Fanatical Theists fly planes into buildings.

Do we really need to spell this out? Very nice article.

411. The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it

Comment #38178 by FightingFalcon on May 7, 2007 at 7:19 am

Someone please remind the author that the so-called "benefits" of religion should not factor into the debate over whether God exists or not.

As Dawkins says in TGD (paraphrasing) - even if we knew that the world would completely fall apart without religion, it wouldn't change for one second the fact that God does not exist.

I understand why people use/need religion but does that change anything? Does God suddenly exist because they want him to?