Atheism is a religion? Chuck derail.

[Chuck Jones]

Liar liar pants on fire.

[Coito ergo sum]

Liar liar pants on fire.

[Chuck Jones]

Liar liar pants on fire.

Liar liar, pants on fire.

[maiforpeace]

Liar liar pants on fire.

The fly swatters are on the bottom shelf, to the left.

[Coito ergo sum]

Liar liar pants on fire.

Liar liar, pants on fire.

[Thinking Aloud]

Liar liar pants on fire.

Liar liar, pants on fire.

http://www.gifshare.com/uploads/images/ ... chebag.gif

Image fail...

[Chuck Jones]

Liar liar pants on fire.

Liar liar, pants on fire.

I'm Chuck Jones.

[Chuck Jones]

Without having read a fucking word of any of this, I would say that Seth is right. I base this on absolutely nothing whatsoever.

[stripes4]

Without having read a fucking word of any of this, I would say that Seth is right. I base this on absolutely nothing whatsoever.

.. and you are, indeed, Chuck Jones

[Seth]

Without having read a fucking word of any of this, I would say that Seth is right. I base this on absolutely nothing whatsoever.

Presumably including the nothingness between your ears....

[Chuck Jones]

I think there are separate things being mingled into atheism and they deserve separate consideration.

Take the idea of your implicit atheist, a person who never had a belief in deities. That person goes to dine with some American friends. The friends ask them what his religion is and now the implicit atheist is forced to imagine a religion in order to communicate that the atheist does not have any of this structure. It's not fair to say we have a definition for the gods that we do not believe in or any twist on the subject. I reject gods in general. I wouldn't even say that if I were in a country where the majority of people didn't believe in a god. I bring it up because they wonder why I act differently.

I don't know if political activism constitutes a religion or not. But some atheists are active about making room for more nonbelief. I think atheists are promoting the idea that it's okay to not have a religion. They are doing that because having a religion is so popular it is considered the default. If religion were not the default, I would think atheists are overdoing it. Right now I think atheist activism is necessary.

Atheism does fill a conceptual space similar to a religion but only in a current cultural context. That context is based on the fact that there are so many religions and many of them are strains of the big monotheistic prototypes. We ignorantly say all gods don't exist without thinking of Pentocostals or Muslims specifically. And we do that because otherwise we're expected to pray before dinner. My atheist activism and the reason atheism fills a conceptual spot as if it were a religion are the fault of the environment. It is different than a positive belief such as Christianity which promotes a series of facts and moral answers although it appears to be similar because it unravels the series of moral answers our community has accumulated based on a majority Christian faith.

So you might call atheism a religion. And I'll understand what you're saying. But then I'd like your help in coming up with the keyword that makes it clear that while atheism has belief like elements, it is a default potentially pre-religion state that does not advance a position. Atheism doesn't suppose someone existed or that some moral code is better or that your faith should go anywhere. The only supposition is that the gods of existing religions aren't real. If you think atheism is advancing change as opposed to undoing the changes that were consequences of religious dogma, I think you are mistaken.

I can't be bothered to read your post. But if you're an atheist, whetever you just said, it's wrong.

[Chuck Jones]

Without having read a fucking word of any of this, I would say that Seth is right. I base this on absolutely nothing whatsoever.

Presumably including the nothingness between your ears....

I'm standing up for you Seth. Don't make me angry. You don't want to see me when I'm angry.

[camoguard]

I will take your online personality and beat the snot out of it in a non criminal or reality based way. However, I'd like you to be scared enough to go back into your hole, Chuck.

[Chuck Jones]

I will take your online personality and beat the snot out of it in a non criminal or reality based way. However, I'd like you to be scared enough to go back into your hole, Chuck.

You shut up now I'm Chuck.

[Atheist-Lite]

I will take your online personality and beat the snot out of it in a non criminal or reality based way. However, I'd like you to be scared enough to go back into your hole, Chuck.

You shut up now I'm Chuck.

Jamie?