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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:34 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:49 pm
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Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup That kid was probably just immature. It's not really fair to judge his religion. I've seen atheists act like way bigger jerks.
But yeah, like Pixel Mine said, I don't need the threat of eternal damnation to be a good person. He's immoral. Actually, from what the OP said, all that was mentioned is that atheists will ******** up due to lack of fear. They might make the argument that their love of God means they would not even imagine doing that stuff. Hence my suggestion to roll with it, and accept the charges of immoral behaviour, but instead flip it, and demand an explanation for why those immoral acts are immoral. I understand what he was saying. I just don't agree with it. That's why I'm saying that I follow my own set of morals and try to be a good person on my own. And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:53 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:51 pm
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IVIalice Quote: And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality. Actually, I would disagree with that logic. You essentially just said what some theists say about atheist morality. Sometimes turning the tables work pretty well when you try making people see things from your point of view, unless of course we were talking about a ******** religious ********>
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:03 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:03 pm
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:47 am
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brainnsoup Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup That kid was probably just immature. It's not really fair to judge his religion. I've seen atheists act like way bigger jerks.
But yeah, like Pixel Mine said, I don't need the threat of eternal damnation to be a good person. He's immoral. Actually, from what the OP said, all that was mentioned is that atheists will ******** up due to lack of fear. They might make the argument that their love of God means they would not even imagine doing that stuff. Hence my suggestion to roll with it, and accept the charges of immoral behaviour, but instead flip it, and demand an explanation for why those immoral acts are immoral. I understand what he was saying. I just don't agree with it. That's why I'm saying that I follow my own set of morals and try to be a good person on my own. And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality. But that's my point. The accusation was that atheists would be immoral because they don't feel threatened. The kid didn't say anything about himself, nor did he say anything about people in general. Just atheists.
As such, he could claim that a xian wouldn't do those things because they wouldn't even think about it. Not that they fear god, but that they love god so much they do what he says, and they accept his teachings instinctively. Such an argument would mean that without that instinctive orientation toward morality, people are naturally immoral, and not that the person making the argument is scared of going to hell.
I don't know if the kid is smart enough to pull that one, but it pays not to underestimate your opponent, and to deal with the strongest conclusions they reach, not the weakest ones.
Thus, rather than say "so you only do it because you are scared" (which was not implied, and would thus be putting words into the other person's mouth), it is better to tackle the issue head on: why is it immoral to do these things? That is a much better question to ask, and demands they make an answer, instead of assuming one.
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:23 am
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Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup That kid was probably just immature. It's not really fair to judge his religion. I've seen atheists act like way bigger jerks.
But yeah, like Pixel Mine said, I don't need the threat of eternal damnation to be a good person. He's immoral. Actually, from what the OP said, all that was mentioned is that atheists will ******** up due to lack of fear. They might make the argument that their love of God means they would not even imagine doing that stuff. Hence my suggestion to roll with it, and accept the charges of immoral behaviour, but instead flip it, and demand an explanation for why those immoral acts are immoral. I understand what he was saying. I just don't agree with it. That's why I'm saying that I follow my own set of morals and try to be a good person on my own. And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality.But that's my point. The accusation was that atheists would be immoral because they don't feel threatened. The kid didn't say anything about himself, nor did he say anything about people in general. Just atheists. As such, he could claim that a xian wouldn't do those things because they wouldn't even think about it. Not that they fear god, but that they love god so much they do what he says, and they accept his teachings instinctively. Such an argument would mean that without that instinctive orientation toward morality, people are naturally immoral, and not that the person making the argument is scared of going to hell. I don't know if the kid is smart enough to pull that one, but it pays not to underestimate your opponent, and to deal with the strongest conclusions they reach, not the weakest ones. Thus, rather than say "so you only do it because you are scared" (which was not implied, and would thus be putting words into the other person's mouth), it is better to tackle the issue head on: why is it immoral to do these things? That is a much better question to ask, and demands they make an answer, instead of assuming one. I think a better question would be how exactly God has given him this morality. How have these rules been communicated? Because if he says the Bible, he better not be wearing clothes made of more than one material...
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:35 am
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IVIalice Quote: And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality. Actually, I would disagree with that logic. You essentially just said what some theists say about atheist morality. That's not what I think of all theists. The origional kid was arguing that atheists are immoral because we don't have a threat of Hell, right? He didn't say that we have no morals because we don't have a God, or that it's a problem with or nifty little counter-culture. He said we don't have morals because we don't have Hell. So it seems the thing that ties him to his morals is fear of Hell.
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:28 pm
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:04 pm
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:15 pm
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Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup Louis-Auguste Robespierre brainnsoup That kid was probably just immature. It's not really fair to judge his religion. I've seen atheists act like way bigger jerks.
But yeah, like Pixel Mine said, I don't need the threat of eternal damnation to be a good person. He's immoral. Actually, from what the OP said, all that was mentioned is that atheists will ******** up due to lack of fear. They might make the argument that their love of God means they would not even imagine doing that stuff. Hence my suggestion to roll with it, and accept the charges of immoral behaviour, but instead flip it, and demand an explanation for why those immoral acts are immoral. I understand what he was saying. I just don't agree with it. That's why I'm saying that I follow my own set of morals and try to be a good person on my own. And the only reason he doesn't murder people is because he's afraid of going to Hell. So without the threat of Hell, he would sin as much as he wanted. So he's the one with the crappy sense of morality.But that's my point. The accusation was that atheists would be immoral because they don't feel threatened. The kid didn't say anything about himself, nor did he say anything about people in general. Just atheists. As such, he could claim that a xian wouldn't do those things because they wouldn't even think about it. Not that they fear god, but that they love god so much they do what he says, and they accept his teachings instinctively. Such an argument would mean that without that instinctive orientation toward morality, people are naturally immoral, and not that the person making the argument is scared of going to hell. I don't know if the kid is smart enough to pull that one, but it pays not to underestimate your opponent, and to deal with the strongest conclusions they reach, not the weakest ones. Thus, rather than say "so you only do it because you are scared" (which was not implied, and would thus be putting words into the other person's mouth), it is better to tackle the issue head on: why is it immoral to do these things? That is a much better question to ask, and demands they make an answer, instead of assuming one. Well if atheists are immoral because they don't fear punishment in the afterlife, then isn't it reasonable to say that, in his logic at least, he is moral because he does fear punishment in the afterlife? I'm midly surprised that you guys didn't think that was implied... Like I said in my other post, he didn't say that atheists are immoral because we don't have a God, or that we don't follow the Ten Commandments or anything like that. He instantly went to talking about Hell.
And in my experience it's not best to over-estimate your opponent either. Given his rant about atheist mothers letting their young kids, what was the exact phrase, "******** some bitches"? Well given his obvious lack of understanding for atheism and probable belief that his own religion is right he would probably reply with "Because *insert religious text here* says so." Yes, it's a little unfair to assume that. But it's pretty common for people to say that and not see the problem with exactly that logic, even if you explain it to them.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:36 pm
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