Monday 31 March 2014

The 6 Principles of Atheism

Below are what I call the '6 statements and Mantras of atheism', which are 9 times out of 10 banded around by atheists online and offline : 

  1. Religion is homophobic, sexist and racist 
  2. You pick and choose what you want from your religion
  3. The religious are always seeking "special treatment" in respect of their faith;The religious should just go away into a locked room
  4. Religion is unscientific and not appropriate for the modern day world 
  5. The Bible is an evil book about god- endorsed genocide and has nothing to offer the world
  6. Kosher slaughter is barbaric and male circumcision is child abuse

Is it just me or can one see the irony here, that atheists have a creed or statement of belief themselves, even as they bash other religions ?  I do, of course, have my own replies about these statements, but I'd be intrigued to see what the readers think of these.

Feel free to discuss the 'holy six', whether you agree or not  and to add to the list ,in the comments section.

19 comments:

  1. What about the frequent turning around of scripture when it suits the atheist or the snide 'that's not very Christian/Jewish/etc' remarks, if you fight back and refuse to be called a doormat!

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  2. Al

    A good point. I often wonder at this myself. On the one hand religion is a threat to civilisation and needs to be put into the box; on the other if you do actually try and fight against the zietgiest, then you are not being 'true' to your religion! Strange, very strange.

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  3. Logically speaking... yes male circumcision is basically child abuse. it is permanently reducing the child to subhuman by stripping them of their self ownership forever. forcing them to live in a body that they were not born with and may not want. However I do not think that (most) parents who do this to their children are child abusers. they are just brainwashed by it's social acceptance. This of course does not include when it is medically necessary, amputating a limb when medically needed is tragic but not abuse.

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  4. Atheist Shrugged31 March 2014 at 12:22

    @ London's Willy

    It is horrific child abuse. A baby is strapped down and about 50% of the skin is sliced from his penis. This permanently alters his body and the vast majority of the time is simply body modification surgery got no valid medical reason. 100% of the time this results in scarring, lost nerve endings, and drying of the skin of the glans from constant exposure to air. It can result in painful erections from overly tight skin, narrowing of the urethral opening, and sometimes far worse complications. In European countries 90-99% of men are intact, and do we see epidemics of STDs and infections? No, we do not. Does any major medical organization recommend routine infant circumcision due to the health benefits? No. If a boy does get an infection in Europe, how is it treated? Usually with antibiotics - not surgery. Circumcision is a brutal form of child abuse, save only in the VERY RARE instances where there is an actual medical need. The U.S. is one of only a few modern industrialized countries where it is done to a large percentage of boys. Just because something became popular doesn't make it right! It is time to end the cycle of abuse. Thankfully the U.S. rate has dropped from about 90% to about 55%. From the Hippocratic Oath, "First, do no harm." If you think cutting away healthy specialized tissue from the genitals of a helpless baby who cannot consent is not harm, then you need to look at the definition of "harm".

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  5. Atheist Shrugged31 March 2014 at 12:30

    Not all atheists are left wing!!

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  6. Reality is preferable to fantasy! Yes, unless you didn't get enough fairy tales growing up as a kid, or maybe too many and that is your mindset. Religious people seem to enjoy living in an airy-fairy kind of world full of naivete. Those who think they are religious, but don't attend church or pray on any regular basis are what I would say die -hards who suffer from ignorance and apathy. The religious seem to have an "I don't KNOW and I don't CARE !" attitude towards science education, logic, and critical thinking. " Show me proof of your evolution cause I didn't come from no monkey! You need faith to believe in god!" Contradiction to the extreme.

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  7. David,

    So what is your response to the 6 statements then?

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  8. Hi David,

    I think it is true to say that atheists do have a world view and a creed. It just isn't formulated by reference to 'a higher power', but themselves as individual free thinkers. My view on the 6 points you make is that there are indeed the usual criticisms one hears all the time about religion in general and or Judaism in particular. Are you asking us to give our counter critiques or something else? Your post doesn't make that clear.

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  9. Hannah,

    I'm probably looking to see if that is the reaction others get, or if it was just me, viz atheists claims about religion. Of course I disagree with them and have a coherent response to them. But it was more of a question 'has anyone else found this to be the case?'.

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  10. Atheist/London's Willy,

    No surprise you'd take that view. Why has this only come to the attention of the enlightened few in the past couple of years then? Jews have been circumcising their males for 4,000 years dating back to Abraham...

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  11. Hell David,

    Well to answer your question, it depends on who you meet in life. If you are talking about those atheists who think they are clever and have thought all of this through then yes this is their reaction. If you mean the general population (those who don't bother to go to any kind of religious service) then I'd say the average Briton likes the C of E to be there for 'cultural' reasons (education, marriage, funerals, baptisms eve). But do the practice Christianity day to day? No, I don't think they do. That doesn't mean to say they are automatically in the atheist camp, but I think this is how a minority of secular/atheist organisations get too much attention.

    The last 2 on your list are nothing to do with concern for babies or animals (or they wouldn't agree with abortion and they wouldn't eat animals), it is all to do with attacking religion, any religion is suspect you see. We- Judaism- is on a par with the Moonies as far as atheists are concerned. That's their problem, there isn't the inclination to appreciate different faiths and different believes between them. We're all one lump to be attacked

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  12. Hi David,

    'has anyone else found this to be the case?'.

    The short answer is yes, they DO seem to be stock answers. The only thing I'd say and Esther hints at this as well, is the way atheists lump all religions together, without bothering to look at the merits of each one. I think an ancient faith such as ours has far more credibility to it than the church of the flying spagetti monster. I'd also prefer to defend Judaism, though, than religion in general. (Although of course if atheists started to campaign against baptisms as that harmed children as well or the idea that religion generally was a parental abuse, I'd fight that too).

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  13. Samuel Kavanagh31 March 2014 at 17:16

    Atheists are as bad as the fundie morons. Everything half decent about religion gets thrown out!

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  14. George Monkhouse31 March 2014 at 17:52

    @the Kavanagh's

    You should realise that you are a guilty sinner under the condemnation of God's Law! Jesus is the Savior who died, was buried and resurrected three days later. Jesus shed His blood to take away your sins, despite being a hell deserving sinner!

    Just take God at His word and claim His salvation by faith. Believe, and you will be saved. No church, no lodge, nor any amount of good works can save you. Remember, God does the saving. All of it! Man's part is to believe. God does the saving. Being born-again is a supernatural miracle of God in response to a man's faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    God's simple plan of salvation is: You are a sinner. Therefore, unless you believe on Jesus Who died in your place, you will spend eternity in Hell. If you believe on Him as your crucified, buried, and risen Savior, you receive forgiveness for all of your sins and His gift of eternal salvation by faith.

    You say, "Surely, it cannot be that simple!" Yes, that simple. It is scriptural; it is God's plan. My friend, believe on Jesus and receive Him as Savior today.

    Ye MUST be born again! Amen and amen to that!

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  15. George,

    Thanks for the offer. Politely declined.

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  16. Lol .... still attracting the usual suspects of "born againers" and "Bible believing" fundamentalists, I see.

    The illiberal, liberal atheists are the most serious threat nowadays.

    One other *claim* they make is that because there are a range of religious faiths that contradict one other, and denominations within particular religions, none of them can be legitimate.

    Question: If you were given ten, or even ten times ten lottery tickets and told one contained the jackpot winning numbers, would you throw all ten away?

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  17. Kavanagh is a hyperbolic fool who never seems to be able to make the correct deductions when looking at the big picture.

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  18. Hi Anon,

    And what is the bigger picture??

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  19. Greetings Dodo,

    I think most come via the way of Cranmer. Doubt if any wacko evangelical reads rationalist Judaism. Of which I see there is a post of cranmer of about Noah - #too Jewish#, sounds like a Mel Brookes quip...

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