What's the point of this forum?

kelly1

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss lack of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of God from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

Having a bad day, kelly?

Nature Boy

Well you tell us, you created a thread here...

Fallen Seraph

I vote lock.

If you find something unedifying to read, then don't read it.

estebancambias

Good points Kelly. I agree with you. In those points(mainly first two) you outlined why I hate AtheiSM.

Atheists go out of their way to rebuff the existence of God/a God. If God is not there why bother discussing it...like you will not see an intellectual debating the existence of Santa Claus.

bleg

judging from recent threads, it's here for theists to seek answers from atheists

Zombrex

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss lack of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of God from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

It is an island of reason in a sea of nonsense

People are bombarded from all sides with wacky and illogical arguments about theism. For example, a "loving" Creator who occasionally genocides civilizations.

This forum is a balance to the madness.

(and yes I was just banned from the Christian forum for seemingly asking a question that has already been answered, but I'm not bitter)

MrJoeSoap

People, I ask you, what is the point of the other religion forums/fora (what is the plural of forum?)?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who don't believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of non-believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame Atheists for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of logic and reason from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

estebancambias

bleg wrote: »

judging from recent threads, it's here for theists to seek answers from atheists

That should be the only use, otherwise the forum is useless. I say this coming from an Atheist perspective. Surely they(Atheists) would be better off poking fun at dead people on AH.

MrJoeSoap

estebancambias wrote: »

That should be the only use, otherwise the forum is useless. I say this coming from an Atheist perspective. Surely they(Atheists) would be better off poking fun at dead people on AH.

Or handicapped people, like you did.

Fallen Seraph

estebancambias wrote: »

That should be the only use, otherwise the forum is useless. I say this coming from an Atheist perspective. Surely they(Atheists) would be better off poking fun at dead people on AH.

... what?

estebancambias

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Or handicapped people, like you did.

I never made 'fun' of handicapped people. I expressed my views on The Olympics for disabled people.

Did you like Southpark Mr.Joe Soap?

estebancambias

Fallen Seraph wrote: »

... what?

Oh sorry perhaps that was a bit unfair, how could I know that Atheists are the one insulting the girl who died. Well perhaps Atheists would be better off influencing their Atheist friends to stop shooting up schools.(see this as stupid as an Atheist saying Religion is the cause of all problems)

MrJoeSoap

estebancambias wrote: »

I never made 'fun' of handicapped people. I expressed my views on The Olympics for disabled people.

Don't make me dig up the thread, because I can make you a whole lot worse than any Christian should ever want themselves to look. That thread sickened me, and I'm not easily offended.

Did you like Southpark Mr.Joe Soap?

I actually don't really. I love Family Guy though, if that helps your point at all.

Fallen Seraph

estebancambias wrote: »

Oh sorry perhaps that was a bit unfair, how could I know that Atheists are the one insulting the girl who died. Well perhaps Atheists would be better off influencing their Atheist friends to stop shooting up schools.(see this as stupid as an Atheist saying Religion is the cause of all problems)

I'm clearly not as up to date on current affairs as you are.
Indeed, I'm probably glad I'm not.

I think it best to leave the rest of your post without rebuttal/reply.

estebancambias

I realise my thread came across as being in bad taste but this was not my aim. Firstly, I think it should be reffered to the Olympics, not special or anything like that. I would love to read that thread again...I never had the chance to explain myself.

Personally my Timothy McVeigh threads were disgusting.

estebancambias

Fallen Seraph wrote: »

I'm clearly not as up to date on current affairs as you are.
Indeed, I'm probably glad I'm not.

I think it best to leave the rest of your post without rebuttal/reply.

Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold
Eric-Pekka Auvinen
(All Atheist)

They are only three names, I could name more.

MrJoeSoap

estebancambias wrote: »

I realise my thread came across as being in bad taste but this was not my aim. Firstly, I think it should be reffered to the Olympics, not special or anything like that. I would love to read that thread again...I never had the chance to explain myself.

As I recall you said that you were refraining from giving your real opinion as that would result in a ban. If your real views were more extreme than what you said then you are a sick person, and so far from the teachings of your church you may as well forget it.

Fallen Seraph

I know this is just best left where it is. But I cannot help myself:



Apologies for fuelling the fire.

SubjectSean

kelly1 wrote: »

- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?

I would like to know what you think are the valid religions Kelly. Clearly Atheism isn't one of them though.

estebancambias

I agree with that, but Atheists are equally as dumb when suggesting that Religion is the cause of all problems. No people have freedom of decisions, it is our gift from God. We can do right or wrong.

Can I just say I think the Atheist forum is particulary fair..I could never exuse them of censorship.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I thought you loved timothy McVeigh?

estebancambias

( I never 'loved Mcveigh) I realised that he was dumb, but he was human, not a monster. In his own crazy way he thought doing this would make a point, obviously it did not. I think he was willing to sacrifice 'his name' for the sake of his people in the future. Che Guvara said that the blood of his people was needed for the benefit of the human race to prosper-something like that anyway.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

are you 12?

estebancambias

Actually no I am 18, what makes you come to such an absurb conclusion?


Let me ask you are you so narrow-minded that you would assume that posting about Tim McVeigh would mean I 'love' him.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

your youthful exuberance

bleg

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss lack of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of God from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

suppose these are the reasons why the forum exists, which i don't accept for a second, what's wrong with it? if enough people enjoy patting each other on the back to warrant a special section in ireland's largest message board why bother saying anything?

do you really think a "stupid religious person" (your words, not mine) could convince people as prejudiced as the people you describe in your post?

Bisar

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss lack of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of God from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

Personally I found this forum very useful when I started to have doubts about my religion. Some of the post here definitely helped me to figure out what I actually believe.

condra

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

Boards is a pretty big site. There is a forum for mustard, a forum for sleeping and drinking, and many others which may not be high on your agenda. It's boards.ie, not Kelly1.ie.

Does there have to be a "point" to every forum? I think most forums exist because there is enough demand for them to be there.

There are enough atheists and agnostics in Ireland to validate the existence of the A&A forum.

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?

No. That is obviously not the point of this forum, but sometimes some of us do like to "pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator", and that is our prerogatives.

- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?

I'm glad you agree that atheists have superior intelligence. Some people in here are smug, but it's part and parcel of being right, about everything.

- A place to discuss lack of belief in God?

Often, yes. No offence but, DUH!

why bother?

I can't speak for the group but here are my reasons:

Superstition has huge athority in the world and it affects our lives and the lives of people we care about. Many of us are bothered by the hyprocrisy of religion and the human rights violations perpetuated by religion, amongst other things.

- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?

No. That is obviously not the point of this forum and I doubt you will find many people here blaming all religions for all the ills of the world.

I think I know what you mean when you say "the valid ones", but wether or not any religion is valid is debatable.

- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?

No. That is obviously not the point of this forum.

Either way, in my opinion, a little cynicism goes a long way towards freeing ones mind from mental slavery.

- To banish all traces of God from the world?

No. That is obviously not the point of this forum.

There are no traces of God in the world because there is no such thing as God. There are however many superstitions which are detrimental to humankind.

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

Yes, it would appear so.

Happy Christmas.

Scofflaw

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

- To pour scorn on and poke fun at those who believe in a loving Creator?
- A place where smug people gather to clap each other on the back and wonder at the stupidity of believers while they sit back and marvel at their own superior intelligence?
- A place to discuss lack of belief in God (why bother)?
- To blame all religions including the valid ones for all the ills of the world?
- To build up one's cynicism to ever increasing heights?
- To banish all traces of God from the world?

Or is there something positive that I've failed to notice?

Perhaps it's simply somewhere where people with a similar cosmological viewpoint can discuss anything they like without having to cater overmuch to the sensibilities of those who consider that viewpoint utterly invalid as well as incomprehensible.

I appreciate that Catholics in particular don't have much of a history of tolerance for this kind of thing, but the Internet is a terribly secular place, so it looks like you'll just have to put up with it for the moment.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Dave!

This forum is where the revolution begins!

kelly1

Wicknight wrote: »

It is an island of reason in a sea of nonsense

People are bombarded from all sides with wacky and illogical arguments about theism. For example, a "loving" Creator who occasionally genocides civilizations.

This forum is a balance to the madness.

I seem to have forgotten to mention arrogance in my OP.

Rejecting God (your Creator) is actually the real madness.

kelly1

SubjectSean wrote: »

I would like to know what you think are the valid religions Kelly. Clearly Atheism isn't one of them though.

There is only one valid religion which is Christianity. Everything else is a lie. But it takes faith to see this and faith is a grace given by God to those who sincerely seek *His* (not our) truth. God's truth is absoulute truth and conflicting teachings among different religions show that most of us have got it wrong.

Fallen Seraph

kelly1 wrote: »

There is only one valid religion which is Christianity. Everything else is a lie. But it takes faith to see this and faith is a grace given by God to those who sincerely seek *His* (not our) truth. God's truth is absoulute truth and conflicting teachings among different religions show that most of us have got it wrong.

How can you expect others to assent to this position if god hasn't let us see this?

Like, how can you expect people to behave in a manner that your god won't let them? Isn't that sorta like telling the tides to turn around?

kelly1

bleg wrote: »

suppose these are the reasons why the forum exists, which i don't accept for a second, what's wrong with it? if enough people enjoy patting each other on the back to warrant a special section in ireland's largest message board why bother saying anything?

do you really think a "stupid religious person" (your words, not mine) could convince people as prejudiced as the people you describe in your post?

No I suppose not. Only God's grace can give us faith. My hope is that my rational arguments combined with God's grace will bring atheists back to God who is their source and destiny.

kelly1

Fallen Seraph wrote: »

How can you expect others to assent to this position if god hasn't let us see this?

Like, how can you expect people to behave in a manner that your god won't let them? Isn't that sorta like telling the tides to turn around?

You have rejected God and God respects your free will. Have you honestly sought God? Have you prayed for faith? Have you stamped out any feelings that God might exist, any inner subtle callings? Do you come to this forum to find support in your belief that God doesn't exist? Do you have *any* doubts about the non-existence of God and if so are you afraid to say so for fear of ridicule?

God bless,
Noel.

Scofflaw

kelly1 wrote: »

No I suppose not. Only God's grace can give us faith. My hope is that my rational arguments combined with God's grace will bring atheists back to God who is their source and destiny.

One would be interested to see either, of course.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Fallen Seraph

You have rejected God and God respects your free will. Have you honestly sought God? Have you prayed for faith? Have you stamped out any feelings that God might exist, any inner subtle callings? Do you come to this forum to find support in your belief that God doesn't exist? Do you have *any* doubts about the non-existence of God and if so are you afraid to say so for fear of ridicule?

You have rejected Zeus and Zeus respects your free will. Have you honestly sought Zeus? Have you prayed for faith in Zeus? Have you stamped out any feelings that Zeus might exist, any inner subtle callings? Do you come to this forum to find support in your belief that Zeus doesn't exist? Do you have *any* doubts about the non-existence of Zeus and if so are you afraid to say so for fear of ridicule?




My point is that you seem to have a rather small idea of the thoughts and thinkings of others. Maybe it isn't so obvious that your Yahweh is the one and only true god. It simply isn't possible to apply the criteria that you wish applied to your god to all the other world religions. There isn't enough time. Indeed, I'd hazard the guess that you've not applied the same criteria to Zeus and Thor and Buddha because you know you're right. How convenient.

Zombrex

kelly1 wrote: »

My hope is that my rational arguments combined with God's grace will bring atheists back to God who is their source and destiny.

"rational arguments"

Dades

kelly1 wrote: »

There is only one valid religion which is Christianity. Everything else is a lie.

Then I assume you have posted a similar question to your OP in the Islam, Paganism, and Buddhism? Or are we first in line for the truth?

kelly1 wrote: »

You have rejected God and God respects your free will. Have you honestly sought God? Have you prayed for faith? Have you stamped out any feelings that God might exist, any inner subtle callings?

Kelly, many of us are ex-Catholics. I had 12 great years of catholic schooling. We're all old enough now to have a valid belief. Catholicism works for you, but is simply not an option to someone who does not believe in the existence of a god.

kelly1 wrote: »

Do you come to this forum to find support in your belief that God doesn't exist? Do you have *any* doubts about the non-existence of God and if so are you afraid to say so for fear of ridicule?

Maybe people do come here to find support for their non-belief. Thanks in no small part to religious people with an attitude like yours, it's usually frowned upon to have the audacity to not believe in God in polite society. Maybe this forum is the catacombs for non-believers.

kelly1

kelly1 wrote: »

You have rejected God and God respects your free will. Have you honestly sought God? Have you prayed for faith? Have you stamped out any feelings that God might exist, any inner subtle callings? Do you come to this forum to find support in your belief that God doesn't exist? Do you have *any* doubts about the non-existence of God and if so are you afraid to say so for fear of ridicule?

I never realised how incomprehensible you must find non-belief until this post.
You have a lot of "inner subtle callings" I suppose, and so you attribute them to your god.
People choose not to believe or worship your god because they choose to, not because of "fear of ridicule" or because they're secretly denying something inside. Personally I would feel that you're the more unhappy one here, tbh.

And we don't ridicule people for believing in god, we ridicule their arguments when they insist the rest of us should too.

dades wrote:

Then I assume you have posted a similar question to your OP in the Islam, Paganism, and Buddhism?

heh, I would liketo see how long he lasts telling the Islam forum they're all living a lie

toiletduck

Love the sig man

It's almost like Noel is a parody of himself. I quite like this forum and it's pretty popular. Asking what's the point of it seems to stem from you not liking the subject matter (Atheism), that's not really 'on'. It'd be like me starting a similar thread in Body Modification since I don't think much of tattoo's!

bogwalrus

Can i be so bold to say that all Strong christian believers (kelly1) have suffered some serious psychological trauma in their early life to create such an irrational fixation to their religious beliefs at a level to which they cant even make proper arguements for their acusations. Sometimes it is comforting to be irrational i suppose.....

lostexpectation

90% of schools are church run, reason enough to agitate via atheist boards...

Dades

bogwalrus wrote: »

Can i be so bold to say that all Strong christian believers (kelly1) have suffered some serious psychological trauma in their early life to create such an irrational fixation to their religious beliefs at a level to which they cant even make proper arguements for their acusations. Sometimes it is comforting to be irrational i suppose.....

You can be so bold as to say it - but don't expect anyone to agree with you.
That is a huge assumption and not one I'd expect most people here would subscribe to.

In fact it's posts like that, that prompt believers like Kelly to post what he did.

Rev Hellfire

Dades wrote: »

Then I assume you have posted a similar question to your OP in the Islam, Paganism, and Buddhism? Or are we first in line for the truth?

I suspect that he posted here first for the very reason that atheists are allowed openly question the Christian faith in the Christian forum, which is to the credit of both forums. As for the Buddhism forum well thats pretty much a spiritual brother to this one since most people there seem to have a atheist (and to a lesser degree agnostic) viewpoint.

stereoroid

kelly1 wrote: »

People, I ask you, what is the point of the A&A forum?

Dear kelly1,I have a suggestion:
- go and read the start of the sticky Charter thread on the Christianity forum.
- imagine what would happen if I started a thread in the Christianity forum named "What is the point of this forum?", and listed what I thought was wrong with it
- ask yourself: why do you think it's acceptable to say what you're saying, in this forum?
- ask yourself: why is this thread still open?

Bonus assignment: search the Christianity forum for threads where Atheists have barged in and told you "you're wrong", and compare the numbers to the threads in this forum, telling us "we're wrong".

Myksyk

Religion is undeniably important. Not only can it impact dramatically on the lives of individuals, it has incalculable implications for almost every human institution ... family, education, politics, business, social policy, societal structures, military, science, medicine etc etc.

It is also intrinsically questionable and its implications arguably range from positive through harmless to devastatingly negative. A substantial number of people believe it to be one of the great follies of humankind and are interested in discussing the reasons it maintains its central role in individual life and in society. There are innumerable interesting discussions to be had about belief and non-belief, their implications and import for the present and the future. It almost beggars belief that you would not see why people would want to have these discussions, unless you feel that anyone who doesn't share your world view should just shut up and go away.

5uspect

Dades wrote:

Then I assume you have posted a similar question to your OP in the Islam, Paganism, and Buddhism? Or are we first in line for the truth?

Well at least they believe in something? They only need realignment to the true god. Reminds me of Ann Coulters comments on perfecting Jews...

bluewolf wrote: »

I never realised how incomprehensible you must find non-belief until this post.

Thats a very good point and may provide some rationale for Wicknights banning next door.

Noel, do you think people question the existence of gods simply to be impetulant? Do you think we secretly all know Yahweh really exists and we're just being silly cos we're such smug assholes?

stevejazzx

Wicknight wrote: »

(and yes I was just banned from the Christian forum for seemingly asking a question that has already been answered, but I'm not bitter)

Let me guess...Brian Calgary on another bender is he..?:)

Dades

Myksyk wrote: »

Religion is undeniably important. Not only can it impact dramatically on the lives of individuals, it has incalculable implications for almost every human institution ... family, education, politics, business, social policy, societal structures, military, science, medicine etc etc.

It is also intrinsically questionable and its implications arguably range from positive through harmless to devastatingly negative. A substantial number of people believe it to be one of the great follies of humankind and are interested in discussing the reasons it maintains its central role in individual life and in society. There are innumerable interesting discussions to be had about belief and non-belief, their implications and import for the present and the future. It almost beggars belief that you would not see why people would want to have these discussions, unless you feel that anyone who doesn't share your world view should just shut up and go away.

^^ What Myksyk said ^^
The real answer to the OPs question - excellently put!

Kelly, if you only answer one more post in this thread, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.