Just a thought...

whatsup?

This is an atheist forum but why on earth do ye guys spend the vast majority of ye're time talking about the Catholic Church and poking fun at it? Why have ye such an interest in something ye claim to be nothing more than fairy-tale? surly the concept of atheism has enough interesting debate to offer other than regular church bashing? I respect ye're beliefs of course, but this forum makes atheism look like a church hater's group rather than a viable alternative to organised religion.

FouxDaFaFa

Atheism isn't an alternative to organised religion in the way that you mean, it's just a lack of belief in God. I think what you're talking about is more "spirituality".

We spend a lot of time talking about the Catholic church because it's the majority religion in Ireland, wields a lot of power and has an effect on our lives even though we're atheists. (Limited schooling options, etc).

Pushtrak

Huh, yeah, damn us and only talking about Catholics...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055898112

whatsup?

Pushtrak wrote: »

Huh, yeah, damn us and only talking about Catholics...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055898112

the majority of topics here link in with the CC, i'm not say other stuff isn't talked about!

I don't think the Catholic Church really effects day to day life that much either...it does with education but in general it has become what it should be, a church, rather than dictatorship like it was years ago here. Ireland has become more like other European countries whereby religion is something engaged upon by those who want it rather than being forced upon everyone.

Improbable

whatsup? wrote: »

the majority of topics here link in with the CC, i'm not say other stuff isn't talked about!

I don't think the Catholic Church really effects day to day life that much either...it does with education but in general it has become what it should be, a church, rather than dictatorship like it was years ago here. Ireland has become more like other European countries whereby religion is something engaged upon by those who want it rather than being forced upon everyone.

How about abortion? How about same-sex marriage?

Rev Hellfire

whatsup? wrote: »

why on earth do ye guys spend the vast majority of ye're time talking about the Catholic Church and poking fun at it?

If their mammy's had made them go to Quaker meetings they'd be railing at those instead.

Dades

whatsup? wrote: »

the majority of topics here link in with the CC, i'm not say other stuff isn't talked about!

I don't think the Catholic Church really effects day to day life that much either...it does with education

Well education is a big one. I've two kids going to school in the next few years and I don't want them taught someone else's religion in a school I pay for. I really don't really care too much about what else the church gets up to.

Also, the RC is not a nice organisation. As "moral guardians" they leave a lot to be desired and there's a lot of pent up dislike. People like to rant and this is the place if you have a beef with the church. Yeah, we talk about lots of other stuff too but the fact that most of us are ex-Catholics and every day seems to bring a new story of the churches antics makes it a hard topic to avoid.

Rev Hellfire wrote: »

If their mammy's had made them go to Quaker meetings they'd be railing at those instead.

A disappointing simplification, tbh.

Kidchameleon

whatsup? wrote: »

This is an atheist forum but why on earth do ye guys spend the vast majority of ye're time talking about the Catholic Church and poking fun at it? Why have ye such an interest in something ye claim to be nothing more than fairy-tale? surly the concept of atheism has enough interesting debate to offer other than regular church bashing? I respect ye're beliefs of course, but this forum makes atheism look like a church hater's group rather than a viable alternative to organised religion.

OP its because most of the people in here are not actually atheists, they are "militant atheists". Two very different belief systems...

im invisible

Shur what else would an atheist club talk about, only religion? If they want to talk about something else, anything else, there is probably an other forum on boards for it

another question would be how active the active posters here are elsewhere on boards

Waking-Dreams

Just because we’re atheists doesn’t mean we now have no opinion on religious organisations. There’s much to be said for spending time in the company of like-minded people (and not all atheists are alike by the way) who perhaps have had similar experiences. Sharing stories of what it was like telling their families they no longer believe, discussing the role of religion in public affairs and, yes, posting some rather funny cartoons are just some of the many reasons why people contribute here.

Of course, many will see it all as just a “hater’s group” or “church bashing” but venting is a natural part of expressing one’s opinion, especially when it comes to one’s memories of their own childhood indoctrination or being told they were going to hell, etc. And it’s not like you’re going to find topics here calling on atheists to set fire to catholic churches.

iguana

whatsup? wrote: »

I don't think the Catholic Church really effects day to day life that much either...it does with education but in general it has become what it should be, a church, rather than dictatorship like it was years ago here. Ireland has become more like other European countries whereby religion is something engaged upon by those who want it rather than being forced upon everyone.

You think that? But you aren't free to marry the person of your choosing and share many of the rights my husband and I share. You won't be free to adopt as a couple or to have the same rights as a parent that I have.

As a woman I'm not free to have the same control over my body that women in every other Western country has. 20 years ago we had a referendum where the majority voted to prioritise the health, including the mental health of, of the mother over the foetus but that has still not been legislated for. Several years ago the European Courts ordered our government to get on with that legislation but they ignored it as has our subsequent government.

As a pregnant woman I don't get offered a nuchal fold test or a cvs as a normal part of my maternity care. If a different abnormality had shown at my 20 week scan, my hospital (along with all other state hospitals) would have been forced to wash their hands of me if I wanted to know about all options. I would have needed to seek medical help from a charity and then travel to a different country for treatment. Because of this state of affairs I, along with all other women at a similar stage of pregnancy this year, got to spend a month unable to avoid constant exposure to the worst that can happen in pregnancy because the women who that worst did happen to were forced to mount a huge national campaign for proper treatment. That's a pretty small one in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't feel like it when you are crying yourself to sleep the night before a scan because you know that if anything goes wrong the hell you are going to be faced with will be made unaccountably worse by the hurdles you'll have to jump even just to get proper medical counsel, never mind treatment.

If you are a woman with fertility problems so severe that you choose a gestational surrogate don't expect there to be a process by which you will be recognised as the biological mother of your child as most other countries now have. You won't be. Or if a couple is married but for whatever reason feel that they want to allow their child to be adopted, well it's quite literally only over their dead bodies that that can happen, as 'legitimate' children can not be adopted. For some reason no state hospital in this country allows parents, at their own expense, to harvest their newborn's stem cells, which is a common practice in much of the developed world. Supposedly because it's of no real benefit despite so much evidence to the contrary and despite the fact that it would cost the HSE nothing, so what do they care if it's of no benefit?

Then as a parent you are faced with the very real dilemma of whether or not to baptise because if you don't baptise you are playing a risky game with getting your child into a school. Have you the first clue about what it feels like to have a new person rely on you entirely and have to decide between that person's right to religious freedom or right to an education? And then if you get it into a school but if it's a religious school or a VEC you know that your child will be subjected to religious segregation on a daily basis?

Maybe when you are an adult teenager or in your early 20s the Church doesn't seem to exert much influence. You can live as you like, have all the casual sex you and any other willing partners want to have. You can dress as you want and nobody makes you go to Mass. So it can seem as if the Church doesn't exert much influence (unless of course you are a woman with an unwanted pregnancy, then you'll have a very sharp reminder).

But as you get older and find that if you want to marry at the weekend, as most people do, you can't do that unless it's a religious ceremony. As you find that your maternity care is still dictated by Church morals. As you have to struggle to be free to raise your children without Church influence. That as a homosexual your rights are still very much less than those of heterosexuals. Then you will know that how it seemed when you were younger was a complete illusion. Or maybe if you actually read the threads you are so quick to condemn you'd already have learned that when it comes to many of the really, really important things in life the Church is still very much in control and people are extremely justified in their unhappiness and anger at that situation.

Galvasean

Kidchameleon wrote: »

OP its because most of the people in here are not actually atheists, they are "militant atheists". Two very different belief systems...

You again?

Links234

Because the catholic church is the worlds biggest pedophile ring? It teaches that contraception and condoms are evil in places that are ravaged by aids? As well as the reasons others have given.

paddyzk

Because we can

mcmoustache

Kidchameleon wrote: »

OP its because most of the people in here are not actually atheists, they are "militant atheists". Two very different belief systems...

For a guy who's so anti-atheism, you sure like to spend a lot of energy taking swipes in here.

Sarky

I think he fancies one of us, but is just too shy to admit it.

endacl

Kidchameleon wrote: »

OP its because most of the people in here are not actually atheists, they are "militant atheists". Two very different belief systems...

I'm not militant.

I'm staunch.

:pac:

endacl

What's wrong with poking fun at the cat lick church, by the way?

Genuine question.

Pushtrak

endacl wrote: »

What's wrong with poking fun at the cat lick church, by the way?

Genuine question.

The worst thing that happened cats was having their name be such as it is.

Kidchameleon

I'm not taking a swipe at anyone, I feel there is a difference between an atheist and someone who gets a bone from church bashing

paddyzk

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I'm not taking a swipe at anyone, I feel there is a difference between an atheist and someone who gets a bone from church bashing

That is clearly taking a swipe.

Pushtrak

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I'm not taking a swipe at anyone, I feel there is a difference between an atheist and someone who gets a bone from church bashing

Of course there is (a difference), because the first is just a declaration on their position on the existence of a deity. The second one is about an attitude a person has towards the church. There are people who are religious in group 2, and there are atheists who aren't vocal against the church. Hopefully reading this thread will illustrate why people might be motivated to bash the church.

Galvasean

Sarky wrote: »

I think he fancies one of us, but is just too shy to admit it.

I'd say it's me.
I'm very handsome.

Kivaro

Kidchameleon wrote: »

OP its because most of the people in here are not actually atheists, they are "militant atheists". Two very different belief systems...

Zombrex

whatsup? wrote: »

This is an atheist forum but why on earth do ye guys spend the vast majority of ye're time talking about the Catholic Church and poking fun at it? Why have ye such an interest in something ye claim to be nothing more than fairy-tale?

You just answered your own question. Atheists don't believe God exists. Thus the Catholic church's claim to legitimacy is nonsense to an atheist. Not only do you have the dangerous environment of cover up and self protection in the Church that lead to among other things the sexual abuse scandals (which both believers and non-believers alike were horrified by), but to an atheist the whole set up is a sham, a con job, a system of self promotion and self aggrandizing. The most basic claims the Church make to moral authority over the rest of us, that being that they are God's representative on Earth, are based on a lie. God doesn't exist, so he cannot have representatives on Earth and those that claim to do so are enacting a fraud.

Are you seriously telling me that if you knew of an organisation that had wide spread influence over the society you lived in, influence that was based on false authority derived from a lie, influence that was routinely negative and damaging to society, you would not be bothered to discuss it at all?

Pull the other one. :rolleyes: If for example you knew your local bank was running a financial scam and tricking people into giving over their savings the question "Why do you talk about it since you know the scheme is a scam" would seem nonsensical. It is precisely because it is a scam you would discuss it.

Asking why do atheists, who know the Catholic church is a lie, discuss the Catholic church is equally nonsensical. We discuss it precisely because we know it is a lie.

Genghiz Cohen

OMG I'm getting trolled so hard in this thread, Rev, Kidchameleon & im invisible; masters of the art.
I think I need to sit down....

Kidchameleon

Sarky wrote: »

I think he fancies one of us, but is just too shy to admit it.

Post pics and ill rate

Dades

Play nice everyone and I won't have to put the mod hat on.

Kidchameleon - careful now you're pushing the limits.

18AD

whatsup? wrote: »

why on earth do ye guys spend the vast majority of ye're time talking about the Catholic Church and poking fun at it?

Why should we not poke fun at them?

Fun is pretty fun.

Kidchameleon

18AD wrote: »

Why should we not poke fun at them?

Fun is pretty fun.

Church bashing while at the same time promoting atheism can make all athiests look like church bashers to the average joe. You should leave your church bashing for another forum so as not to associate the two.

What has your hatred for the church got to do with a belief in god or lack thereof? Do you hate the church because of their beliefs or because of their actions? I'm sure their are plenty of Muslim pedophiles out there, Jewish ones, Buddhist ones and of course there are probably plenty of atheist pedophiles too.

endacl

Kidchameleon wrote: »

18AD wrote: »

Why should we not poke fun at them?

Fun is pretty fun.

What has your hatred for the church got to do with a belief in god or lack thereof? Do you hate the church because of their beliefs or because of their actions?

Actions. Vile and reprehensible actions. And a long established pattern of refusing to accept the consequences of those actions.