Atheist Contributions to a more Peaceful, Cultured Society

90 CommentsAtheist Tuesday

Okay. Maybe I’ve been a little harsh on the atheists who visit here; I haven’t given them enough credit. I’ve focused on the negative maybe a little too much and haven’t given kudos to the positive achievements that radical unbelievers have brought to our society. Well then, in the spirit of mea culpa, actually, in the spirit of mea maxima culpa, let me report to you the latest developments in positive atheism.

A wonderfully giving group of students at the University of Texas at San Antonio handed out free magazines to fellow collegians on campus! That’s right. Members of the Atheist Agenda offered free pornographic publications to anyone who turned in their Bible. Their bright red signs covered in large black letters said: “FREE PORN” and “SMUT FOR SMUT. “We want to spread atheism and bring it more to the spotlight. We offer another alternative to people who might not fit in anywhere else,” explained Kyle Bush, the group’s president.

A big hand to the atheist’s contribution to literacy! Yay! (Read more here.)

In other news, Florida atheists fought against superstition by washing away a blessing placed upon a local highway by a religious group. According to Fox News:

Armed with brooms, mops and “unholy water,” the atheists gathered Saturday to symbolically clean up holy oil that Polk Under Prayer put down on Highway 98 near the Pasco-Polk county line last year, Bay News 9 reported.

“We come in peace,” Humanists of Florida director Mark Palmer announced before he and members of other atheist organizations launched their cleanup. “Now that’s normally what aliens say when they visit a new planet, but we’re not aliens, we’re atheists!”

Thank you atheists for fighting the good fight and protecting us from backwoods rituals!

And according to WORLD on Campus the Pope of atheism himself, Richard Dawkins, promoted open dialogue between believers and unbelievers at the Reason Rally several weeks ago by encouraging atheists and agnostics to “ridicule and show contempt” for the religious and their doctrines. The example he used was the Roman Catholic belief that the bread and wine of communion turns into the actual body and blood of Christ. He encouraged atheists to mock and ridicule the religious in public.

Yesiree… the world is indeed a better place when atheists contribute their ideas of peace and culture to a society.

Please, Christians, never stop preaching the Gospel! Never!

Comments (90)

  1. Nohm

    Reply

    “the Pope of atheism himself, Richard Dawkins”

    Sigh.

    Shakes head.

    Shrugs.

    Richard Dawkins is not the pope of atheism; there is no such thing as a “pope of atheism”.

    • Schmader

      Reply

      I agree. Richard Dawkins is not the pope of atheism. He is the more like the Moses of atheism. Instead of leading his people through the Red Sea he will lead his people through the Dead Sea metaphorically. Sadly, Dawkins is also leading his people, the atheists, to their promised land, which is Hell.

      Please repent and believe the Gospel atheists before it is too late for you.

      • perdita

        Schmader, one of the problems for your side is that you guys are consistently wrong about something we can all verify. That erodes your credibility. Why should I believe you on things I can’t verify when you misunderstand the things I can verify?

        So, when you say, “repent and believe,” I think, “yeah that’s from the guy who calls Dawkins the Moses of atheism. lol.”

    • Quasar

      Reply

      I know what you mean, I think I’m getting sunburn here.

      I am amused that the worst examples of atheists Steve can find in the modern world are students handing out free porn, a bunch of highway cleaners, and Dawkins repeating what he’s been saying for years: that we aught to mock religon. I don’t even need to compare that to modern conservative christianity’s contributions to income inequality, bigotry and the hatred of science to make it seem utterly trivial.

      • Ryk

        LoL

        Yeah that is amusing, we naughty atheists who like porn when we are in college and have opinions are so immoral compared to true Christians who murder doctors, embezzle money…

        I do think the porn giveaway and the highway cleaning are silly. The porn giveaway is funny and does make a point but it really isn’t very productive. The highway cleaning is just dumb, it implies that there was something to the blessing that needed to be washed off. I know the people involved didn’t mean it that way and were just trying to make a point but in this case I think it backfired.

        That being said niether of these things is bad. Whether I like it or not or appreciate it, these demonstrations harmed no one. So why the fuss It is not like they were forcing anything on anyone. I don’t understand the skewed priorities religious people have in life.

  3. vintango2k

    Reply

    And really, you couldn’t have said anything about Sagan or Hawking? Instead its a post like this? Nice one.

  4. Really?

    Reply

    Maybe I shall mention the largest consumers (5.47 subscribers per 1000 broadband subscribers) happen to come from a state in which 82% of the residents profess to be Christians. So yes atheists may like porn, but it seems Christians like it a little more.

    • Quasar

      Reply

      Nah, it’s just that the Evil Atheist Consipricy pays to maintain free sites that don’t need a subscription for it’s members, simply to skew the statistics and incriminate christians.

      700 years in the past, William of Ockham is crying right now and he doesn’t know why.

      • carl

        I knew it! Jesse The Body Ventura, Brad Metzger and that anceint alien due aint got nothing on you Quasar.

        Evil Atheist Conspiracy must be stopped!

        🙂

  5. Ryk

    Reply

    Well I am no real fan of porn myself, but to be fair it is far less destructive to society than the Bible.

  6. BathTub

    Reply

    “I try hard NOT to insult atheists” – Steve Sanchez

    Just so we are keeping track.

    Steve has a huge backlog of excellent questions that we submitted and he praised while collecting up.

    Plus of course the extra question from me he was going to pretend to answer 2 weeks ago.

    Instead of answering those excellent questions we get… Atheists are better liars, Atheists are psycopaths, Athiests are fools, and now Athiests don’t contribute to a better society. Presenting a joke as serious, quote-mining Dawkins…

    It shouldn’t be any surprise that Steve is still too scared to answer the question “How effective is your evangelism at bringing the lost to Christ”

    • BathTub

      Reply

      Probably not exactly the right word to use, but here are Dawkins words with a bit more context

      “By the way, when we went on to ask a specific question of these, over 54%, “What do you do when you’re faced with a moral dilemma? Where do you turn? Only 10% turned to their religion when they want to solve their moral question. Only 10%! The majority of them said, “I turn to my innate sense of goodness.” The next most popular answer was, “I turn for advice to relatives and friends.” So, when I meet somebody who claims to be religious, my first impulse is, “I don’t believe you.” I don’t believe you until you tell me, do you really believe, for example, if they say they are Catholic, “Do you really believe that when a priest blesses a wafter, it turns into the body of Christ? Are you seriously telling me you believe that?!” Are you seriously saying that wine turns into blood? Mock them. Ridicule them. In public. Don’t fall for the convention that we’re all too polite to talk about religion. Religion is not off the table. Religion is not off limits. Religion makes specific claims about the universe that need to be challenged and, if necessary, need to be ridiculed with contempt.”

    • Steve Sanchez

      Reply

      Next week. Promise. I can’t wait to answer that question. really. Other things kept coming up. I will answer: “How effective is your evangelism at bringing the lost to Christ”

      • BathTub

        A sincere, actual answer to the question? I mean you didn’t even try with the lying one.

  7. vintango2k

    Reply

    I think this post could raise the topic of cherry picking…

    Given atheists or non-religious contributors to society in the academic community to choose from Steve instead chose to bring up the actions of college students. I know following Ray’s example is tempting Steve and going after college students as they’re easier prey, but why not mention people in the scientific community that are adults and not borderline children who have just reached the cusp of adulthood and are trying to figure out the world around them.

    I’m suddenly reminded of an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer was in the same class of karate with a bunch of kids and kept winning every fight he got in for some reason…

  8. Garrett

    Reply

    Aw Steve, it’s nice that you can bridge the gap and make some concessions every now and then.

  9. perdita

    Reply

    Honestly, it seems that those “religious” people that send death threats to teenagers, beat their children with plumbing supply line, and endorse hatred for those that believe differently then they do are much worse than a handful of atheists.

    First, there’s more of them. Second, they do much more damage to other people. (Due to my strange atheist-lack-of-morality, I consider killing people worse than non-exploitive porn.)

  10. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Is it copyrighted? Sorry about that. I’m using it for information purposes only. Is that okay Jim? I’ll remove it until I get your permission. Thanks.

  11. Whateverman

    Reply

    For every news story you might find of atheists doing something silly/stupid in the name of atheism, I can find ten stories of Christians behaving similarly in the name of their religion.

    Your post radiates the animosity you feel towards the people who reveal the faults in your world view here, Steve.

      • Whateverman

        Actually, just reporting the latest news

        The latest news is about atheists? Really?

        My point still stands. I can find ten stories making your worldview look bad for every one you find that puts atheists in a bad light. Is this significant, yes or no?

      • Steve Sanchez

        Significant? No. Since this is my blog, I decide how to portray atheists. I’m sure there are some real nice ones. But without a fear of God, they are capable of anything. Same goes for Christians: W/o a fear of God, anything is possible.

      • theB1ackSwan

        So why no word on the death threat of Jessica Alquist?

      • Whateverman

        Significant? No

        If the fact that I can find ten “bad christians” stories to your one “bad atheists” story isn’t significant, then why did you write this post? You’ve all but exclaimed it meant nothing..

      • Schmader

        Older male atheists are obsessed, obsessed, with Jessica Alquist. Madalyn Murray O’Hair has done a 1,000 times more for the atheist cause/religion than young Miss Alquist but you don’t see atheist men talking about her and posting pictures of O’Hair on their websites. Why? Has anyone seen photos of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, or other public atheists, yeeeesh! Atheists I understand that you want to put a fresh face on atheism but, really?

        Last word on Jessica Alquist. Her father is the real atheist activist. He just used his daughter to further his agenda, the atheist agenda.

        For those who don’t know who Madalyn Murray O’Hair

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madalyn_Murray_O'Hair

      • Schmader

        Jim,

        You are libeling me by saying that I am libeling.

        And the name is Schmader, please spell it correctly. It is an ancient German surname which I think means “one who schmades”

      • perdita

        Don’t know.

        Do you care less about Schmader then you do about us? Unlike us, he/she seems to actually believe there’s a God and seems to want to be part of the elect.

        What will happen on that day when the tares are separated from the wheat and the sheep are gathered up and Schmader finds himself with the goats? Will you have an excuse? Will you have to say, “I saw this brother/sister going down the wrong path and did nothing. I was far too busy with the lost-cause atheists.”?

      • Ryk

        Schmaeder

        I actually had not seen Jessica Alquist picture until now, I had just read about her being threatened and harrased by Christians. I take it you think atheist men sympathize with her because she is attractive.

        Well in the first place this says more about you than anyone you are accusing. Maybe you might want to consider why lusting after an underage girl is the first thing that comes to mind for you.

        She is cute I admit too young of course but cute, Seems to be a trend among the current generation of young atheist women. As you seem to consider young women as objects for lust you should check out Lacy Green, and Angry Little Girl, also cute, also they are over 18, hope that doesn’t ruin it for you.

        Now as for myself I am a married man and have no need to lust after women of any age. I can happily notice that a young woman is pretty but it seems odd and a bit dismissive of my wife to consider lusting after another woman. My wife actually does not care about that, she sees checking out women as “ttypical guy behavior” and has the kind of self esteem to not worry about it. I however am a focused sort of dude and have not lusted after another woman since I got with my wife.

      • Whateverman

        Steve Sanchez wrote the following:

        Since this is my blog, I decide how to portray atheists.

        If you’re a sincere Christian, should it be God who makes the decision?

      • Ryk

        Jim love that “Let me Google that for you” link. Where do you find that?

        Never mind I just Googled it.

      • BathTub

        I posted about the Death Threats to Jessica at the time they happened, Steve deleted the post, so he’s being very deceptive by pretending to have not heard of them or her before.

      • BathTub

        What “huh?” Exactly what I said. I’ve posted about the threats to Jessica before and you deleted it. The post was basically “How about for Atheist Tuesday you discuss the threats against Jessica”

    • Schmader

      Reply

      False converts, liberal brethren, false brethren and Christians-in-name-only (the tares) give real Christians like Steve Sanchez (the wheat) a bad name.

      • Nohm

        I judge individuals; I don’t judge them by any group that they belong to, and I don’t judge groups by specific individuals who belong to those groups.

        So, in short, only Steve gives himself a “name” (good OR bad), in my eyes.

      • perdita

        Schmader, how do you know Steve is the wheat? How is this determined? Interesting that Steve doesn’t seem to be as sure about your status as you are about his.

  12. Donald "The Dog" Allen

    Reply

    I like how Jim Driver is complaining about Steve using his photo when Jim uses photos from numerous sources and posts them to wearesmrt. Wearesmrt also has used pictures of Steve on their website. In fact wearesmrt uses a lot of images that I’m sure none of them has gotten permission to use.

    Steve you are completely in the right. Jim is just trying to intimidate you into not reporting about atheists. Steve your use of Jim’s photo falls under “fair use”.

    • Steve Sanchez

      Reply

      No problem, Donald. If Jim wants permission before I post a picture of him giving the finger to Living Waters Headquarters, that’s his right. So until I get the permission, I will just delete it from the post. How about it, Jim? Shall i re=post the picture? (BTW, it was sent to me via email so I had no idea that it was “owned.”

      All my pics can be used for free!

    • Beth Renee

      Reply

      JimDicer posted a “born copyrighted” photo of Tony Miano in the wearesmrt chat room a day ago.

      If posting copyrighted photos is a crime then wearesmrt should start taking donations for a legal fund. Just saying.

      The only original content that I saw on wearesmrt is a bunch of complaining. Everything else is cut and copied from sources that are not even credited. Tsk tsk.

      I am reminded of an old country western song about a thief who complains about his house getting broken into while he was out breaking into his neighbor’s house. Sometimes I have to laugh when I see this sort of behavior.

  13. Nameless Cynic

    Reply

    Mostly right. Jefferson was a deist, though. Wildly opposed to churches gaining secular power, because of the abuses he saw, but not an atheist.

    Details.

  14. Steve L.

    Reply

    Jim:
    You went to some “nut case atheist site” and copied all the trash that was written there and then you expect us to believe “your facts!” Pure conjecture at best!!
    Wise up!

  16. Patrick L.

    Reply

    Edison didn’t invent the light bulb. He stole a lot of his inventions from other people. FYI. Leave it to a deist to steal.

    To Steve L.
    The writers of the bible copied a lot of trash from other sources as well and you expect “us” to believe your facts?

    • Steve L.

      Reply

      Hey Jim, give me a citation on this one will ya! LOL
      “Turn off your GPS. It is dependent on the Theory of Relativity. Yup Einstein was likely an atheist too.”

      Hey Patrick:
      Please give me some evidence to prove your spurious point!
      “The writers of the bible copied a lot of trash from other sources as well and you expect “us” to believe your facts?”

      2 Peter 1:21 works best for me! Why? ‘Cause it’s true!

    • Ryk

      Reply

      @Steve L

      The flood account in the Epic of Gilgamesh which predates the Noah story is one good example… of course this may well be just because Judaism evolved from the same original religion as the Babylonian pantheon.

      Also the character of Jesus seems to borrow heavily from Mithras which was fairly contemporary to the time of the Christ account and predates the writings of the Gospel.

      Even the Christian God is an evolution of the Canaanite Yah, brother of Baahl and son of the creator El.

      Now if you want citations just use Google on this there are many and they often conflict. The reason I don’t place them here is because I am not going to assert these examples as fact, they are likely based on the historical record but there are other explanations. I just want to put it out there in case it might inspire someone to do a little research.

  17. Ryk

    Reply

    Steve your claim that without fear if God anything is possible is a sham. Thw “fear of God; also makes atrocities possible….look at all your murdering, terroristic, child raping..fellow theists. Whether they share your particular brand if religion or whether you calk them “true Christians” they do fear God as you put it.

    Oh and yes on your blog you may portray atheizts in a dishonest fashion if you wish. You could do the same about Jews, blacks, gays or whatever…free country and all…it does make you a bigot though.

    • Steve Sanchez

      Reply

      I’m sure I could portray anyone in a negative light, but these articles, and Tuesdays specifically at this blog, are dedicated to atheists. It seems they put themselves in their own bad light because they refuse the Light.

      • vintango2k

        And to think I used to be a theist when I first found this site, boy how things have changed…. its amazing how you tend to stop believing stuff like this when the side I thought I was on doesn’t have any real answers of substance. =(

      • Ryk

        Good point Steve

        Theists, atheists, true Christians, false converts, Muslims, Mormons, Pastafarians, all end up with the same eternal fate.

        Dying

      • carl

        Steve Sanchez says: Theist or atheist equals same eternal destination.

        I agree with Steve. A theist is just someone who believes in a deity or deities. All Christians are theists but not all theists are Christian.

      • Ryk

        Carl

        Eternity huh?

        OK after death there will be some rotting but that will be just an eyeblink in eternity, then a whole lot of recycling of molecules, then eventually, still only after an eyeblink in eternity the sun will go nova and our component atoms, whatever they had been incorporated into will be blasted apart. After that is a bit tougher, eventually after something slightly longer than an eyeblink the universe will suffer either “heat death” and dissipate into a quantum vaccum or “a big crush” and condense into a quantum singularity….kind of depends on how gravity works in absolute situations.

        Now after that I can’t even guess.

        Hardly matters to any person though, we will all be dead.

  19. perdita

    Reply

    Schmader, are insults and insinuations gifts of the spirit? Steve, Jessica is the teen I was talking about getting death threats. She’s seen a lot of Christian love recently. Schmader’s showing some of that Christian love by claiming she was a pawn and insinuating that the only reason male atheists support her is lust.

    • Donald "The Dog" Allen

      Reply

      I’m not trying to answer for Schmader but who said anything about lust?

      • perdita

        Keep up, Donald, that’s why it’s an insinuation.

        Schmader states that “older male atheists” are obsessed with Alquist and then goes on about her looks as compared to O’Hair – as if only ‘older male atheists’ are concerned and admire how she handled this and that the only thing women have of value is their looks. She/he (okay, with that kind of misogyny, odds are pretty good that this is a guy) then claims she’s only a puppet. Does he think all pretty 17 year-old girls are brainless puppets or only those that think differently than him?

      • Schmader

        Donald,

        I think the atheists typically read way too much into everything. I like how they misinterpret and skew every comment they don’t agree with and turn it into something that it isn’t.

      • perdita

        Jessica Alquist is a 17 year old atheist activist who’s image has become a popular screen saver amongst atheist men everywhere.

        Older male atheists are obsessed, obsessed, with Jessica Alquist.

        Has anyone seen photos of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, or other public atheists, yeeeesh!

        I like how they misinterpret and skew every comment they don’t agree with and turn it into something that it isn’t.

        I guess I missed your in-depth discussion on the Establishment Clause the subsequent rea

      • perdita

        Jessica Alquist is a 17 year old atheist activist who’s image has become a popular screen saver amongst atheist men everywhere.

        Older male atheists are obsessed, obsessed, with Jessica Alquist.

        Has anyone seen photos of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, or other public atheists, yeeeesh!

        I like how they misinterpret and skew every comment they don’t agree with and turn it into something that it isn’t.

        Ok. So even though you went on about her looks, how older male atheists are obsessed with her, and how she must be every atheist guy’s screen saver, you really weren’t talking about her looks and saying she’s only notable for her looks and when you went on about screen savers for male atheists, you meant that in the purist way possible.

        Hint: if you actually didn’t mean it this way (which isn’t likely) and you sincerely (ha!) believe we’re getting your comments all wrong, then maybe the problem is with how you communicate.

  20. carl

    Reply

    I don’t know if this is true but I see a coincidence. I read the wiki articles posted above. Madalyn Murray O’Hair used her son William to sue the Baltimore City Public School System. Could Jessica Ahlquist’s father have done the same thing? I think it is plausible.

    Parents exploit their children all of the time.

    • perdita

      Reply

      Do you think that’s what happens when True Christians sue school boards about prayer and proselytizing? That it comes from the parents and not the students?

  21. Whateverman

    Reply

    Really, if you want all these atheists to go away, there’s only one thing you need to do, Mr Sanchez / Schmader / Steve L / etc:

    Stop being dishonest here

    That’s it. Really. We’ll all go away if you stop pretending to know things you don’t.

    If you want to engage skeptics, start being more honest. Start explaining that your BELIEFS involve the Bible, and that you think you know what God intends for us human beings.

    It really is that simple.

  22. Ryk

    Reply

    Hmmmm anything I do wrong.

    Yeah I suppose, I can be lazy sometimes, I eat things that are just terrible for me, I often prioritize fun higher than more important things, I can be short tempered, I gamble from time to time. I have been known to get a little too drunk on occasion. I sometimes mock people. I am a bit arrogant. I think that covers it but there are probably more.

    I am not however unfaithful to my wife in thought or deed, I do not lie, I have never hated anyone and I have not stolen anything since middle school.

    • Steve L.

      Reply

      Ryk wrote:
      “I have not stolen anything since middle school.”

      You start your reply with a list of sins that would choke a horse and then you expect me to believe the above quote? Oh, by the way Jim, Einstein was “likely” an atheist! Nothing concrete in that statement; apology denied!!!

    • theB1ackSwan

      Reply

      Steve L, your entire life is dictated by probability. To ask for absolutes in every single action related to you, even separated by the nth degree, is to beg for death.

  23. Nameless Cynic

    Reply

    Really, Steve? I give you the unaltered word of the Bible, and you dismiss it? You can’t support your own holy books, so you block my comment?

    Are you that dishonest?

    • theB1ackSwan

      Reply

      I was blocked for calling out Schmader on trying to pin pedophilia on people who support Jessica Alquist. Honesty isn’t exactly Steve’s or Schmader’s strongsuit.

    • BathTub

      Reply

      Remember Steve doesn’t censor, he made a whole blog post on it! He only removes things he finds sacred to him..

  24. Ryk

    Reply

    Steve L

    Why would you have any cause to doubt. I have no vause to lie about it.

    Also sins are just something your religion made up, they don’t mean anything to me. My moral code is based on whether my actions harm others. I follow it perfectly. I don’t care if my actions are consideref sins by your religion.

    The things I do wrong are bot hurtful to others, I call them wrong because they are character flaws.I have chosen to work on….not because they are immoral.

  25. Pathetic Humans

    Reply

    Pitiful beings… You really think that the world is going to sit around and wait on you? Wake up Christians– the more we evolve, learn and discover– the more Religion will be left in the dust.

    Absolutely pathetic.

    You wouldn’t even be typing this information on a computer that could then send the information out to your nincompoops if not for Atheists…

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