Atheism - Defined `~

I don't believe in Santa. what name do you give to me?

Mark Nobles...

"Grownup"

I don't have size 4 feet, what's that called?

Mark Nobles...

uh, "Grownup"?

I don't drive either, am I a "non-driven"?

Mark Nobles...

"Pedestrian"

Oh and I don't believe in God - shall we make up a name for that?

Craig Chilton -- Get us the hell OUT of Iraq -- NOW!!!...

GOOD point!

The bottom line is that somewhere along the line, some
collection of fools decided that a person's religious beliefs
(or lack thereof ) somehow had some sort of relevance.

Mark Nobles...

That was at the very beginning of the Christian church.

The Lone Harangeur...

And some with power want it to be revived today.

Mostly, *that* boils down to sheer busybodyism.

Or *would*, except for one thing.

All too often, a person's religious beliefs seem to dictate
the degree to which the person, him/herself, is an obnoxious
and pushy busybody.

Usually, such people are the *extremists* found within
given religious groups.

Mark Nobles...

No, they aren't. Often they are the very most mainstream within the
given group. Such as the current Pope.

Take this, from the current Catholic Encyclopedia:
Toleration came in only when faith went out; lenient measures were
resorted to only where the power to apply more severe measures was
wanting.
(very last paragraph on the page.)

Thus -- IF ONLY the various religious groups had never
HAD obnoxious/demanding/busybodyish *extremists* within
them and polluting them, then they just MIGHT have gone
through history as having always been no more relevant in
terms of grouping people as those top three examples you
just gave.

SO -- **IF ONLY** that could have been the case!!

It would have saved the world millions of lives, and incom-
prehensible amounts of unnecessary grief!

Mark Nobles...

Yep. But if the Christians had their way, they'd be burning heretics in
the town squares even now.

The Lone Harangeur...

Isn't that about what Pat Robertson preaches these days? Thank God most
people recognize paranoia and senility when they see it these days. There
are too many shut-in older folks with means whose only window on the world
is this man. That is a truly scary thought.

Sparky Spartacus...

You say that like it's a bad thing, mark. ;)

-- Craig Chilton

Stu Gotz...

Well, OK then. But you're still a butthead.