John Waters attacks atheist.ie as 'puerile reactionaries'

[The OD]

Do you think in some way that you are intellectually superior to the people who are currently worshipping a tree in Limerick? If so, why?

And do you think it is wrong to make fun of these people?

In this particular case, I am intellectually superior to people who identify themselves as being Christians and hold the Bible to be their definitive souce of their belief structure who then go and break a fundamental law of their faith(and lets be honest, hardly an obscure legalistic observance) by bowing down to idols. For this reason, I believe myself to be intellectually superior because I am not the one who obviously have a tenuous grip of my beliefs.

The lesson of Dagon and idolatry are lost, it with seem on these particular Catholics.

In light of this, I do not feel it is wrong to make fun of these people nor anyone who sees Mohammed in a potato or even Elvis is a lettuce head.

[markeys]

Do you think that all beliefs are equal? Is my belief that the sun will rise tomorrow, informed as it is by millions of years of evidence, equal to the crazy man's belief that it will not?

Yes. In the absence of proof, of course all beliefs are equally valid.

If I tell you A = B, and you tell me A != B , in the absence of proof which of us is correct? Neither. We're both going to operate on belief if we pick either.
You're sun example I reject as its bears no relation to the God question.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

markeys

You have read my previous statement that I can neither prove Thor does exist or does not, correct? Can you prove either case? If so, rush off to the printers, write it all down and watch the money flow in. You're name will go down alongside the likes of Einstein, God, Thor - you get the idea.

You continue to ignore the test of your see-saw put to you by me and by tmesis and another poster. If you think just asserting over and over again that your theory works without testing it even you should see the problem with that.

Here again is the test:

markeys,

The universe was created by an old guy with a beard in a natty red suit with white trim. He has come to be known as Santa Claus. I met him one Christmas eve when I stayed up late, and he told me about this before he disappeared back up the chimney.

Now, I know you may not believe that story, but you MUST remain neutral according to Markeys see-saw theory. Unless you can prove that this isn't true then we'll have to accept that it's 50% possible. The floor is yours.

At the end of the day you are attempting to argue with a fallacious and wilful misunderstanding of logic. You invest an atheist and a christian with your determined view that both viewsare religions or 'beliefs' which ignores the dictionary definition of atheism for a start.

You wouldn't last five seconds with that sort of construction. All it is is an attempt by you to dismiss atheism as a 'belief' which theory only comes from believers.

That is the damage done to the reasoning faculty when you 'surrender' your logic to your god.

To get back to the subject of Waters and his idiocy, for which he appears to be given a platform by the Times (why?). Again we have an example of a sulky christian who doesn't like their Santa Claus dreams disturbed. That wouldn't be a problem in many situations but it is infantile Cloud Godders who refuse to accept responsibility in the world for their actions or the actions of their church because its all done by god.

If ever there was a spotlight on why 'believers' should never be given power and authority in the secular world but should be left to wibble at the clouds in their own time this is it.

[White Horse]

"Some discussion followed about how they might get hold of a consecrated Host to desecrate in public. Some people timidly suggested that this might risk alienating people who might otherwise be useful allies. (The idea!) It did not seem to occur to anyone that the really offensive thing was the spectacle of adults spending their Saturday afternoon in this way."

Sums them up. Nothing else needs to be said.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

"Some discussion followed about how they might get hold of a consecrated Host to desecrate in public. Some people timidly suggested that this might risk alienating people who might otherwise be useful allies. (The idea!) It did not seem to occur to anyone that the really offensive thing was the spectacle of adults spending their Saturday afternoon in this way."

Sums them up. Nothing else needs to be said.

Adults can spend their Sunday afternoon doing what they like. They don't need the permission of people who can't stand the fact that the world exists without a Sky Fairy to hold their hand.

Christians are perfectly free to go to mass- I've never heard an atheist say that christianity should be obstructed.

Christians should mind their own business.

[Justin Casey]

Fannywaters’s blog

[White Horse]

Adults can spend their Sunday afternoon doing what they like. They don't need the permission of people who can't stand the fact that the world exists without a Sky Fairy to hold their hand.

Christians are perfectly free to go to mass- I've never heard an atheist say that christianity should be obstructed.

Christians should mind their own business.

I've never heard of discussion at Mass as to how to best offend the beliefs of other people.

The fact that athiests, who constantly boast their intellectual superiority, spent so much time trying to think of the most childish stunt possible speaks volumes about them.

By the way, when people spend time considering how to offend my Faith, it is my business.

[markeys]

Con to answer your question:

The universe was created by an old guy with a beard in a natty red suit with white trim. He has come to be known as Santa Claus. I met him one Christmas eve when I stayed up late, and he told me about this before he disappeared back up the chimney.

Now, I know you may not believe that story, but you MUST remain neutral according to Markeys see-saw theory. Unless you can prove that this isn't true then we'll have to accept that it's 50% possible. The floor is yours.

It matters not if Einstein came down the chimney and said atoms created the universe. It matters not if 10 pink hippos came down the chimney and claimed they created the universe. In the absence of proof you can neither say Einstein's atoms did or did not no more so than you can say 10 pink hippos did or did not. You'd have to prove either statement if you wanted to prove it as fact. They are all beliefs and all beliefs are equal in the absence of proof. In your opinion, you want to believe that you have nothing to prove. So be it. Stay in the 2% that operate on that basis. I couldn't care less if you keep on believing one thing over another. You've still to produce ONE fact to back up your belief.

[Toland]

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[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I've never heard of discussion at Mass as to how to best offend the beliefs of other people.

The fact that athiests, who constantly boast their intellectual superiority, spent so much time trying to think of the most childish stunt possible speaks volumes about them.

By the way, when people spend time considering how to offend my Faith, it is my business.

It would be fine if christians kept their business at mass. The only problem is something seems to happen in their pointy little heads which suggests to them that they must enforce their views in the administration of the country.

I've never yet heard of any reason why this should be allowed. And tough sh*t if your beliefs are 'offended'.

I'm HIGHLY offended by the actions of the church in Ireland going back hundreds of years and I can tell you you lot will be hearing about it whenever and wherever you raise your pointy heads in future.

Just because you happen to invest a chap who died two thousand years ago in the middle eastw with godlike status because the local Roman garrison saw him as a political agitator does not mean you are entitled to go around unchallenged.

By all means enjoy your church and whatever ju-ju ceremonies you attend but don't expect to have it given automatic respect everywhere in society.

You are simply not entitled to it. In fact, if anything, your church is a social problem in itself in Ireland. I shouldn't have to spell out to you why.