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probably the insurance wouldnt make things seem good. they would just seem similar, financially.

things might seem bad without me financially though.

kind of like it doesnt feel like we are doing great with the money we make. but if we werent making money, we’d be like, shoot, we are broke.

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alcohol is real medicine

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try this line at scout meeting or maybe at naturalization ceremony. see if society respects atheists

“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” —Stephen F Roberts

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i think my dad woulda lived longer if he werent so stressed out.

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i wonder what my special purpose is for being here.

maybe some of you remember steve martin in the jerk discovering what his “special purpose” was….man that was a funny movie…

i guess my purpose is to kick ass and be awesome.

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of course, this was understood when we took our kids to church. i said under no circumstances could they ever be alone with any priest, deacon or other relgiious official type person, male or female. my wife agreed. i would not have permitted that, regardless of the type of church or synagogue. i would assume that any religious official type person is significantly more likely than an average person to ahve an abnormal sexual interest in children. or to be gay, or have some other different sexual orientation.

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[quote=Blogstar][quote=flu]Here’s my take on religious people.

You have a small percentage of religious people that are wacko nut jobs that screw it up for the rest of the religious people. Unfortunately, that small percentage tends to be the most visible and most vocal and have the most extreme viewpoints (my way or the highway). And for the vast body of folks that don’t believe in a religion, obviously it rubs people in the wrong way. And then people tend to generalize every religious person is a wacko nut job.

It’s really no different than watching the riots in Baltimore, seeing some of the looters/rioters are black, and then erroneously generalizing that every black person is a looter/rioter, when clearly that isn’t the case.[/quote]
For many people it goes way beyond the wackos, They are personally offended by the church of their youth, they resent religions history, resent and fear religions power of control over humans in the present.( and the presidents) . They see entire churches are scandalous , people using ,money making machines, even the established acceptable brands. The pushy born agains are the least of it, more to be pitied for their obvious desperation than anything.[/quote]

religion is power and power is scary. i wouldnt trust anyone who claims to have G-d on their side. just like they wuldnt trust me for not beleiving inside in G-d and eternal judgment.

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[quote=Blogstar]Scaredy, You are flip flopping again. Once atheists should be quiet and not rock the boat then they should demand that society remove the negative stigma.[/quote]

individually you benefit by shutting up. that si the course i advise my kids, and they are way more outwardly conservative and conformist than i am.

societally, it is better to speak out. for someone else to speak out though.

kind of like how consumer spending is good for the conomy, but its probably better individually to save.

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Americans judge atheists as more immoral than religious people. even atheists themselves do.

http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/americans-intuitively-judge-atheists-immoral-79095

this isnt a an odd position among a small minority of religious people. the general perception is atheists are less trustworthy. probably similar to how all gay people were perceived as perverts in the 50s.

i think thats worthy of pushback. not sure if or how this nation ever gets to acceptabnce of atheists as equals. i doubt that will ever happen. we’ll have a gay black woman before that, as long as she loves the lord.

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[quote=CA renter][quote=scaredyclassic][quote=CA renter][quote=FlyerInHi]Extremes, really?

I feel like there’s something very wrong when every politician has to end a speech with God bless the USA. I’d rather they wish me a good evening.

Plus believers think the one must find God for salvation. So even if they never talk about religion, they silently believe that God is the only answer and that excludes atheism. So why can’t atheists similarly exclude God?[/quote]

I agree with you about making religion a public spectacle.

Atheists can exclude God or a higher power, BTW.[/quote]

pretty rare i wager to find a dumber ;ess sophisticated religiious person who doesnt find an atheist to not be an affront to all that is decent in this world.

if atheists stay hidden, then religios people can go on thinking aTHEISTS ARE BAD PEOPLE. KINDA LIKE BEING A CLOSETED GAY. IF YOU GET TO KNOW A HOMOSEXUAL YOU WILL PROBABLY BE LESS OPPOSED TO GAY MARRIAGE. IF GAYS ARE ALL CLOSETED, SOCIETY WILL ASSUME THEY ARE A BUNCH OF PERVERTS. ATHEISTS ARE THE gays of this century…[/quote]

And many dumb, unsophisticated atheists (yes, they most certainly do exist) find religious people to be an affront to all that is decent in the world.

We’re not talking about dumber, less sophisticated religious people, though; at least, I’m not. If we match peer to peer, I’m willing to bet that atheists and religious people range from equally obnoxious and excluding of others to equally pleasant and tolerant.

I’ve known many Christians and atheists, and both groups have their good, bad, and neutral. I’ve seen no difference in the level of obnoxiousness where the extreme ones are concerned.[/quote]

perhaps. but the obnoxious superior atheist is a relatively new phenomenon. the obnoxious and dangerous religious viewpoint is pretty old.

im wondering how tht came about. when i was a kid, i dont recall religious people being so in your face, so proseyletizing, so demanding of public presence. kind of lik e veterans, they were proud and in the background.

as religiions got pushier and more needy, maybe atheists repsonded with “back the hell off?’ Im talking about the last 40 years in the usa only….

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[quote=flyer]Per this discussion on health, here are some excerpts from an interesting article a friend forwarded to me.

This is not meant to be advice, but, personally, I feel a peaceful mind leads to a healthy body, and a great life, so I just thought I’d pass some of these thoughts along. (Agree getting that D3 running at the beach doesn’t hurt either.)

CALM YOUR MIND–HEAL YOUR BODY
Mark Hyman, MD

“WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH, there is one factor that is more important than almost any other…

If it is missing from your life, it causes or worsens 95 percent of all illness. It has been associated with dramatic reductions in disease and increased longevity.

And it is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, or any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life. But it doesn’t come in a pill, and it can’t be found in a hospital or in your doctor’s office.

What is this critical factor that determines so much about how healthy or how sick you are?

It may seem simplistic, but aside from eating breakfast, the biggest predictor of longevity is psychological resiliency–-and being able to roll with the punches that life throws at us.

We’ve known about this in medicine for a long time. I was recently browsing through my library and found an old book that I read in college called Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, written by a friend and leader in the field of mind/body medicine, Kenneth Pelletier. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the medical schools of the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Arizona.

His book was published in 1977. I wish I could say that a lot has changed since that book was published. Sure, we have filled in the gaps and learned more about the mechanisms through which the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body, but the basic truths remain the same.

There is a dramatic and powerful connection between your mind and body, and between your body and your mind. In fact, it really should not be called a connection because it is just ONE bidirectional system.

Unfortunately, few doctors accept or understand this fundamental reality about biology. So, in most doctors’ offices, you aren’t going to learn about the connection between your body and brain.

According to Hans Selye, MD, the man who coined the word “stress” and first mapped out its biological effects, “The modern physician should know as much about emotions and thoughts as about disease symptoms and drugs. This approach would appear to hold more promise of cure than anything medicine has given us to date.” Selye’s words are as true today as they were on the day he wrote them.

We are seeing an epidemic of stress-related disorders in our society, including depression, anxiety, autism, attention deficit disorder, memory disorders, and dementia, and these disorders are making the pharmaceutical industry highly profitable.

You see, Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact, the four top-selling items in grocery stores are all drugs that we use to manage our mood and energy: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.

But how do we really deal with the root of this problem? You use the MOST powerful pharmacy in the world — which is right between your ears.”[/quote]

yes.

i also truly believe in th ehealing power of fasting which has roots in many religions. simply doing nothing. not thinking, not eating is probably in the final analysis better than doing something.

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[quote=Blogstar][quote=afx114][quote=FlyerInHi]I hope we have an atheist president one day before I die.[/quote]

I guarantee you’ve had one already, probably multiple/most.[/quote]
Doesn’t really support the notion that atheists have a lot of integrity.[/quote]

I disagree. One can honestly say I believe in G-d, just like I believe in any abstract concept that others generally believe in. I believe in the free market means there is this generally accepted societal concept that that exists, but it’s not a real thing, it’s just an agreed upon way of viewing transactions in thecworld.

like G-d. Something we say exists, in that way that means yes but humans made it up and it meaningless without humans to tell the story.

I believe in G-d in that sense and that the jews are his chosen people. I do.

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yeah but…

discrimination against atheists is rampant.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/24/all-in-the-family-not-for-atheists/?sr=fb0624141patheiststorylink

ci

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[quote=CA renter][quote=FlyerInHi]Extremes, really?

I feel like there’s something very wrong when every politician has to end a speech with God bless the USA. I’d rather they wish me a good evening.

Plus believers think the one must find God for salvation. So even if they never talk about religion, they silently believe that God is the only answer and that excludes atheism. So why can’t atheists similarly exclude God?[/quote]

I agree with you about making religion a public spectacle.

Atheists can exclude God or a higher power, BTW.[/quote]

pretty rare i wager to find a dumber ;ess sophisticated religiious person who doesnt find an atheist to not be an affront to all that is decent in this world.

if atheists stay hidden, then religios people can go on thinking aTHEISTS ARE BAD PEOPLE. KINDA LIKE BEING A CLOSETED GAY. IF YOU GET TO KNOW A HOMOSEXUAL YOU WILL PROBABLY BE LESS OPPOSED TO GAY MARRIAGE. IF GAYS ARE ALL CLOSETED, SOCIETY WILL ASSUME THEY ARE A BUNCH OF PERVERTS. ATHEISTS ARE THE gays of this century…

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[quote=FlyerInHi]Scaredy, you will live until at least 80.

When does the term expire?[/quote]

72. right before i die.

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