Atheists in South Carolina »
Posted by: RickyDawkins 1 year ago387 Comments Report this Story
A Myrtle Beach man and admitted atheist was attacked and robbed on Thursday night by a group of men who took offense to an anti-Christian phrase on his windshield. Despite what he wrote, the reaction was far worse and the coverage was despicable. The expression 'admitted atheist' is unacceptable. The article's use of 'admitted' is editorializing.
Read Full Story at friendlyatheist.com
Join the Discussion 
+ Add Comment
Comments So Far: 387
-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
"I think the new interest in atheism is terrific," Silverman says. "I hope it convinces more people to come out of the closet. When people tell me I am the first atheist they ever met, I generally respond: 'No I'm not. You've met thousands of atheists. I'm just the first person you knew was an atheist.' The more people that acknowledge their non-belief in any deities, the less we will be stereotyped. There are good and bad atheists, good and bad Christians, and good and bad in all other groups. I hope someday that people will be judged more on their actions than on their professed religious beliefs. If all 30 million atheists acknowledged who they are, that action alone would change our culture."
-Secular Coaltion of America
Reply-
0%
Daylight1 year ago
RickyDawkins
"I think the new interest in atheism is terrific," Silverman says. "I hope it convinces more people to come out of the closet
Atheism is there from the beginning and it just couldn't rear it's ugly head above the religious level because the religious teaching are far superior to Atheistic teaching of greedy and vain desires of individuals. It is like homosexuality or lesbianism based on feelings and unnatural behavior. Atheism is against the nature of every creature on the planet earth. it will not survive it just thrives on the religious discords of people. What happened to the Soviet Union and the Communist Atheists, their fortress came down tumbling and they lost everything they built with iron fist. And also Athiesm it is similar to parasites on its own it cannot survive, it needs Darwins and Dawkins to teach unnatural things. I'll be around if you need to refute what I have said.
Reply-
0%
Beau78901 year ago
Atheism--the absence of belief in God--is not at all unnatural. Animals have no such belief. Religion was developed AFTER atheism. You will notice that there is no evidence of animals, who live an existence as "natural" as possible, believing in God. They do not pray; they do not worship.
And atheism alone does not teach "greedy and vain desires of individuals." Rather, it is simply lack of belief in a concept developed by man, after he'd been around for awhile. I would argue that belief in God is "unnatural."
Notice I make no claim whatsoever about whether God exists. But the disbelief in God's existence is akin to a lack of belief in gravity--it existed before anyone ever thought about gravity, before that idea was invented. Any other claims you may ascribe to atheists are added to the concept.
I will admit that there are some atheists who add other implications to the idea of disbelief. But not all do, and it is not inherent in the concept.
Reply-
0%
Daylight1 year ago
Beau7890
Atheism--the absence of belief in God--is not at all unnatural. Animals have no such belief. Religion was developed AFTER atheism. You will notice that there is no evidence of animals, who live an existence as "natural" as possible, believing in God. They do not pray; they do not worship.
Again your argument is based on perception, how do you know that animal don't pray? they don't pray like human being, yes but they praise God day and night, you hear they sing, it may be some kind of praise. But the point is man is the crown of creation, man is created to worship God and no other reason, you have the right to accept it or reject it. Man can't live without God, for example man needs protection, he needs love, he needs to be looked after by somebody, he needs to be taught to do things, on is own he is helpless. Every time when he is in trouble he looks for help, don't you see he is dependent. continues
Reply-
0%
Daylight1 year ago
No doubt he can achieve independence still he needs help because he can't be everything rolled into one. for instance he may need a Doctor or Lawyer even to collect his garbage, he needs someone else to do his job. Human beings cannot be compared to animals, he is an animal if God did not provide him the faculties, if he wants to live like animals then he is an animal that eats, drinks, procreates, sleeps and get old and dies. Man is different because he believes in God, he works hard, cares about fellow human beings, he is above all these creatures. When he denies God he becomes the most dangerous animal in the world even the most powerful governments will want him killed. Atheism and disbelief might lead to commit crime against humanity. So belief in God is very natural and disbelief in God is unnatural.
Reply-
0%
david_nwpa1 year ago
Atheism and disbelief might lead to commit crime against humanity. So belief in God is very natural and disbelief in God is unnatural.
Really? Could you explain the role religion played in such conquests as the crusades, the inquisition, the fatwahs throughout all of Islam's existence, the wars between protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, the entire bloody Protestant reformation, the imposition of Christianity upon Native Americans, the genocide of the North American Indian at the hands of the religious folks who put smallpox in the blankets they gave those natives?
It seems to me that far more "crimes against humanity" have been committed in the name of God than any other force on the planet. Nothing you said suggests that disbelief in some nebulous all powerful God is a bad thing.
Reply-
0%
slate1 year ago
Anyone ever wonder about all the nations that don't believe in God and all the people they've killed?
USSR
China
Cambodia
add em up,, the numers far exceed that of the religious nations
Man kills for many reasons and beliefs
Reply-
-
-
-
0%
slate1 year ago
Neo what's not relevant is your lack of being open minded as you call yourself and others that think like you 'enlightened thinkers'. You constantly tout how your way of thinking; that there is no God and that belief is evil and has wrought devastation on humankind. Yet in your zeal to condemn others beliefs you overlook all the evil that has been wrought upon the world by those that have the same belief system as you hold.
It not only smacks as vane ignorance, it proves that the so called thinkers of the world are as simple minded as well as close minded as those they decry.
Reply-
0%
Neophile1 year ago
Now you are just putting words in my mouth. I have never claimed there is no God or that belief is evil, nor have I ever condemned anyone.
The people of those countries abandoned reason and placed their faith in irrational doctrines. Some were forced to, others did so willingly. It smacks of religion. None of the horrific events occurred as a result of skepticism and rationality. They occurred because of faith.
Reply-
-
-
0%
slate1 year ago
Neo can't you make the leap that there are so many things that do exist that science has no clue about? Not having evidence of their existence does not prove they do not indeed exist. The microbe existed billions of years prior to scientific 'evidence',,, the same holds true for everything science has proven thus far, but there are trillions of things science has yet to find evidence on that is there patiently waiting to be 'proven' and accepted.
Reply
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
0%
dunkirk1 year ago
"Atheism and disbelief might lead to commit crime against humanity."
Hmmm last I heard Bush was a believer and he's the best current example we have of someone who commits crimes against humanity. So much for your theory.
Reply -
0%
sinophil491 year ago
Religion is unnatural. Religion is the belief in the SUPER-natural. That is the belief in a plane of existence or a supreme being BEYOND our plane of existence, beyond our physical ability to sense, outside of our physical world. The only thing we can verify in this world is what we can physically sense. Religion rises from a hope that there is life beyond the insurmountable wall of death, that there is a further infinite happiness beyond as a reward for good deeds we do here or as a hope for relief from our wordly sufferings.
Why would not believing in a God turn men into savage animals? There are countless observations and studies of animals who exhibit altruistic behavior - dogs, horses, primates, dolphins, whales, even birds. I read a magazine story today about a pig that ran in front of his child-owner and protected him from a pit bull attack.
Atheism does NOT lead to anarchy and savagery. If anything, it is the arrogant belief in separate religions that has caused..
Reply-
0%
sinophil491 year ago
so many conflicts and killed so many people.
Without religion, most humans are intelligent enough to know we still need orderly and civilized behavior to co-exist in this world and have society function smoothly.
Having said all this, I admit I am a devout christian. I go to church most Sundays. Jesus taught love, patience, understanding, meekness. So I can ask you -WHAT WOULD JESUS DO to this atheist? WHAT WOULD JESUS DO to the "christians" who attacked the atheist.
If it was christians who attacked this atheist in the name of christianity, it is they who are the savage animals, not the atheist.
Reply -
0%
slate1 year ago
Then don't believe and allow others their beliefs,,,,, why would you so smuggly want to dis allow someone the hope of something larger than they are?
Atheism does NOT lead to anarchy and savagery. If anything, it is the arrogant belief in separate religions that has caused..
Sure it does,,, ever heard of China, Russia and Cmbodia?
Reply-
0%
sinophil491 year ago
Slate - Have you heard of the Crusades where entire villages were slaughtered, including babies? Have you heard of the Spanish Inquisition? How about the conquistadores who massacred thousands of Incans and Mayans?
How about smallpox blankets given to native Americans by God-fearing Christians? How about the Salem witch trials where good solid Christians went amuck and killed innocent women?
And the KKK, Christians all, who terrorized the countryside w/ burning crosses and lynchings.
Let's not forget Adolf Hitler, who sated his Christian paranoia with the death of 6 million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals. Even Stalin was a student in a Russian Orthodox Seminary.
Sure, atheism can be used as a weapon to kill religion and innocent people.
But history teaches us that Christianity has killed far more innocents in the name of our Lord.
All this proves not that Christianity or atheism is good or bad. But that people use it as justification to kill others.
Reply
-
-
-
-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
Since the early years of the twentieth century, absolute dating methods, such as radiometric dating (including potassium/argon, argon/argon, uranium series, and carbon-14 dating) have been used to verify the relative ages obtained by fossils and to provide absolute ages for many fossils. Radiometric dating has shown that the earliest known fossils are over 3.5 billion years old. Various dating methods have been used and are used today depending on local geology and context, and while there is some variance in the results from these dating methods, nearly all of them provide evidence for a very old Earth, approximately 4.6 billion years.
"The fossil record is life's evolutionary epic that unfolded over four billion years as environmental conditions and genetic potential interacted in accordance with natural selection."[6]
Reply-
0%
david_nwpa1 year ago
Beyond our planet we have observed starlight approaching Earth that we can verify started its journey well over 13 Billion years ago. In other words, we are certain that the universe as we know it must be over 13 billion years old. Furthermore, we add the proof you have suggested, Ricky, and we can date the Earth back at least 4.6 billion years. The "evidence" from the Bible is the result of an Irish bishop using shoddy biblical records to calculate the Earth's age.
Reply-
0%
slate1 year ago
Those that talk about the Earth being a few thousand years is because they you man's time. Even though the Bible states that a thousand years is like a day to God, that is to show more that He is timeless not that creation only too 144 hrs. as we know it. I'd think the days would be millions or billions or years of equal time not 24 hr days.
God had time to creat with a bang,,, let time and eveolution do it's thing, then put reasoning into man thus "Creating man in his own image" but who knows and why do we spend so much time arguing the little details and not focus on the Big picture?
Reply
-
-
-
-
-
0%
crespi1 year ago
I am an atheist and consider myself far more charitable than the followew of Joel Onstein that said "the Good Samaratin is no longer a useful role model for Christians."
I am straight, not gay.
I don't feel paticularly vain, I look in mirrors to make sure I don't look like complete crap when I go out in public.
RELIGION, as taken over by extremists, is the parasite of the human soul.
In the 1970's you could even be a hippie and love Jesus. Remember songs like Spirit in the Sky or One Toke Over the Line? Then the new Fundamentalists said no! Get out of this church! Meanwhile embracing white supremacism (1980's and 90's) and fascist hate in general, culminating in the numerous Christian based gay killings on American city streets.
Then shoving "President" George W. Bush at us, and following his un-American policies right to Hell.
Fundamentalis Christians have done more to drive people from Christianity than all the atheists put together.
Reply-
0%
Daylight1 year ago
crespi
Fundamentalis Christians have done more to drive people from Christianity than all the atheists put together.
You are an individual case, disbelief is a kind of mental illness, I have said it before, I will say that again.
Reply-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
Fundamentalist Christians such as yourself are the ones giving Christianity such a bad rap, Daylight.
Christian fundamentalists (like you, Daylight) have not yet realized that religion is all in their mind.
Fundamentalist Christians such as *Daylight* have done more to PROMOTE atheism than Dawkins!
Reply-
-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
If your name starts with a B and ends with GG, then you might be a fundamentalist...
If you like learning about intelligent design in the morning and watching tractor pulls in the evening, you just might be a fundie...
If you think evolution is "just" a theory, than you might be a fundie...
If you think Gays are sinners, you might be a fundie...
If you think women should not have choice about abortion, then you ARE a fundie...
If you think stem cell research hurts babies, than you are a friggin moron.
Reply-
-
0%
rockman0691 year ago
Sounds like somebody has been rubbed the wrong way, and I thought you were so concerned about the unintelligent public! What happened, why the attacks on people having a good time?
Very un Christian... Very un Darwin-like. Very inhuman.
I am surprised, Ricky, I thought you would be more tolerant and not so bigoted like those "fundies" you so nicely call them.
Strange behavior...
Reply -
-
0%
tanglang1 year ago
The funny thing is about tractor pulls is that they usualy don't involve tractors.
Reply -
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
http://religion.netscape.com/story/2007/06/21/i...
Intelligent Design Forum and Tractor Pull Coming To Your Town!
Reply
-
-
0%
globalwarmer1 year ago
Keep it together Ricky, I know they can push your buttons, its hard to stay civil when you read yards and yards of nonsensical threads.
Daylight can go on and on without making any sense whatsoever, refuting anything the fundie says is pointless.
Reply
-
-
-
-
-
-
0%
rockman0691 year ago
Why, I am flattered by your response. Thanks for the praise! :'^)
And all this time I thought you didn't have feelings. You DO care!
Reply -
0%
splitrch1 year ago
Do you think that the guy who got beaten and robbed deserved it (assuming it was only because he is an atheist)?
Reply
-
-
-
-
0%
Daylight1 year ago
Actually I noticed your comment a little late but anyway answer to your question is very simple, I can never promote Atheism. If Atheists want to remain Atheist because of the bad actions of the Jews, Christians and Muslims, they are wrong because God is not going to accept heir reasoning or arguments, they too have been endowed with faculties,it is their responsibility to look for truth and find it. I have been talking to you about God, I forgot that you were an Atheist. One last question, are you looking for truth? or you have already found it with the help of Darwin? Darwin himself in need of help because he has been roasted day and night for misleading millions of people like you.
Reply-
0%
icelander1 year ago
Again, I ask: Would your god be more forgiving if I faked my belief or if I expressed my doubts honestly?
Should I lie about my belief to save myself? Wouldn't that be worse than simply saying I do not believe?
Reply -
0%
kudnors1 year ago
Please don't put down Darwin. See this would be another bad action of a man of religion, that drives others away from religion. You choose to believe that a higher being created the world in 7 days. While (most) atheists believe that life slowly progressed to what it is today. The difference is atheists don't come to your door forcing their beliefs down your throat. Believe what you want to belive, But don't put down theories that have just as much validity as your beliefs.
Reply -
0%
globalwarmer1 year ago
"Darwin himself in need of help because he has been roasted day and night for misleading millions of people like you".
At the risk of being off topic, that sure sounded awfully fundie.
Reply -
0%
sinophil491 year ago
Daylight - "it is their responsibility to look for truth"
The inference I draw for your post is that you have found the TRUTH. You want everyone to listen to YOUR truth and your truth only.
How do you know that you own the truth? Has God spoken to you? As far as I know, none of the modern popes claim to have heard from God directly.
Why can' there be several or many truths? If a person does good in the world, helps the poor, helps the cause of peace, etc. why would God NOT want to reward him? Is your God so narrow-minded that he has spoken to only you and your sect and will grant salvation only to those who hear your interpretation of his word? That would condemn 99.9% of the population to hell. Is your god that hard-hearted.
My god is kind, gentle, and merciful. He is the embodiment of LOVE. I believe he will grant salvation even to atheists if they arrive at their beliefs honestly, thoughtfully AND if they do good in the world.
In a way I have to apologize ...
Reply-
-
-
0%
sinophil491 year ago
Ricky - Other than Bush, Iraq, spying, torture, the national debt, melamine in food, contaminated toys, and global warming, life has been good to me in your expanded universe.
Reply
-
-
-
-
-
0%
NelsonR1 year ago
Daylight was blocked long ago by me but I had to re institute my belief in, Why I blocked him. My reasoning was reinforced by his statements. The man is afraid of what is, after death. Most Islamics also feel humans are deity driven and a paradise awaits them, regardless of the abominable acts they do in the name of a god. Mohammad was a pedophile Daylight, accept what was.
Reply
-
-
0%
javamini1 year ago
I believe in God, but am no longer adhering to Christian Dogma because of being driven from the Christian church by people such as yourself. My largest prejudice to date is against the people of the fundamental "Christian" church, after I really understood that the walk and the talk didn't match.
If you can't practice, don't preach. I understand atheists today, far more than fundamentalists, because I came out with a personal experience and "God" showed me you were wrong. Can't argue that, just a very strong personal "belief" based on a very profound "experience".
Reply-
0%
javamini1 year ago
I'm glad I left and found the God of "love, tolerance, mercy, etc..." that Christians supposedly practice. The more fundamental, the bigger the lies, and blinder the man. I know, I've been there and "recovered" thank my GOD for that!!! Now maybe I can raise my children not to be mindless idiots, and to actually practice, NOT preach.
I don't think I can forgive the "fundamental church". I've tried but it left scars. I'll let God do it, I'm only human, and to date my heart isn't big enough - Hers is. Quite a few of the people I know have experienced the same thing, and have become "spiritual" in practice, or have become atheists.
How can you believe in a god whose religion promotes intolerance of man. Hate the sin, not the sinner is not possible for you guys. Plus, while pointing every one else's "sins" you don't have to look at your own. It's a whole lot easier to condemn someone else to Hell isn't it?
Reply-
0%
javamini1 year ago
I "sin" my biggest is my intolerance toward fundamental religions. I have dedicated my life to helping others. What freedom to do that without the necessity of being perfect. I can be the best me god intended without someone else's "will" shoved down my throat. His/her will not mine be done, and help me deal with it! Of course my God is big enough to have personal relationships with every one, not just me and those who "believe" like me.
I'm sure you have a direct hot-line and can tell me how wrong God thinks I am, but it isn't up to you or anyone else to say what God thinks is natural, unnatural etc. I'm not hearing voices, mine is heart level, and bashing people as a group is what fundies do best. No one ever measures up or will. (Pardon me while I bash fundies as a group, it's the one "sin" I just can't get over and has just stuck with me, I learned it well, but now I just bash one group - the people I learned it from)
Reply
-
-
-
0%
CaptainShev1 year ago
He is no indivudual case - most people I meet, religious or otherwise agree with this analysis - fundamentalism is the force that alienates most rational peopl from any belief system.
It is religion which requires a suspension of logical questioning, and therefore is sympotmatic of an irrational belief system and is more indicative of mental illness. Sorry. Most sane people tend to not believe in an imaginary friend in the sky.
Reply
-
-
0%
david_nwpa1 year ago
Oh puhleeze, enough of the homosexuality is unnatural crap. You use air conditioning, vinyl seats in your car, and wear sunglasses. None of those creature comforts are natural, but you sure want them around in the summer. Most of the food we eat is no longer natural, but you put it in your body. Atheism, unlike parasitic creatures such as televangelists, do not go around hawking ideas for handouts and cash. If religionists could see themselves on television as the leeches and drain on society that they are, perhaps we would not need articles such as this. Honestly daylight, you do push my patience.
Reply-
0%
Neophile1 year ago
This is the kind of thinking that leads to perfectly innocent people being assaulted like the guy in this article.
Homosexuality is perfectly natural. Homosexual behavior is exhibited by dozens if not hundreds of different species of animals. Not to mention humans, who are often spoken of as if they are not part of nature.
The screw and plug analogies are really funny, but screws can actually go in more than one type of hole.
Reply-
-
-
-
-
0%
Coatl1 year ago
"Therefore, animals frequently confuse one sensation with another or one object with another."
And we don't? I understand why you think humans are much better than animals, but we have a lot of things in common with them, so I think (putting theology aside) that comparing us with them is completely valid.
Reply -
0%
Coatl1 year ago
"Are we to conclude that filicide and cannibalism are according to human nature?"
And actually they are, there have been a lot of cultures in which such actions are acceptable, and sometimes the norm. Such behaviors are according to human(and other species) nature, as rape, aggressiveness, desire to kill something or someone, desire of compete with someone else, love, etc. The only thing that make such natural instincts valid or not, is if they harm others or not. Rape, murder, cannibalism among other harm other people, but love, desire to compete, and homosexuality don't. As Oscar mentioned above, it is natural for those guys to beat the atheist just because the message in his car was aggressive, it is according to human nature, yet it is not right nor is rational, because they harmed someone else.
Reply -
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/the_gay_an...
The Gay Animal Kingdom
Giraffes have all-male orgies. So do bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, gray whales, and West Indian manatees. Japanese macaques, on the other hand, are ardent lesbians; the females enthusiastically mount each other. Bonobos, one of our closest primate relatives, are similar, except that their lesbian sexual encounters occur every two hours. Male bonobos engage in "penis fencing," which leads, surprisingly enough, to ejaculation. They also give each other genital massages.
As this list of activities suggests, having homosexual sex is the biological equivalent of apple pie: Everybody likes it. At last count, over 450 different vertebrate species could be beheaded in Saudi Arabia. You name it, there's a vertebrate out there that does it
Reply
-
-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
According to Roughgarden, gayness is a necessary side effect of getting along. Homosexuality evolved in tandem with vertebrate societies, in which a motley group of individuals has to either live together or die alone. In fact, Roughgarden even argues that homosexuality is a defining feature of advanced animal communities, which require communal bonds in order to function. "The more complex and sophisticated a social system is," she writes, "the more likely it is to have homosexuality intermixed with heterosexuality."
Japanese macaques, an old world primate, illustrate this principle perfectly. Macaque society revolves around females, who form intricate dominance hierarchies within a given group. Males are transient. To help maintain the necessary social networks, female macaques engage in rampant lesbianism.
Reply
-
-
0%
RickyDawkins1 year ago
I think Blargg just said the phrase "higher reasoning". That might be the most ironic thing ever.
Reply
-
-
-
-
0%
david_nwpa1 year ago
So the only acceptable sex is heterosexual sex that leads to procreation? None other is acceptable? I am not sure why I even care what your opinion is. All I know is you are going to sink my comments anyway. None of those creature comforts are natural, is right. I accept all those creature comforts and am not going to stray from them. We do things that are not natural all the time. You are the one who just proved my point. Incidentally, being gay is natural, and you will never agree. Too bad really, plenty of pleasant gay people interact with you daily. I bet you know them, but they would never open up to you.
Reply-
-
-
0%
anadaji671 year ago
Obviously I have a learned understanding of them, but they exist only to satisfy various functions that the instincts and/or higher cognitive processes deem necessary. Forget whether murder is natural or not, as it ends with the termination of a human life, which is in no way a fair comparison to gay sex. I would have had no objections if you would have chosen t
-
-
-
-
-
-
