I must admit I feel a little for Woot. It must be like a Christian (not just in name) trying to get a high profile job in the current Government. It seems that you need to be a woman no matter what your ability or a head nodder to feminism. Discrimination is unavoidable in a fallen world. Just ask Warick Marsh.

I found it difficult and existed, but it was not a reason for a business failure at all not for me personally due to having more cosmopolitan clients within the city and overseas which were my bread and butter. But I definitely know of others as mentioned where it was a definitive contributing factor to them bailing out of their industry.

"But tell me - what remedies can you expect, that will assist you against these forces of evil that are aligned against you?"

It's already happening. Atheists coming out of course there has been a big backlash and it will continue for a long time yet (much of it just in the way folk like yourself approach it, verbally looking down your nose), however many folk that are religious are actually dealing with the issues presented and realising there are certain problems that are causing atheists to speak out and loudly, and are making a point of de-stigmatising non belief themselves with their communities, promoting understanding rather than hatred, listening rather than chastising.

The GAC is obviously talking with religious groups, with many events around the fringe having atheists speaking at such gatherings as the Reason For Faith Festival which are also advertised on it's site.

But there is a long way to go and that takes us speaking up so people that are feeling alone feel less so, are not alone and feel more empowered. So that the religious understand atheists are all around them, are diverse, with the ONLY thing they have in common being a lack of faith. That you can be good without god.

It's a long road, we see that even in the responses here that come from people that may be atheist, but simply have no inkling of some of the issues people face with religion and it's divisiveness, they label people speaking out about what they think as somehow the same as those institutions they are speaking out against. I suppose they have just found some way to feel superior to both eh?

Yabby – So what do you make of what Dawkins wrote here? “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”River Out of Eden: a Darwinian View of Life, p.133 If there is no evil and no good in an atheistic universe I find it hard to see how there can be any morality in such a universe.

Poirot – You say: “Things that are deemed "wrong" violate the accepted standards of the community.” So are you saying that whatever the community accepts or condemns becomes “right” and “wrong”? If that is so, slavery was morally “right” in Alabama in 1800? Today, female genital mutilation is morally “right” in some African countries? Were people who opposed slavery in Alabama “wrong” in 1800 because they opposed the majority? Are people who oppose female genital mutilation in those African countries today “wrong” for doing so?

I don't understand why we can't simply get along
as people. What difference does it make whether
a person follows a certain religion or prefers
not to do so - as long as they aren't breaking
any of society's laws or hurting anyone. Why do we need
to make judgements about the private lives, and
beliefs of others. Why can't we simply respect
each others choices?

Today we have increasing
individualism and diversity in our societies.
However in times of uncertainty and rapid social change
some people look, as they have in the past to
religious values to stabilize and revitalize their
culture. Take the US as an example.
The need for religion has re-asserted itself
quite powerfully in a nation that has become one of
the most industrialised, rationalised, and materialistic.

It seems that some people need emotionally satisfying
explanations for the problems of earthly existence that
they find religion can provide. Others find their answers
elsewhere.

I'm all for a Global Atheist Convention. Why not?
A health society is not one in which we all have to agree.
It's one in which different points of view are welcomed.

*If there is no evil and no good in an atheistic universe I find it hard to see how there can be any morality in such a universe.*

Perhaps JP, because you don't fully understand the implications of
evolution theory. Robert Winston covers a few points which may interest
you, in his "Human Instinct". Amongst other things, it shows extraordinary
acts of kindness observed in various species with
larger brains. Topics like mirror neurons and the various fmri scans
which show a biological basis for empathy, are discussed too.

The thing is, it is in the interests of social species to cooperate,
to share, to live harmoniously together. So the evolution of something like
empathy and a sense of justice, makes perfect sense.If say chimpanzees had
regularly killed each other, they would have gone extinct a long time ago.

The three year old which comforts another toddler or its mother when
she is crying, did not learn to feel that way from religion, it comes
naturally as part of genetic makeup.

In the end, JP evolved to want to be liked, to want to have friends,
to want to sometimes be social and interact with others. Unless of
course things went wrong and JP was what we call a psychopath. In
that case the rest of us would ostracize JP and most likely lock him
away. I don't see why alleged godly input is required to do that.

Mind you, deception too evolved as brains became larger. Being able
to claim to be the only ones to decipher what the Almighty actually
thinks, would give those claimants enormous powers over those who
believe them and to me, is the ultimate form of deception. The
evolution of religion is an interesting topic

Yabby you are a comedian

'Perhaps JP, because you don't fully understand the implications of
evolution theory.'

no one does because its a load of c_ap. Of course JP is not 'smart' enough because he isn't blinded by the dogma of evolution. You certainly need a lot of faith to believe such baloney and that's exactly what those at the up coming denial fest have.