paul..thoughtfull as allways
but i got this in my paste box

from david..""Posting on generic type sites is good""

yep mate i agree
if you got truth..then open forum's like olo
[who dont censor the disscussion..are good

""but I wonder
if those I address would be so forthright
in taking on atheists on an atheist site.""

mate...you mean like the one i had with dorkins
THAT WAS DELETED AFTER HE LOST?

mate send your godhead here
tell him to put up his topic HERE

lets have it out on open forum..!

but back to 'forthrightness on the athiest forum...lol..""My prediction is gutlessness would win."""..thats my thought as well

its great we can agree..on one thing

paul..you ask re catholics..i got no idea
i tried to follow their creed..but much like the davidian athiest creed..i cant make head nor tails of the ill-logic*..but will try

""It is my understanding
for those baptised a Catholic
they must attend mass every Sunday.""

no idea
but i understand by confessing..they are welcomed back
like the long lost son parrable[presumably]

""for being absent,
such a catholic is guilty of committing a mortal sin
and if that catholic fails to confess their sin and obtain absolution and so dies with the stain of mortal sin on their soul they will burn in hell for eternity.""

mate creed is a funny thing
[creed is regarded as absolute[i think]
like how david holds sacred..the athiest creed..rule 1..[to wit no god]

""Has Mr Ratzinger changed the rules?""

i understand john paul did some revision...and the new pope has made some recent moves on condom's..but mate ANY CREED has great danger
demanding blind obediance..in lue of verifyable fact..is frought with danger

thats why god works in real time
lives now..not in creed or the dead words of any text

the living loving god of life
not the god of words..or book or creed

for these are dead instruments of satan...the living good
is reflected in LIFE..not dead creed

but we forget
in time

BUT*
[de-ja/vous*]

some remember bits
hence mankinds many prophets..

""If not all I can say, given the stats,
there must be a lot of Catholics in hell.""

well yes actually you got it right
that pope that did all that murder...he is actually in a protective cage..to protect himself from the good people gone bad..

who wish eternal suffering upon him..[thus by nessisity
..*VICTIM..condem THEMSELVES
to share the hell of thier procicuter]

its insane..but so too
is allowing freewill

BUT..

hate is a free choice
[the other rule 1]

'"I might be wrong as Mr Ratzinger
may have dependenced with hell""

you mean dispenced with hell?
no...see those of the light..cannot deem what those who reject the light CHOSE to do in the darkness of hell[ref rule 1.:freewill]

""as it no longer fits
with todays view of things.""

thats not for us of the light
to force upon the creatures of the dark
[time brings all back to the light]..and we have eternity..till everyone figures it out..then we draw closer..ever closer

time and space collapses in..within itself
till in time..we again begin the cosmic expantion..

[with a bigbang],
and time and space
begins all over again..

and we begin the next cycle

''in the beginning...'

its funny how the despised creed..
makes this material realm...*work...lol
our devision the only reason..we can reason..

within this materialist/realm

Projecting a false view about the Global Atheist Convention and indeed, atheism in the manner some do, is a psychological ploy whereas the attributes instead of belonging to the GAC and atheism, belong to the projector without their knowledge.

I know it’s difficult when only text is involved to ascertain the correctness of this but it becomes a matter of best guess. That is par for the course with internet forums.

Now, I could be wrong and the 2012 Global Atheist Conventions, atheists and atheism contain hidden dangers of a dastardly kind.

If these dangers were spelled out with clear and concise ideas, which they haven’t been, but rather hidden in a mixture of quasi-intellectual nonsense and the hurt-fawn response, then maybe I would be wrong about this.

Allow me to help. Here are three questions:

Mentioning twentieth century despots automatically disqualifies responses, as that does not have anything to do with freely chosen atheism by individuals living in a democracy. Please supply evidence supporting claims. Religious opinion is not evidence.

!) The 2012 Global Atheist Convention is dastardly because…………..(Please use concise language and ideas common to most folk on this forum)

2) Atheism is dastardly because………….. (Please use concise language and ideas common to most folk on this forum)

3) Atheists are dastardly because…………..(Please use concise language and ideas common to most folk on this forum)

David

David

While I agree there is a time to speak out, I think you missed the point of my haiku completely. There is a time when there is no use in trying to reason with someone who can only respond with increasing hate filled rants and deliberately false assumptions.

BTW

While I am not religious, do not believe in a deity as described in the bible, I do consider myself spiritual in nature - as Pat Condell has described (Thanks Laughing Succulent). I do not feel the need to preach my spirituality at anyone and rarely mention it at all, believing, as I do in reasoned debate and evidence. However I live in a beautiful part of the Yarra Ranges, meditate and do yoga and am grateful to simply be.

Ammonite,

I understood the haiku perfectly but I disagree that silence is necessary and that is why I posted Martin Niemöller’s famous poem, which contains a different view. I also accept you are pointing to a circumstance where the good of speaking out is somewhat drowned out by nonsense. I always work on the principle that others also view these forums and may come across ideas never thought of before. If you like, the ‘nonsense makers’ can be an enlightening enabling vehicle.

Your personal habitat circumstance sounds wonderful and mine is of a similar nature but not so grandiose in the eyes of all but I wouldn’t trade it for all the tea………..

My nature allows for this kind of endeavour and others find it too troubling. We are all different. When it becomes too much, I stop.

I wasn’t having a shot at your haiku but only supplying another view. That is all.

I’m personally not comfortable with connotations surrounding the word ‘spiritual’. It is too otherworldly for me. That doesn’t mean I am not in awe of many parts, if not all parts of nature.

David

David

I understanding your issues with 'spirituality' - a word that has been bastardised by those-who-would-control-our-thoughts: any fundamentalist ideologist.

I have already contributed very effective posts on this thread - and have no regret in drawing out Squeers in the manner I did (no apologies). In the words of an old C&W song:

"You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done"

Sam Harris has written much on the benefits of meditation. To me being an atheist means keeping an open mind - looking for evidence, sifting through known facts and above all listening - which requires silence.