Tyranny of the atheist minority

[hongi]

WND goes off its rocker yet again:

Daily there are news reports of atheists offended by prayers at graduations and football games; offended by a Cross or Star of David; offended by Christmas carols or patriotic hymns; offended by Christmas trees and menorahs; offended by the Ten Commandments or "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance; offended a teacher might hint there may be a Creator; offended a soldier said "God bless you" at a funeral; offended the Boy Scout Oath says "Do my duty to God and my country"; or offended by a cross on a Veterans Memorial.

Whereas basic Christian teaching is to forgive when offended, these atheists, when offended, protest, intimidate, threaten and sue to have their will enforced as law.

As an atheist, I was offended by this article. OH NO.

[Resinence]

Thats great, it actually reads like a parody, what with the endless reams of founding prophets I mean fathers quotes, and constant appeals to majority. Atheists are tyrants! HELP WE ARE BEING OPPRESSED.

[The Vortex Empire]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

[Singular Intellect]

What they really mean is that there is still portions of the population who haven't been subjugated by their beliefs, and this really annoys them.

[Darth Wong]

What they really mean is that there is still portions of the population who haven't been subjugated by their beliefs, and this really annoys them.

What they really mean is that they own this country, and if they want to use taxpayer dollars for religious displays, in defiance of the law of the land (not to mention any sense of neighbourly consideration), they should be allowed to. Anyone who won't let them do this is a "tyrant".

This is the same kind of imbecile who goes into a furious tirade about government abuse of power when a traffic cop writes him up for illegally parking in a handicapped spot.

[Wicked Pilot]

What are they going to say in twenty years when atheist represent the majority and they're battling the Muslims for the number two slot? I bet that pesky First Amendment is going to look a lot more attractive.

[Adrian Laguna]

What are they going to say in twenty years when atheist represent the majority and they're battling the Muslims for the number two slot? I bet that pesky First Amendment is going to look a lot more attractive.

I'm not seeing that happening unless the United States goes full blown Marxist-Leninist.

[Wicked Pilot]

I'm not seeing that happening unless the United States goes full blown Marxist-Leninist.

I shouldn't have to mention, at least not on this board, that atheism and communism are not the same.

Regardless, the trends show an atheist majority in about twenty years, which is nothing different then what we're seeing/have seen in general across the West.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

Comic effect aside, is that close to accurate?

Somehow, I'd always figured there's be more Jew and other than Atheist....

[Alyrium Denryle]

I'm not seeing that happening unless the United States goes full blown Marxist-Leninist.

I shouldn't have to mention, at least not on this board, that atheism and communism are not the same.

Regardless, the trends show an atheist majority in about twenty years, which is nothing different then what we're seeing/have seen in general across the West.

Interpolation without reason to do this is a bad idea... especially because if one looks at longer term trends relgiousity in the US population at least is somewhat cyclical....

[Feil]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

Comic effect aside, is that close to accurate?

Somehow, I'd always figured there's be more Jew and other than Atheist....

CIA Wold Factbook:

Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)



http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm

Scroll or search to:

"Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God: you believe in God, you don't believe in God but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don't believe in either?"

Gives 7% of people being de facto atheists.

[Shinova]

They probably think back to times when an elite minority dominated over a majority and think it applies here.

[Wicked Pilot]

Interpolation without reason to do this is a bad idea... especially because if one looks at longer term trends relgiousity in the US population at least is somewhat cyclical....

Well there's always the 'anything can happen' argument, but I'll take facts and precedents over that any day. We've got nonbelievers growing one percentage point every year, a Protestant community that has fallen now to less than 50%, a Catholic church that would be practically dead if not for immigration from Latin America, a surge in New Age belief, and everything else that happened in Europe, just a little slower. Christians are certainly making a lot of noise out there but it's because they read the Pew research and they damn well know where this train is going. Every time you hear about how 'America has lost it's way', or 'we're in a culture war', etc, that's not empty talk, those fuckers are scared. It's been how many decades since Roe vs Wade and it still stands. Gay marriage is coming like it or not, and once that genie's out of the bottle it's not going back in. ID is meanwhile getting it's head kicked in. If only science education and education in general didn't suck so much across the board this fight would have ended years ago. We don't need to be sitting around with a woe is us attitude, we are winning the long term fight in all the areas that matter. There is a better world out there, where we don't have to be slaves to an invisible man in the sky, where we can make decisions for ourselves and our society based on evidence, reason, and our own best judgment, devoid of what some shithead wrote two thousand years ago because he had a vision along side a desert road. That's the country I want to live in, and it's well within our grasps as long as we stand up to be counted, fight the battles big and small, and realize that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I look forward to seeing you all there on the other side.

[/pep talk]

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Interpolation without reason to do this is a bad idea... especially because if one looks at longer term trends relgiousity in the US population at least is somewhat cyclical....

Dunno, having named rule one what it is...

Guess I'm just relived that it's an area I seem to have over estimated... May yet be hope for this species...

[Justforfun000]

Wicked Pilot Wrote:

Well there's always the 'anything can happen' argument, but I'll take facts and precedents over that any day. We've got nonbelievers growing one percentage point every year, a Protestant community that has fallen now to less than 50%, a Catholic church that would be practically dead if not for immigration from Latin America, a surge in New Age belief, and everything else that happened in Europe, just a little slower. Christians are certainly making a lot of noise out there but it's because they read the Pew research and they damn well know where this train is going. Every time you hear about how 'America has lost it's way', or 'we're in a culture war', etc, that's not empty talk, those fuckers are scared. It's been how many decades since Roe vs Wade and it still stands. Gay marriage is coming like it or not, and once that genie's out of the bottle it's not going back in. ID is meanwhile getting it's head kicked in. If only science education and education in general didn't suck so much across the board this fight would have ended years ago. We don't need to be sitting around with a woe is us attitude, we are winning the long term fight in all the areas that matter. There is a better world out there, where we don't have to be slaves to an invisible man in the sky, where we can make decisions for ourselves and our society based on evidence, reason, and our own best judgment, devoid of what some shithead wrote two thousand years ago because he had a vision along side a desert road. That's the country I want to live in, and it's well within our grasps as long as we stand up to be counted, fight the battles big and small, and realize that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I look forward to seeing you all there on the other side.

Amen!

[Zablorg]

I would like to see some numbers for their claim of frequent intimidation.

What, do we steal their babies late at night too?

[Adrian Laguna]

I shouldn't have to mention, at least not on this board, that atheism and communism are not the same.

Of course not, they're not even similar. However it just so happens that communism tends to go to great lengths to oppress religion, simply because they are a competing ideological system. With out it, I don't see the United States being majority non-believers (atheist/agnostic) in 20 years.

Regardless, the trends show an atheist majority in about twenty years, which is nothing different then what we're seeing/have seen in general across the West.

That I haven't heard of, could you source that claim?

[Wicked Pilot]

Of course not, they're not even similar. However it just so happens that communism tends to go to great lengths to oppress religion, simply because they are a competing ideological system. With out it, I don't see the United States being majority non-believers (atheist/agnostic) in 20 years.

Why not? France, England, and the rest of western Europe are far from communist, and yet they're gradually evolving to atheist nations. Some of the freest economic societies (Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, above mentioned UK, Switzerland, Canada, The Netherlands, Japan, and Germany) are either majority atheist (or religious but in no meaningful way), or are moving in that direction at high velocity.

That I haven't heard of, could you source that claim?

Pew Research is the leading organization that does these kinds of studies. Most data that gets quoted will come from them.

And Religious Tolerance is a good source of compiled data.

I wish I could find you a 20 year quote, but whatever article I picked that up from a long while has since disappeared.

[Imperial Overlord]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

Comic effect aside, is that close to accurate?

My friend visited his sister, currently living in the American South, for Christmas two years ago. He was stopped, driving on a Sunday, by a town cop who asked him why he wasn't in church. He didn't at all like my friend telling him he was an atheist.

So yes, in some places they are pretty damn scary.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

Comic effect aside, is that close to accurate?

My friend visited his sister, currently living in the American South, for Christmas two years ago. He was stopped, driving on a Sunday, by a town cop who asked him why he wasn't in church. He didn't at all like my friend telling him he was an atheist.

So yes, in some places they are pretty damn scary.

Suppose I should have quoted *pic snipped* instead of just cut the pic.

Yeah, heard such stories before... but never one just stopping someone for not being in church.

[Eulogy]

They're forgetting that with all the Christian stuff everywhere, they are forcing their will on us.

Comic effect aside, is that close to accurate?

My friend visited his sister, currently living in the American South, for Christmas two years ago. He was stopped, driving on a Sunday, by a town cop who asked him why he wasn't in church. He didn't at all like my friend telling him he was an atheist.

So yes, in some places they are pretty damn scary.

Did your friend get shit from the cop? Because if he didn't he was very lucky.

[Illuminatus Primus]

I'm not seeing that happening unless the United States goes full blown Marxist-Leninist.

I shouldn't have to mention, at least not on this board, that atheism and communism are not the same.

Regardless, the trends show an atheist majority in about twenty years, which is nothing different then what we're seeing/have seen in general across the West.

Unaffiliated or non-religious in polls does not necessarily mean "atheist".

[Academia Nut]

Well, I think part of the reason the Christians are probably scared shitless by the demographics are because once a family switches to atheism or agnosticism, it has a tendency to stick what with the fact that if you don't indoctrinate the kids to believe in magic sky pixies, they tend to be rather difficult to convert as they tend to think that the idea just sounds stupid on a fundamental level, as happened in my family. A couple of generations back on my dad's side there was a disagreement, I think over an alleged suicide or something, and the whole family said, "Fuck you" to the church, and despite the fact that they're all a bunch of redneck Alberta farmers, they're pretty much all atheist or at least apathetic towards the idea of god. Go go stubborn German pride I guess.

So yeah, once a section of the population becomes nonbelievers, without actual force it can become quite difficult to actually get them to convert back to any sort of faith. I suppose the demographics in Russia post-Soviet Union could be a counter example, but then again there were forces preventing people from openly expressing faith, communism was really just another, modern form of religion, and afterwards there was enough economic troubles to make people susceptible to religion as an opiate.

[Haruko]

<snip image>

It was from reading Christian apologetics that I discovered what I think to be their way of seeing themselves as a persecuted minority: apparently a great many Christians are not True Christians, but are actually "spiritualists" or other heretics masquerading as Christians.

... Yeah.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Well, I think part of the reason the Christians are probably scared shitless by the demographics are because once a family switches to atheism or agnosticism, it has a tendency to stick what with the fact that if you don't indoctrinate the kids to believe in magic sky pixies, they tend to be rather difficult to convert as they tend to think that the idea just sounds stupid on a fundamental level, as happened in my family. A couple of generations back on my dad's side there was a disagreement, I think over an alleged suicide or something, and the whole family said, "Fuck you" to the church, and despite the fact that they're all a bunch of redneck Alberta farmers, they're pretty much all atheist or at least apathetic towards the idea of god. Go go stubborn German pride I guess.

So yeah, once a section of the population becomes nonbelievers, without actual force it can become quite difficult to actually get them to convert back to any sort of faith. I suppose the demographics in Russia post-Soviet Union could be a counter example, but then again there were forces preventing people from openly expressing faith, communism was really just another, modern form of religion, and afterwards there was enough economic troubles to make people susceptible to religion as an opiate.

I am going to have to ask that you support this assertion with something other than anecdotes. Are their statistics showing the religious reversion rates by generation removed from religion?