Are you afraid of Anti-theists?

[icehorse]

I think the only reason to declare one's self an antitheist is to sell books or ask for more money to do lectures.

I'm not afraid of other people making money.

I do neither, maybe I'm missing an opportunity!

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

You can almost guarantee they will be vocal advocates of the Conflict Thesis and Dark Ages myths for a start, along with those about the systematic destruction of ancient wisdom, etc.

99% of anti-theists accept these as fact

I would consider myself pretty anti-theistic... yet I don't even know what these things you listed are - nor do I really care what they are. And I also speak with quite a range of atheists like myself who have quite a disliking of most things religious... and never once have these items come up.

99%, eh? Interesting.

 

[epronovost]

@Augustus - so what would YOU guess?

It doesn't make a lick of sense to make the sum total of all the victims of over half a century of war in a region between several different ethno-religious groups. I think @Augustus represented it very well by comparing it to all the conflicts between Germany and its predecessor States and the Kingdom of France and its successor States. It's absurd. If you want to talk about actual genocidal massacres of Hindu by Muslim you would be better to stick to the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. Of course that doesn't mean that religious percecution, religiously motivated massacres didn't happen. The history of the Indian sub-continent is filled with stories of massacres, periods of religious persecution, but linking them all together as a if they were but a singular event instead of dozens of temporal occurances is fallacious and doesn't represent honestly the history of the region.

 

[danieldemol]

To complete the collection

I’m not afraid of anyone, but I do acknowledge that anti-theists fall into two camps, militant and non militant, and being no pacifist I stand ever ready to defend against the type of militant anti-theism we see in China.

 

[stvdv]

If you think you have a scripture that you think provides verifiable evidence of a god without the need for faith, I'd love to hear it.

I never said that my Scripture "provides evidence of a God". I said that my Scripture "provides instructions how to get evidence".

 

[Augustus]

@Augustus - so what would YOU guess?

The question is meaningless in the manner in which you wish to see it portrayed as "Muslims killing Hindus for religious reasons". A fair chunk of the warfare would even have been Hindus fighting Hindus.

I'd guess fewer than died during the 'Frankish genocide" in Europe between Charlemagne and Napoleon. Almost certainly far fewer than died during the 800-1800 "Chinese auto-genocide in China".

Wouldn't you agree these framings and periodisations are nonsensical?

Take a 1000 year period in any part of the world and you will see millions of premature deaths for all kinds of different reasons (mostly starvation, disease, etc.). But rule was violent everywhere.

 

[QuestioningMind]

I never said that my Scripture "provides evidence of a God". I said that my Scripture "provides instructions how to get evidence".

Please, share those instructions with me, because all I need is some verifiable evidence. .

 

[Augustus]

I would consider myself pretty anti-theistic... yet I don't even know what these things you listed are - nor do I really care what they are. And I also speak with quite a range of atheists like myself who have quite a disliking of most things religious... and never once have these items come up.

99%, eh? Interesting.

Conflict thesis - Wikipedia.

Dark Ages (historiography) - Wikipedia.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

To complete the collection

Slightly.

 

[stvdv]

Please, share those instructions with me, because all I need is some verifiable evidence. .

I get the feeling, that you are not interested to work hard for it, because you said "because all I need is some verifiable evidence".
So, you want to understand/know about "the Greatest Mystery" there is, and you are not willing to put in tremendous effort.
According to my Scripture, you will not succeed, which seems logical to me.

In case I misunderstood, then the Scripture that I find most helpful is "Yoga Vasistha" (written by Swami Venkatesananda)
It is ca. 700 pages, and promises enlightenment. And the introduction advises the following:

It is wise to read just one page a day. The teaching is revolutionary. The biased mind does not readily accept it.
After the daily reading, meditate. Let the message soak through.

 

[QuestioningMind]

I get the feeling, that you are not interested to work hard for it, because you said "because all I need is some verifiable evidence".
So, you want to understand/know about "the Greatest Mystery" there is, and you are not willing to put in tremendous effort.
According to my Scripture, you will not succeed, which seems logical to me.

In case I misunderstood, then the Scripture that I find most helpful is "Yoga Vasistha" (written by Swami Venkatesananda)
It is ca. 700 pages, and promises enlightenment. And the introduction advises the following:

Why would you conclude that a person needing verifiable evidence isn't willing to work hard for it?

Thanks for the recommendation. I've read works that people claimed promised enlightenment, but sadly found none there. Perhaps this will be different.

 

[stvdv]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've read works that people claimed promised enlightenment, but sadly found none there. Perhaps this will be different.

I have a nice PDF of the Yoga Vasistha (3MB). If you want I can send it to you.

 

[stvdv]

Please, share those instructions with me, because all I need is some verifiable evidence. .

Why would you conclude that a person needing verifiable evidence isn't willing to work hard for it?

Because of the words you used "all I need"..."is some verifiable evidence"
I read this as "You want some verifiable evidence", and that is "all you need". But according to Yoga Vasistha you "also need" to give up attachment to desires, as to purify your body, emotions, mind. And you "also need" to do rigorous Self Enquiry. But the good news is, that some people can read 1 line and suddenly achieve enlightenment.

But I can also read it as "I desperate need verifiable evidence", and then of course you will do whatever it takes.

Hence I said "In case I misunderstood"

So, I guess it was the second option, and my first thought was not right.

 

[QuestioningMind]

I have a nice PDF of the Yoga Vasistha (3MB). If you want I can send it to you.

I have a nice PDF of the Yoga Vasistha (3MB). If you want I can send it to you.

That would be greatly appreciated. I looked for it on Amazon and they want like $35 for a used paperback. My email is [email protected]. Thanks!

 

[VoidoftheSun]

To complete the collection

No, in fact I'm amused by them.

 

[epronovost]

No, in fact I'm amused by them.

Really? That's a bit odd. While I personnaly don't fear anti-theists, being an atheist sort of help in that regard, I don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people by anti-theists very amusing. In the same fashion, while I don't fear religious fundamentalists and zealots, I certainly don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people at their hands. You have a darker sense of humor than me...or you somehow forgot that anti-theists, just like religious fundamentalists and zealots, are fun until they gain power, then the fun disapears very fast.

 

[VoidoftheSun]

Really? That's a bit odd. While I personnaly don't fear anti-theists, being an atheist sort of help in that regard, I don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people by anti-theists very amusing. In the same fashion, while I don't fear religious fundamentalists and zealots, I certainly don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people at their hands. You have a darker sense of humor than me...or you somehow forgot that anti-theists, just like religious fundamentalists and zealots, are fun until they gain power, then the fun disapears very fast.

What you're talking about is something else from what I was.

 

[epronovost]

What you're talking about is something else from what I was.

Then what's so amusing about anti-theists?

 

[firedragon]

Terrified - they use Reason, Evidence, Facts - it is awful the lengths they go to

Oh. They use a lot of faith statements and blind beliefs too mate. Depends on the individual.

 

[icehorse]

Really? That's a bit odd. While I personnaly don't fear anti-theists, being an atheist sort of help in that regard, I don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people by anti-theists very amusing. In the same fashion, while I don't fear religious fundamentalists and zealots, I certainly don't find very amusing the massacres and emprisonment of tens of thousands of people at their hands. You have a darker sense of humor than me...or you somehow forgot that anti-theists, just like religious fundamentalists and zealots, are fun until they gain power, then the fun disapears very fast.

Can you cite an example or two?