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An "Invisible" Rapture? Clever Girl

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Posts

  • FirmSkaterFirmSkater Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    where do you live that people hide their atheism

    In America. In the mid-west. Is this a joke?

    I can't tell if you're being serious or not but there are a lot of people who do not want to "come out" as atheists because of discrimination and complete misunderstanding of what being an atheist is. They are afraid of being disowned by their families, friends, or loved ones. They are afraid of discrimination. I mean its not much different from being, say, Jewish or Muslim in america.

    Actually. in the case of Judaism at least, it's probably worse to be atheist.

    As a completely obvious example - there is exactly one elected member of congress who is an outed atheist. Compared to 14 Jewish congressmen. With the education level of the average U.S. congressperson its statistically improbably that only one is an atheist. Its way more likely that some of them are pretending to be religious because they know it would be incredibly difficult to be elected as an atheist.

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  • CalliusCallius Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    You know what's weird? Learning about God (or any divinity) after the impressionable age.

    Like, when I first heard about God I laughed my ass off, thinking it was a joke or something.

    tonksigblack.png
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I learned about God at an impressionable age. Currently I don't really see a point in believing one way or the other. It's not relevant enough to my life to spent a lot of thought in! I suppose technically I'd be agnostic, it's just that humans are far more interesting than gods. If a God created us, then I think he's awesome for doing so. If not, well, we're still around anyway, so whats it really matter?

  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
  • ronzoronzo Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Some other fun things about the kid in the article I linked, from his reddit thread:

    -He originally told the school that he would be getting the ACLU involved if they went through with the prayer. In the letter he only used his initials, but the administration found out who it was and outed him to the whole school

    -He has received death threats

    -Someone took a video of the rehearsal and put it on youtube. The student who was originally going to be giving the invocation (now the moment of silence) chosen to say to hell with the law and say a prayer anyway.

    If you are in the American South or any rural area, it's best to not be too vocal about being an atheist. The shear fact that you exist is not taken well by the people who live there

  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus The machine is broken. The universe is broken.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    FirmSkater wrote: »
    where do you live that people hide their atheism

    In America. In the mid-west. Is this a joke?

    Honestly not joking. I've just never witnessed discrimination against atheists personally, I guess! Which is weird because I live in a fairly conservative, rural area.

  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Tossrock wrote: »

    Ugh yes let's take a telephone survey article where they don't list the exact questions asked as absolute truth, because those results can always be trusted.

    This isn't to say that it's unlikely atheists are highly untrusted by the majority populace, or that the article doesn't have a good general message on education, it's just that unless you know exactly what the questions being asked are study results like this mean fuck all. Poor or vague wording on a survey question can color the answer and then you can just throw down whatever results you want.

  • ArtreusArtreus AloneRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    FirmSkater wrote: »
    where do you live that people hide their atheism

    In America. In the mid-west. Is this a joke?

    Honestly not joking. I've just never witnessed discrimination against atheists personally, I guess! Which is weird because I live in a fairly conservative, rural area.

    Yeah, in the pacific northwest

  • UbikUbik i'm a rude bitch, neighbor, what are you made up of i was in the 212Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    you know who else is atheist?

    those godless pinko commie bastard Russians

    212Sig_zps455b4c79.png
  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus The machine is broken. The universe is broken.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Artreus wrote: »
    FirmSkater wrote: »
    where do you live that people hide their atheism

    In America. In the mid-west. Is this a joke?

    Honestly not joking. I've just never witnessed discrimination against atheists personally, I guess! Which is weird because I live in a fairly conservative, rural area.

    Yeah, in the pacific northwest

    in a county that hasn't voted for a Democrat for President in the last forty years

    but yeah, I see your point

    I can't imagine what it would be like to live in an area like that

  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    360: Sir Stiggleton PSN: Stiggy_PA GFWL: RacerStig Steam: TheStig
  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus The machine is broken. The universe is broken.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    my sister lived in Ohio for a while

    she said it was terrible

  • FyndirFyndir Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Totally heard that as "Satan's creationist inheritance" at first, man that was a confusing few seconds!

  • BarcardiBarcardi All the Wizards Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Did this argument cause the world to end yet? How about the internet?

  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    my sister lived in Ohio for a while

    she said it was terrible

    Your sister was luck she made it out of the state.

    We was all ready to party with the pitchforks and torches before she bounced.

    Tell her to write us sometime. We don't hold grudges.

    Much.

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  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Tossrock wrote: »

    Ugh yes let's take a telephone survey article where they don't list the exact questions asked as absolute truth, because those results can always be trusted.

    This isn't to say that it's unlikely atheists are highly untrusted by the majority populace, or that the article doesn't have a good general message on education, it's just that unless you know exactly what the questions being asked are study results like this mean fuck all. Poor or vague wording on a survey question can color the answer and then you can just throw down whatever results you want.
    More than 2,000 randomly selected people were interviewed by researchers from the University of Minnesota.

    Asked whether they would disapprove of a child's wish to marry an atheist, 47.6 percent of those interviewed said yes. Asked the same question about Muslims and African-Americans, the yes responses fell to 33.5 percent and 27.2 percent, respectively. The yes responses for Asian-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and conservative Christians were 18.5 percent, 18.5 percent, 11.8 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.

    When asked which groups did not share their vision of American society, 39.5 percent of those interviewed mentioned atheists. Asked the same question about Muslims and homosexuals, the figures dropped to a slightly less depressing 26.3 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively. For Hispanics, Jews, Asian-Americans and African-Americans, they fell further to 7.6 percent, 7.4 percent, 7.0 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.

  • CalliusCallius Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    TheStig wrote: »
    Yup... This is about the sort of place I grew up in.

    tonksigblack.png
  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    TheStig wrote: »

    Is it said that this is Dayton Ohio?

    I know Butters and other northerners like to think we're basically northern Alabama down here, but I have never seen something like this, and not all of us talk like they do.

    I'm going to say it's in Missouri or Mississippi or something.

    Maybe even Kentucky.

    Please, don't tell me it's Ohio.

    bO0v7.png
  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    no idea, the video doesn't say.

    360: Sir Stiggleton PSN: Stiggy_PA GFWL: RacerStig Steam: TheStig
  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus The machine is broken. The universe is broken.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Macro9 wrote: »
    my sister lived in Ohio for a while

    she said it was terrible

    Your sister was luck she made it out of the state.

    We was all ready to party with the pitchforks and torches before she bounced.

    Tell her to write us sometime. We don't hold grudges.

    Much.

    you're scaring me, Ohio

  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Tossrock wrote: »
    Tossrock wrote: »

    Ugh yes let's take a telephone survey article where they don't list the exact questions asked as absolute truth, because those results can always be trusted.

    This isn't to say that it's unlikely atheists are highly untrusted by the majority populace, or that the article doesn't have a good general message on education, it's just that unless you know exactly what the questions being asked are study results like this mean fuck all. Poor or vague wording on a survey question can color the answer and then you can just throw down whatever results you want.
    More than 2,000 randomly selected people were interviewed by researchers from the University of Minnesota.

    Asked whether they would disapprove of a child's wish to marry an atheist, 47.6 percent of those interviewed said yes. Asked the same question about Muslims and African-Americans, the yes responses fell to 33.5 percent and 27.2 percent, respectively. The yes responses for Asian-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and conservative Christians were 18.5 percent, 18.5 percent, 11.8 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.

    When asked which groups did not share their vision of American society, 39.5 percent of those interviewed mentioned atheists. Asked the same question about Muslims and homosexuals, the figures dropped to a slightly less depressing 26.3 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively. For Hispanics, Jews, Asian-Americans and African-Americans, they fell further to 7.6 percent, 7.4 percent, 7.0 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.

    If this was the exact question asked, as in "Would you disapprove of your child's wish to marry an x" over and over again for each different group then sure. It's just so easy to color a survey to your liking that I have difficulty trusting any of them.

    Again though, just on general principle the article has a good point in getting friendly atheists to speak out. Part of the problem likely doesn't even lie in the whole not believing in God thing. It's the view some have that all atheists are pompous assholes about it.

  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I'm not really being fair to those kids accents. I know that I sound like I just stepped off a bus from somewhere in the south or west, but I have an excuse.

    All my family is from Appalachia and this city had large numbers of them move up here during and after the war. That's why people call it Hamiltucky.

    But still, they were pretty bad.

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  • IsoldaeIsoldae Bow Before King LudicoloRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I wonder what kind of accent I have.

  • HeadCreepsHeadCreeps Somnambulist SocietyRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Callius wrote: »
    TheStig wrote: »
    Yup... This is about the sort of place I grew up in.

    oww, my braaaaaiiiin

  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Isoldae wrote: »
    I wonder what kind of accent I have.

    http://accent.gmu.edu/

    Might find something on there.

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  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I want to have filthy unprotected sex with an evangelical christian.

    I don't even care what sex they are.

    360: Sir Stiggleton PSN: Stiggy_PA GFWL: RacerStig Steam: TheStig
  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    If this was the exact question asked, as in "Would you disapprove of your child's wish to marry an x" over and over again for each different group then sure. It's just so easy to color a survey to your liking that I have difficulty trusting any of them.

    Well, that's your problem, not the study's. If you actually read what the researchers said, you'll see that they were expecting Muslims to be the group picked on, and put atheists in as a throwaway, so I really doubt they were somehow influencing the participants to distrust atheists 8 to 1 over African Americans.
    Again though, just on general principle the article has a good point in getting friendly atheists to speak out. Part of the problem likely doesn't even lie in the whole not believing in God thing. It's the view some have that all atheists are pompous assholes about it.

    "some have", huh. icon_rolleyes.gif

  • IsoldaeIsoldae Bow Before King LudicoloRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Macro9 wrote: »
    Isoldae wrote: »
    I wonder what kind of accent I have.

    http://accent.gmu.edu/

    Might find something on there.

    I listened to the one from my general area and it sounds completely normal.

    Maybe it would sound weird from the outside or something?

  • Volucrisus AedriusVolucrisus Aedrius Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Solar wrote: »
    Foolproof wrote: »
    Solar wrote: »
    Houk wrote: »
    Tossrock wrote: »
    I'll admit, when I found out 'Kaiser' is how the Germans pronounce Caesar it threw me for a bit of a loop
    I was thrown for a loop when I found out that's how the word Caesar was actually originally pronounced.

    I think the German's pronouce it with more of an authoritative, Saxon twang than the Romans

    But yeah basically.

    Tsar (Tzar) is also derived from caesar.

    Other spellings include Csar and Czar, which are more obviously related

    It's pretty amazing just how much European culture was influenced by the Romans, even more than a thousand years after the Empire fell.

    also central asian and middle-eastern and potentially even western china
    You've got temple statues in Japan which may or may not be based on Hercules.


    The silk road is the neatest thing.

    Did anyone read that Nat Geo article about Dunhuang last summer? It's this series of Buddhist caves built along a Silk Road waterway over like, a thousand years. You can see artistic and religious influences from all over the world because it was such a major confluence of cultures for such a long time. It was totally amazing to read about and now it's way up on my list of places to visit. I got to see a traveling exhibit on it here, but I can't even imagine how impressive the real thing would be in person.

    So I know this was a couple pages up but I wanted to bump this quote tree to spread a bit of history.

    The reason the for the German word Kaiser and the Russian Tsar comming into being is at the heart of some interesting history.

    Charlamagne became the first Holy Roman Emperor, crowned by the Pope. Following this tradition, all German emperors took the title of "Caesar" because they were considered to be the inheritants of the Roman Empire.

    However, as we all know the power of the Roman Empire shifted from Rome to Byzantium courtesy of Constantine I about 1500 years ago. When the Schism erupted, you had two separate peoples claiming to be the true "descendants" of the Roman Empire. You had the Latin/Germanic Holy Roman Empire and the more-or-less Grecian Byzantine Empire. The Latins being Catholic, and the Greeks being Orthodox, naturally. You also have a brief period when in 1204 the Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople and declared a French nobleman to be the new Emperor, establishing a brief Catholic Latin "Roman" Empire.

    When the Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople and effectively ended the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Sultans called themselves the Emperors of Rum, which was their word for "Rome." They had gone and claimed that they, having possession of Constantinople and the former seat of the Eastern Roman Empire, were the new and proper owners of the title of "Caesar" though they didn't really use it much.

    In response to this the Russians, now being the most populous and powerful Orthodox state, went ahead and called the Ottoman claim invalid, and began to call their Emperors "Tsars."



    So basically you have people after people, on through the march of history, each getting progressively less Roman with each iteration, claiming to be the "New Roman Empire."

    Fun fucking times.

    Dex Dynamo wrote: »
    Keith wrote:
    What would be your ultimate slam dunk??
    I would dunk it so hard my parents would love each other again
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Tossrock wrote: »
    If this was the exact question asked, as in "Would you disapprove of your child's wish to marry an x" over and over again for each different group then sure. It's just so easy to color a survey to your liking that I have difficulty trusting any of them.

    Well, that's your problem, not the study's. If you actually read what the researchers said, you'll see that they were expecting Muslims to be the group picked on, and put atheists in as a throwaway, so I really doubt they were somehow influencing the participants to distrust atheists 8 to 1 over African Americans.
    Again though, just on general principle the article has a good point in getting friendly atheists to speak out. Part of the problem likely doesn't even lie in the whole not believing in God thing. It's the view some have that all atheists are pompous assholes about it.

    "some have", huh. icon_rolleyes.gif

    Fair enough on the first point.

    On the second point, yes, some have. I supposed I could have used "most have" instead but frankly I don't believe that most people even think about it enough to form an opinion. Was using the rolleyes emoticon really so necessary for punctuation that you had to go grab it from your photobucket?

  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    like any good forumer I always have :roll: in my clipboard

    and I used it because you were being unbelievably passive aggressive. If you think atheists are pompous assholes, say it yourself like a big boy. Weren't you just talking about how ultrabad it is to manipulate public opinion to express your own views?

  • ronzoronzo Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I read it that way too

    Question: Is there any way an atheist could debate a theist without the theist believing the atheist was a pompous asshole?

  • FoolproofFoolproof Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So are we really wondering why cults are intolerant of non-cultists? Why would they treat atheists better than they treat people from other cults?

  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    oh Foolproof. Don't ever change.

  • L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Callius wrote: »
    You know what's weird? Learning about God (or any divinity) after the impressionable age.

    Like, when I first heard about God I laughed my ass off, thinking it was a joke or something.

    we had some.. christian... thing.. at primary school with veggie tales and shit

    I just never ever thought anybody actually believed it until I was about 10 or so? It was weird

  • XehalusXehalus Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I believe anything that's older than me.

  • RialeRiale Registered User
    edited May 2011
    Xehalus, I'd like you to meet my friend, the galapagos tortoise.

    16k5ev6.jpg

    he says that god exists. won't you believe him?

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    Steam | XBL: Elazual | Last.fm
  • godmodegodmode Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Callius wrote: »
    TheStig wrote: »
    Yup... This is about the sort of place I grew up in.

    I wouldn't say the whole thing is scary. I just found it funny that the first words that girl said commenting on evolutionary theory was "It has to be proven!"

    What was rather D:-worthy was when at the end that mouth-breather comments that it doesn't make sense because black people have different skin.

    Sigh. Some people's kids...

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Yeah that last guy

    I was just like

    WHAT THE FUCK

  • BucketmanBucketman Dyslexic Puppy Skraggle RockRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I want everyone to know, I live in Indiana, and we are not like that.

    Well at least up here in the North West.

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This discussion has been closed.