I thought this post might be relevant to this specific forum subsection: Atheist vs. Theist.

Some atheists treat atheism as a belief-system. Some atheists *believe* that no god exists (hard Atheism), others have *no beliefs* about the existence or non-existence of god (agnostic atheism). This presents a problem with the term "atheism" because it has several meanings. For these reasons, and more, I do not use the term. 'Non-believer,' on the other hand, not only covers atheism but all forms of superstitions (and, in fact, all beliefs).

Given that even some proclaimed Atheists, like Brian Flemming, admit to not liking the usage of labels, why not simply use the descriptive term non-believer instead of variable meaning words like atheist, or the limited-to-theology term, non-theist? Non-belief covers not only, non-theism, but non-ufoism, non-superstitious, and many other non-beliefs that surely most atheists have no beliefs in at all. One can own no beliefs about anything while still having thoughts about anything. Provisional knowledge trumps belief in every case, it seems to me.

When will GakuseiDon (gdon) make the necessary adjustments & corrections in his 'The God Who Wasn't There: an Analysis'?
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gakuseidon/God_Who_Wasnt_There_analysis.htm

Australian Christian apologist GakuseiDon (gdon) continues on with his JP Holding style crusade & ignores facts & evidence that have been pointed out to him all the way through his god movie analysis. If he was truly confident in his analysis, he'd reserve space for critique of his analysis but he won't. Nor will he take down information that he has purposely distorted. Even though it has been pointed out to him by being brought to his attention many, many times. He continues on without even the slightest consideration for adjustment or correction.

Baptists to Weigh Public-School Exit Plan
By TIM WHITMIRE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
June 14, 2006 11:32 AM EDT
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention refused Wednesday to support a resolution urging the denomination to form a strategy for removing children from public schools in favor of home schooling or education at private schools.

The "exit strategy" proposal, offered by Roger Moran of Troy, Mo., and Texas author Bruce Shortt, came as many Southern Baptists are concerned about how classrooms are handling subjects such as homosexuality and "intelligent design."

This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first:
John: "Hi! I'm John, and this is Mary."
Mary: "Hi! We're here to invite you to come kiss Hank's ass with us."
Me: "Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who's Hank, and why would I want to kiss His ass?"
John: "If you kiss Hank's ass, He'll give you a million dollars; and if you don't, He'll kick the shit out of you."
Me: "What? Is this some sort of bizarre mob shake-down?"
John: "Hank is a billionaire philanthropist. Hank built this town. Hank owns this town. He can do whatever He wants, and what He wants is to give you a million dollars, but He can't until you kiss His ass."

A fundy on a xtain discussion forum had this to say about the existence of God :

There was never a time when God did not exist, and there will never be a time when God ceases to exist.

My response:

Actually there was a time when God did not exist and man in his fear and ignorance of how the world operated was their only motivation to create a God in their own image. But once belief in God ceased, so did God. So as you can see, there was a time when God didn?t exist.

What would your response be to a fundy making such a statement?

Just something to toss around and have fun with.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2201183,00.html

Japan is proud home of Christ's tomb
From Leo Lewis in Shingo Village
IN A paddy-lined valley in the far north of Japan is a municipal signpost inscribed: ?Tomb of Christ: next left.?

Follow the winding path up into the forest and there, sure enough, is a simple mound with a large wooden cross labelled as the grave of Jesus. Nearby is a tomb commemorating Isukiri, Christ?s brother, adorned with a plastic poinsettia Christmas wreath.

For two millennia the farming village of Shingo claims to have protected a tradition that Jesus spent most of his life in Japan. The village is the home of Sajiro Sawaguchi, a man in his eighties who claims to be a direct descendant of Jesus and whose family has always owned the land in which it is said that Christ is buried.

What was the deacon's reasoning for why atheists disbelieve?

(I would have listened and help pwn, but I was entertaining female company.)

Check out the laughable thread of the day!

Click here for the actual bulletin text that prompted me to write this, but here is what I just posted to myspace:

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I'm not going to repost the entire thing because some people (COUGH COUGH Audrey COUGH COUGH ) will repost it and I would have helped spread it.

It's basically about a boy who dies of cancer and the mom is all sad about it and asks the standard "Why oh why God?"