Convinced atheists adhere to no concepts of good and bad, but make them up as they go along. To me, they're no different from machines! A bit like the gun which is capable of cold, mindless, killing - devoid of all consciousness of responsibility.
61 comments
"Convinced atheists adhere to no concepts of good and bad, but make them up as they go along."
No, I have a well-developed sense of right and wrong. Just because I don't take my ethics from the ancient fairy tales of ignorant, desert bumpkins, does not mean that I am without ethics.
"To me, they're no different from machines!"
Well then, you have a bit of growing up to do, don't you?
"A bit like the gun which is capable of cold, mindless, killing - devoid of all consciousness of responsibility."
First, you confuse "conscience" with "consciousness." Truly a rookie mistake.
Second, adhering to an ancient scripture for one's morality seems much more "mindless" and "mechanical" than formulating one's own ethics through experience and introspection.
Actually, a thinking person does not necessarily need to rely on external behavioral controls and moral codes of conduct; they are quite capable of deciding on these things on their own.
And while some atheists may (and likely do) choose moral codes based on selfishness, personal gratification, and sociopathic self-involvement, how is that different from the huge numbers of Christians that seem to be interpreting their externally granted moral code to mean that hatred, bigotry, racism, and the wholesale murder of entire ethnicities is acceptable?
Anything can be twisted. At least the twisted atheists aren't blaming God for their being an asshole.
Convinced christians had some nice ideas to.
Try Descartes, he had the idea that only humans had souls, therefore only humans had the ability to do things out of their own will, have feelings and knowledge of right and wrong. If only humans have those attributes, then how do animals work?
That's obvious. You can make machines that can do various tasks without a soul, therefore animals are just complicated machines. Do you know the consequences of that? They started operating on living conscious animals to see how they "operated", and that wailing and whining was just the machine reacting. They didn't have souls so they didn't feel anything.
Are you trying to get new test subjects for various medical research projects?
Making it up as you go along, ie not following a preset lot of rules, is pretty much the opposite of being a mindless machine - compare it to fundies, who just endlessly cycle through their holy punched cards to find out what to do next.
"Convinced atheists adhere to no concepts of good and bad, but make them up as they go along. To me, they're no different from machines! A bit like the gun which is capable of cold, mindless, killing - devoid of all consciousness of responsibility."
You say atheists, but you seem to be describing religious fundamentalists, whose idea of "right and wrong" varies wildly depending on what biblical verse is quoted (i.e., depending on God's mood that day) and whether a particular move is supported by the "right" political party -- all interpreted by preachers who are inherently part of a corrupt system, and who often are personally corrupt themselves.
Thanks, but my moral compass works just fine without some preacher distorting it with his magnetic personality.
~David D.G.
"Convinced theists adhere to no concepts of true and false, but make them up as they go along. To me, they're no different from machines! A bit like the computer which is capable of cranking out endless amounts of garbage - devoid of all consciousness of reality."
Fixed.
What's funny here is it drives me nuts that some people need to be told most so called morals are wrong.
I operate on the "Hey, it'd suck if someone did it to me" principle. It works better than, "This old book says so" given that it can actually be reproduced and tends to fit the individual.
However, I do not recomend ever saying you live this way to something cute and sadistic, I can say from experience with such things that it is the moral thing to do, because it really sucked when no one told me that.
Convinced atheists adhere to no concepts of good and bad, but make them up as they go along.
Well you are 'convinced' wrong. You claim the moral high ground and refer to a whole group of people as less then human.
To me, they're no different from machines! A bit like the gun which is capable of cold, mindless, killing - devoid of all consciousness of responsibility.
So we are just 'tools' to be used by someone else to kill with? You fail analogy 101.
Well, I agree with him to a point (no, I'm not Christian but an atheist; don't cry). But he's still an idiot.
Most atheists do believe in some sort of morality and ethics which includes not killing.
Calling us machines make you feel better about us being smarter than you?
When people were questioned about their moral principles, no difference was found between atheists, christians, buddhists or any other religious group. People seem to have the same ideas of moral behavior regardless of their religion or lack of it. There's an ongoing online study that people are invited to participate in at Harvard Moral Sense Test .
Another study seemed to show that there was actually a reverse correlation between religion and moral behavior.
So Mullah is wrong.
1. Convinced atheists adhere to no concepts of good and bad
Yes they do, they just don't need some man in the sky telling them what is good and bad.
2. A bit like the gun which is capable of cold, mindless, killing
And the crusades were...?
eh.. what about crusades? what were they? :D lol what an ass
---------------------------------------------------------
"Gjervan
#410524
2008-Jan-16 08:46 PM
"Atheists don't kill people; Satan kills people"
This message is brought to you by National Atheist Association."
i thought God chooses who is going to die and when :/
Ever see the show "Most Evil?" It depicts the psychology of rapists, torture serial-killers, stalkers, and all that lovely shit.
All of them seem to come from a religious background.
On that note, I want to hear about ONE atheist psycho, Goddamnit! I'm developing a bias!
0.2% of prisoners are atheists, 80% of prisoners are christians.
So much for your "morals".
We do good because we know it's right, you do good because the bible (if we remove all the laws about murdering people, like killing anyone who works on the sabbath) tells you to - You are the one who's programmed, you are the mindless machine.
@Mazu
Yeah, it's funny. Satan is painted as the huge badass of the Bible, but God is the one who kills any and all for arbitrary reason, if there is one at all.
Yeah I hate the way guns always stop to think themselves through the moral implications and consequences before firing a bullet, it makes dueling an unnecessarily stressful affair. Fear not though Mullah, apparently scientists in a secret laboratory somewhere underneath Virginia are working on a gun that fires as soon as you pull the trigger without thinking for itself at all, they're calling it the 'Fundie 9000'.
And trusting all the onus on God isn't to be an automaton too?. How funny!. Besides, when was the last time you stoned a guy who didn't respect Sabbath?, ok, I think you got the message.
"devoid of all consciousness of responsibility."
We atheists have no God to blame for our mistakes, so WTF are you on about there? What about priests that defile little children, did God give them the OK for that did he?
"...adhere to no concepts of good and bad, but make them up as they go along."
"...capable of cold, mindless, killing - devoid of all consciousness of responsibility."
I didn't realize George Bush Jr. was an atheist
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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