A Win-Win proposal to God and his people...

[Playinghardball]

[mr blur]

4. No, because "praying for victims and families" is a complete waste of time,

and does nothing except make the prayers feel good about themselves, as if they were actually doing something useful.

As you so rightly say, "What a stupid pile of shit."

[rexcat]

7. Aren't you...

Last edited Tue Jul 31, 2012, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

a bit condescending.

Also didn't know that feces was stupid. Wow, I learned something today!

Of course it is okay to be condescending to atheists in this forum but not the other way around, just more of the same old feces being thrown our way.

on edit: looks like someone alerted the poster. I would like to see the jury results on that!

[PDJane]

2. Prayer for the victims doesn't rub me the wrong way,

I just think it makes people feel better about themselves and does nothing for the situation.

[rexcat]

8. How would prayer...

make someone feel better about themself in this situation? What am I missing here?

[edhopper]

22. because they think they are doing something for

someone and because they get to talk to God, which makes them special.

[rexcat]

23. ...

Last edited Tue Jul 31, 2012, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

on edit: The poster doesn't seen to what to respond. Imagine that!

[cbayer]

3. What is the point of this other than to mock and offend?

[dmallind]

5. To make people consider why they always thank God for saving survivors

but never blame him for allowing victims?

Why is free will only the answer to the latter not the former?

What about the victims - or survivors - who didn't believe, or believe in different gods?

If you escaped a mass shooting and were told "Satan watched out for you" or even "consoled" you for losing a loved one by saying "It was Satan's plan", how would you react? What, exactly, is the difference?

[cbayer]

9. It's built around the idea that some pray for victims

Which harms no one and comforts some.

Tasteless and poorly timed, IMO.

But, whatever floats your boat, I guess.

[Goblinmonger]

10. Point it that it might be harful

because it gives people the impression they are doing something which helps which may stop them from doing something which may actually make a difference.

[skepticscott]

14. That's a

Really Good Post (r)

Thought you deserved that, but doubted you'd get on from the usual source.

[rug]

11. Bugle practice.

[Goblinmonger]

12. Interesting comment from the dog whistle king. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

17. Expect three more recycled new atheist articles in response.

[rug]

39. How many posters are you expecting?

[Warren Stupidity]

41. I'm expecting a Blondie poster from 1978.

[rug]

43. You'll have to go to a different meme site for that.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. The point is to challenge the belief in an intercessionary deity.

Do you believe that your god acts in this world?

[cbayer]

24. Why challenge it? It can neither be proved nor disproved.

This *challenge* reminds me of grade school - "I know you are, but what am I?"

[Goblinmonger]

25. It's pretty easy to run double-blind tests on the power of prayer.

The only problem is the bullshit answer of "sometimes he says no." Surprisingly, God says no at about the exact rate of random chance. Perhaps that's proof God created the world.

[rexcat]

26. Something that can't be proved or disproved...

really goes against sound reasoning and those things should be challenged.

[cbayer]

27. How about intelligent life somewhere else in this universe?

[trotsky]

30. You think the belief that other intelligent life exists isn't challenged?

You bet your ass it is. One day we might have proof - there are many ways it might come. Same can't be said about gods, can it?

Try a different analogy.

[rexcat]

31. All concepts should be challenged...

but some have better merit and probability than others.

[cbayer]

32. And who gets to decide which those are? What's the cut off?

[rexcat]

34. Should there be a cut off...

probably not. One thing is science has a better chance of answering the questions in the long run and some questions will probably never be answered so humankind will continue to ponder those until we become extinct from our collective stupidity.

on edit: I don't think anyone has the "right" to decide but individuals can decide if the argument is worth the effort.

[cbayer]

35. Agree. It's an individual and very subjective decision.

[trotsky]

44. I dunno, cbayer. What's the cutoff?

Is stoning an adulterous couple to death the cutoff?

Or are there situations in which that would be OK - like for instance when it's a very important and customary practice in a religion, like circumcision?

[Warren Stupidity]

28. Talk to the Templeton Foundation.

http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/grants/study-of-the-therapeutic-effects-of-intercessory-prayer-step-replication-and-exp

p.s. they are on your side, but they thought it could be proved. Ooops.

[cbayer]

29. What is my side?

[rexcat]

33. That is an excellent question on your part...

since from previous posts you do not disclose much about yourself therefore we will probably never fully know.

[Warren Stupidity]

36. Theism.

[cbayer]

37. Really? What makes you think so?

[Goblinmonger]

38. Wow. Really.

You're going to play the "maybe I'm really an atheist" game.

Good thing this is still in my clipboard:

[Warren Stupidity]

40. why not?

the ridiculous never stops in this forum.

[cbayer]

42. You can say that again.

[dimbear]

13. The whole key is #5. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God does not want you to know one way

or the other. Roughly speaking, it's for the same reason the answers aren't printed on the last page of the SAT.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. The fan dance deity theory.

Except of course that the bible is full of tales of a manifested deity, miracles, wicked awesome displays of extreme deity foo, etc. Just not recently.

[MineralMan]

15. Any omniscient deity worth its salt

would know all of this beforehand and act accordingly. As near as I can tell, no such deities exist, though, to mass killers are free to act without divine intervention.

And so it goes.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. Or they could exist and really not give even a small kernel of shit.

Which amounts to the same thing.

[trotsky]

20. One more option: They exist and LOVE violence and murder.

Which makes more sense than any other explanation, unfortunately.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. That only makes sense if you believe in an intercessionary deity.

if you do then you have to explain why all this shit happens and that is a whole lot of 'splainin.

I like the christian atheists who believe in the death of god (which is not all christian atheists). They get to have all their biblical woo and a smug explanation for why none of that shit happens anymore.