I've seen several comments on here saying that atheism hasn't killed people, unlike religion, and saying that Communism and atheism aren't linked. As I personally see it, Communist persecution of religious followers was directly related to the Atheist stance. What do you think?
To holeemel: I know most atheists, like most Christians, are perfectly decent people.

To Eldiablo: In 1917, there were 54,000 Orthodox churches in Russia. By 1941 there were 500. This to me seems a deliberate anti-religious agenda.
To skeptic sage: I'm referring to any anti-religious atheist agenda. If none have killed people, then that's fine.
Eldiablo: I understand your reasoning, but I think the concerted anti-religious effort is more than just a conflict of power. If that is your argument, then it can just as easily be applied to any religious conflict.
Eldiablo, hello again: Hitler was, thus, in exactly the same boat as Stalin and others, since he publically used (somewhat alters) Christian rhetoric, but privately expressed very anti-religious views.

Communism & atheism are most *certainly* linked. Josef Stalin & Mao Tze Tung were *atheists*. 10 million people were killed by an atheist agenda in the Soviet Union; 20 million were people killed by an atheist agenda in the Communist Revolution in China.

The Bolsheviks sent Christians (the families of my grandparents on my mother's side) to Siberia to *die* — because atheists would not tolerate their *religious* belief. (They were basically Lutheran. My grandparents' parents had been "White Russian" migrants from Germany. Catherine the Great gave them land if they'd teach the natives better farming methods. Grandpa escaped the Russian army camp where he'd been inducted by crawling down the toilet hole in the outhouse at the army camp — a guard was at the door — & hightailing it to Germany! He sent back for Grandma & their 2 children. His dad went *back* to Russia, from Canada, to get *his* wife, got caught & got sent to Siberia.)

Persecution & massive execution has happened fully as much from atheists as from theists. It's time that atheists got *honest* about this. Their criticism of the religions' histories in this area is *valid*… but they need to "fess up" to the excesses of atheism, which are *equally* true.

Contemporary atheistic *humanists* — who really believe in the The Humanist Manifestos (humane documents, taking a stand for essential Human Rights) — would, i am sure, *never* support persecution & killing people in the manner of the atheistic Communist Revolutions & the theistic Crusades, Inquisition, Witch Hunts & Islamic jihads.

cf:

[Links below to Humanist Manifesto II & The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles.]]

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An incredible journey of faith, compassion, and commitment.A high schooler get saved at a camp and now must face his atheistic family and unsaved friend. When Tim becomes a Christian at a summer youth camp, he must now face the struggle of dealing with his atheistic parents, old friends and a luke warm youth group. An excellent film about faith, compassion and true commitment as Tim continues to love his parents despite their opposition and never gives up reaching out to his best friend Marty who desperately needs Christ. 1984

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What is the difference in these three great religions? Do they worship the same God and what books do they follow? Why are they killing each other? They have to come together to worship the God of Abraham.

The God of Christianity Judaism and Islam?

Read the last revelation of God (the Quran) in English translation.
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/Surai.htm

prophet Jesus mahdi Mohammed Moses religion holy war suicide bombings 911 Terrorism Islam Christianity Judaism Buddhism Hinduism atheist

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Dutch MP to be charged
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7842344.stm

“America Last Man Standing” - Speech by Geert Wilders
http://www.cicentre.com/articles/gw_america_last_man_standing.html

Decision to prosecute is political
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058197.html

Submission in the Netherlands by Bruce Bawer
http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon0122bb.html

In Defence of Wilders - Robert Spencer
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=CCD1E0FA-235B-4CB1-A4D9-D4611738D01B

The death of free speech at the United Nations
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-why-should-i-respect-these-oppressive-religions-1517789.html

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION IN SUPPORT OF GEERT WILDERS
http://www.petitiononline.com/wilders/petition.html

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST SHARIA LAW
http://www.onelawforall.org/
http://www.shariapetition.com/

You can download an audio version of this video at http://patcondell.libsyn.com/

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Please subscribe to:
• http://www.YouTube.com/FFreeThinker
• http://www.YouTube.com/TheAtheistExperience
• http://www.YouTube.com/AtheistExperience

Christians: Pray For Richard Dawkins & Matt Dillahunty! (The Atheist Experience #557 with Matt Dillahunty & Don Baker).

Thanks to http://www.youtube.com/Prophiscient for uploading episode #557 to YouTube!

What is The Atheist Experience?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas, geared at an atheist and non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin (ACA), a nonprofit educational corporation to develop and support the atheist community, to provide opportunities for socializing and friendship, to promote secular viewpoints, to encourage positive atheist culture, to defend the first amendment principle of state-church separation, to oppose discrimination against atheists and to work with other organizations in pursuit of common goals.

http://www.atheist-experience.com/
http://www.atheist-community.org/
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-atheist-experience
http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/
http://www.nonprophetsradio.com/
http://www.atheist-community.org/donate/
Wiki: http://www.ironchariots.org/
Fan club: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20603369467&ref=ts
Cartoons: http://www.atheist-community.org/atheisteve/
E-mail: tv@atheist-community.org
.

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A reading of my post on the blog site “Clashing Culture” - http://clashingculture.wordpress.com

This essay, “The Pre-Religion, and Pre-Human, Roots of Morality,” is one of the forty-four endnotes in my book “Dialogue with a Christian Proselytizer.” See http://www.booklocker.com for free PDF sample chapters.

(This link will bring you right to the page where you can find the PDF file just scroll down to #5: http://search.booklocker.com/search-bl.cgi?q=dialogue+with+a+christian+proselytizer&t=&SEARCH=Search)

My four YouTube channels:

- http://youtube.com/user/ToddGates - my musician channel

- http://youtube.com/user/ToddAllenGates - where I discuss the ideas in my book “Dialogue with a Christian Proselytizer” (a dialogue between a Christian proselytizer and a Socratic skeptic)

- http://youtube.com/user/ToddAllenGates2 - where I discuss the ideas in my book “Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames” (such as “Why do we have to work?” and “Why do we have to use money?” and “How should we define ’success’?”)

- http://youtube.com/user/BlasphemyPiano - where I play the background piano accompaniment for songs in Nick Gisburne’s book of lyrics “Blasphemy! Anthems for Atheists.”

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A selection of some famous and not so famous quotes that will hopefully tickle the funny bone of every rational thinker. (And yes, not every quote is from an atheist.) Background song is “In Heaven” by Pop Smear. Their website is: www.myspace.com/popsmearofficial

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the video I’m responding to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VN20JxJKeI&feature=channel_page

I semi-scripted this video, so it was better this time around. the websites where I found the news are both atheist/secular, though. upon more research I did find more material, but I think I made my point. and hey, you can’t prove it didn’t happen… lol

http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/12/24/what-would-jesus-do-evict-homeless-pregnant-woman.htm
http://thedailyprofaner.com/2008/12/30/church-evicts-homeless-shelter-for-not-making-starving-homeless-pray-before-christmas-dinner/

here’s another source for the most recent news: http://www.hackensackchronicle.com/NC/0/671.html
and another one: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-ushome1229,0,4390080.story

how heroic of jesus. “if you don’t bow down and pray to me, you’ll have no food!”. how generous! such nice priorities!

PART2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2OFi9Ga9SA

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I realize that the definition of atheism is just the absence of belief in God, angels, myth, etc., but I have found that most Atheists do not hold such beliefs because they are gluttons for the scientific method and empirical evidence. Therefore, I am not disputing the definition of Atheism, I am just calling it the way I see it.

Onlyhalfthetime@gmail.com

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WHY DO I WANT TO BECOME A JEW

i wanted to become a Jew in order to be closer to the god of Israel and to find favor and blessings in his eyes as well as becoming a member of the chosen people
i knew that ones i'll become a Jew another soul will be given to me - "haNefesh haElohit" and so i will have far less limits in my personal spiritual development in which i wish to receive enlightenment
but this desire i got only in the recent six months or so
you have no idea what was going on before that

# THE WHOLE STORY

i guess that i shall tell the whole story in order to give you a clue of what is going on
until a certain point i just remained with the standard popular view in social view of God and i was a social conformist when it came to religion
but then i just started getting into religion myself
eventually i ended with the conclusion that there is no such thing as God or deities in general and that it is completely imaginary (first i defined myself as an agnostic but then i just moved to atheism)
i have read the popular Anton LaVey's satanic bible and i liked it and i have adopted the LaVeyan ideology (both religious and philosophical)
and then i almost immediately got into the whole Norwegian anti-christian black metal subculture
in those days great sins have i committed
the most disgusting things that you can imagine
idolatry blasphemy immoral sex witchcraft and just great hate towards humanity itself
i was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder
and another kind of a mental disorder which i don't remember
(many ancient Jewish teaching support that mental illnesses are caused by possessions of evil spirits)
i even blasphemed the god of Israel while using his most sacred name of all his sacred names
i met by the Internet another LaVeyan satanist which was very interested with Aleister Crowley's works and so it pulled me to introduce myself to them and thereby get interested in magick
it led to my introduction with Wicca
i just looked for a good website in which i can find some instruction for witchcraft spells that i can cast and practice with i found this website - SpellsOfMagic.com
most of the people there are Wiccan or members of some other neo-pagan movement or religion
it made me want to get a little closer to it
i looked upon it this way - if those people indeed do posses true knowledge and they know truth and they claim that deities DO exist there has to be something in this whole story
then i didn't except deities fully in their nature but only limit my beliefs by ending up with the conclusion that there may be some kind of being in some other realms which may be called gods and goddesses but not further then that (i wasn't think of the Abrahamic god at that moment)
so i partly excepted their existence (but only partly)
i had the opinion that does not mean that i stop being an atheist because of that
i tried to think of those beings as less as i can so that i will not stop being an atheist which i did not want to happen
but i failed as i started excepting them fully
yet i was ignorant about the nature of such beings and knew nothing about them and just excepted them in the way that i saw them in popular culture
you can say it just began from some minor thought like
"oh look how bad is the weather - the storm god must be very angry at that moment"
or "look how shiny the sun is - the god of sun must be extra happy today"
or "thank Ra that i made it to the bus"
or simply - "oh my gods" or "thank the gods"
as i excepted their existence i started wondering why wouldn't the Hebrew god exist too if he is a deity after all
so i started wondering about shall i except his existence too
my conclusions was quite complicated
and it was hard for my mind to reach an agreement
but eventually i did stop excepting his existence
and then when i got back to Israel
my father which is also Jewish started pulling me closer into Judaism
he told me what a great god is the god of Israel and i found out myself about what a great god he is by reading the sacred ancient Hebrew texts
even thought my mom just tried to convince me that my dad had put a spell on me and that i am actually bewitched out of nowhere i made a decision that i want to stop being a sinful person and that i want to become a Jew and to except the god of Abraham as my god and just clean my soul from all this filth that i got into in the recent few years
even though that process took a while
even thought for a certain period i kept practicing witchcraft and studying pagan texts
eventually i burned all those books got reed of my Wiccan altar as well as burning all my mother's book which have any christian icons idols or statues or christian prayer inside of them together with her wooden cross
and finally saying that i want to be a Jew

# THE PROBLEM
now that i started converting to Judaism i found out that i am not really that comfortable with the Hebrew deity as it seemed that i might get when
when i was just starting
right now i define myself as an henotheist
when i was newly born into my new spiritual self with my newly born hunger for love and understanding betwen all humans the god of Abraham jsut seemed too violent to me
together with not feeling comftrobole of the dominat view in sociaty claiming that god is male
and with the fact that he is usually referred to as male
while i felt much more comftrobole worshiping a female deity
it got me very depressed knowing that haShem hates anything which may have a clue to different gods or goddesses then him
the only place in which i would feel home is around pagans he company of which the Jewish law severly forbids
all that modern Jewish culture and tradition is not what i cried for
i felt much closer to the ancient form of Judaism then the modern one
modern Judaism would looked to me far too materialistic
while my soul burned with the desire to start a new life in which i would only see spirituality and the full destruction of evil in myself including any sympathy towards evil
the images of certain deities such as the mother goddess would look to me more caring then the images of the Hebrew god
now i start looking upon it as it may had no real good reason to start becoming a Jew
now i stand before a very imprtant decision
probably the most important decision in m life:
1.become a Jew
2.remain a goy
both ways i know that i shall not bow down before the other gods for the god of the Hebrews will never forgive me be i a Jew or a goy

everyone goes through this "questioning"….everyone atleast who does the process correctly…………and some questioning do quit the process

no biggie……..remain a gentile, there is nothing wrong with that………ask yourself why you are wanting to convert anyways………….you can be righteous with God without being a Jew, you can be what is called a b'nei noach……..followers of the covenant that was made between God and Noah

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