Atheist Ads on Buses in Brazil

[mrstickball]

highwaystar101 said:

mrstickball said:

I can't believe they did that to you. That is like the pot calling the kettle black.

They were doing it to everyone.

And yes, the (rather unfounded) hypocrisy was one of the things I found infuriating. A person's personality is not defined by religion.

Yes Stalin was an atheist, but I'm not a communist responsible for 40 million deaths, and I don't plan to be either. I'm not Stalin. Same I'm sure the terrorists responsible for 9/11 were muslims, but I'm sure the muslims I spoke to wouldn't condone their murders, etc...

I once had a similar experience with Christian too though (or my friend did anyway, I was just standing nearby on the phone at the time). I think regardless of which religion you belong to (or if you don't belong to one at all), it's easy to view the "other guys" as the immoral ones. It's a dangerous trap.

I think you could also argue the opposite can be true concerning religions/ideologies and crimes against humanity.

If indeed someone has comitted a crime in the name of atheism (and I believe people have...I think that Stalin's views were certainly enforced by an atheistic worldview), then the inverse must be true - that people have comitted crimes in the name of religions, too. I don't think there is an innocent ideology when it comes to the presence, or absence of religions. People have killed in the name of Jesus, Allah, the Spaghetti Monster, and who should of won on America's Got Talent. Stupid stuff happens...Even in the name of crazy things.

The most important thing we can do is create a world to where we're free to debate the merits of ideologies and beliefs in pursuit of the right kind of ideologies that are free from the violence and murder that many people cling to in the name of particiular ideologies. Its like the Bible says 'As iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another'. When groups of people prevent that - regardless if it is fundementalist Christians, Muslims, Atheists, or Zororastrians, then there is a major problem. We've seen that the real thing that causes death and violent purges is when one group of people prevent civil discourse and debate....Regardless if the prevailing party is religious or anti-religious.