VGC Atheists,Whats your reason?

[Porcupine_I]

PoundHound said:
This is a great thread to quote Sam Harris. If this had been the first response then the next 12 pages would have been completely irrelevant. Take it away Sam:

“In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.”

this thread has been completely irrelevant from the start, even without the first response

but to add to the confusion let me quote  John Safran, not because it adds anything meaningful to the thread, but just because i like what he said:

"I've always wondered why rich Westerners, dismissive about religion in general, find solace in Buddhism. Well, let's talk a look at the story of Prince Siddhartha, or Buddha as he became known. Basically, it's the story of a rich kid that decided to slum it. No joke - this guy Buddha was living at home in his palace, leeching off his dad until he was 30. Then like some spoiled trust-fund baby, he decides to leave the palace and finds all this romance in self-inflicted deprivation, all the while knowing that he could ring up his dad to top off his Visa card the minute anything went wrong. Hey, Buddha, here's a spiritual insight - all these poor people you were trying to emulate would've exchanged their noble life under the bodhi tree for the opulence of your dad's palace in a snap! Which brings me back to my original point - I wonder why all these rich Westerners can relate so well to Buddha? Well, maybe it's because Buddha is the prototypical spoiled rich kid acting all dirty and poor. Let's face it, if Buddha were alive today, he'd be playing bass guitar in the Strokes. Until next time, go to ****"