On Thu, 12 May 2016 13:35:07 -0500, Muggles
wrote:

On 5/12/2016 1:04 PM, Meanie wrote:
On 5/12/2016 12:49 PM, Muggles wrote:


A good majority of people live by some moral code, so I try to not
attribute their attitudes to any particular belief system when they
behave self-righteously. Often times we all revert back to our base
responses, some more than others.


Most good Atheists live by the "do unto others" code and not one of a
religious nature. IMO, when/if proven wrong in their belief structure,
they will not revert to a book proclaiming their righteousness with an
adamant stance

They just revert back to their human nature which requires them to
display any number of responses, such as, rejection or control
techniques, manipulation, any number of logical fallacies, name calling,
their own version of self-righteous indignation, implications that
attack the character of their opponent, or some even go so far as to
threaten violence in some way. Some of those responses are outright
obvious, and others are passive aggressive, but they all point to a
deeply held belief that something they reject is more valid than someone
else who doesn't reject the same ideas. They justify their responses as
simply supporting their particular point of view, and can't see their
behavior is no different from someone who is religious who responds in a
similar way.

Any belief that prompts such responses to the opposition is akin to
behaving religiously. A book have no bearing in the matter.

whereas a religious zealot will.

A zealot is just as likely to be found amongst Atheists as it is they
can be found amongst computer programmers, even. The mindset of a
zealot if just simply they are right and everyone else is wrong, and
they won't hesitate to go on the attack if anyone challenges them.


Religion is the main problem.

Human nature is the main problem, not religion.


Atheist Daniel Dennet's commentary on Joseph Stalin

The new atheist Daniel Dennett attempted to minimize the atheism of
the militant atheist Joseph Stalin. Dennett said, “ …it occurred to
me—let’s think about Stalin for a moment. Was he an atheist? You might
say well of course he was an atheist. No, on the contrary. In a
certain sense, he wasn’t an atheist at all. He believed in god. Not
only that, he believe in a god whose will determined what right and
wrong was. And he was sure of the existence of this god, and the god’s
name was Stalin.”