As an atheist, I'm afraid of Kryptonite**

[bilby]

The reason folks say that atheists are afraid that hell and God etc might be true is because....

Beginning an argument with such an absurd straw man is rather disingenuous. No one who understands atheists would say that atheists are afraid that hell and god may exist.

Wait up pal.
You can't have it both ways.
If it's a straw argument to claim that people who think Superman is fictional are guilty of wishful thinking then it's equally a strawman to claim that Superman is wishful thinking for people who think that Superman is real.

See? This analogy is great at highlighting the absurdity of a theistic argument.

 

[bilby]

You first.
What wishful thinking are you claiming that believers in Superman are guilty of? Inventing Superman as a palliative?

To be clear, all I'm arguing is that what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
If you assert that my belief in Superman is wishful thinking, I'm gonna return the compliment.

Can you see how nutty this line of argument looks now?

 

[Keith&Co.]

to be clear, all I'm arguing is that what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

To be clearer, you're not really arguing, you're just throwing words back at people, which doesn't even require you to understand the words they, or you, are using. Like corollary, atheist, so on.
Just trying forvrevengem but only demonstrating that you can't even insult without borowing heavily from what you think are other's insults...

 

[steve_bank]

The reason folks say that atheists are afraid that hell and God etc might be true is because it's the corollary of what atheists tell us about wishful thinking that God and heaven are true.

If garden-variety theists create/invent the type of God and afterlife they really really really wish is true, what then can we say about the wishful thinking of the atheist?

Atheist god.
- impotent
- invisible
- never intervenes
- never judges
- let's you live like there's no tomorrow (hedonism)

Whatatheist god are you ralking about?

I think atheists fear Christianity and similar faiths because of the long history of violence and abuse to those who do not share the beliefs. The RCC political power to force religion on people ended around 1900.

Currently COTUS protects freedom of speech and association, and also prohibits govt enacting laws to promote religion, and to require religious tests for office. The founders put in separation of chinch and sate for a reason, to protect minority Christians from majority Christians.

It is not an imagined hell or a god we fear, it is[political and social power to force a religious based morality on others.

 

[bilby]

What you people who don't believe Superman is real need to grasp is that most people worldwide believe in the reality of superheroes. Now obviously some believe in Batman, Wonder Woman, or the Incredible Hulk; But these are all just different perspectives on the one true superhero. Like blind men examining an elephant, they give different descriptions, but all believe in exactly the same thing - Superman.

Therefore we can add to the number of Superman believers ALL believers in superheroes of any kind - and if the more people there are who accept that Superman is non-fictional, the less likely it is that he is in fact a fictional character. Because that's how logic and reason works. Honest.

 

[bilby]

It's rationale to be afraid of kryptonite. It's a glowing green rock which, IIRC, has plutonium as one of its main components. It weakens Superman, but he recovers if it's taken away. The rest of us still die of cancer after exposure.

According to the documentary film Superman III, Plutonium only makes up just over 15% of Kryptonite, and is a weak alpha emmitter with a long half-life for its most stable isotopes. The Promethium is more hazardous, the most stable isotope, ¹⁴⁵Pm, having a half-life of a touch less than 18 years, and as such a rather stronger alpha-emitter.

Alpha radiation isn't much of a problem, just wearing gloves when handling Kryptonite is probably the only necessary precaution, as long as you are not Superman or closely related to him (or at least, not the same species as him).

The Dialium component is perhaps the biggest concern to anyone trying to manufacture Kryptonite; at less than 0.6% the unknown part can probably be substituted for something else*, and the end product will be at least partially effective; But Dialium makes up 10.6% of the mineral, and it's hard to obtain, as it is not a chemical element, but rather a genus of tamarind-like legumes known as 'velvet tamarind', typically found in Sri-Lanka and not commercially cultivated.







*Even tar

 

[Lion IRC]

The reason folks say that atheists are afraid that hell and God etc might be true is because....

Beginning an argument with such an absurd straw man is rather disingenuous. No one who understands atheists would say that atheists are afraid that hell and god may exist.

Wait up pal.
You can't have it both ways.
If it's a straw argument to claim that atheists are guilty of wishful thinking then it's equally a strawman to claim that God is wishful thinking for theists.

 

[bilby]

The reason folks say that atheists are afraid that hell and God etc might be true is because....

Beginning an argument with such an absurd straw man is rather disingenuous. No one who understands atheists would say that atheists are afraid that hell and god may exist.

Wait up pal.
You can't have it both ways.
If it's a straw argument to claim that atheists are guilty of wishful thinking then it's equally a strawman to claim that God is wishful thinking for theists.

Someone get the Fonz to give Lion a smack, he seems to be stuck.

 

[Politesse]

It's rationale to be afraid of kryptonite. It's a glowing green rock which, IIRC, has plutonium as one of its main components. It weakens Superman, but he recovers if it's taken away. The rest of us still die of cancer after exposure.

It did in fact make Luthor seriously ill after prolonged exposure; he first lost an arm and then his entire body sans his brain to cancer.

 

[Brian63]

I can relate to both being an atheist and fearing hell. Even now I have a small fear of hell. What if Christian doctrines are right all along? That fear is just outweighed by other possibilities and motivations:

Christianity may be wrong (most likely).

Some sort of deity may exist while there is still no heaven or hell.

Some deity may exist but will send to heaven everyone who stood up to his (unwarranted) claims to authority, and send to hell everyone who acquiesced to them.

I cannot trick an omniscient god into thinking I believe something other than what I actually do, so I may as well not play that game and just be transparent about my actual beliefs anyway.

On my deathbed I do not want reflect on my past and see how I gave into terrorist and bullying threats against me. I would feel much more secure in having fought back.

...and many more...



All things added up, it makes more sense to proceed on without living as if hell awaits me in the future, although I admit to still having a small fear. Especially during the early transition to atheism, that fear was more dominant than it is now.

 

[ideologyhunter]

To generalize.
Most atheists seem, to the religionists, to be obsessed with faith. The religionists assumed we long to join their ranks. Truth is, for the most part, we're fascinated with the human psychology of the thing. As in, how the hell can you believe anything that takes such a contorted narrative and requires such a series of qualifiers, rules, exceptions, and special pleadings? (Remember, as the google meme goes, God had a choice: to forbid slavery and genocide or shellfish. He chose shellfish...) For atheists, it's a never-ending carnival of comic relief. (That is, until the conservatives ramp up their Religious Freedom initiatives or their Rapture-infused geopolitical ambitions. Let us pray.)

 

[Wiploc]

What you people who don't believe Superman is real need to grasp is that most people worldwide believe in the reality of superheroes. Now obviously some believe in Batman, Wonder Woman, or the Incredible Hulk; But these are all just different perspectives on the one true superhero. Like blind men examining an elephant, they give different descriptions, but all believe in exactly the same thing - Superman.

Therefore we can add to the number of Superman believers ALL believers in superheroes of any kind - and if the more people there are who accept that Superman is non-fictional, the less likely it is that he is in fact a fictional character. Because that's how logic and reason works. Honest.

That's great.

I'm reminded of a woman in Houston who commented that your choice of religion doesn't matter because, "All religions believe in one god who has one son."

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

What you people who don't believe Superman is real need to grasp is that most people worldwide believe in the reality of superheroes. Now obviously some believe in Batman, Wonder Woman, or the Incredible Hulk; But these are all just different perspectives on the one true superhero. Like blind men examining an elephant, they give different descriptions, but all believe in exactly the same thing - Superman.

Therefore we can add to the number of Superman believers ALL believers in superheroes of any kind - and if the more people there are who accept that Superman is non-fictional, the less likely it is that he is in fact a fictional character. Because that's how logic and reason works. Honest.

That's great.

I'm reminded of a woman in Houston who commented that your choice of religion doesn't matter because, "All religions believe in one god who has one son."

One might say her religion is Dunning-Krugerism.

 

[steve_bank]

BTW I wear an amulet under my shirt that wards off theists.

Sure some atheists are obsessed with relgion, party human nature. Partly we are awash in and confronted with all the time. It is intrusive.

Atheists are not engaged with Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism. Zoroastrians who are still around, and all the many smaller mystical traditions . None of them are trying to impose morality on the world.

Jews are not generally looking for converts. In fact you have to go through a process to be formerly accepted as a convert.

It is the Muslims and Christians who are out to convert the world to their views.

 

[just_me]

(**The glowy green stuff, not the block on the periodic table)


My fundy coworker has been telling everyone except me that _I_ fear Hell.
I clearly fear Hell because I spend so much time and energy rejecting God.

Not sure how much time I actually dedicate to God. I mean, I have to portion it out, rejecting God, rejecting Odin, rejecting Zeus, rejecting Amateratsu, Quetzacoatl, Ra, Osiris, Thor, Loki, Apollo, Athena...

Not Aphrodite. Or Ishtar. Inana. Don't want to reject any fertility goddess on the off chance of divine whoopee-smoochies...

Anyway, I suppose it makes sense that atheists are atheists because they really believe in Hell and somehow don't understand the rules that will damn them there.

But then, I went and told the Idiot that I fear Kryptonite, too.
He smugly lectured me that humans have nothing to fear from Kryptonite, it's only a threat to Kryptonians. And I'm not claiming that I'm really a Kryptonian, am I?

Oh, no, of course not. However, what if something I had in my pocket was made out of, or made with, Kryptonite? And I was in a car accident, or falling off a skyscraper, or the Skrulls invaded? And Superman came to rescue me, but he couldn't do it because of my keychain, or the insoles in my diabetic shoes?
So I examine EVERYTHING I own, DEATHLY afraid of kryptonite. I even look for Kryptonite detectors on Amazon.

"But those are both fictional!" he insisted. "It makes no sense to fear Kryptonite, Superman's never going to save you!"

That's exactly my point. I have no reason to think that Hell is not a fictional detail, you moron. That's what atheist ACTUALLY means.

Your coworker is confused about his confusion. Hell is supposed to be where you go if you don't believe in God. In order to fear something you have to acknowledge it's existence. you can't do that unless you believe in the individual who supposedly created it to use as a punishment for not believing in him.

I think the real Hell would be trying to speak to him about Hell and since you are speaking to him, that would prove you are not afraid of Hell.

 

[Atheos]

It's rationale to be afraid of kryptonite. It's a glowing green rock which, IIRC, has plutonium as one of its main components. It weakens Superman, but he recovers if it's taken away. The rest of us still die of cancer after exposure.

You ain't kidding. I just checked the cast of the original Superman serial chapter, filmed in 1948. All the actors and actresses were exposed to Kryptonite during the filming and - guess what - all of them are dead now.

Coincidence? You decide.