There was a global prayer against atheism

[Keith&Co.]

Could it have had anything to do with the global prayer?

I dunno….Nothing against Jazz, but i have to say, i never figured we were in such dire straits that MTV would hold the cure for atheism...

This is the cure for atheism. It will make you believe!

View attachment 34883

I gotta say, a 45 record with three sides would be a marvel to behold...

 

[atrib]

The Lord has graciously spread his songs out over four sides on two records. The Lord likes his grooves fat with lots of bass. A religious experience is guaranteed!

 

[steve_bank]

We are seeing a Worse case scenario of religions zealots play out in Afghanistan.

What we see is not all that far off from the history of Christianity. The Inquisition.

Periodically on FOX News you can hear anti secular rants. 'Atheist science'. You can here extreme vitriol on Christian radio and TV.

I have heard 'I'll pray for you' when I say I di not believe.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I guess the question i'm really asking, what would 'the end of atheism' actually look like?

I think William Golding answered that question in 1954.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Can't the believers just wait it out until the atheists slaughter each other over different interpretations of their central positions? Oh, wait, that's the believers.

 

[steve_bank]

Can't the believers just wait it out until the atheists slaughter each other over different interpretations of their central positions? Oh, wait, that's the believers.

Thpse who believe in a heavenly after life seem to be rather worldly and materialistic. If you have faith why worry about anything?.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Can't the believers just wait it out until the atheists slaughter each other over different interpretations of their central positions? Oh, wait, that's the believers.

Thpse who believe in a heavenly after life seem to be rather worldly and materialistic. If you have faith why worry about anything?.

Because if we're not obviously special, and propering, what's the point of worshipping a magical skybeast?

 

[Keith&Co.]

I guess the question i'm really asking, what would 'the end of atheism' actually look like?

I think William Golding answered that question in 1954.

Eating too many fruits and getting the shitz?

 

[Learner]

Cheers for that. I didn't know it was a guy calling on God for the global prayers assembly. That was the interesting bit, who started it. The network church research is now not neccessary.





OK, but as you asked in the OP, we can at least still hear from those who have had experiences as Angry FLoof has kindly shared with us.

I too had some kind of mystical experience. It went something like this:

You get a shiver in the dark
It's a raining in the park but meantime-
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie, double four time
You feel alright when you hear the music ring

Well now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain they hear the jazz go down
Competition in other places
Uh but the horns they blowin' that sound
Way on down south
Way on down south
London town

....

Could it have had anything to do with the global prayer?

If it did, and the intention for the global prayer was for atheists to become Christian... then strangely, this has sort of backfired. Unless this individual thought to bring about a universal prayer, simply to end atheism, no matter what the cost, i.e. 'any religion will do just as long as there are no more atheists!'

But ... lets see these forum atheists would even try to attempt and challenge your's and AF's new found beliefs.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2021/08/04/uh-oh-weve-only-got-a-week-left-atheists/

The moment we dreaded has arrived. The believers have suddenly realized that they have a fully operational super-being at their beck and call, and all they have to do is ask their Supreme Creator of the Universe to eradicate us. All they needed to do is take advantage of the organizational efficiency of Facebook to gather their hordes and tell God what to do with a global prayer to end atheism. They finally figured it out. Next Thursday, 12 August 2021, this will be us.

The link is from PZ Myers. Who else has been around long enough to remember when that guy was a member of IIDB?

 

[southernhybrid]

Apparently, God didn't like the prayer because we are still here. As I like to say, God loves atheists because we never bother him with our petty little problems. We work it out on our own.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Please remember that, ever since November 3, God has been working on reinstalling Trump in the White House. I know because I called the divine help line (1-888-GODSHOP) and I was put on hold indefinitely. And you wouldn't believe the goddamn music loop they play. It's Burl Ives' Have a Holly Jolly... Fuck Burl Ives. I hung up and figured out my own problem.

 

[steve_bank]

There is certainly irony to Christians claiming they are beset by the atheists while trying hard to make the world Christian. Convert the world one person at a time is what I have heard said.

Especially the power hungry RCC. They are not as visible as the American Evangelicals but the RCC is just as evangelical.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Apparently, God didn't like the prayer because we are still here. As I like to say, God loves atheists because we never bother him with our petty little problems. We work it out on our own.

That's because god is an atheist, doesn't worship anything, so it makes sense.

Now why haven't worshippers figured this one out?

 

[southernhybrid]

Apparently, God didn't like the prayer because we are still here. As I like to say, God loves atheists because we never bother him with our petty little problems. We work it out on our own.

That's because god is an atheist, doesn't worship anything, so it makes sense.

Now why haven't worshippers figured this one out?

God is Santa for adults. They really like pretending. Bless their hearts.

 

[blastula]

oh so this explains my burning in the bosom. goodbye antacids.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Apparently, God didn't like the prayer because we are still here. As I like to say, God loves atheists because we never bother him with our petty little problems. We work it out on our own.

That's because god is an atheist, doesn't worship anything, so it makes sense.

Now why haven't worshippers figured this one out?

God is Santa for adults. They really like pretending. Bless their hearts.

Kids grow up to be adults, in effect becoming Santas in their own right, bringing cheer to the little ones by giving gifts. And in doing so they freely behave as if Santa is not real to young Santa worshippers. It would be nice if adults could do the same thing when it comes to their adult Santa, but they don't.

There must be something about the need for woo in some adults, some bunch of neural connections that don't connect that keeps them in a childhood state when it comes to getting beyond their need to be a child. Maybe it's like that window for language, it opens and closes for toddlers and if it isn't used it's lost.

Most definitely if young believers were exposed to the likelihood that gods aren't real, and not persecuted otherwise, they'd largely end up atheist. It's a very interesting dynamic.

 

[southernhybrid]

God is Santa for adults. They really like pretending. Bless their hearts.

Kids grow up to be adults, in effect becoming Santas in their own right, bringing cheer to the little ones by giving gifts. And in doing so they freely behave as if Santa is not real to young Santa worshippers. It would be nice if adults could do the same thing when it comes to their adult Santa, but they don't.

There must be something about the need for woo in some adults, some bunch of neural connections that don't connect that keeps them in a childhood state when it comes to getting beyond their need to be a child. Maybe it's like that window for language, it opens and closes for toddlers and if it isn't used it's lost.

Most definitely if young believers were exposed to the likelihood that gods aren't real, and not persecuted otherwise, they'd largely end up atheist. It's a very interesting dynamic.

I agree, but then how do you explain people like me? I was totally brainwashed, or so they thought. I was forced to spend most of my Sundays in church. First there was Sunday School, church service, youth choir, youth group indoctrination and finally the Sunday night service.Then there was a missionary woman who held weekly brainwashing meetings with the children in the neighborhood, and Pioneer Girls, and Vacation Bible School. I've probably left something out. I know. Whenever my father was angry, he'd tell us to get our bibles so he could read some gawd awful OT horror story to us. Maybe that many brainwashing attempts leads some of us to atheism.

But, at age 18, after attending a fundamentalist college for one semester, I put away childish things. Isn't that what their good book tells them to do?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

God is Santa for adults. They really like pretending. Bless their hearts.

Kids grow up to be adults, in effect becoming Santas in their own right, bringing cheer to the little ones by giving gifts. And in doing so they freely behave as if Santa is not real to young Santa worshippers. It would be nice if adults could do the same thing when it comes to their adult Santa, but they don't.

There must be something about the need for woo in some adults, some bunch of neural connections that don't connect that keeps them in a childhood state when it comes to getting beyond their need to be a child. Maybe it's like that window for language, it opens and closes for toddlers and if it isn't used it's lost.

Most definitely if young believers were exposed to the likelihood that gods aren't real, and not persecuted otherwise, they'd largely end up atheist. It's a very interesting dynamic.

I agree, but then how do you explain people like me? I was totally brainwashed, or so they thought. I was forced to spend most of my Sundays in church. First there was Sunday School, church service, youth choir, youth group indoctrination and finally the Sunday night service. Then there was a missionary woman who held weekly brainwashing meetings with the children in the neighborhood, and Pioneer Girls, and Vacation Bible School. I've probably left something out. I know. Whenever my father was angry, he'd tell us to get our bibles so he could read some gawd awful OT horror story to us. Maybe that many brainwashing attempts leads some of us to atheism.

But, at age 18, after attending a fundamentalist college for one semester, I put away childish things. Isn't that what their good book tells them to do?

You could have been just as "atheist" as an eight year old or younger if you had been raised differently. You were not permitted to be anything but that fundamentalist little girl. You were denied experiences and knowledge that would have made that happen. The tribe, the culture was all you knew and you needed community for survival. It wasn't some grand conspiracy, just well intentioned ignorance, stupidity and provincialism.

Pretty much the same experience here. Never got to know anyone who wasn't a member of the same parish until I was probably fifteen. Got interested in a girl at 17 but she was Lutheran. The horror! I remember having a conversation with my mother who told me it was not a good thing because she wasn't catholic.

All those experiences weren't choices. There wasn't any real freedom involved. Only by going away to college - not a religious one - did I get to know people where religion didn't matter. But it took decades before I met someone who was willing to use the word "atheist" to describe themselves. That was quite the experience.

 

[ideologyhunter]

But it took decades before I met someone who was willing to use the word "atheist" to describe themselves. That was quite the experience.

This is still true for me. I self-identify as atheist without any unease, as long as it's germane to the conversation. But I do realize how harsh the word appears to many people, and how radicalized it appears. But -- as Elvis said -- that's the way the mop slops.
A local librarian who was quite a friend disclosed her atheism to me, on the job! I took this as a moment of trust, although she must have figured out from my snarky humor which pew I sat in. I think I had brought a vocab question to the librarians' station, and, as it involved a religious concept, asked her if she knew the word I sought (it was probably that word for the holy spirit that sounds like a species of bird...and I've forgotten it again.) She told me, "I don't know the word, because I'm Atheist Central here." Wow. I've used that expression a time or two.
Now what is that bird word for the holy spirit?