Friendly Atheist

newsweek: [h/t dorsey] I found this to be too funny…

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:56:42 -0400

newsweek:

[h/t dorsey]

I found this to be too funny…

WATCH: Schieffer Rips Whistleblower

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:44:58 -0400

WATCH: Schieffer Rips Whistleblower - http://huff.to/19GA4jc

Not so much a rip than actual points I agree with.

tell me a little about an Atheist?

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:54:00 -0400

Read a little about it here:

http://friendlyatheist.tumblr.com/post/546460527/frequently-answered-questions

In Reason:
-FA

As a former believer my reasons for praying were simple. I...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:12:01 -0400

As a former believer my reasons for praying were simple. I actually thought that a god would intervene positively in my life and in the life of others if i simply asked. (See Matthew 7:7, 21:22, etc..) Even on things I could do on my own. I mean, if I study for a test I will do good but if god is on my side I will do even better. Right? Or at least that is the logic…

That being said the mind of a believer is one of contradiction, actually one of ignoring contradiction. My church would pray for healing of a sick individual, for example. If the person got healed it was divine intervention, if the person died no one blamed god or complained that he was sleeping or ignoring our prayers. (1 Kings 18:27) Convenient, right?

I used to be, at 18 years old, the director for evangelical outreach at my church (yes, i was that committed to the gospel back then.) I remember how once I was asked to lead a group to the house of an older sick man for prayer. Specifically to pray for a speedy recovery/healing (he had the flu or a cold). When I got there I realized the man had no legs as he was sitting in a wheelchair. Then it really hit me that I was there to pray for a cold… The fact of the matter is that I could not do anything for that man, and neither could god. NO matter how much we prayed. How could I in good conscience pray for the healing of a cold if I did not have the “cojones” to pray for the regeneration of the man’s legs? The inconsistency hit me square in the face. I knew at that second that prayer would not make that man whole (James 5:13-15) ever. That was the beginning of doubt for me…

As I think back on those days the words of Marian Noel Sherman ring true:

“”Religious people often accuse atheists of being arrogant and of placing ourselves in the position of God, but really it is the theist who has all the vanity. He can’t stand to think that he will ever cease to exist. As Freud said, Christianity is the most egotistical of the religions. It is based on the premise ‘Jesus saves me.’”

Some may say that the reasons for prayer are not external (healing, miracles, rain, finding car keys) but internal (peace, humility, empathy). But such an argument misses the point (as it ignores hundreds of bible verses on the topic). If such argument is true then, what makes such a “prayer” different from meditation of positive self-talk? Why assume divinity where humanity is the one at action here?

People will pray because they have been taught to believe as much since children, because it makes them feel good to leave the future in the hands of an invisible “other”, because it is easier to see life as part of a grand plan that someone set up for them before they were born. It is easier to assume so than to actually realize that we are alone in this universe and that all that happens, or does not happen, is up to us and no one else. To me the latter is better than the former. To create my own purpose is to live. To recognize the frailty and shortness of existence is to value it even more. To know that relationships will end means that they have to be enjoyed completely because the here and the now is all we have.

Truly, hands that work do infinitely more than hands that pray…

In reason:

-FA

I think people pray because it's hard for them to accept that there are things they can't do anything about... thoughts?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:02:00 -0400

As I think back on those days the words of Marian Noel Sherman ring true:

Truly, hands that work do infinitely more than hands that pray…

In reason:

-FA

The sad part is that a lot of Islamic majority countries appear...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:22:17 -0400

The sad part is that a lot of Islamic majority countries appear to be governed by Westboro Baptist Church type Muslims…

thenonprophet: Your Data

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:19:14 -0400

thenonprophet:

Your Data

newsweek: “I love watching animal movies on television, and...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:12:55 -0400

newsweek:

“I love watching animal movies on television, and they always say, don’t run away, and don’t turn your back, and don’t lie down flat. I love it—it’s from my childhood. How do you prevent dying? How do you prevent being eaten, or mauled, by a monster? I still worry about it!” - Maurice Sendak.

In honor of the illustrator and writer’s 85th birthday, Newsweek and Blank on Blank are proud to present this animated short about the beloved, late author, which is based off of audio we had left over from a 2009 interview conducted by Newsweek’s Andrew Romano and Ramin Setoodeh.

Loved the animation. What an interesting individual. What an interesting life.

hatefulatheist: All Abrahamic religions venerate a man who was...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:29:26 -0400

hatefulatheist:

All Abrahamic religions venerate a man who was going to murder his own child because he believed it was what god wanted, yet religious people wonder why I can’t consider their religion to be moral.

skepticalavenger: what-rabbit-hole: “some historians think...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:50:50 -0400

skepticalavenger:

what-rabbit-hole:

“some historians think that michelangelo was drawing god in a human brain. very few people knew what one looked like at the time; but michelangelo had dissected cadavers and would have known. it even has the hint of a brain stem. if true this would have been a great “fuck you” to the pope whom he was not friendly with but also would have meant god was in a human brain, or created by man.”

Interesting, but the world will never know. :-\

memophile: Funny! burn!!!!

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:41:23 -0400

memophile:

Funny!

burn!!!!

staff: Since we launched our first sponsored post on Tumblr...

Thu, 30 May 2013 16:22:39 -0400

staff:

Since we launched our first sponsored post on Tumblr Radar one year ago, we’ve been proud to see our partners bring their most creative work to Tumblr. Their posts have already earned more than 10 million likes and reblogs.

Today, we’ll start to bring sponsored posts to your Dashboard on the web. Just like in our mobile apps, these posts will simply blend in with the posts from the blogs you follow.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Dashboard!

Tumblr. The new Facebook.The problems of offering a service for free without knowing how to monetize it first. And with the high price Yahoo paid for it it can only get worse. Ads, ads, ads everywhere…

epic-things: At least not on purpose… Epic comment.

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:31:07 -0400

epic-things:

At least not on purpose…

Epic comment.

Infinite Possibilities-- Limited Probabilities: WHY I'M NOT AN ATHEIST - THE DEBATE GOES ON...

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:25:16 -0400

Infinite Possibilities-- Limited Probabilities: WHY I'M NOT AN ATHEIST - THE DEBATE GOES ON...:

hoiphalloi:

I’ve had an interesting reply from limited-probabilities to my post about why I’m not an atheist, saying that “atheism and agnosticism are not incompatible”. I have to disagree. Atheism is not simply absence of belief in God, or indifference to the question; it is the BELIEF that…

Good read.

Yeah god. Why didn’t you? And while we are at it, why...

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:20:31 -0400

Yeah god. Why didn’t you? And while we are at it, why didn’t you do anything about the Holocaust, the Crusades, and the never ending famine, pestilence and violence that plagues so many innocents to this day?

Oh yeah, there is no evidence a god exists in the first place… It is all up to us. No one outside of ourselves.

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:12:53 -0400

reallyfoxnews: Fox News’ new contributor Erick Erickson...

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:37:30 -0400

reallyfoxnews:

Fox News’ new contributor Erick Erickson responds to the Boy Scouts’ change in their policy about gay scouts.

Is Ok to have a gay son as long as everybody shuns/discriminates him for who he is. Wtf?

stfuconservatives: pilosopogyno: This man, James Verone,...

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:38:29 -0400

stfuconservatives:

pilosopogyno:

This man, James Verone, robbed a bank for one dollar. Why only one dollar? Because he knew that in prison he could get the medical care he could not afford with his part time salary as a convenience store clerk. He was approved for food stamps, but they did little to help his finances. Between his back problems, carpel tunnel, and arthritis, he simply couldn’t handle the pain any longer.

On June 9th, he sent a letter to his local paper, the Gaston Gazette, that stated: “When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me. this robbery is being committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body.”

He then took a cab to the RBC Bank, and handed the teller a note asking for one dollar and medical attention. He quietly took a seat in the lobby and waited for police to arrive.

Since Verone only stole one dollar, he was only charged with larceny. His bail, which he doesn’t plan to pay is set at $2,000, reduced from the normal $100,000. He’s scheduled to see a doctor this Friday, and hopes to get foot surgery, back surgery and to have a protrusion on his check treated.

To me, this is the perfect example of how disturbingly corrupt and unjust our health care system has become under HMO’s. For this man, or any person for that matter, feels that he needs to be imprisoned just to see a doctor, is ridiculous.

This is exactly what I hate about America. Why is it that you can buy an entire house with money you don’t have, but still can’t apply for health care if you don’t meet the requirements? That’s messed up.

This is what sick people in America are resorting to. But BEST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD, right guys?

Wow. So sad.

edwardspoonhands: tyleroakley: Oops. lolololol Yeah, tell...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:36:35 -0400

edwardspoonhands:

tyleroakley:

Oops.

lolololol

Yeah, tell the atheist to thank the lord now that they are homeless.

Thank you so much. -FA

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:14:10 -0400

Thank you so much.

-FA