Theists/Atheists, what do you think of this?

Question

Can you spare 5 mins of your time, to view this...and tell me what you think? if not..that's cool! *just leave your smart @ss comments at the door, ON BOTH SIDES of this argument!*
i want honest opinions..not childish bickering!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdVucvo-kDU

Story Junkie
you sound threatened by it. i find that INTRIGUING!
the information in this video *AND IF YOU LOOKED* were provided by government statistic, they are not fabricated.
the images and the "claims" of these individuals atheism were approved by the parties involved...and/or their family members. you've dressed up your response in big fansy words..but really all you are saying is that your right, over anyone else..without really putting forth much proof on your end of it! if you have a VALID claim, bring it up! id be more than willing to see, i'd be the first in line. but i have a feeling id be waiting a very long time.
and considering the fact that a LOT of talk goes on about "what we truly are..fools, etc" are we just to sit here and not try to open the eyes of the ones that would stereotype us? perhaps you are threatened by the very fact, that if the world understood us..the religious would be have no foot left to stand on.

another FACT for you Story Junkie, these are Einstein's own words,

and i quote, "I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."-Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist

i have no need to argue that point, since this brillant man made himself quite clear while he was here on this Earth! oh sure "death bed confession" rumors swarm around about every famous atheist. it's as common as internet myths, and would be quite humorus if they we not so offending of a dead man's proclamation. so unless you happened to be there the day this man took his last breath...i'd hold off on your "ive heard" theories.

george
im sure there are some. but the fact remains that there ARE more of YOU in this world than of WE. these sats...are taken upon entering the prison, not "in the middle of their stay".
this is not some convenient excuse you can play against anyone...it is fact that their are more theists in this world..therefore their WOULD be more in jail! if all prison mates were atheists...all of us would be in jail!
i have never in my life been arrested for a thing. the worst ive had a best is a speeding ticket..four years ago. every atheist ive even known was decent human being, and free from crimes against any countries laws.
every person ive ever talked to that was an ex-con was ..*a believer*.
not trying to burst anyones bubble, but i find it odd that ppl are pointing out the prison % and NOT noting the divorce rate! did any of you even get that far? how sad!

Serving Jesus
see above quote to disprove your point in Einstein, i find it hard to argue with the man's OWN words.
secondly, as an atheist..i will say this. ive been married for almost 6 wonderful years. id give my life for my husband. being atheist does NOT limit your ability to commit fully to another person. and belief in god, does not make it stronger. in the end YOU make the choices you deside to make, even your own bible tells you, you have free will.
so..there you have it.

Wolf
please..humor me and read this..since of course you have made a direct statement to something that i am just ITCHING to comment to! and here it is...your misfourtune."There are no atheists in foxholes." I had never once heard this saying. I must have been living on Mars. Now I can't seem to go a week without
hearing some arrogant talk-show host or holier-than-thou preacher glibly using it in an attempt to ridicule and demean rational thinkers. I must admit that when I first heard it, I was perplexed. I guess I don't
have an ear for fundamentalist double-speak. I later learned that it's basically a cute way of saying, "You may not believe in God today, but someday you will. Oh, and (wink, wink) by then it will be too late."
Apart from the implicit threat of Hell and eternal damnation that's present in many of these fundamentalist credos, this one contains a strange and obvious admission of one of theism's most glaring sources of embarrassment: the direct correlation

between the promise of a comforting afterlife and the harsh reality of this life, between belief in God and ignorance of the natural world. Here is a perfectly acceptable translation of this ridiculous little homily: "You can't be an atheist forever. One day, at a moment of extreme personal anguish or loss of self-control, when you are stressed or scared, cowering in fear of the unknown or of impending death, then you will turn to God. You will seek out His comfort, you will use Him as a crutch to get you through.
His loving mercy will be like a warm blanket wrapped around your shivering
body." Well, well . humans seek comfort in stressful situations. There's a shocker.
Atheists, I think, have a better-than-average understanding of this type of
human fallibility. It is, in fact, one of the primary reasons we reject human inventions, particularly those that seek to assuage the fear of death or the unknown. It is therefore quite perplexing to me when one of the primary arguments

against the existence of God is turned around and used, unwittingly, by a devout theist in an attempt to ridicule atheism. But this is exactly what these poor misguided fools are doing. It's as clear as if they'd rented a loud speaker and pulpit and plopped down in the middle of Central Park shouting, "Religion is for the stressed and weak-minded! God is real only to those who are cowering in fear!" Somehow, I doubt this is the message they want to be sending, and yet they send it over and over and over again. So the popularity of this little saying among the devoutly religious strikes me as a bit curious. And let's be honest: even if all atheists renounced
their atheism upon their deathbeds or at the deathbeds of loved ones (ludicrous, of course, but let's go with the flow for a moment), what does that prove other than the obvious point that these people were human? Faced with unimaginable anguish or adversity, a human being sought comfort in a fairy tale. Understandable? Of course.

Healthy? Perhaps. Proof of God's existence? Um, no. As a matter of fact, it goes a long way to proving exactly the opposite: God exists only in the minds of frightened and fallible human beings. So whenever anyone, with an air of glib superiority, makes absurd generalizations about the unwillingness of free-thinkers to take up residence in man-made dirt ditches, I politely tell them, first, that they
are just plain wrong; and second, even if they believe they are right, the analogy is so thoroughly counterproductive to their cause that it might behoove them to pick a better one. I'm pretty sure the devoutly religious have better things to do than lay
bare, for all the world to see, one of the most convincing arguments for atheism.

Answer 1

Um...yeah...hi...
I'm not a theist...I'm not an atheist
Can I still answer this question???

Both sides of the argument...
What do I think...?
the music was cool.
Bruce Lee was a Buddhist...isn't that like saying Tom Cruise is an atheist?? oh...I'm sorry...he probably is being that he knows the entire history of psychology.

I think Angelina Jolie is sexy.

ok...well there is this one thing that resonates with me...
Marriage is a religious mechanism..."holy matrimony"...
so it stands to reason that there are more divorces amongst Christians.

Is that a fair observation...?
I mean it's not a smart a@@ comment...

The Bible says atheists are fools...do you think all versions say "fools"... or is there a King James translation that says; "all atheists deny the existence of God"?

Could that mean "fools" like...circus clowns - Or court jesters?
Because that would mean Sir Jerry Lewis is an atheist.

i dunno...just a thought.

75% of the US is Christian...10% is atheist -
I guess I'm part of the unexplainable 15%????
No...that would make me Muslim...time to blow myself up...

I'm rambling...
there was a quote about no atheists in foxholes...
if you ever saw the horrors of war up close...
you'd become an atheist.

I thought the video was extremely well done.
I'm not just saying that...

Answer 2

What you see is not as real as God. What you see should prove to you there is a God. If you try and tell me we just became without a creator then you need to go rethink some things. Ask any athiest how the whole universe came about to exist and I mean every galaxy, planet and star, also the ones still being created. Ask how the earth has one set speed it is to turn and one set speed to rotate around the sun. Also the sun is just at the right distance for life to be sustained here on earth which includes billions of diverse lifeforms (That according to athiests just popped out of nowhere or crawled out of the Ocean). Is it all just coincedence? Also ask them to get an empty mason jar and set it in their house and go back to the jar 20 or 30 years later or more if needed and see whats in it..........you know what would be in it? Still nothing. You have to have a Creator and it scares athiests.
Also for the big bang theory supporters........where did the material that went bang come from and the energy to make it go BANG? I'll tell you, God created it and he may have made a "BIG BANG" out of it to put it where he wanted it I won't dispute that because the Universe is still expanding. All in all the athiests have too many questians to answer themselves that the Bible already explains. I'd rather believe there is a God and die and if there isn't I will then lose nothing but if there is a God and Creator and I've argued to people he isn't then I lose alot. Think it over friend. Are you really sure about denying God? The evidence is against you. The Bible, the only Holy written word of God explains all things past, present and future. There is no excuse for not having the knowledge, it's there.

Answer 3

First of all, the Bible never said that an atheist could not accomplish anything. Yes, I believe all these people to be fools, and you as well, if you do not believe in God. In fact the more brilliant the mind, the bigger the fool. A fool does not mean an idiot. Many fools are very intelligent. A fool is someone who can't see past their own intelligence. A fool is someone who says "I'm smart (or someone else is smart) and I (they) don't believe in God, so therefore there must not be one." I can also list for you some of the most brilliant minds in history who believed in God (including Einstein), what does that prove?

While there may be many theists, many of whom claim to be Christians in prison, there are very few Christians in prison. Christianity is more that saying, "Yeah, sure, I'm a Christian." It is living in such a way as to bring glory to God. It is living a life devoted to God, of doing what is right, no matter what. I believe you will find very few people that act that way in prison! In fact, I bet you will find a lot of "Christian" prisoners may not proclaim Christ at all, except when asked, "So, are you a Christian, Muslim, atheist, or what?" They will probably just tell you what they grew up with. However, if you start "preaching" to them, they will probably bust your face in. That isn't a Christian.

The divorce rates are a tragedy. The best explanation I can give you is that Christians are not immune from the vileness of Hollywood (remember, all those movie stars that the Bible said were vile?). Hollywood has so put in our minds that divorce is the answer to every marital problem. Most stars that we have idolized so much have had more spouses than most people have had cars. There is one other reason, however, I think the divorce rate is higher amongst Christians. They believe that it is a sin to live together before getting married (or should). Atheists, however, have no such beliefs. Many atheists may live together for years, and then "break up." Since they were never married, this is not a "divorce." Of course, there still may be kids involved, stuff to split up, etc., etc., but it isn't a "divorce." I would be willing to bet that if you included all these failed relationships that include everything a divorce does but the name, that the atheists wouldn't have a lower percentage.

Answer 4

There may be a problem with the statistic they quote about the low percentage of atheists in prison. It's common knowledge that convicts in prison often claim to be religious (when they are not) because it gets them certain perks, such as the right to get out of your cell to attend services (it's boring sitting in jail, and inmates will do just about anything to end the boredom), days off work on religious holidays, etc. Some also feel it helps them get parole if the officials believe that they have converted. So there's a reasonable chance that there are a lot of atheist convicts out there pretending to be believers, which would skew the stats.

Answer 5

That was a very powerful and informative piece of work. Hopefully some people will see that and change their negative opinions of atheists. I think the ignorant views of the majority of americans keep a lot of atheists in the "closet", like homosexuals in the past. I encourage you to continue showing that video, because atheism is the next logical step in the evolution of human reasoning as a whole.


After looking at some of the answers from christians, I don't understand why they don't scrutinize their bibles also.

Answer 6

It's propaganda. Bruce Lee is a shintoist and Anjelina Jolie practices Native American Shamanistic rutual. I suspect that a lot of the actors are also not Athiest based on their principals. It wouldn't shock me to find out that a lot of the thinkers listed also believed in the supernatural. What's more if you're a Nobel prize winning genious in Hell you're the biblical epitome of a fool.
If you're going to discount Christians in prison as converts then you'll also have to discount there being no Athiests in Foxholes. The circumstances of those who adopt a religion says more than that of those who follow it. The real reason for these numbers is that you will allways find higher percentages of people who believe in God where it is harder to accept responsibility for your misfortune.

Answer 7

The video is quite simply propaganda devoid of sufficient analysis and argumentation necessary to arrive at an informed conclusion. For example, the great and respected philosopher Rene Descartes (father of modern philosophy) and Sir Issac Newton (father of modern Physics) where interestingly omitted. Could it be that Descartes described proof of the soul and God. And Newton wrote a vastly greater volume of books on Theology than on science. One could go on but consider this quote, " Religion without science is blind, science without religion is lame" Albert Einstein. With science you can cure many diseases but a believer in the Bible can prevent acquiring many and still go to the Dr. when needed, consider the current aids epidemic and spread of an alphabet soup of STD's. If we can only be humble and admit our error.

Answer 8

Hmmm... tough call. I'm a but underwhelmed by the content. Interesting statistics, but statistics can be, and often are, misleading. As an atheist, I have to say that I didn't mind watching it.

I have a hard time with things that are so clearly one-sided though. As propoganda goes, I don't believe the video has any more merit than a pro-religion film.

-SD-

Answer 9

I thought it was contrived. For instance, the stats on 10% of atheists being American, but only .2% being in jail. Maybe they converted. And as for Einstein being a "fool", I've heard otherwise. As for 1/2 the scientists and people portrayed in the video as the most contrived of all. I have no other basis but your say so or whoever put that video together's say so that they are what is said. I'm sure there's just as many scientists who believe in a greater force at least. How stupid does a person have to be in order to believe in God? What kind of message is that? I suppose you are a genius.
The people who believe the message of this video? They are like unwary fish that swallow the hook line and sinker. It agrees with their own sentiment, so they don't even question the premise. They are guilty of the very thing they accuse religious folk of. Unquestioning faith

Answer 10

Ditto to Interficio's reasoning above. Remember loveb. at 29 you may still have something to learn. Seek peace. Careful with whom you are playing in the dark, and when in the hospital wait to see how many atheists visit. Go acoustic my friend.