From: Nanci Ann Miller Subject: Re: Amusing atheists and agnostics Organization: Sponsored account, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 33 NNTP-Posting-Host: po4.andrew.cmu.edu In-Reply-To: timmbake@mcl.ucsb.edu (Bake Timmons) writes: > There lies the hypocrisy, dude. Atheism takes as much faith as theism. > Admit it! Some people might think it takes faith to be an atheist... but faith in what? Does it take some kind of faith to say that the Great Invisible Pink Unicorn does not exist? Does it take some kind of faith to say that Santa Claus does not exist? If it does (and it may for some people I suppose) it certainly isn't as big a leap of faith to say that these things (and god) DO exist. (I suppose it depends on your notion and definition of "faith".) Besides... not believing in a god means one doesn't have to deal with all of the extra baggage that comes with it! This leaves a person feeling wonderfully free, especially after beaten over the head with it for years! I agree that religion and belief is often an important psychological healer for many people and for that reason I think it's important. However, trying to force a psychological fantasy (I don't mean that in a bad way, but that's what it really is) on someone else who isn't interested is extremely rude. What if I still believed in Santa Claus and said that my belief in Santa did wonderful things for my life (making me a better person, allowing me to live without guilt, etc...) and then tried to get you to believe in Santa too just 'cuz he did so much for me? You'd call the men in white coats as soon as you could get to a phone. > -- > Bake Timmons, III Nanci (just babbling... :-)) ......................................................................... If you know (and are SURE of) the author of this quote, please send me email (nm0w+@andrew.cmu.edu): Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'