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 Some atheists may ask questions on the Internet that they wouldn't have asked in church.
August 1st, 2012
12:03 PM ET
'Where was God in Aurora?' comments show Internet as church for atheistsBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - The Internet has become the de facto global church for atheists, agnostics and other doubters of God, who of course don’t have bricks-and-mortar churches in which to congregate. We see this phenomenon in motion every day on the CNN Belief Blog, where atheists/agnostics/humanists are among the most zealous commenters. Recent string of posts around the question of “Where was God in Aurora?” (such as this and this) drew especially large waves of comments that show atheists are using the Internet to commune with one another and to confront religious believers in ways that they don’t usually do in church. Atheists and other secularists have offline organizations that stage in-person meetings - the Secular Student Alliance has seen its number of campus chapters quadruple in the last five years, to 368 - but the Internet has probably played a bigger role in the rise of the so-called New Atheism. The movement’s adherents evangelize their godlessness, just as many religious folks evangelize their God, often taking to the Belief Blog to do so. “A lot of millennials who are coming of age have found that the Internet is a fantastic place to talk about their doubt,” says Jesse Galef, communications director for the Secular Student Alliance. “Before the Internet, there was no place for young people to do that. The only place to go was really church, and that wasn’t always a welcoming place. “But they can go online and discuss these ideas without being judged by friends and families,” Galef says. For closeted atheists, the Internet’s anonymity is a big draw. A coalition of national atheist groups recently launched a program to transition doubting clergy to lives of open atheism by first having ministers come out anonymously in a closed online community. Plenty of other atheists, though, are using the Internet to connect with real, named people through Facebook and other online social networks. “It’s the ability to access a larger community, particularly for people growing up in religiously conservative areas,” Galef says. “There is nobody they can point to to discuss their atheism or their doubts about the Bible or their morality, and the Internet provides that.” On Sunday, a guest piece from a Colorado pastor argued that it’s possible to reconcile the idea of a sovereign God with the existence of evil and tragedy. The post has drawn 4,239 comments as of Wednesday morning, largely from atheists. One of those comments - a letter from God penned by an atheist commenter named Colin - caught fire online. Here’s how his letter opens:
The letter has been posted on reddit, where it attracted another 1,000-plus comments. (Warning: The reddit comments includes foul language.) The vast majority of comments come from sympathetic atheists and other secularists (the discussion is reddit's atheism thread), a striking example of such folks doing church without God online. Many of those comments are deeply personal, confessional and poignant. Here are five of the best ones. Some respond to Colin’s letter from God, others to the Colorado pastor who wrote for the Belief Blog last weekend.
That comment, which has been truncated above, provoked an outpouring of sympathy and support on reddit, including this comment:
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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" love that anyone can express themselves honestly and it will be well-received here (usually). And although this one is a little cheeky, "
Except if you are a girl. Then it's not safe to express your opinions.
God can't be everywhere...he was giving cancer to a baby that evening....bad timing....
I'm sick and tired of those atheists who constantly spread their hatred and shovel their evil nonfaith and act in our throats!
Jesus must be so proud of you.
Better get used to seeing a lot of athiesm discussions (but not hate). There will be more and more of it. We are getting more educated and more vocal all the time. Our numbers are growing.
Its blasphemy to call yourself a saint.
I'm sick and tired of those religious zealots who constantly spread their hatred and shovel their evil faith and act in our throats!
@Saint Joseph, NY
" I'm sick and tired of those atheists who constantly spread their *hatred* and shovel their evil nonfaith and act in our throats! "
No, -Saint Joe... We *hate* your *sins* but love you *sinnners* or something like that.
Peace...
PEace@all – ah my friend, the one who took the "the" out of psychotherapist – 🙂 How are you, dude?
Wow...pot meet kettle! We're not using a book to tell people what they can and can't do with their bodies; to tell people who they can and can't love; to deny equal rights to anyone...that would be the theist, not us...so please tell me again who is spreading hate? As for non-faith-that's the nicest thing you said! Faith is defined as belief without evidence, therefore if I have 'nonfaith' I must place my belief in the evidence. I care that what I believe is true and that it is based within the recent times, sadly you can't say the same.
Saint Joseph, I have faith in the Sun God Ra. Do I meet with your approval? I assume when you say "faith," you mean faith in any of the 10,000 gods which humanity has believed in at one point or another.
Or are you an atheist when it comes to most of them (footnote: Richard Dawkins)? You must have faith in these gods. Either that or you will burn in eternal fake hell.
I think this basically translates to "I'm sick and tired of people who disagree with what I think is the truth. Disagreeing with me = hatred!!"
So you have atheists knock on your door and try to convert you? Is that how they force it on you? LOL
Sick of Christians who claim they are "saved". It's one thing when adults are talking, but I have had parents of my kids' friends tell my kids their souls were in trouble because they didn't have a close and personal relationship with Jesus. What sort of people do that? Trash.
Human beings have free will. Without free will, there would be no responsibility. It is not immoral for a lion to kill. It is for a human to kill. When a teacher acts immorally do atheists question the existence of knowledge? When a postman kills, do atheists question the existence of the postal system? I suppose when a theologian ponders the number of angel who can dance on the head of a pin, she is wasting her time. However, when a physist ponders how many multiple universes exist in the same time and space he is a genius.
Religion is man's attempt to understand God; it will not be perfect.
My life was controled by a mental obsession that was part of a fatal progressive disease. I could not stop myself. when I asked God for help, the obsession was removed. Maybe I cured myself and I just don't know it. Maybe all my friends cure themselves too. all I know is nothing worked untill I asked God for help.
"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: " "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself;" You can say it is just good philosophy, but when I ask for help to try to live this way, my life is better.
I really do not care to argue about how the world was made. The Bible, the Koran, the Upanishads, these are not science or history books to me.
"When a teacher acts immorally do atheists question the existence of knowledge?"
Ugh, dumb. Hilarious, but dumb. Nice try.
The postman does not tell me I am going to hell because I do not believe as he does, nor does he claim he knows that his way is the answer. Most importantly, no one goes to the teacher or postman for their morality.
Can someone please explain to me why he made all of us, then made the sun kill us? It kills us quickly if we lay in it for days, or slowly with cancer. When it burns out earth will die. So what was the point? What was his endgame? If he made all of this for a reason why did he make the very thing that gave life to this planet kill everyone on it?
After you think about that think about how much "bad" humans create every day. Then ask yourself, if I created all of this, wouldn't I have done it better, with less pain, suffering, loss, violence? If he is the smartest being in existence, then why did he make use to poorly, so obviously flawed?
unless God is just one big troll and all of this is just for his sick amusement, I, if given the same attributes given to him by the Bible would have done MUCH better..... any modern person would. the Bible is laughably ... inconsistent, contradictory...but much money and power rides on duping generation after generation.
makes no difference whether there really is a God or not....if in fact such a deity exists, he/she/it has long since ceased to care what happens on this rock....want someone to believe in??? try the face that looks back at you every day from the mirror...a real good place to start...
1st amendment says FREEDOM >> OF << RELIGION, including Freedom from Non-Christian religion.
In God We Trust
Wasn't my idea to put that phrase on the money.
In dog we trust.
Except that you conveniently add the last part which is NOT part of the actual amendment.
Sometimes it makes me wish that Christians in Christian majority countries were intolerant as Muslims.
Id!ot atheists are WAY too spoiled and should learn a lesson
Wow Matt,
What are you advocating here? Can you spell it out?
Awesome. Angry, vengeful and intolerant. Just like your phony murderous god of the bible. That is why atheism is the future. Clowns like you will be relegated to the sidelines and no longer tolerated.
More proof that god does not exist. The armies of god are angry and want to kill people who don't agree with them. You are a joke.
And what lesson might you want to teach us, oh child of god?
If you had a lesson to teach atheist would probably learn it quickly. But you spout nonsense.
True. Courtesy is learned through violence.
well now Matt, you be be sure & let us atheists know when you figure out how to "teach us a lesson..." its arrogant fools such as yourself who give religion a bad name....
How christian of you.
Now let's turn it around: maybe you need a lesson. Christians have been far too comfy in America for far too long.
Spank them Matt.
Again, toad is obsessed with butts. Maybe try spanking him, I think he'll like it.
But what if these christians didn't follow the version of the religion you do? What if you were required to handle poisonous snakes and speak in tongues every Sunday under pain of death? What if you were required to give up you 13yo daughters to whoever the religion's leader decided they should marry?
What you need to understand is that religious freedom protects everyone because there's no guarantee that your still not going to end up in the minority.
LETS ALL REMEMBER THAT WE HAVE FREEDOM OF RELIGION!
I'd prefer to also have freedom FROM religion.
Yes, Americans have the freedom to be as ignorant as they wish to be...
And freedom from Atheism.
"I know one thing, that I know nothing" -Socrates
How does anyone claim to know the truth? If God is infinite and we are finite, by definition we cannot comprehend the truth. I guess that I'm agnostic because I don't believe in a specific god or gods. I never will but at the same time I do not disbelieve. I just know that I will go to my grave not knowing.
I agree. But to create a god and establish rules is ridiculous.
Lamb.......It's a good thing Mel Brooks dropped a tablet or we'd have 15 rules. Damn.
The existence of God is based on one simple word, "faith". Whether you choose to have it or not is your choice. Just because people don't believe the way you do doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong, it simply means your way of believing may or may not be the correct one.
But siince the claim of the existance of a supernatural being means it has to be true for me too if it is true for you, doesn't that mean it is something we can debate?
Explain how faith (simply believing something in the absence of evidence) is a valid way to judge the truth of anything.
The answer is so simple that those whom claim to have intelligence completely miss it.
God created man so that man would worship Him, and ONLY Him, because of the fact that He is the master Creator. God COMMANDS worship to Him, and to Him ALONE. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the A and the Z.
Unfortunately since man was given free will (we wouldn't want to be FORCED to believe, right???), "man" has to make a decision- it is an actual ACT- not a noun but a VERB- to not only believe in God but to OBEY Him. So.....here's what occurs;
When bad things happen to "man", there is a reason- as there is for everything God does. Every tragedy, affliction, travesty, injustice, ect... is ALLOWED to happen to "man" because of this; The evil one goes before God and asks His permission to wreak havoc, either on an individual or a group, and God either agrees to let it happen or denies the liar's request. His sole purpose in doing this is for the hope that the "man" He created will turn TOWARDS Him, repent and believe. Then once the "man" has accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, God can give him the Holy Spirit to live within him. Once having the Living God as part of one's "body", the relationship between God, His Son, and His Spirit and the "man" can begin.
You think I sound like a nut- I get it. I once was like so many of you and rebelled against anyhting that resembled "religion".
But then I read the Bible. Me, the avid reader, always had a bible in my home but never picked it up. I now know that that was the liar's way of ensuring I would never know God. But after a year and a half of reading the Living God's Word, I am not only convinced of His existence but KNOW that the word "coincidence" is a farce and the only Truth is His.
Stupid. Why would god need to command to be worshipped if he doesn't have any compet.ition? Just show say high and he feed his ego for all of eternity, no work needed.
I never rebelled against religion and have read the Bible my whole life. Still do. And I am still an athiest.
The god you describe is an insecure egomaniac. Thanks, but I'll pass. Keep lying to children. Keep making things up as you go along.
You don't have to live as an abject slave your whole life you know.
That is just plain hogwash.
Atheists for Romney 2012! Because if I am going to have to put up with a nation based on religious dogma I want to know my president is wearing magical underpants.
Wow, I'm not rebelling. My story is quite simple. I was raised by a very devout christian family. My Mother was a firm believer until the day she passed away and to tell you how much I respect that lady, we just celebrated 25 years without her and in her memorial video that I created, I used words from her favorite hymn. I left home at 16...small town country girl stuck in a big city. From there I traveled a lot. I have met people from all walks of life and have witnessed more crap than need be. When I was 21, I met my daughter's father...a very pagan man, up until then I hadn't given other religions much thought....it was an eye-opener. We decided that we would raise her without a belief. My daughter is 18 now and off to college :-). 3 years ago on a whim I took a summer vacation to hang out with a good friend and just didn't look back...that good friend introduced me to a world of information that I might not have looked at otherwise...in peaking my curiosity I did some reading on my own and quickly watched my belief in god go from being a weak belief to non-existent. I have no problem with christians...some of the most wonderful people I know are, I have a problem when christians attempt to use their belief to dictate the basic rights of others. We live in the year 2012, it shouldn't be too difficult to realize that the book you hold so dear was written 2000 years ago, has never been updated and thus, outside of some of the good bits really isn't a needed document....it can't be used in a court of law or to dictate how laws are made. As much as I will never agree with the god factor because there simply is no evidence to back it, I have no issue with you believing, just don't be so arrogant and rude to think that everyone has to believe the same. Respect really is a two way street!
A being who is so needy that she needs a human's worship, is not worthy of the name.
Yep, simple.
It's called free will. You would understand what God's place was in the Aurora shootings if you read the Bible instead of attacking it.
Who had the free will? The guy wanting to kill, or those wanting not to get killed? Which one is more important to god?
Gods wasn't there. And he isn't anywhere.
I see the "Atheist" label thrown around a lot, and used to cover differing concepts.
In one sense, an "Atheist" simply lacks belief in any god.
Then you have the other kind of "Atheist" who will tell you with surety that no god exists.
The difference is subtle, but extremely important. The second requires faith, whereas the first is more "scientific".
@Sean,
few religionists can see the distinction. They are programmed to interpret atheism as a transference of a belief in God to a belief in godlessness.
They cannot accept the literal definition:
Theism: belief in God
Athesism: disbelief of God
They want to extrapolate it into a belief in the non-existence of God, so they can challenge you to prove it, knowing that one cannot prove non-existence.
Faith???? no ... there is no god...never was , never will be... there no possibility that an Ent.ty 'wished' it into being. All the evidence..all of it... points to no god..... the entire concept of god is a HUMAN construct..... Science is working on defining the existing mechanics of the universe. there are NOT two versions of atheism .... there is just one ...and i assure you no 'faith ' is required.
P.S. Atheist = no belief ... not half- not believe, it is an absolute term
Agnostic is the term used to discribe those that arent entirely sure.
The Universe existed 13.7 billion years before us, and our silly creation myths and will go on billions of years after we, and our gods are gone....
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth...
So sayth an All Powerful being, supposedly.
One of the best lines for keeping control of the masses.
Only the bold will inherit the earth. The meek are simply meek.
"We see this phenomenon in motion every day on the CNN Belief Blog, where atheists/agnostics/humanists are among the most zealous commenters."
********************************************************
Are you KIDDING me???????????? I think you should actually read the posts on the internet. Read some article about gay marriage and see whol the zealous (zealot) commenters are. Considering that roughly 95pct of Americans believe in a God of some sort, you give an awful lot of power to the 2 to 5pct who are atheists. I only wish that atheists had taken over the internet. Then when I support gay marriage I will get fewer calls for my soul to burn in hell.
Yes, a "God of some sort." Like, the Flying Spaghetti Monster," or "Krinshna," or "VIshnu." How tolerant are you of the?
What does your non-existent god teach you about these beliefs?
Atheists are not using the Internet as a church. We use it to talk to fellow atheists. After centuries of being driven " underground" , being attacked, shunned, denied jobs, etc. we now have a way to talk to each other around the world. And you can bet the " God Squad" doesn't like that.
We are not an organized group with rules and such. Plus we pay taxes unlike you know who.
Atheists don't hit me up for money every week.
Atheism doesn't tell me how to think, or talk, or live. I make those decisions.
The only thing atheism really asks me to try to do is think for myself and question things.
Religion almost forbids you from thinking for yourself and they get very nervous when you question things. Because when you truly take a look at religion, a lot of it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
Yeah, because Christians aren't being attacked, shunned or denied jobs because of their beliefs.
Bstump- here in the USA atheists are just about the last group you can openly insult in public and get away with it. I have never seen someone denied a job or promotion because they are religious or Christian. However if Joe Atheist openly talks about his views at work, and his boss is Christian, and his boss is Christian, and their boss is Christian, guess what ...it's unlikely Joe will get that promotion over a Christian candidate even if he's a way better worker. Oh and don't tell me Joe will get it because he's a better worker cause that's how the American way works crap. I have seen this happen with my own eyes. If you don't believe in their specific invisible amigo in the sky then you will only go but so far in the business hierarchy . It's wrong ,it's illegal, and it infest almost every level of American business and society.
Yeah, if you want to come and check out hatred just come to the comment section of the CNN Belief. It's crazy what is spewed. You disagree fine, but then why even spend time mocking peoples beliefs in a God?
@Native Pride,
people (and their beliefs) only get mocked when they insist on having a monopoly on the truth.
Seriously how could atheists raise their kids godless? Perhaps that's why we have thieves and murders in our society!
Wow. You are delusional.
You sir are retarded. Your god is a mass murderer, read the bible jackas.s.
Don't forget about using terrorist nazis causing chaos. Fear is a poor way of pushing your religion.
I think percentage wise there are fewer atheists in prison than believeres.
Kris,
What an ugly thing to say. And you know it's not true yet you say it anyway.
@MEII,
actually there are fewer atheists than incarcerated felons.
That makes the math easy.
How old are you Kris? 10-11 years old. Your parents are lying to you. There is no god.
@Kris
" Seriously how could atheists raise their kids godless? Perhaps that's why we have thieves and murders in our society! " 😯
So... atheists' kids = thieves and murders ? 😯
Yikes !!!
Peace...
Atheists are some of the nicest, most moral people i know.
Kris, I don't need your buddy Jesus to tell me or any children I have that it's wrong to kill, or steal. By the way look around the world, how many people were killed in the name of somebody's god today. How many over the past 2012 years.
LOL. Well, if I were you I would get the statistics from prison. About the same percentage, 95pct of offenders, including violent offenders, believe in God. I am an atheist, actually let my children make their own decision about that, and they are also atheists. They also have never been in any kind of trouble, are middle aged adults now, their children have never been in any kind of trouble. They are hard working, kind, compassionate, contributing, members of society. Atheism is not what made them into the wonderful people that they are, just like religion doesn't turn people into killers. How folks turn out has very little to do with religion or lack thereof.
That is so wrong.
Organized religion is the ROOT OF ALL EVIL!
Ireland- Catholics vs Protestants
Middle East- Jews vs Muslims
India- Hindus vs Muslims
US- Christians vs Muslims
How many wars have been started by religion? If there's a God and a Devil, it's the Devil that created religion – not God.
kris: Seriously??? Really??? I don't know where you get that dumb ass opinion from but it is a dumb ass opinion and nothing more!! I raised my 18 year old without a belief in god and she just graduated high school and is off to college this fall. She is your typical teenager-she's smoked pot, she's drank, she's had sex but she doesn't have a criminal record and yes I would know...she tells me everything!! She's not perfect but she's not a bad kid either. By not raising her with a belief in your imaginary friend god, she has an open-mind and doesn't judge people based on belief/disbelief; what they do they do with their own bodies; their sexual orientation...nothing. So please don't go making assumptions b/c it only makes you look like a bigger ass.
A child cannot be born Christian, Muslim, or of any other religion the same way a child cannot be born Republican or Democrat. And I'd rather teach my child to think for himself then to take his values from a book that condones slavery, genocide, execution, and cult-like sacrifice. If atheists were to be removed from this country, it would remove 95% of of the science community and 1% of the prison population.
Yes. Must be why 1% of the US prison population is atheist.
Let me know the next time an atheist flies a plane into a building. You are either brain-washed or brain dead or, now that I think of it, exactly what one would expect of an intolerant blood-thirsty god who produces intolerant bigoted followers.
Holy crap, this is the dumbest post of the day, and that is really saying something.
How can some parents raise their kids in a religion?? Must be why we have backward inbred window lickers.
Adolph Hitler baby.
THE RAPTURE IS HERE......
Millions have suddenly dissappeared, we use less gasoline reducing its price to .25$ a gallon. We need less energy becuae there are fewer people to provide power to. The demands on the environment are less because of the massive reduction in people. War ceases because no one is killing one another over God or Allaha.
Wait a minute....incomming news flash....what do you mean it didn't happen...no one is gone?.....There is no rapture?........S$#T.