Confusion, are you an Atheist?

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
1

Time for a call-out. I’ve read this dude’s description in his hub (a fake Latin phrase which is evidently intended to mean “don’t let the bastards grind you down”, but which actually means “the unlawful are not silicon carbide”), read many of his posts…and want to ask simply, Confusion, are you an atheist?

I only ask because you don’t seem like one to me. Most of the atheists I know have arrived at their atheism through deep intellectual searching, rigorous study, and final rejection of conventional theism for lack of evidence in its veracity. All I have seen from you is a grocery list of bible verses that you evidently think represent a “Christian lifestyle”, which you then shove in the faces of self-identifying Christians demanding to know whether they follow it all to the tee.

Perhaps you’ve been called a “septic” so many times in Australia that you thought they were saying “skeptic” and decided to be one, but you’ve got a long way to go. Go read Epicurus and Democritus. Read Thomas Paine and Spinoza and Voltaire. Read Sam Harris and Dan Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. Learn about the Socratic method, and try to learn how to formulate an argument without taking offense at everyone who disagrees with you.

In the meantime, please stop calling yourself an atheist. It is an insult to real atheists. Atheism is a serious commitment, and I do not believe you have put in sufficient work or thought to have earned the title. At best, you are an agnostic, but I hesitate to apply this moniker to you. The Greek a gnosis literally means “no knowledge”, and that is not your problem. You have a little knowledge, and this is the dangerous thing.

So perhaps “ignostic” would be better. Your arguments flow from ignorance, which to your credit you generally acknowledge. But there is aways hope. Socrates said that the only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.

So go study up, friend. Be an evildoer no more.

2

He’s not a “true atheist” that’s for sure. Hypocritical. Doesn’t shape up to the standard. Talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. At hat and no cattle.

3

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
He’s not a “true atheist” that’s for sure. Hypocritical. Doesn’t shape up to the standard. Talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. At hat and no cattle.[/quote]

He certainly doesn’t say “fuck” enough.

And I lolled heartily at “all hat and no cattle.” I’m using that one.

4

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
He’s not a “true atheist” that’s for sure. Hypocritical. Doesn’t shape up to the standard. Talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. At hat and no cattle.[/quote]

He certainly doesn’t say “fuck” enough.

And I lolled heartily at “all hat and no cattle.” I’m using that one.[/quote]

That’s an old West Texas expression. Surprised you haven’t heard of it whipper snapper.

5

Confusion seems like a nice enough guy. He also seems like the type of guy that latches onto an idea and refuses to entertain any ideas contrary to his own or any interpretation of his ideas other than his own already ingrained ones. Check out his HITT thread in the Beginner forum as another example.

6

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
He’s not a “true atheist” that’s for sure. Hypocritical. Doesn’t shape up to the standard. Talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. At hat and no cattle.[/quote]

He certainly doesn’t say “fuck” enough.

And I lolled heartily at “all hat and no cattle.” I’m using that one.[/quote]

That’s an old West Texas expression. Surprised you haven’t heard of it whipper snapper.[/quote]

I had heard it, just not recently. Funny that it should be a Texas expression: surely the state has one of the highest cowboy hat to cowboy ratios in the world.

7

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
He’s not a “true atheist” that’s for sure. Hypocritical. Doesn’t shape up to the standard. Talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. At hat and no cattle.[/quote]

He certainly doesn’t say “fuck” enough.

And I lolled heartily at “all hat and no cattle.” I’m using that one.[/quote]

That’s an old West Texas expression. Surprised you haven’t heard of it whipper snapper.[/quote]

I had heard it, just not recently. Funny that it should be a Texas expression: surely the state has one of the highest cowboy hat to cowboy ratios in the world.
[/quote]

We need to keep these things alive as they’re part of our cultural heritage. Or yours at any rate but “cowboys” and frontiersmen are international cultural phenomenon. We had huge cattle and sheep stations and itinerant “swagmen” who worked them - they amounted to the same sort of thing as the American cowboy really.

8

I think he could do with reading these points of what he atheist should be:

Especially 5. Where do his ethics come from? He really doesn’t live his life like a true atheist. At least someone like Dawkins is honest about his moral nihilism and subversive agenda on some level. But this isn’t atheism here.

9

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Perhaps you’ve been called a “septic” so many times in Australia that you thought they were saying “skeptic”
[/quote]

10

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
I think he could do with reading these points of what he atheist should be:

Especially 5. Where do his ethics come from? He really doesn’t live his life like a true atheist. At least someone like Dawkins is honest about his moral nihilism and subversive agenda on some level. But this isn’t atheism here.[/quote]

Yeah, if you get hung up on the F word, and whether Christians are keeping the Jewish sabbath, it’s a good indication that you’re still not quite there. “Holier than thou” is not a typical atheistic trait.

11

[quote]smh_23 wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Perhaps you’ve been called a “septic” so many times in Australia that you thought they were saying “skeptic”
[/quote]

[/quote]

Haahahaha!

Oh man does that one bug me

12

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
“Holier than thou” is not a typical atheistic trait.[/quote]

Unjustified smug superiority often is though.

13

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
“Holier than thou” is not a typical atheistic trait.[/quote]

Unjustified smug superiority often is though. [/quote]

Not always unjustified…

14

[quote]Varqanir wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
“Holier than thou” is not a typical atheistic trait.[/quote]

Unjustified smug superiority often is though. [/quote]

Not always unjustified…[/quote]

Very true.

15

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Time for a call-out. I’ve read this dude’s description in his hub (a fake Latin phrase which is evidently intended to mean “don’t let the bastards grind you down”, but which actually means “the unlawful are not silicon carbide”), read many of his posts…and want to ask simply, Confusion, are you an atheist?

I only ask because you don’t seem like one to me. Most of the atheists I know have arrived at their atheism through deep intellectual searching, rigorous study, and final rejection of conventional theism for lack of evidence in its veracity. All I have seen from you is a grocery list of bible verses that you evidently think represent a “Christian lifestyle”, which you then shove in the faces of self-identifying Christians demanding to know whether they follow it all to the tee.

Perhaps you’ve been called a “septic” so many times in Australia that you thought they were saying “skeptic” and decided to be one, but you’ve got a long way to go. Go read Epicurus and Democritus. Read Thomas Paine and Spinoza and Voltaire. Read Sam Harris and Dan Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. Learn about the Socratic method, and try to learn how to formulate an argument without taking offense at everyone who disagrees with you.

In the meantime, please stop calling yourself an atheist. It is an insult to real atheists. Atheism is a serious commitment, and I do not believe you have put in sufficient work or thought to have earned the title. At best, you are an agnostic, but I hesitate to apply this moniker to you. The Greek a gnosis literally means “no knowledge”, and that is not your problem. You have a little knowledge, and this is the dangerous thing.

So perhaps “ignostic” would be better. Your arguments flow from ignorance, which to your credit you generally acknowledge. But there is aways hope. Socrates said that the only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.

So go study up, friend. Be an evildoer no more.
[/quote]

Oh your no atheist either. You may want to be one, but you lack the superficiality and the predictability of most atheists.

16

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Time for a call-out. I’ve read this dude’s description in his hub (a fake Latin phrase which is evidently intended to mean “don’t let the bastards grind you down”, but which actually means “the unlawful are not silicon carbide”), read many of his posts…and want to ask simply, Confusion, are you an atheist?

I only ask because you don’t seem like one to me. Most of the atheists I know have arrived at their atheism through deep intellectual searching, rigorous study, and final rejection of conventional theism for lack of evidence in its veracity. All I have seen from you is a grocery list of bible verses that you evidently think represent a “Christian lifestyle”, which you then shove in the faces of self-identifying Christians demanding to know whether they follow it all to the tee.

Perhaps you’ve been called a “septic” so many times in Australia that you thought they were saying “skeptic” and decided to be one, but you’ve got a long way to go. Go read Epicurus and Democritus. Read Thomas Paine and Spinoza and Voltaire. Read Sam Harris and Dan Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. Learn about the Socratic method, and try to learn how to formulate an argument without taking offense at everyone who disagrees with you.

In the meantime, please stop calling yourself an atheist. It is an insult to real atheists. Atheism is a serious commitment, and I do not believe you have put in sufficient work or thought to have earned the title. At best, you are an agnostic, but I hesitate to apply this moniker to you. The Greek a gnosis literally means “no knowledge”, and that is not your problem. You have a little knowledge, and this is the dangerous thing.

So perhaps “ignostic” would be better. Your arguments flow from ignorance, which to your credit you generally acknowledge. But there is aways hope. Socrates said that the only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.

So go study up, friend. Be an evildoer no more.
[/quote]

Oh your no atheist either. You may want to be one, but you lack the superficiality and the predictability of most atheists. [/quote]

:slight_smile:

Thanks, Pat.

Of course, I don’t claim to be one.

17

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