Hey freethinkers!

[trotsky]

Notice the nice bashing thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x26156

Weigh in on how uncaring you've been towards the victims of Katrina, won't you?

[beam me up scottie]

1. What a bigot.

Sounds like an amerikkkan christian.

[salvorhardin]

3. I had trouble believing the author was an atheist

but that's what he says he is. Just goes to show that atheism does not necessarily correlate with intelligence.

Did anyone else know that the religious Salvation Army has a state defined special status?

The Salvation Army has been given a special status as provider-in-chief of American disaster relief. But its work is being augmented by all sorts of other groups. Almost all of them have a religious origin and character.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1567604,00.html

[beam me up scottie]

4. I think he's one of those athIEsts.

And I didn't know that about the SA.
With this administration, it doesn't surprise me though.

edited to add: If anne coulter can be female, this bigot can be an athIEst.

[salvorhardin]

8. I thought I was spelling it correctly?

or am I missing a joke here?

[trotsky]

9. You're missing a joke. :)

It's how we like to pick on those few individuals who end up posting in some flamewar about how "I'm an athiest, but..." Meaning they're probably not really one.

[salvorhardin]

10. Ah! Ok!

I've shifted into my literal geek mode for the day so humor is often lost on me.

[beam me up scottie]

11. I can't remember which fake athIEst started that trend,

but it was MB who picked up on it and made it legend.

[salvorhardin]

2. Oh crap!

I donated to SHARE within minutes after reading IanDB1's post announcing the effort. I forgot hold cold and uncaring I'm supposed to be. Do I have to give back my Evil Atheist Conspiracy secret decoder ring now?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. OK, I'll weigh in on the side of Hattersley, a little

He is largely arguing from his own experience - that religious charities have some people who spend huge amounts of time in the acts of charity to which few care to give their time. It is also true that there are relatively few rationalist or atheist charity organisations (certainly in the UK, but any in the USA haven't managed to make any impression abroad) - SHARE is a good exception.

There are many secular charities, but those can be claimed neither by athiests nor believers as 'theirs'.

I don't like the secondary headline "We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings" - the 'most' is certainly wrong, and Hattersley gives no evidence for it, and 'better' is a very subjective judgement - "more selfless" could apply to some believers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they actually help people more in the long run, because their emphasis on religion may screw other things up, even though they act from good intentions. I don't know if that came from Hattersley, or some sub-editor.

Hattersley is a good man - he's 'old Labour' (check his previous Guardian articles), and I can easily believe he's fully atheist. If he's bashing, he really does include himself in the 'bashed' category.

[beam me up scottie]

6. While he may be a good guy, he is still a bigot.

Many women torpedo their sisters by clinging to sexist roles and stereotypes.

Every time the women in combat issue comes up, I have to restrain myself from attacking the "liberal" women who side with the pigs in Washington.

IMO, they are the worst kind of sexist.

[trotsky]

7. Exactly.

How does it further the spread of freethought by trotting out old debunked stereotypes of atheists? This is as if a Democrat wrote an OpEd about how we just have to accept that Republicans are better leaders or some such nonsense. Sure you might expect such garbage from the likes of Zell Miller, but he's not a Democrat anymore anyways.

[beam me up scottie]

12. It was locked.

Please thank the mod.

I don't remember anyone ever locking a thread because it insulted atheists.

[trotsky]

13. Done.

Quite refreshing seeing someone stick up for us.

[Taxloss]

14. Oh blast, I've just duped this in A&A.

Sorry about that. Let's let it drop.

[onager]

15. One thing about the Salvation Army...

They need to dump those damn brass bands at Xmas. Nothing turns me into a Scrooge faster than 4700 verses of "My Favorite Things" arranged for tuba and bass drum.

In fact, the Salvation Army should be grateful that Los Angeles has strict rules on citizens carrying firearms.

[CarbonDate]

16. What a dick.

If I have to see that article one more time, I'm going to wretch.

[NMMNG]

17. This self-centered atheist b*tch did absolutely nothing

Except contribute to the disaster fund of the Red Cross and the Katrina Relief fund of the Center for Inquiry.

[Skinner]

18. Please see here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=263&topic_id=11115&mesg_id=11115