sophie

Then would this not point to the fact that belief and non-belief does have some compounded effect other than just belief and non-belief (by your words).

Biff the unclean

Benjamin Franklin, whose quote this is, is not a god

sophie

. . .but not for long.

sophie

Is that because they are searching for the fair folk?

sophie

It may be attributed to him in the USA, but it is a quote which has been living on the streets of eternity, handed down from generation to generation, by word-of-mouth. That is where I heard it. . .

Heathen Dawn

Yes. It takes an uncritical mind, believing what his Holy Book and his religious leaders say about the political struggle and life after death, to manage such a scenario as the World Trade Centre attacks.

Richard Dawkins again:

"In one branch of the Muslim religion, the important people are the old men with beards called ayatollahs. Lots of Muslims in this country are prepared to commit murder, purely because the ayatollahs in a faraway country tell them to."

Similarly, when I was an Orthodox Jewish fundamentalist, I complied with an order to burn books just because my rabbis told me.

It can also be an uncritical mind that does what a secular leader tells him, such as Stalin. The point here is that those are just a different kind of god. The hallmark of god-belief is total obedience to the god. That god can be the god of Islam, or more accurately, since He doesn't talk, the religious leaders who speak for Him, or it can be a secular leader such as Stalin.

Atheism starts with the conviction that there is no supernatural god to obey first, and by extension, there are no secular gods to obey either. Atheism and democracy go hand in glove; theism is by nature a totalitarian dictatorship.

sophie

What about the Leviathan. In democracy the big boy on top acts like god, which takes you back to nothing.!

sakrilege

Actually, I believe it is pixies doing the evil work. Have you ever noticed something out of the corner of your eye and when you looked nothing was there? It was a pixie sneaking around doing some evil deed. They are quick, clever and devious. If people would just believe in them and create pixie watches to foil their activities then there would be much less evil in the world.

wade-w

Since atheism is a lack of belief in god(s), I have no idea how you could come to this conclusion. It is hardly possible to ascribe any action whatsoever to an imaginary being.

Mr. Neutron

Nonsense! There are no pixies. Everyone knows leprechauns are the true culprits.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to charge you with heresy if you continue to spread this false doctrine of Pixianity.

BTW, how do you like your stake?