I came across a post today from *reads the name carefully* petitenoirtenue here on Xanga. Now, I'm not familiar with this girl, but from what I can gather from her post, she seems very prejudiced against what she believes are "atheists," and makes the common and extremely brain-raping mistake of assuming that atheism is only the strong version of it, namely, that atheism is the belief that no god exists whatsoever. This is too simplistic of a definition of atheism, and is only partially correct. I won't get too deep into the definition of atheism, but it's a continuum that includes everything from the passive, non-religious agnostic to the anti-theist who wishes that Christianity, Islam, and other similar religions would vanish from the face of the earth. It even includes babies. Yes, babies. Why? Because they lack a belief in god. Simple. Do not misunderstand that as me saying that they believe God doesn't exist. For a more in-depth dissertation on atheism, see here and here. Also note that there is a distinct difference between atheism and agnosticism.

Her second major error is assuming that all atheists have the need to tell Christians, for example, how incredibly wrong and stupid they are. This is a common stereotype of atheists. Some just don't want their rights trampled on, don't want the first amendment torn to shreds, and don't want the rights of others infringed upon on the mere basis of religion. You will in fact find those that claim to be "agnostics" on Xanga (who are that and non-religious weak atheists) who do not want to be part of the never-ending mud-slinging about religion. And then you have those (like myself) who like to argue about religion once in a blue moon just for the sake of arguing, not simply to deconvert the believers. And of course you have staunch anti-theists. And THEN you'll have those who are atheists but are "in the closet" about it, like I was for a long time. Do not stereotype a group due to your limited, negative experiences. That leads to prejudice, my friends.

Furthermore, many atheists have more sophisticated arguments against the Bible than simply looking at a text with a few apparent contradictions as she seems to imply. Also, the Bible itself claims to be far more than a teaching tool; many (like myself) will argue that much of the Bible is to be taken literally, but I won't get into that in this post. Nevertheless, it just goes to show how this girl doesn't even know about the group she seems to be talking about.

In her first paragraph, she goes on this tirade about non-belief in fairies, not having a penis and therefore not talking about them, etc. Lol... umm... mkay. Let's take this line-by-line:

You just did, so you contradicted yourself. ZING! Just kidding. A belief in fairies hasn't produced such a huge following as that of Christianity. Belief in Christianity has been MONUMENTALLY influential on our culture and many others such as European cultures. Fairies? Not so much. There is no doubt in my mind that something with such a massive following in America and in the world would thus have a profound impact on the people around them, even those that do not believe in it. Many like myself had a hard time trying to "come out of the atheist's closet" and tell my god-fearing parents that I wasn't a Christian anymore (I was playing bass for church at the time and I'm really close with my parents). Many who DO come out of the closet often face prejudice and become ostracized or kicked out of their homes, or damned to Hell. Even many of our policies in our government are in place due to certain interpretations of the Bible, so of course those who don't believe in Christianity will have something to say.

Well you have to prove your girliness TO ME! Bwahhaha. Kidding again. *Sigh* This is just another really bad comparison. Many atheists are also anti-theists. See here for a dissertation of the differences between the two terms. I am NOT, personally, an anti-theist, but I WILL say that much has been done in the name of certain religious interpretations, or in the name of religion. This is not to say that I believe all religion is "evil," but many even today oppose homosexual marriage in the name of Christianity alone. Many also believe in making our nation a Christian nation. And there are even some that are against some of the rights of women in the name of Christianity. So, many (though not all) atheists believe that getting rid of Christianity, for instance, will rid society of these various evils. I believe that it WOULD, to some extent, but I don't believe that getting rid of Christianity is the only option for doing so. I simply believe that Christianity is false.

So is there a religion where Penises are the only way to Heaven, and claims in certain verses of its holy text that homosexuality is evil and that women should keep their mouths shut? Do most of America's citizens worship penises (well... maybe they do, lol, but not in the way that Christians worship Christ)?

No.

As an atheist it is my duty to stop the Mother Teresa stamp from happening.

As if all atheists do this or must do this. Man this statement is ignorant.

Naturally I'm right and they're wrong. I don't care about your personal beliefs. Choke on my non belief or I'm going to call you names.

Well to be fair, Christianity and God-not-existing cannot be true at the same time. And it's true that some atheists here on Xanga are rude and DO call people names (I won't call anyone out here), but I am not one of them, as I don't talk about religion very often because I'm afraid of the possibility of extremely rude and uncalled for comments, and even when I do, I try to be respectful.

Atheists exist. There's no question about that. But name one atheist that exist's [sic] without God, because quite frankly I can't. [emphasis mine]

What does this mean? Clarification please.

I haven't met a single one that goes through life without talking about God and or the bible.

Again, I'm assuming you're an American citizen, and in America, a lot of people believe in Christianity, so naturally that would give American atheists a lot of opportunity to think about the Bible, seeing as how many of them were RAISED Christians in the first place.

I do believe that talking about the nonexistent God of atheism is a waste of time if we're to assume that you're (by you're I mean atheists) right about it all.

There is no dogma in atheism. No creeds. No beliefs. Nothing. It's a simple lack of belief, though some atheists may be strong atheists (at least in certain respects), but even that does not stem from atheism. You're thinking of anti-theism, and even that is only a belief that theistic belief and/or certain religions are harmful in some fashion. Other than that, there is no doctrine. We don't "worship" anything.

I mean seriously, I don't believe in a lot of things. And yet, I find other things to do with my time than express my non belief.

Non-belief in certain things is inconsequential. My non-belief that there is a pixie fairy watching me type right now has no cultural and/or religious implications. My non-belief in God is a wee bit more important in terms of how I conduct my life, especially in a country that is super-soaked in Christianity.

For a group that doesn't believe in anything, they sure talk a lot of shit.

I find this statement somehow... ironic from somebody that stereotypes atheists and has a poor understanding of what atheism is in the first place.

Since me and one of my all-time best friends on Xanga (methodElevated) seem to have extremely different tastes in women, we decided to each do our own posts about the various women that we find physically attractive. Then, we will both compare our lists, and decide whether or not we like each others' lists overall. In other words, she will post various pictures/names of women that she likes, and I will see if I like them, and vice versa. It's mostly to compare tastes between each other, plus I just love women so darn much that I would just do this just for the sake of praising the extremely beautiful sex that I love so much ^_^.

I encourage you to make your own posts about men/women that you find attractive as well.

Without further adieu:

Jessica Alba:

 

Monica Bellucci (Kinda hard NOT to find a picture with her with bewbage):



Scarlett Johansson (yes, yes, YES!):



Michelle Kwan (cute as Hell and not much older than me):



Kim Kardashian (dumb as nails but still beautiful):



Gabrielle Union:



Of course, there's a LOT more, but there you have an idea.

Alright, based on the content that you've seen here, do you have the same taste as I do or no?