I don’t see this message as being ‘anti’ - I see it as be PRO SANITY!!!!

I wasn’t aware we atheists had dogma, SUZANNE. What are some of the beliefs we hold that are not subject to dispute?

Whooee! I been an atheist fer about 40 of my 59 years. I ain’t aware of any dogma other than “there ain’t a supreme being.”

- a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof
- a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative; “he believed all the Marxist dogma”
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

I reckon theism and religion are two different things. My dear departed Dad was a believer in God. He wasn’t a believer in religion and didn’t go to church. He read the Bible and he prayed, though. He lived the way he figgered God wanted him to live an’ he never pushed his beliefs on anyone.

The problem with a lotta churchy folks is they wanna cram their beliefs down everybody’s throats. They also got a political structure that often is in direct conflict with their beliefs. Power trumps all.

Jesus was all fer helpin’ the poor and he never said diddly about queers or pot-smokers or abortion. He said the meek shall inherit the earth but I don’t see much meekness in the evangelistic fervor of the Swaggarts and Falwells of the world. He said we’re supposed to treat others the way we’d like ‘em to treat us. He said we oughta love our enemies. He said we should turn the other cheek when we get slapped in the face. He said the church and state should be separate (”Render unto Caesar…”)

Religious Christians who live by Jesus’ teachin’ but don’t go to church might be holdin’ fast to dogma but I don’t reckon they’re as likely to step on my toes as them holy roller pontificatin’ preachifiers who try to make everybody into church-tithin’ clones.

JB

Dogma of any kind of incompatible with Canadian culture and society. We tend to like inclusive organizations which are not afraid to seek out and embrace varying opinions and lifestyles. Islam is a religion which could seek out more openness and less dogma, but it certainly isn’t the only one.

Suzanne, atheism is not a religion so much as it is an absence of it it. There is little dogmatic about atheism other than wanting others not to foist it in their faces.

Its only “anti-religious” to those who feel guilty about what their dogma has done in the past….

Any warning against religious dogma or control, as well as any new knowledge of Life and the universe that we gain, all constitute dire threats to the fundamentalist believer and his/her ignorance-based beliefs.

That is how primitive minds reason and, consequently, this constitutes but one more example of the typical intellectual sloth-driven reaction that is to be expected … sadly enough.