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Atheism and Deism are actually very close, but there are practical differences.

If you are the sort of atheist who believes that the universe behaves in an organized and rational fashion, that it has rules and properties that once figured out remain consistent, then you are, for all practical intents and purposes, very much like a Deist.

The only difference is that a deist would claim that these rules exist because a rational being created the universe, and then left us on our own. I describe it as: "God has left the building."

If, on the other hand, you are the sort of atheist who believes that there is no rational scheme, or that the universe is inherently chaotic and the properties we have discovered through science a mere overlay of our best guess, subject to revocation or misinterpretation without notice, you have nothing in common with your deist counterpart.

So, rational atheists and deists have little difference, other than origin of the universe, which the deists explain as "God" and the rational atheists describe as "who gives a damn unless we can measure it." I'd say it was balancing angels on the head of a pin to call such beliefs different, but the atheists would complain. ;^)

Rationalism is, of course, a subset of atheism, so there is a great deal of practical difference because atheism covers a greater spectrum of godlessness than simply those who subscribe to a rational universe. For instance, nihilists and deists have nothing in common.

Hope that helps.

--
Toro

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in -- and the West in general -- into an unbearable hell and a choking life."

- Osama bin Laden, October 21, 2001.

The most fucking depressing thing about this War is that we've been playing it exactly the way the goatfucker said we would. We're not fighting like Americans (pre-9/11 Americans took the high road. No torture. Beer and b00bies for everyone!), we're fighting like Muslims.

OK, if that's too much of a rhetorical stretch to swallow -- we're at least fighting like the Russians did in Rambo III (yeah, the one where Sly Stallone helps deliver the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom to a bunch of innocent Afghan religious tribesmen who, even if they don't worship the Christians' God, are still taking a brave stand against the Godless Russian Communists! The irony is piled so fuckin' high you couldn't climb over it with a team of Sherpa guides!) And for the same reason the Russians lost their war, we're also losing. In the words of a WW2-era cartoon "Pogo", we have seen the enemy, and he is us.

How come we (and the Brits, and yeah, the Russians) could beat the superpower of Nazi Germany in less time than it's taken us to put a dent in these suckers? In 2001, we could have given free hand for the Chinese to "deal with" their Tibet problem, and would have gotten enthusiastic buy-in from Putin for him to deal with his Chechnya problem. Those two deals in place, the three superpowers should have dusted off and nuked the enemy sites from orbit. This fucking war should have been over in 2002. The residual radioactivity would be low enough that we could have been fueling our cars with it by now.

I'm ready to follow him myself. I've already got my pitchfork, my torch, a map of the local University, and this cool "BURN THE GODLESS HERETICS!!!" sign (I used glitter on the lettering, which I think makes it look much better).

To today's evangelical Christians, Unitarians and Deists might as well be Godless commies.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

What are you, some sort of Godless Commie!?

TWW

Have an agenda? Want to make the argument that Quakers are communists?

Not just Communists, but godless Communists.

"From Harvard to UCLA, the ivory tower is fast becoming the latest watchtower in Fortress America. The terror warriors, having turned their attention to "violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism prevention' -- as it was recently dubbed in a House of Representatives bill of the same name -- have set out to reconquer that traditional hotbed of radicalization, the university."

Tonight... on 24! Jack Bauer delivers the glorious CTU smackdown to some girly man professors with their sights set on terrorizing the Heartland! Watch the Godless professors soil their undies as Bauer delivers a peer reviewed parcel of whoopass!

Presented in high definition Tyranovision!

How about freedom from persecution?

The godless atheist Linux crowd can now eliminate the 1 line of code that creates a tornado every time you bulldoze a church.

You've got it all wrong.

What we have here is an assault on the immortal souls of our innocent little ones by those evil godless atheist Scientists who don't believe that every single word (even the ones that contradict each other creating paradoxes beyond the wildest dreams of damned-to-hell SciFi writers) in the bible is absolute truth. We have to get rid of these "Scientist" cultists before they damn little Timmy and Susie to hell!

We have to oppress ourselves to save ourselves! We can't have our children having the ability to make well informed choices about what they believe! We have free will so we can blindly follow someone else's interpretation of the book!

Did you notice the stock market dropped after Obama did well in Iowa? He's running on a more populist campaign, it happens most election years.

Much as we need a better system, it won't catch on if it can't be explained in one simple sentence.

after becoming a godless softwar gangster, & not a 'nerd' as robbIE so affectionately claims, he's likely plotting a getaway before the creators' newclear powered big flash happens.

if you don't care to learn about looking after/caring for each other, just continue following the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn. anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile;

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned felonious corepirate nazi glowbull warmongering execrable. some of US should consider ourselves somewhat fortunate to be among those scheduled to survive after the big flash/implementation of the creators' wwwildly popular planet/population rescue initiative/mandate. it's right in the manual, 'world without end', etc.... as we all ?know?, change is inevitable, & denying

Maybe I make a slightly paranoid case, but self expression is highly important to me; I'd hate to live half a life for fear of losing my job.

You don't make a paranoid case. I live in the Bible Belt, and you would be amazed at the sheer amount of fundamentalist Christians who, when they interview, try to figure out if the person they are talking to is like them or not and use that as an unspoken basis for who to hire.

Legal issues aside, personally, I think that religion is a private thing and is the business of the person practicing it, and that person alone, provided they don't try to shove it in the faces of everyone around them (which I consider tacky) or try to convert people (which I consider downright rude).

I have friends from a great many places around the world who belong to a large number of faiths. I've known and am welcomed around groups as diverse as Benedictine priests (as well as other sects), Tibetan monks, and even Native American Medicine societies. I don't have a problem with any of them provided they don't try to convert people, etc. I even enjoy the company. It makes for really interesting conversations on occasion.

It's funny. Despite the fact that I'm not, I get called an atheist rather frequently where I am because I express distaste for the locals trying to use government to endorse their religion. I even wrote a displeased letter to our governor (whom, once upon a time, I used to know) this year for endorsing the placement of Christian iconography in state parks while refusing to allow other faiths to place theirs there as well.

Then again, a lot of the locals seem to think that anyone who isn't Christian (or, rather, isn't the kind of Christian that shows everyone how Christian they are) is a godless atheist. I really wish I was joking, but a lot of them take the mere existence of other religions as proof that they are being repressed and persecuted.

Yup, just as I predicted. I said runaway capitalism is the problem, and you knee jerked right into "he is saying capitalism is the problem."

Yes, I know you probably were home schooled, but your parents should have told you the difference between "x" and "runaway x". A car is good and it gets you places. A runaway car is a deadly hazard to everyone in its path. Likewise, capitalism is good, but runaway capitalism consumes a nation with utter greed. Now I don't know about you but where I come from, greed is not good. This might have changed, though, in this age of total Godlessness - er, no wait, money is God now. Sillyme.

As for the dorks talking about the evils of Government, what difference does it make? If you get rid of the Government you will inevitably wind up with warlords where he with the biggest and mostest guns, makes all the rules - and guess what? The rich people will influence him to make the rules. Government embodies the will of the people, in a democratic society. Try and live in a country without Government and see how long you last. You may kill the FIRST bandit coming to your door, but not the one a mile away aiming that rocket launcher at you. Think: Ruby Ridge - on a daily basis.