One in 20 Americans Say They Are Atheists: Are Americans Abandoning Religion?

by Heisenberg Posted 2012/08/15 23:00:00

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	Yes	457 votes	65%
	No	251 votes	35%

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Sheila to Adrint 2012/08/22 14:54:38

Why insult people? Why not point things out in a fashion that is not so "insulting"? It can be done. You hold up Canada as an example of the good yet on the same thread say it sucks? I am not sure what point you are trying to get across.

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Adrint to Sheila 2012/08/24 02:42:11

"Try not to say it in such an insulting manner"
>Only capable of expelling "LMFAO".
Canada is good, compared to the US, but rotten compared to what I want it to be.

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Sheila to Adrint 2012/08/24 15:38:04

Ok then, that is a sign of lack of character IMO, but it is not MY character so it is your business.

And CA is okish except for the PC BS and the healthcare system. Beautiful though.

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Adrint to Sheila 2012/08/25 12:23:53

I agree with the Politically Correct stuff being a load of crap, but I happen to be a supporter of our health care system. If it was up to me, I would fancy a system like Australia's. There you can chose between private and public. More freedom of choice for the working class.

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Charles... to Sheila 2012/08/18 18:43:41

This is what really pisses me off. You make a "scary" statement like that but never put any statistics in there to prove any of it. Teen preganacy has been steadily falling for the past 20 years to the lowest level it has ever been. Measures of violent crime have been falliing steadily for 30 years to thier lowest level in 30 years. Most studies show that the millinial generation is more involved socially than any since the so called "great" generation of the Depression/WW II era and yet you make out as though things are worse in these regards! As for the bailout, the last time we failed to bailout the financial system was in 1929 and it led to 11 years of unemployment/underemployment as high as 50 % yet you say 'let the banks fail' as some sort of badge of ideological purity. I'm sick of these idealogues on both sides of the issues. I want pragmatic realistic leadership that will solve problems and let the the ideology be damned. If socializing medicine seems likely to keep it obtainable to most citizens, socialize it. If voucherizing public schools improves the ability of schools to educate , do it. Abraham Lincoln once famously said 'If I could free none of the slaves and save the Union, I would do it. If I could free all of the slaves and save the Union I would do that and if I could free some slaves and not others and save the Union I would do that." He was a pragmatist, that is what we need in Washington to day, not idealogues.

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Mikey to Charles... 2012/08/19 11:42:53

Your line about letting the banks fail for the sake of ideological purity was gold. Thumbs up

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kneedra... to Adrint 2012/08/17 20:39:09

+2
people didn't support that and Bush despite his many flaws only spent 350 billion while the muslim slime bag obama has spent 5.5 Trillion with tarp and QE1-3.

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Charles... to kneedra... 2012/08/18 19:07:30

+1
Get your figures right, Barak Obama is responsible for 1.75 trillion of the debt, all the rest of it was run up by Bush and the GOP congress. Ryan voted for the Iraq war, the Medicare prescription plan, the Bush tax cuts and TARP. At least Obama took responsibility for paying for it by advocating higher taxes on the well off rather than raising them of the middle class to pay for yet another failed supply side tax cut for the rich like Ryan's Harvey Milquetoast running mate. You're the ones that tried to connect Obama with Reverend Wright when he attended church in Chicago. Last time I checked, Reverend Wright is a christian and preaches in a church, not a mosque. What a troll.

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Mikey to kneedra... 2012/08/18 19:56:51

+1
"Muslim slime bag" See this is the kind of toxic hate we have in this country that masquerades pure bigotry as patriotic. I hold out no hope for you. You people are itching to get back to pre-Civil Rights America and pissed because it won't happen. I laughed at your frustration.

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Red to Mikey 2012/08/19 02:52:04
Jackal to kneedra... 2012/08/19 02:49:58

Wrong...

http://www.washingtonpost.com...

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Adrint to kneedra... 2012/08/19 08:15:14

DO you see me defending Obama? No. I don't give a flying **** because both parties are a scam.

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JohnnyR... to Adrint 2012/08/18 03:43:45

I agree.
And I would also add that we should not be borrowing money from China to lend/give? to other countries as well.
Especially when they never pay it back.

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Charles... to JohnnyR... 2012/08/18 19:15:25

+1
Europe owns more of our debt than China but no one is running around the room waving their hands in shear idiotic panic over that. The truth is 86% of public held debt is owed to the taxpayers of this country, not foreigners. In my lifetime I have run through a bunch of these non crises so I take any hand wringing over the amount of debt held by China with a large shaker of salt. In the 70's we were afraid the Arabs were buying up the country. In the 80's we were afraid the Japanese were going to denude us of jobs. Now we think the Chinese are going to lend us so much money that they will own us. In the big scope of things, this is a minor detail. We could fix this problem with one or two acts of Congress with out batting an eye. So move onto the next faux crises, this one is boring me to tears.

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JohnnyR... to Charles... 2012/08/22 03:11:30

Actually 80some percent is not owed to "Ourselves"
This debt is hid in the inflation of our money which is controlled by the Federal Reserve.
Soooooooooooooo, we owe eighty some percent of our debt to the private banks of the Fed.

It is a little harder to forgive the debt when you see/understand that truth.

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Charles... to JohnnyR... 2012/08/25 16:16:09

+1
Wrong again. The fed controls the money supply. The currency is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States through its taxing authority. So we would be taxed to pay off the loan we made to ourselves. Take Macro Econ 101 before you comment.

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JohnnyR... to Charles... 2012/08/27 18:06:52 (edited)

And you swallowed that Kool-ade without even a blink did you?
OK, That class and others like it are why we are in the mess we are in today.

Only the fed controls the money supply.
We are taxed with out even a nod from US through inflation of this money supply.
We cannot keep up with the inflation and it amounts to debt that we "owe ourselves?
No we owe the Fed not ourselves as we borrowed this inflated money at face value from the Fed.

How can we back something we do not even have control over?

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Red to Sheila 2012/08/22 14:04:30
Tasine 2012/08/17 16:28:19

Yes

+3
Yes, their socialist upbringing in the public schools and the use of hard drugs have had this effect, or so I believe. How anyone can see nature in all its splendor cannot possibly NOT believe in God.

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JL to Tasine 2012/08/17 20:19:21

+2
NOW THOSE, ARE WORDS OF BEAUTY!!!

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Tasine to JL 2012/08/17 21:12:19

+3
Thanks, JL. Some people are so determined God doesn't exist that they miss half of the pleasure in life. I'm not a church goer, not a Bible reader, not a verbal prayer person, but to deny there is a God is so insane it is unbelievable! He's everywhere one chooses to look!

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dustin.... to Tasine 2012/08/17 20:48:50

+3
I was not brought up with socialist views, nor have I ever done any drugs, and I do not believe in any god or its subsequent religion. And I'd say my life is perfectly fine anyway. When I look as nature, I do see beauty, but I see it as an amazement of the universe, not some god.

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Tasine to dustin.... 2012/08/17 21:13:10

+3
Then I don't see how you can accept the universe as real.

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dustin.... to Tasine 2012/08/17 21:17:43

+1
I could explain to you how your response makes little to no sense but I'd rather you learn it on your own. Chances are, you won't, but I'm tired of explaining my personal beliefs to people.

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Tasine to dustin.... 2012/08/17 21:25:37

+2
Glad you decided not to because then I'd have to explain my personal beliefs to you and others. Too gooey!

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JohnnyR... to Tasine 2012/08/18 03:52:43

+3
I think as the old saying goes, ZINGgggggggggg!!!
Right over his head. But I suppose that is ok.
He is fine with his . . .

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Red to JohnnyR... 2012/08/19 03:00:11
Red to Tasine 2012/08/19 02:55:27
Tasine to Red 2012/08/19 14:14:50

+1
Well stated, Red, well stated. I happen to believe the same.

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Red to dustin.... 2012/08/19 02:58:39
dustin.... to Red 2012/08/19 03:15:03 (edited)

I am not taking any "mark." I don't understand why you think I am. All I'm doing is living my life. Why do you give a damn if I don't have the same religious beliefs as you?

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Red to dustin.... 2012/08/19 03:18:04
Charles... to Tasine 2012/08/18 20:05:26

So because the aren't constantly brainwashed by the Christian right, that makes them 'socialist'?

Here are some socialist quotes, maybe you will recognize them, "I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven."

"Render unto Cesar that which is Cesar's and unto God those things that are God's"

"Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbour to him who fell among the robbers?"
He sa...

So because the aren't constantly brainwashed by the Christian right, that makes them 'socialist'?

Here are some socialist quotes, maybe you will recognize them, "I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven."

"Render unto Cesar that which is Cesar's and unto God those things that are God's"

"Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbour to him who fell among the robbers?"
He said, "He who showed mercy on him."
Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise.""
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
"Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."
"I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’"
And finally, a quote for the truly committed Capitalist: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter."
(more)

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Tasine to Charles... 2012/08/18 22:32:35

+2
I don't recall saying a word about the Christian right. Ergo, why your question challenging me re your interpretation of my comment about socialists?

Recognize those quotes? Yes, I recognize them. In what way do they relate to socialism? Socialists deny God, hate Christians, don't believe in the Bible - so why are you so busy scribbling quotes from it? Do you guys merely use God in emergencies when stupid arguments don't work?

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Red to Tasine 2012/08/19 03:01:50
Scandalf 2012/08/17 15:46:24

No

+3
No, they are simply shifting towards others such as paganism. True Atheists and true skeptics are and will always be a minority. For some reason man feels the urge to believe in irrational things.

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auron 2012/08/17 15:36:52

Yes

+4
The internet is where religion comes to die.

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kneedra... to auron 2012/08/17 20:40:28

its where your soul died...

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auron to kneedra... 2012/08/18 14:56:52

Science saved my soul.

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Rave 2012/08/17 15:10:12

Yes

+8
I'd say so, all over the world. People are starting to let go of religion. Here for people in their 20s, it's more odd to be religious than to be atheist/agnostic or just 'spiritual' but non-religious.

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