Fell foul of Nero? Can you elaborate on this, Helian?

I didn't know Paul was that well connected (or not connected, I guess).

Well, it's all in the name..

A Theism.

As a group they're irrational in more ways than one. They have an obnoxious tendency, like many atheists do, to attribute just about every social ill in the world in some way to religion. Events that have had some religious basis or interrelation are immediately and in total the result of the existence of religion in general even when its role has been clearly ancilliary.

Smells a little like progressivism too. Progressives loathe the supposedly intolerant conception of the "monolithic" social thread -- whether it be in the form of a non-theistic ideal, religion or the extended biological family. Instead they suggest that we should learn to celebrate and tolerate difference, yet at the same time insist that this principle itself must be adhered to with the most strict, stalwart dedication.

Soren wrote on Mar 12^th, 2010 at 8:53pm:

Less so the case that atheists deplore the binding or that which binds (and only insofar as a generalisation can be made of what all atheists deplore), but more that they refuse to submit to the delusion that demands those binds can never be loosed. That these binds result from the "very word of god himself", who unfortunately can never be here in person to adjudicate but instead has left us a book from which, through a circus act of metaphoric contortion, you can squeeze the camel of immutable law through its own arsehole and out the eye of a needle.

Hey now, just speaking with an out-my-arse generality

Quote:
-soren

Says who?

I love it when people just make crap up, and then spout it out as some general truism.

Now if you said that;
"many atheists deplore people that share a common delusional belief making extraordinary demands and unjustifiable allowances for their odd behaviours, inspired by their shared delusions"
well that I could agree with.

aikmann4 wrote on Mar 13^th, 2010 at 8:21pm:

Do we all? Do you think its actually true that all/many/some atheists deplore the binding together of people by a common belief? Would it not be closer to the mark to say that atheists deplore the notion that the tenets of the binding belief system are immutable law where these laws are claimed to be divine revelation, such that only a deity can repeal them?

Whoosh!
That one went right over Imps head.
The "many" aspect, is just common sense, and common courtesy, if you think about it, but not a big deal either way, the objectionable aspect of Soren's post was that he offered a truism which was untrue.

People tend to speak out against atheism without really considering what they say, in a quite reactionary way, and because atheism is not a cohesive grouping, but merely a very loose categorisation for people who do not believe in deities, then the whole idea of making sweeping generalisations about it, is rarely going to be valid, or worthwhile.