Great. Another evolution/creation thread.
I am so tired of this "leftists hate god and are intolerant of anyone practicing religion" garbage.
There are indeed many secular leftists, rightists, moderates and libertarians who hate the idea of God, hate religion and are intolerant. If you aren't of that group, I can definitely understand that you don't want to be lumped in with them. But it seems you have as much resentment toward certain religious people as they do toward secularists.
I am a positive, "fundamentalist" athiest....I have never had a religion, so I am an athiest. So, I am pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-church/state seperation.
Why do you feel that atheism leads to these points of view? Regarding religious freedom, perhaps you misunderstand why some conservative Christians balk at the word "seperation." It is not that we actually reject the religious freedom embodied in the first amendment. Rather, we feel that seperation is the wrong way to interpret the amendment, and actually erodes freedom. Having said that, I feel that many conservatives, religious or otherwise, have a poor understanding of rights, albeit better than that of most leftists.
You seem to believe the common myth that ID is a thinly-disguised Christian creationism. This is wrong, simplistic and lacking in evidence as far as I can tell.
Because no, the world is not 6,000 years old. No, Adam and Eve were not the first two humans. No, snakes do not talk.
Well, that's your opinion, but such dogmatism sounds pretty religious, to me. ID does not teach these things.
No, the dinosaurs did not go extinct because they were too big to fit on the Ark. No, the answer to the question "then how is it that stars are many many light-years away?" is not "because God bends the light to test our faith."
Again, your opinion, but dogmatic again. ID does not teach these things, nor do informed creationists. Like most partisans in this debate, you argue against the other side's position without understanding it.
What people need to understand is that the mythologies of the old testament are simply that: mythologies. This is not used as a perjorative. They are mythologies. They are poetic ways of conveying a spiritual truth. It is exceedingly clear that the writers of the old testament KNEW that they were writing mythologies LONG after the events supposedly happened. They were perfectly happy with this. It was not until much later that people started to take them as a literal, historical record.
How do you know this?
I, and other a-religious people do not begrudge you your beliefs.
Then why do you belittle them, and in this very post?
If you want to teach your kids that the Old Testament is a historical, literal account, I warn you are putting your children at a terrible disadvantage, but I cannot stop you.
What disadvantage?
But myself, and many others, CAN stop you from teaching OUR children that, and will fight tooth and nail to ensure it.
Would you also fight to ensure that our children are not taught that evolution is the only scientifically viable view of origins?
We do not hate your religion, we simply hate it when people try and teach matters of faith as fact, when they are in fact matters of faith.
So I should have faith in things that aren't factual? Why?
