Athiest bus campaign

[corydoras]

Steve Jones wasn't he the guitarist with the Sex Pistols

Befor my time (I wish ).

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Overnight I have been converted from an atheist to a Pastafarian, a devotee of the the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Our central belief is that there is an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, who created the entire universe after a heavy night on the booze. All 'evidence' for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in an effort to test we Pastafarians' faith. When scientific measurements are made, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage.

The Pastafarian belief of heaven stresses that it contains beer volcanoes and a stripper factory. Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale, and the strippers have STDs.

 

The religious text of the Pastafarian religion is called the Loose Canon. In place of the Ten Commandments, it contains the Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts.

 

Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else can disprove the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Ken, just as I cannot prove that any God does not exist. One cannot prove a negative Ken. The burden of proof is upon those making the extraordinary claim that the universe was brought into existence by a supernatural being, not with those who see no evidence to support their claim.

 

 

This rubbish is exactly what I mean, your turning the central belief of millions of people into a joke simply because you cannot accept that there maybe the possibility that beyond all your maths etc etc etc there is another controlling factor.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't see that it is arrogant, it's a wee bit inaccurate, the author should have said Bronze Age, not Iron Age, but I agree that they were the best efforts of the sages of the period to explain the universe that they saw around them and their place in it. My objection is not with the Bronze Age philosophers, but with those who seek to impose this philosophy on us in the 21st century, and especially with those who would have this philosophy presented to our children in school as science. As for early science, I don't know how 'early' you had in mind but Newton, for all his genius was a closet alchemist, a fact that raises eyebrows and guffaws of disbelief in the modern scientific community, but does not in anyway detract from his astounding achievements elsewhere.

 

I cannot fathom why anyone should fear the "intentions" of atheists. Atheists are to be found in all walks of life and as far as I am aware we have no shared intentions, just a shared disbelief in supernatural deities.

 

 

I do not see anyone forcing you to accept their beliefs, the choice is yours. I had a lot of religious education as a youngster, more than most believe me, I also had some very in depth studies of basic science including natural history which covered evolution. As an adult I have evaluated this information and I have become a fence sitter

 

One thing I have learned over the years is tolerance of other peoples beliefs, tempered by a dislike of fanatical factions.

[Steve Walker]

Another twist:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7832647.stm

 

Christian bus driver refuses to drive bus with the poster on it.

 

I didn't hear about any atheist bus drivers refusing to drive buses with Alpha Course posters on them (which is what started this whole thing).

 

I wonder what would happen if he refused to drive a bus promoting Islam?

[snakey1]

Nothing wrong with the pastafarian religion if thats what you fancy, as all gods are the creations of men you might as well invent your own to suit yourself. as for turning the central belief of millions of people into a joke , they're usually quite capable of doing it themselves only some of the things they do in the name of their religions is enough to make you cry not laugh.

[Angly]

This rubbish is exactly what I mean, your turning the central belief of millions of people into a joke simply because you cannot accept that there maybe the possibility that beyond all your maths etc etc etc there is another controlling factor.

 

In which case there is a possibility that there is a pasta god too no? Because people believe something does not make it true. How many millions think the new Millennium started January 1st 2000?

[corydoras]

This rubbish is exactly what I mean, your turning the central belief of millions of people into a joke simply because you cannot accept that there maybe the possibility that beyond all your maths etc etc etc there is another controlling factor.

You misunderstand my position Ken. I never said I cannot accept the POSSIBILITY, that there may be some 'controlling force'. Let me spell out my position as succinctly as possible.

 

1) I see no evidence to support the notion of any supernatural Deities, From Amun Ra to Zeus, and that includes Jesus and Jehovah

2) Even if someone presented me with incontrovertible evidence that Jehovah did exist I could not bring myself to worship the monster. If you want to know why I think he is a monster, go read a book called Deuteronomy.

 

Lastly if you want to play the numbers game then you can plat that two ways. Christianity is the biggest religion in the world with about 33% of the global population, but then again that means that 66% of the global population beleive in some other god, does it not?

 

As has already been pointed out, just because a belief is popular does not make it correct.

Edited January 16, 2009 by corydoras

[corydoras]

Another twist:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7832647.stm

 

Christian bus driver refuses to drive bus with the poster on it.

 

I didn't hear about any atheist bus drivers refusing to drive buses with Alpha Course posters on them (which is what started this whole thing).

 

I wonder what would happen if he refused to drive a bus promoting Islam?

This is the kind of thing that really gets my goat. Special treatment for special pleading!

[kleinboet]

Can I just add something here - an atheist bus driver has nothing to complain about has he? Here we have someone posting a banner on a bus that "they are wasting their money on, after all I don't believe in that muck" does he?

A Christian bus driver on the other hand is being challenged by that remark. He believes there IS a god and that statement is calling him a liar!!!

 

That's why he will not drive it!

Edited January 16, 2009 by kleinboet

[Steve Walker]

Sorry, don't see the difference. A man drives a bus, the bus has a statement about religion written on the side, the man does not agree with it.

[kleinboet]

Steve if you don't believe then there is nothing wrong, no matter what is said "there is probly not a God" as the poster says. But if you BELIEVE, the poster is calling you a liar!

 

think abot this for an analogy:

If you owned a superb motor car that you bought on the managers say-so that it will do 200mph, Top gear Jeremy Clarkson then trashes the car and says it will struggle to do 120mph - you would say something about it wouldn't you?

 

If you own a Ford (like MILLIONS of others) that didn't cost you an arm or a leg and Clarkson says it will struggle to do 100mph, you wouldn't be overly worried as you don't expect to do that speed anyway!