I read in a newspaper recently that up to 200.000 iraqis, 50.000 afghans and 30.000 pakistanis have been injured and permanently left disabled as a direct result of western forces bombing and randomly shooting at people.
The 2 only religious people who have openly condemnned this cruelty is Bishop John shelby spong and Bishop Richard Holloway of Scotland . I have never heard of any other religious leader doing it.
When will Atheists organise rallies to protest against this barbarity?
Once again, I agree with Soliel.
And Spong may be "religious", but he’s gone so far off the rails in regards to the original tenets he followed, that he really has a religion of his own.
Additionally, what is your reference for those numbers and those claims? Make sure the site isn’t pushing an agenda.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
better them than me.
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February 28th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Sure, America kills thousands of other people, but when Americans shoot millions of their own people it’s no big deal.
To answer your question, atheists don’t like being classed as an organisation, so only as individuals can they really do anything.
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February 28th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
The left wing often points out the problem, but someone is always ready to point a finger saying, "Traitor!" "Terrorist sympathizer!" and so on.
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February 28th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
they are too busy ridiculing God and believers over the earthquake in Haiti
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February 28th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Omelettes and eggs, my dear — collateral damage is a tragic but unavoidable consequence of war.
In the future, they should probably try a little harder to police their own and quit harboring terrorists, if they’d like to avoid future civilian casualties…
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February 28th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Generally, the groups that organise to protest things like that are political groups rather than faith-based, and contain people from all parts of the religious/non-religious spectrum. Why limit a protest only to atheists, or only to Christians?
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February 28th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
About that many people were killed in one day in Haiti. Nearly that many people would’ve died anyway naturally. We’re trying to bring stability to the world, and curb religious extremism. It’s going to be costly in blood, and resources. We should be thankful it wasn’t as costly as Hirohito, or Hitler were.
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February 28th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
The entire reason that western forces are bombing and shooting people is because those Middle Easterners are different to us. To stop these crimes, you need to stop classifying people as religious and atheist and try to unite PEOPLE to speak out against these crimes.
To make the world better, start by improving yourself.
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February 28th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
religious people speak out against war all the time we’re just not on tv
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February 28th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
They have.
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February 28th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Atheists do rally to these causes in great numbers in the form of anti-war movements.
The flaw in your reasoning is that you assume Atheists have any sort of organisation. Outside of a handful of groups, we do not. We do not identify as Atheists when we protest, we identify as people. There is no atheist pope to state orthadoxy and no atheist church to enforce it.
Atheists have nothing in common with other atheists aside from a disbelief in God.
You may as well have a group of people united in their dislike of marmite.
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February 28th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
The most effective voice is the government that send in the troops.
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February 28th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Typically, religions seem to get on board with governments and will often endorse wars, they just "pray" for those who are suffering.
I empathize with your question, it is a frustrating situation that us common folk find we can do little about as individuals. However, by opposing religions that rally behind war and opposing war except in the case of self-defense, what else can anyone do?
Don’t even get me started on the "Bush Doctrine"… *sigh*
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February 28th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Once again, I agree with Soliel.
And Spong may be "religious", but he’s gone so far off the rails in regards to the original tenets he followed, that he really has a religion of his own.
Additionally, what is your reference for those numbers and those claims? Make sure the site isn’t pushing an agenda.
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February 28th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
There is no point to add oil into the fire by protest ;-p
When everyone at those places become atheist, the suffering will end ;-p
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February 28th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Western forces do not "randomly" shoot at people. You might want to change the newspaper you’ve been reading.
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
These wars must take place to fulfill prophecy.
"You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet."
These wars are not the result of God having any hand in them. Romans 2:11 says "For there is no partiality with God." He does not favor one nation over another .. contrary to common belief.
Put the blame where it rightfully belongs … with Satan. In 1John 5:19 it tells us "… the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one."
These conditions are being allowed for a time. At the appointed time Jehovah God will act and end all wars.
You say religious people are doing nothing. Not so. Jehovah’s Witnesses are preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom in the entire earth. We put our faith in God’s government to end wars, not any earthly government.
Read the whole account at:
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Matthew 24:1-14
February 28th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
well people need to eat.
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February 28th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
That is more of a political question. I am an atheist and in most cases I abhor violence and am against the wars in Afghanistan/Pakistan and Iraq. However, since the war is currently a reality these issues that you are citing are more of an academic discussion of what is acceptable collateral damage in a war.
As for your "atheists organizing against "this barbarity."" You need to understand that atheism is not a religion in the traditional sense. The only real organization is generally political/legal in nature. We don’t go to church or spend time obsessively studying Dawkins’ "The God Delusion." Also, contrary to what the religious people think, we generally don’t spend time trying to convert people, burn bibles, or forcibly stopping children from praying.
You need to get in touch with the activists in your anti-war movement.
Good Luck!
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March 1st, 2010 at 12:31 am
Unfortunately its gone on so long that it’s now background noise, its hard to motivate anyone in protesting this war.
The only real way to stop it in Afghanistan is to bring the Taliban back into the government in a democratic way. No one’s going to like that solution but historically its the only way it will work.
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