jewish philosopher, Torah Philosophy

Home Archives Random Quotes Latest Comments Top 100 Submit Quote Search Log In Forums

Quote# 88153

By the way, atheists earnestly insist: no one has been killed "in the name of atheism". True enough. Atheism doesn't ask anyone to do anything. However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over. This is similar to arguing that blowing up a dam would not be murder. The dam breaking does no harm. It's all that water behind the dam which is killing thousands of people and the bomber had nothing to do with that! Of course, such a ridiculous argument would not hold water in any courtroom.

jewish philosopher, Torah Philosophy 49 Comments [7/6/2012 3:20:20 AM]
Fundie Index: 46
Submitted By: Wykked Wytch

WTF?! || meh

Username:
Comment:

Check here

1 2

#1420206

beehummingbird

"However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over."

Yes, because religion has done such an amazing job at holding the barriers that prevent murder. No one has ever fought a war or killed anyone in the name of religion.

7/6/2012 3:29:08 AM

#1420209

Joebob

I've seen a bunch of this guy's quotes on here. His shtick seems to be making a strawman out of atheism and then vilifying it. Not very impressive.

7/6/2012 3:35:03 AM

#1420212

Filin De Blanc

The Torah doesn't exactly have very strict barriers against murder, what with the whole "kill everyone who's gay, or gathers sticks on the sabbath, or who looks at you a bit funny".

7/6/2012 3:36:20 AM

#1420217

fmitchell

"However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over."

Citation seriously ... oh, what's the point.

Calvinists love to say that human nature is depraved, that without God keeping us in line we'd go on a self-destructive orgy of rape, vandalism, murder, and dancing. Human nature isn't "good", exactly, but between our social instincts, conditioning, and social structures like police, *most* people keep in line.

On the other hand, look at all the preachers, priests, rabbis, and other religious who get caught with their hand in the till, their pants around their ankles, and/or their hands and other organs on the children who trust them. How does their belief in God restrain them?

7/6/2012 3:41:02 AM

#1420218

Diatryma

Raw human nature takes over?? You don't have a penal code in the US? Well, since you HAVE one, fyi, please cogitate a litte where that might have come from. Certainly not from a god.

7/6/2012 3:41:24 AM

#1420220

anevilmeme

"It's all the water behind the damn...."

So God didn't kill everyone but Noah & family, all he did was make it rain it was the water that killed caused genocide.

Falls under the fundie golden rule of its not murder when God does it.

7/6/2012 3:49:26 AM

#1420229

Voice of Humanity

You seem to be the slightest bit confused Rabbi, the whole no barriers thing seems to be working out rather well for us. Understandable really, considering your laws don't just mandate heinous atrocities with zero provocation but also bar adherents from acts of nobility. How have your barriers helped humanity in recent years? Have they ever? You don't seem to give human nature enough credit, because its done much more for us, and for me, than your god.

7/6/2012 4:04:47 AM

#1420232

MK

" The dam breaking does no harm. It's all that water behind the dam which is killing thousands of people and the bomber had nothing to do with that! Of course, such a ridiculous argument would not hold water in any courtroom."

Kinda like the argument that the ancient Hebrews didn't murder a bunch of innocent people, that was all justified killing because God demanded it.

7/6/2012 4:09:17 AM

#1420238

OhJohnNo

An amusing water pun at the end, but overall this makes zero sense. Fail.

7/6/2012 4:14:57 AM

#1420239

Anon-e-moose

"By the way, atheists earnestly insist: no one has been killed "in the name of atheism". True enough. Atheism doesn't ask anyone to do anything. However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over."

I - an Atheist - wouldn't like to be killed/harmed, nor want my property stolen/damaged, so why should I want to do the same to anyone else?

Next question.

...but there are supposedly 'barriers' in Christian behaviour which prevents raw human nature taking over.

...oh wait.

7/6/2012 4:18:34 AM

#1420272

Reynardine

Neither as an atheist nor as a general mystic have I ever killed anyone. How strange.

7/6/2012 5:46:37 AM

#1420275

whatever

Human nature isn't as raw as you think it is.

7/6/2012 5:47:53 AM

#1420279

Mister Spak

"However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over."

"The atheist preserves his reason, which checks his propensity to mischief, while the fanatic is under the influence of a madness which is constantly urging him on."

- Voltaire

7/6/2012 5:49:20 AM

#1420287

dionysus

However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder;

Yeah? Atheism changes the law and makes jail time not apply anymore? Atheism removes the public scorn you get for being a murderer? Atheism suddenly makes the victim's family not cry or hate you? Atheism does all of those things? And how effective has Judaism been at preventing killing? I don't know, let's ask the Caananites and the Ammonites, or for a more modern example let's ask the Palestinians.

7/6/2012 6:09:55 AM

#1420290

A lot of humans - maybe not the majority, but certainly an appreciable minority - will at least briefly contemplate murdering another human being at some point in their lives. A vanishingly small percentage of that demographic actually act on these contemplations. Do you know what stops them?

It sure as hell ain't religion, buddy, because what with the Crusades, the various jihads, the Spanish Inquisition, the witch-burnings and the current Israeli (yeah buddy, that's Jews doing that) ethnic cleansing operations in Palestine, religion has a fucking awful track record in stopping murder.

What actually stops human-on-human violence is... you guessed it, raw human nature. Humans actually have very strong subconscious inhibitions against hurting and killing one another. Why do you think there's so much mental conditioning in military training? It's to overcome that precise mental block.

I'm an atheist, and while I have on occasion considered lashing out at people who I'm upset with, I've never actually done it. It certainly wasn't fear of God or the gods that stopped me - it was human nature.

7/6/2012 6:13:27 AM

#1420291

agentCDE

"raw human nature takes over"

And, if you're not a sociopath, that's not a problem at all.

7/6/2012 6:13:35 AM

#1420305

Brendan Rizzo

Scandi-fucking-navia. You lose. Now get out of my sight, you vile American.

7/6/2012 6:29:44 AM

#1420323

Doubting Thomas

You obviously don't understand secular humanism. Also, being an atheist doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want without any consequences. We still have societal laws, rules, and mores to follow.

7/6/2012 7:04:24 AM

#1420324

Berny

The proof that your argument is nothing but horseshit can be found in any courtroom. Where are all the atheist killers and rapists? They exist only in your fantasies.

7/6/2012 7:04:56 AM

#1420339

farpadokly

This guy's arguments are so bad and ill-reasoned that it's really not worth while to try and refute them. He's obviously just going to go right on making them, blindly oblivious to making any sense.

7/6/2012 7:23:18 AM

#1420344

Horsefeathers

"By the way, atheists earnestly insist: no one has been killed 'in the name of atheism'. True enough. Atheism doesn't ask anyone to do anything. However atheism removes all barriers which would prevent murder; from that point, raw human nature takes over."

Odd. I always thought that being able to do any damn thing you wanted--up to and including murder--and then being able to ask your chosen deity for "forgiveness" to make it all better would have the exact same fucking effect.

"This is similar to arguing that blowing up a dam would not be murder. The dam breaking does no harm. It's all that water behind the dam which is killing thousands of people and the bomber had nothing to do with that! Of course, such a ridiculous argument would not hold water in any courtroom."

The method of murder is irrelevant. It's the act/intent itself that matters, jackass.

7/6/2012 7:30:53 AM

#1420357

J. James

That's the most patently ridiculous thing I've seen in a while. "Removes barriers?" Excuse me? Have you not heard of empathy or the conscience? Oh, and atheists have and extremely low prison rate, far less that the religious in proportion to our numbers. So I guess that proves you're completely wrong.

7/6/2012 7:51:58 AM

#1420368

Raised by Horses

Dear sir, you have done for the discipline of philosophy what Christopher Columbus did for the steam engine.

7/6/2012 8:13:48 AM

#1420386

fishtank

Bullshit.

7/6/2012 8:49:21 AM

#1420389

Nagol

Yes, religion has all those barriers against killing people. That's why no one's ever been killed in the name of religion, OH WAIT! There have been countless people killed in the name of religion!

7/6/2012 9:10:24 AM

1 2