Quote from Cronos

Stephen Fry has been ostracized and degraded by theists because of his sexuality. I remember reading a piece he wrote awhile back about his depression and suicidal thoughts.

He has every right to oppose those who tell him he's a second rate citizen. Your mum shouldn't be throwing around the term arrogance so loosely.

It's important to express ones opinions. Atheists do it all too often. But it's not us that should be doing the convincing. It's theists. Not a single shred of evidence has ever arisen suggesting the legitimacy of any one of these cults. The thinking man has a right to question that which has no evidence, without fear of being labeled arrogant or strident. People give theism far too much respect.

I tell you there's a dragon in my backyard, you ask for proof. I tell you I am a 'mono-theist', you accept it. Don't.

And let's all make sure we make the important, correct, distinction between theism and deism. Deism is an uneducated cop-out. It's a guess based on ignorance (I will grant it's possibly true, but there is currently no evidence to suggest it). The good thing about deism... it doesn't harm anybody. Theism is the embodiment of human narcissism. It harms people everyday, whether you like it or not.

Quote from Cronos

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Quote from Exilement

"Herbert and Catherine Schaible belong to a fundamentalist Christian church that believes in faith healing. They lost their 8-month-old son, Brandon, last week after he suffered from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week, and stopped eating... they told police that they prayed for God to heal Brandon instead of taking him to a doctor when he fell ill.

Four years ago, another son died from bacterial pneumonia. That boy, a two-year-old named Kent, died after the Schaibles refused to take him to the doctor when he became sick, relying instead on faith and prayer."

I really don't think this is relevant to anything, religion isn't inherently harmful just because there are examples of harm caused by religious motivations, but it does happen and you're delusional if you believe otherwise.

Quote from walker90234

Yeah, I'd most certainly recommend Mill; especially On Liberty. Probably my favourite philosopher of all time.

As for Grimm's post; yes, people have a right to spread beliefs, that's pretty much covered by a right to free speech. But that's not what we're debating; we're debating whether or not spreading your beliefs is a GOOD/MORAL thing, not whether people should be allowed to do it. There's a very important difference. Try reading the OP next time, okay?

Quote from alive

god damn fuck, I hate my life. I just spent ages on a long reply and shit, but then stickpage decided it doesn't care about my opinions and removed it all. bah, you would have been so enlightened!

Quote from Automaton

This has happened so many times for me, that I'm now in the habit of "CTRL+A" and "CTRL+C"-ing every 2-3 sentences. It's made my SP posting so much more risk-free. I now don't sit on the edge of my seat with a single drop of sweat dripping down my forehead before I hit the "post reply" button.