DID YOU KNOW that Atheists didn't exist until after The Enlightement

[Heddi]

ahem

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022542152#post38

And perhaps the first Atheists were french, because the word Atheist came from a french word

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022542152#post82


There appear to be many graduates of the College Of That Can't Be True Because I've Never Heard of It (which is the sister campus to the University Of It Can't Be True Because My Experience Contradicts Yours)

it burns. It really, really burns.

[Apophis]

1. ...

[Trajan]

2. Wasn't Socrates charged with Atheism?

during another, earlier enlightenment?

[Heddi]

3. :snort: You're using Socrates as an example?

A fictional character from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure? Surely you jest

Look, MAYBE if Socrates was a real person and MAYBE if there was a first-hand account, like a vlog or tweet from this so-called Socrates about his atheism then we can believe it. I'm pretty well read on this subject so I know what I'm talking about. There was a phamphlet in a readers digest once "everything you need to know about everything" and it went into this "atheism" stuff in pretty good detail. So I'm pretty much what you would call a "self taught theologicanal scholar". So please, don't try this mamby pamby bullshit with me, bigot.

Also, How do we know that "Socrates" wasn't a none, or an agnostic, or an apathist? BECAUSE THOSE PEOPLE COUNT TOO YOU KNOW!1!! here, let me refer you to a 5 year old article about the rise of the None's in an effort to show how meaningless your "Atheism" is, ATHEIST!!!

[Trajan]

5. I am a silly silly man

I am too silly to accept real gods ...

[Heddi]

8. STOP BEING A BIGOT

against, um, stuff

[Curmudgeoness]

22. ..................

[JNelson6563]

30. Utterly hilarious!

Many lolz.

Julie

[Phillip McCleod]

9. 'how many languages can you read?'

oops, that wasn't snark. it was a quote. my bad.

[Heddi]

11. I wanted to post

"one more than you, apparently" but I didn't want it to get hidden

plus I'm studying here, I don't need a bunch of distractions....oooh shiny!

[Phillip McCleod]

14. yes i decided it wasn't worth it.

not tonight anyway.. who knows what the day may bring.

[Warpy]

4. Oh, we were there. We were just too afraid

of the torture chambers of the Inquisition to self identify. Being an atheist back then threatened the power of the state which was built atop the power of theocracy and the consequences were immediate, painful, and prolonged. Better to be a hypocrite and avoid the rack.

I suppose I should waddle on over there and hand them a clue. Think it would register?

[Heddi]

7. I WANT FIRST HAND PROOF

go on...bring me an atheist from the middle ages who can tell me they're an atheist. Until then, no dice. You're lying. You're smearing Catholics who only tortured other catholics, never anyone else. Oh and back then Catholics = Christians = Catholics, so JUST STOP BEING SO MEAN YOU BULLY!

[trotsky]

17. Damn Heddi, you nailed it!

[mbperrin]

6. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA! Whew.

Thanks for a good laugh, wow.

Now I think I'll go and cry for a bit, because I fear those posts were sincere, and I teach. Hate to think of a completely wasted life (mine).

[MellowDem]

10. Everyone is born an atheist...

so we've been around awhile!

[Heddi]

12. Nope. You're wrong

You're born into your parent's religion.

How do you like them apples, sinner?

[progressoid]

19. Not only are you born into it,

you can NEVER leave it. But while you're in it, you can change it from within.

[Curmudgeoness]

23. No, I heard somewhere

that it is in your genes. It is hereditary. Really.

[enlightenment]

13. dang.

I'm thinking I know who that poster is in RL - seriously. The argument he/she is using is damn near identical to one that I had with someone about seven or eight years ago . . .

It was ridiculous then. It hasn't improved with age.

[Phillip McCleod]

15. yep same recycled bumper sticker lines reappear..

..every few years. 'maybe if i word it differently this time..'

[LeftishBrit]

16. According to the Psalms, 'The fool has said in his heart, "There is no god"' - which means there

were atheists in Old Testament times, even if David didn't approve of them.

[Rob H.]

18. Wait a second

The term didn't exist, okay, it did, but it was a term used to condemn others, not a way people described themselves because there aren't any books from that time period that so much as mention atheists. LOLwhut?

[progressoid]

20. There are a lot of posts that burn lately.

But don't point it out, because that makes you a BIGOT!

[rexcat]

21. Now that I have read...

the entire thread, all I can do now is except for the posts by the regulars over here!

I did get a laugh on one post. One poster stated: I am so sorry you have been the target of hate on this board. This is to a catholic, I sure don't see this comment when it comes to atheists!

[awoke_in_2003]

31. I tried to read it all...

but I could feel brain cells dying and stopped.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

24. That particular DUer was trolling through the A&A group the other day

I think he also attended the I'll-just-tell-them-atheists-how-it-is-and-that'll-fix-em school of thought. But it's obvious he didn't graduate.

Apologists are funny and chap my ass at the same time.

[skepticscott]

25. And they lie

and lie. and lie and lie and lie. Then they make shit up. Then they lie some more. Does it never settle in to them that there's something wrong with their position when they have to lie constantly to support it?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

28. "Lying for the lord" is what it's called in the Mormon church

And it's justified by some convoluted logic about saving the sinner even if they have to be deceived. "Lying for the lord" and "killing for the lord" are just different degrees of the same concept.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. Wasn't the Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero an atheist?

During one of his arguments, didn't he wonder how the soothsayers could pass one another in the streets without laughing out loud?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

27. Impossible!

Didn't you read the links in the OP? There weren't any atheists before the Enlightenment, so duh, there couldn't have been a Roman atheist. We read it on the internet, so it MUST be true...

[djean111]

29. Darn, when I click those links I am told "that forum is offline". eta - now it is back.

I was hoping to see if there was any actual logical point to blathering that Atheists didn't exist until after The Enlightenment (although the premise that being an atheist is a result of being enlightened is kind of a strange cause and effect to push).
In any event, how can anyone at all purport to know what every single person believed or didn't believe? That's ridiculous.
And if the word is important - are they saying things or states of belief just don't exist until we give them a proper name?
In any event, being told I was the onliest loneliest atheist in the world, ever ever ever! would not be enough to change my (non)belief.
Are people actually using logic to try and prove something that is not logical?

Wading through - just because the term "atheist" was not used, there were no atheists? Huh?
I will agree that people are born into one religion or another and children generally believe everything their parents/priests/teachers tell them. Until they don't. Little kids believe fervently in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, all kinds of mythical beings - because that is what they are taught to believe. That is not the same as deciding for oneself.