RE: "ATHEIST HOSPITALS? ANYONE?"

Page 4 of Books

Einhard:

Oh my, this is possibly the most idiotic posts I've ever read. One of the main reasons there are few atheist hospitals or orphanages is that after millenia of persecution by religious zealots, atheism has really only become socially acceptable in the past century.

CaliforniaDreamin responds to the profound idiocy above:

1. The hospital I was born in is not nearly a century old.

2. The hospital my wife and children were born in is not nearly a century old.

Therefore both of them were built within the time frame of Einhard's social acceptability. Nor did Einhard bother to cite even so much as an atheist soup kitchen. No, not one, having had a century to do so.

Let's see what else the atheist apologist has to say, shall we?

Einhard:

Secondly why on earth would anyone want to set up institutions exclusive to those who share their own religious philosophies?! I can think of nothing worse than such narrow minded religious apartheid.

CaliforniaDreamin responds to the profound ignorance:

1. I am not Catholic. Few of the patients in any Catholic hospital are.

2. Who but an ignorant atheist apologist would claim that institutions are "set up exclusive to those who share their own religious philosophies"? What astounding intolerance and ignorance by this little man who claimed MY post was "idiotic."

Einhard:

Thirdly, even if atheists actively wished to set up such exclusive institutions, we make up such a small section of the community that it would be nigh on impossible to do so in a meaningful sense.

CaliforniaDreamin responds to the pathetic excuse:

Oh please. First you atheists make the claim that you're so very intellectual and so numerous. AND THEN you have the temerity to claim that you are too pathetic and too few to make a difference.

Two words in response to your cowardly, ignorant lie:

MOTHER TERESA.

Einhard:

And last but not least, the European Constitution [SIC] recently established a new constitution which explicitly makes no mention of a higher power, or even Europe's Christian heritage. Who needs atheist hospitals or orphanages when the largest trade bloc on the planet considers itself constitutionally atheist?!

CaliforniaDreamin responds:

The "Constitution" established a new "constitution."

Bravo, genius.

Although Europe has a considerable Christian heritage, it has unfortunately renounced that heritage almost completely. As a result, you socialists are going down the tubes. Don't you read anything?

ciao!

Oh my, oh my, seems the dirty atheist touched a nerve. First of all, I'm no atheist aplogist because I have absolutely nothing to apologise for. You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder about atheists though. Are you like this with everyone who happens not to share your beliefs? It's a remarkable example of Christian tolerance I have to say!

Secondly, the hospitals into which you and your wife were born may be less than a century old, but the philosophy behind the setting up of such institutions is far older. The atheist community doesn't have such a tradition simply because to be atheist was to risk ostracism until recently, and therefore such a tradition couldn't possibly evolve.

Thirdly, if atheists were to set up their own hospitals/soup kitchens/summer camps, I think it's pretty obvious that their very establishment would mark them out as being somewhat exclusive. And atheists have no need for such exclusivity.

On another point, I've just re-read my original post and I wrote nothing regarding intellect, my own, atheists, or anyone elses. Neither did I mention anythng about the atheists being particularly numerous. Are you replying to my thread Cali, or just indulging your own prejudice? Again, the words "chip" and "shoulder" come to mind. My point is fairly basic though. Atheists are a tiny proportion of the overall population, and geographically diverse at that. To expect such a community to have established a significant physical infrastructure in the short time where such an attempt would have been acceptable, is a bit much don't you think? After all, it was centuries after Christ before Christianity was able to establish itself on the physical landscape of Europe.

Also, Mother Teresa was a woman who had deep seated, perhaps even unresolved, doubts about the actual existence of a Christian God. Such is clear from her letters and diaries, in which she struggles agonisingly with this dilemmna day after day.

But in the end Cali, you're right....all my arguments are blown completely out of the water. A typo is a typo afterall...I wrote "Constitution" instead of "Union"...how can anything I say be taken seriously after such a grievous transgression??!!

p.s.: Europe going down the tubes? Hmmm, maybe I'm partisan, but I fail to see how. On average, as high a standard of living as the US. Far less social inequality than the US. And by far the highest contributor of aid to the developing world. Not as impressive as a soup kitchen I'll admit, but not too bad for a bunch of leftie atheists!!