If your going to be going in you can’t go in with anger you must go in with a message that will not make people of a Theistic nature feel like monsters but more or less make them understand how ignorant some of their beliefs are instead of making us look like hate speakers ourselves.

I believe that the basic issue with the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) in the state of Washington is the same issue that created the original wording of a similar sign placed in the capital building for the state of Wisconsin – namely the religious entanglement of church and state.

One would think that with all of the tax-exempt church property all over the place – that there would be plenty of opportunity for religious folk to place “nativity scenes” on private property. The issue is when a “nativity scene” is place on public property that the entanglement of church and state ensues. The FFRF would never place one of their signs on a private “nativity scene” on private property.

I fully support what the FFRF is doing with their efforts in breaking up a large number of entanglements between church and state. I am proud to be an Assertive Atheist doing my part in confronting the over zealousness and audacity exhibited by many Theists that believe they have the Right to encroach upon the Public sector – with out and out Propaganda. Although to date, both Theists and Atheists tend to take a provincial view that the contest between Atheism and Theism has only been around for a few thousand years – the truth is that this contest has been going on for better than 2.9 Million years.

Recently, Assertive Atheists finally speak up and place this contest is the larger human picture.

On my new Website of http://www.assertiveatheistmoments.com I present a different orientation as to what the Epistemology of Atheism covers. The focus is on Symbols and Symbolic Form (ala Cassirer) combined with Symbolic Anthropology (ala Geertz). Roughly, the orientation is that during the evolution from proto-Homo Sapiens to Homo Sapiens, commencing 3 million years ago, the physical brain size and brain mass increased three-fold, due to the use of Symbols and Tools. During this 3 Million year evolutionary process, the Symbols for Atheism and the Symbols for Theism have also evolved.

With the written word being around for no longer than 100,000 years, there is a 2.9 Million period during which we know very little about the evolution of the Symbols of Atheism and the Symbols of Theism. It is during this 2.9 Million year period that the origins of the Symbols of Atheism and the Symbols of Theism begin. Although we know little, we can apply Cassirer’s orientations to Symbols and Symbolic Form to learn and Know more.

This places a totally different take on the notion of Assertive Atheism.

Bob

@BiasedGirl: “I will admit I don’t really understand Atheists. To me, again only my humble opinion, it seems rather arrogant to believe that you are the center of the Universe.”

Actually, as humanists, we acknowledge the achievements of the human race, good and bad. Which also means we, as human beings, must take responsibility for our actions. We can’t blame, nor give credit to any kind of father figure that our insecurities urge us to create. And remember, we humanists also have insecurities, it is, after all, human.
I will admit that I don’t really understand the relation Christians (for instance) must have to doubt. Or let us give it a capital D. Since sin does not really exist, there is no sin with a capital s, hence we can use that capital letter for Doubt, instead.
Is it a bad thing to have Doubt? To follow the orders of a supernatural being who demands you must trust him (and thus in conclusion, his earthly spokesmen, I guess), so when you doubt, you fail?
You must have something in yur liturgy to address this issue, since it is fundamental to Doubt?

As humanists, our approach is probably different. Doubt is fundamental, it is in fact a spur for us, it is at the heart of scientific enlightenment. Every thesis, every theory, every concept, must have had, and preferably retain, an element of doubt in it.

And all these achievments, I, as a humanist, acknowledge. But there is no way I can stretch anything, *anything at all* in humanist belief that gives us the conclusion “to believe that you are the center of the Universe”. On the contrary. We are not at the centre. We are part of it, we affect it and are affected by it. We. Animals. Plants. Soil. Mountains. Seas. Weather systems.Cosmic rays. Meteors. Stars. Black Holes. Electrons. Quarks.
But supernatural beings? No.

That is the fabric of existence. There is no centre in it. You can create temporal centres while you work with a theory, or discuss with another person, but that is just temporal, a viewpoint.

To me, the true arrogance is to belief that there is an ultimate, supernatural being and that we humans are created in his image. That would make us humans (or does that take any possible sentient alien life forms into account?) being The Chosen Ones by A God.

And that, to me, is the height of arrogance.

It’s a two hour video, but I can really recommend watching the talks between four fine minds (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens):

http://www.thinkatheist.com/video/1982180:Video:6498
http://www.thinkatheist.com/video/1982180:Video:6501

She cared enough to write the first comment and it has been my experience that theists can jump all over ‘careless’ generalizations of them on public forums(fora?).

Sadly this juxaaposing her, “humble opinion” and “Atheist arrogance” was, we hear, not, easily misunderstood bad wording at all.

On topic, I liked Dan Barker’s plaque. It is as blatantly ‘atheist’ as Nativity Scenes are anti-separation of Church and State are.

Apparently folk who feel strongly about separation of Church and State are required to ‘tsk’ impotently at those crazy Christians for stepping on the ’state’s-toes’ and NOTHING MORE.(Seriously, NOTHING, isn’t THAT RIGHT, BiasedGirl?)

I didn’t ‘attack’ this. I AGREED with it.

But, together with your previous sentence, it seemed to me that you were implying that atheists are ‘guilty’ of this arrogance, AND NOT Christians(our friendly neighborhood theists).

You say, “You think we are stupid, irrational and judgemental, sometimes people see in others what they are capable of themselves…”

Once again, I agree with the general sense that everyone can be those things, but you seem to imagine that you are allowed to ‘imply’ away that first, atheists are the only ones imagining that they are the center of the Universe then NOW, it is atheists who are stupid, irrational amd judgemental!

Simply because you phrase your barbs in a passive voice with disclaimers that ‘it is only your opinion’ and ‘you’re not being judgemental’, that doesn’t ‘immunize’ your ‘digs’ from reponse.

Am I wrong in believing that when you say, “You think we are stupid, irrational and judgemental, sometimes people see in others what they are capable of themselves…”

… you are MEANING, “You, Atheists, think we, me or any other person who believes in God, are stupid, irrational and judgemental,(AND THAT) sometimes people, ATHEISTS see in others, me or any other person who believes in God, what they, Atheists, are capable of themselves…”

You say, “You can believe whatever you’d like, I don’t care.”

Isn’t this a nice, round about way of saying, “SHUT UP!”?