I ended up reading three atheist non-fiction books these past few days, though one of them could technically be considered a short novella. Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris' The End of Faith. Christopher Hitchens' God is not Great. From reading the books I did, I did not glean any new atheistic material from its contents as I had expected. I suppose all I read and already knew I had learned from internet forums in relation to atheism. What I did learn, however, was some interesting history that I had not previously known. My main purpose of this thread, though, is to share some of the atheist related quotes that stood out for me amidst the other material. 6 quotes; Harris' Letters to a Christian Nation: 9 quotes; Harris' The End of Faith: 8 quotes; Hitchens' God is not Great:
I'm so sorry you have so much issues with theistic beliefs. You may think I am dissing you with this post but I am not. If they are not for you you could just let them be what they are: other peoples personal beliefs.
Personal beliefs that are destructive to the progress of society are not to be held in high esteem. Stating that they should is a mere continuation of the problem, rather than a solution.
To streamline the discussion, I omitted all the quotes. A couple of years ago someone posted a panel discussion featuring Harris, Hitchens and the other two "hjorsemen"; Dawkins and Dennett. Near the end of the discussion, they addressed the challenge of how to incorporated "the numinous" into their "Brave New World" of atheism. They deserve points for recognizing that this is a quality the new society must have, but they seemed to be pretty clueless about how to bring it about--Something to consider before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Here's reality. This is a list of cities and towns in the United States with Biblical names. The Bible has other names, such as "The Living Book". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biblical_place_names_in_North_America Revelation 1:11 ... Philadelphia Also to consider: John, Joseph, Mary, Peter, James, Andrew, Luke, Timothy, Daniel ... *Matthew. I forgot Matthew. How the heck did they get all those American names in the Bible?! What do atheists scientifically know about the science of language and words? The name of Christ is VERY powerful. Do scientists understand it? (p.s. There's also Buttzville, New Jersey but that's not Biblical. I just wanted to point out Buttzville, New Jersey).
Does anybody know who named Philadelphia, and why they named it that? The name Philadelphia means "the city of brotherly love" in Greek. It was named by its founder, William Penn, who envisioned a city of religious tolerance where no one would be persecuted. He also hoped to live at peace with the native Americans and paid them fairly for the rights to the city's land.
Seems to me those places are just named after their European and Middle Eastern counterparts. A lot of cities in the US are named that way. Some of those just happen to be mentioned in the bible, others don't.
I also forgot Mark and Jacob .. lmao. I met both of them at Jericho, lolling. And YES, there was a bear!! And Jacob was bald. Mark was balding. True. All true. How'd they get all those Murican names in the Bible? How did they do that? Old Testament has some funky names but the New Testament is loaded with American names! Too funny. Oh yeah, and Thomas too. And Paul. Um, I forgot Michael. And Anna. And Elizabeth. Deborah. Hannah (no, not Montana).
