Atheism in popular media

Originally posted by kirksey957
What would be your opinion of say, a Jewish hospital? Would an institution like this hold society back?

Many Jewish hospitals were originally funded by Jews because Jews weren't getting treated at other hospitals and couldn't become doctors there. I know In Montreal this is the case for, I think it's called Mount Sinai, which has become the best and the largest hospital. It receives anyone who is sick regardless of their religion, but is considered a Jewish hospital for the reason stated above.

Law firms in Toronto, where I'm from, were started for the same reason. I don't see how this can hold anyone back. Rather, it was society holding Jews back. I guess if everyone was an atheist they wouldn't have been held back in the first place.

But I'm not sure how this at all relates to what I said about atheism. Obviously a good hospital is a good thing, but it's not because it's Jewish per se.

Originally posted by epiphinehas
Christians can thank the Religious Right for the backlash. Hypocrisy is never very appealing.

What reason for backlash are you refering to, what cause to you think
Christians have put upon those that suggest a payback is in order? Do
you think running religion down on TV is pay back of sort?
Kelly

Originally posted by The Dude 84
Many Jewish hospitals were originally funded by Jews because Jews weren't getting treated at other hospitals and couldn't become doctors there. I know In Montreal this is the case for, I think it's called Mount Sinai, which has become the best and the largest hospital. It receives anyone who is sick regardless of their religion, but is considered a Jewi ...[text shortened]... sm. Obviously a good hospital is a good thing, but it's not because it's Jewish per se.

Why can't the atheists get together and start a hospital? All that science and stuff would seem to be a good fit for them.

Originally posted by kirksey957
Why can't the atheists get together and start a hospital? All that science and stuff would seem to be a good fit for them.

They did. They're called abortion clinics.

Originally posted by josephw
They did. They're called abortion clinics.

I was in church today and something hit me that I had never considered. It was communion Sunday and the passage that was read was from the last supper when Jesus says that for the person about to betray him, it would have been better had he not been born. I had never considered this as a statement about abortion, but could not help but examine that.

Originally posted by kirksey957
Why can't the atheists get together and start a hospital? All that science and stuff would seem to be a good fit for them.

The oldest American hospital in existence is New York's famed Bellevue hospital, established in 1736. The hospital, initially a six-bed hospital, was not createdby any religious institution but was a municipal hospital created by a secular, non-religious government...

...Ben Franklin, inventor, ambassador to France and Founding Father managed to find more time than the entire American religious industry to develop the first fire department, public library, and even another hospital (founded in 1751). [4]

http://www.americanatheist.org/aut03/T1/ittner.html



As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble.

- Ben Franklin


I don't think Ben was quite an atheist, and the US government isn't a group of atheists any more than it's a group of Christians, but still...

Originally posted by kirksey957
I was in church today and something hit me that I had never considered. It was communion Sunday and the passage that was read was from the last supper when Jesus says that for the person about to betray him, it would have been better had he not been born. I had never considered this as a statement about abortion, but could not help but examine that.

This is just a guess but I bet that list is longer than that. My other guesses are of coarse Hilter, Stalin, Saddam yadda, yadda, yadda, and other people like that guy in the stands who caught that fly ball in Wrigley field that cost the Cubs the oppurtunity to go to the World Series and win years ago. I think he actually had to work with the FBI and their witness relocation servies after the game because people wanted him dead! I'm not kidding!!

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
I don't think Ben was quite an atheist, and the US government isn't a group of atheists any more than it's a group of Christians, but still...[/b]

.....it makes you feel better about being an atheist? 😛

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
[i]The oldest American hospital in existence is New York's famed Bellevue hospital, established in 1736. The hospital, initially a six-bed hospital, was not createdby any religious institution but was a municipal hospital created by a secular, non-religious government...

...Ben Franklin, inventor, ambassador to France and Founding Father managed to ...[text shortened]... government isn't a group of atheists any more than it's a group of Christians, but still...

Thanks. I am all for a group of atheists getting together to fund something like this and be as proud of it as to put their "atheist" brand on it. Maybe in the lobby have that quote by Franklin. There is a hospital about 40 miles from where I live and it is owned and operated by Baptists and it has religious passages throughout the building. For me, I don't care about any of that stuff. I don't care if the doctor or nurse is Jewish, Muslim, snake handler or an atheist. Long as I get out alive.

Originally posted by whodey
.....it makes you feel better about being an atheist? 😛

Nah. My self esteem isn't tied to what others have done, unlike for example American patriots who are two young for WWII but who fondle themselves while telling Europeans how the US saved their sorry butts.

Or like Christians who use the good deeds done by other Christians to make themselves feel better.

Originally posted by kirksey957
Why can't the atheists get together and start a hospital? All that science and stuff would seem to be a good fit for them.

Atheists aren't easy to pin down. You can be a Jewish Atheist or whatever religion you were born in. They come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, anything. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God it doesn't have its own set of conditions or rules. It's the negative of religion. It's not a cult per se.

To paraphrase Dawkins, atheists are like stray cats. They don't do anything as a group because the only thing that relates them is their disbelief in something, not any common belief. I feel more of a connection to someone born of a different religion than me if they like hockey and jazz than I do some atheist. I couldn't care less about religion. To me nothing could be more irrelevant, unless that person is trying to kill me or tell me how to live my life.

If atheists come together now it's only because all the religions people in the world screwed up BIG and some reason is needed over all this mess. Religion has had years to get it right. But again, don't think of Atheism as having a creed or any singular set of rules. A person can be an idiot or a genius and be an atheist, but at least they won't have a stupid outdated set of arbitrary rules as a guideline for their mode of thought.

And yes, I'd bet they'd make a good hospital.

Originally posted by rwingett
How long before we have some serious Presidential candidates who don't feel the need to demonstrate their religiosity?

It is quite surprising that presidents in the US play the religious card so blatantly, considering their constitution basically separates religion from State so clearly.

But don't bother asking me anything about religion, to me it's a fairy tale and anyone who believes in god is a moron.

Originally posted by shavixmir
It is quite surprising that presidents in the US play the religious card so blatantly, considering their constitution basically separates religion from State so clearly.

But don't bother asking me anything about religion, to me it's a fairy tale and anyone who believes in god is a moron.

I think Fred Thompson came out and said he doesn't go to church. You know the thought of him sleeping in on Sunday with that young thang just has to drive fundamentalists crazy,

Originally posted by shavixmir
It is quite surprising that presidents in the US play the religious card so blatantly, considering their constitution basically separates religion from State so clearly.

But don't bother asking me anything about religion, to me it's a fairy tale and anyone who believes in god is a moron.

Shav, something we can agree upon! Good on ya

Originally posted by The Dude 84
Shav, something we can agree upon! Good on ya

Both of you have missed the point; if the people who believe are morons, how come they are still around 2000 years later?