FAQ (under construction and not official)
Offline Title: My idea for the title so people get what we mean when we say RRS all the time.
RRS FAQ - Rational Response Squad Frequently Asked Questions
Questions: I have a feeling a lot of this are just general questions for atheists so may not apply to RRS but I know we get the hypocrite and hate comments a lot. Feel free to add, comment, correct, or change things. This is just to get the ball rolling.
How can all of you hypocrites?
Why do you hate Christians so much?
We don’t many members have confused their love for them, I wouldn’t but I’m too mean to tell people I love them. Now the high volume of claims you see on Christianity here is due mainly to the fact it is one of the larger religions in the world and one which most of use encounter in some form most of the time. The people on the radio show are American and as such have to deal with the effects on an almost daily bases. If another religion was on top you would see more stuff on them. Also we do address other religions. Links (Threads about other religions here?)
What if your wrong?
Pascal’s Wager is shit. Link (Answer.com article?)
How can you be agnostic and atheist?
Link (I'm think Ask the Atheist would be good.)
How can you say there is no god when you can’t prove there is no god?
Bigfoot, fairies, celestial tea pots, Zeus, etc.
Doesn’t religion have a place for a purpose for life and morality?
If by purpose you mean it gives you a safety blank and by morality you mean a arbitrary set of rules made over a 1000 years ago, maybe. Also Link (Ask the Atheist)
Have you even read [insert holy book]?
Someone here probably has if it is a more mainstream religion, but even if we haven’t we would probably still classify it as irrational if it has a god belief in it.
Doesn’t [insert holy book] prove there is a god?
No, all it proves is that this one god idea exists, yes there are more then one kind of god.
Don’t communist prove we need religion?
How can you be so un-American?
1. Not all of us on this forum are American.
2. America was founded has a secular nation so we are no more or no less American then the religious. Link (Ask the Atheist)
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 My ROE: Defend when attacked. Attack when enemy becomes enemy. Enemy becomes enemy when they harm others. http://www.myspace.com/rrstx
Good ideas so far. On the communist one, I'd ask they prove that communism as Marx proposed is a bad thing, and would point out that Stalin, Mao etc that did bad things most definitely did not do so in the name of atheism.
Science works whether you believe in it or not.
JUST SOME SCATTERED QUESTIONS FOR AN FAQ I HAD BEEN SAVING:
Why did you delete my comment on your myspace profile?
I sent you a letter and you didn't respond. Why?
What is the best way to get a debate started with one of the members of RRS?
Aren't you being just as bad as the Christians are, by forcing your beliefs on others?
I want to deconvert my friend, what is the best argument you can give me to help do it?
Do people actually abandon their irrational beliefs because of your arguments?
How can I become part of your squad?
What can I do to help?
______________________________
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED ON OUR MYSPACE PROFILE IN AUDIO:
Q. What exactly are you guys? What do you do? What are you about?
Q. Do you people hate god?
Q. Why not just let people believe?
Q. Why do you care about proving there is no god? Why not just go out, get drunk, and have an orgasm?
Q. How did you guys get started?
Q. You guys are fascists for forcing your beliefs on others, aren't you?
LISTEN TO THE SHOW AT THIS PROFILE.
"I basically subscribed after I checked out that thread that Sapient posted on expenses and the like. Groceries are one of the most important items, so I'm hoping I'm helping there and I'm hoping I help Sapient break even. If I can help stop him from dipping into the retirement fund, I'll be happy." - The Sarge
I really shouldn't answer most of those... I just want to say, "Because I hate you now go away, AH!" But I think that it just me being mean and lazy.
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 My ROE: Defend when attacked. Attack when enemy becomes enemy. Enemy becomes enemy when they harm others. http://www.myspace.com/rrstx
I know it's for one of us to answer most of it, but it's nice of you to help compile the questions and even start to formulate some of the answers. I posted those so that they'd be in the mix of thoughts. Anyone who wants to take a stab at posing an FAQ and answering feel free to help, we can always edit it to put our own touch on it later when we finally create the list.
"I basically subscribed after I checked out that thread that Sapient posted on expenses and the like. Groceries are one of the most important items, so I'm hoping I'm helping there and I'm hoping I help Sapient break even. If I can help stop him from dipping into the retirement fund, I'll be happy." - The Sarge
We did not initiate contact with you; you contacted us. Why did you feel a need to attempt to force your beliefs on us?
Please read The End of Faith by Sam Harris.
Why not do all of the above?
Rational Responders - atheist, atheism, agnostic.
I took a crack at a few
I sent you a letter and you didn't respond. Why?
We get lots of mail, some of which asks are gives the same points. We really can't get to them all, however we do try to send some to our message board so others can address the question or get a dialogue going.
What is the best way to get a debate started with one of the members of RRS?
Well personal attacks probably won't help, but a interesting, if not new point or topic might be good.
I want to deconvert my friend, what is the best argument you can give me to help do it?
Depends mainly on their religion and philosophy. I would suggest just getting them to think about it as a starting point. I wouldn't suggest getting into scripture unless knowledge about it because that can easily get into an argument over interpretations, how literal something is, or even if "it counts." Personally I like to look at the lack of proof for such a belief, but remember there is no such thing as disproof.
Do people actually abandon their irrational beliefs because of your arguments?
Yes, we have 'deconverted' people. (isn't there a thread about this?)
How can I become part of your squad?
(I don't really know how to answer this, or what you mean by "become part of" the squad. I would assume as far as the radio show goes the answer would be pretty much you can't with a few exceptions. Although maybe you mean just an active member of the community or get to use the badge or whatever.)
What can I do to help?
There are many things really. We have a paypal account if you just want to offer finical support, but there is also a RRS store that we get a percentage of. There is also things like web or graphic design. Right now we have an essay contest where you could win prizes. If nothing else just learn about things and stay rational.
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 My ROE: Defend when attacked. Attack when enemy becomes enemy. Enemy becomes enemy when they harm others. http://www.myspace.com/rrstx
Why do you hate Christians so much?
Christians have a saying: "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Why, then, is it hard to believe that because of our love for humanity, we atheists are trying to eradicate a dangerous belief system? If we truly hated Christians, we would not try to make their lives better, would we?
How can you be agnostic and atheist?
-- by George Feliz. Link to the whole article: http://community.livejournal.com/athens_atheon/2959.html#cutid1
Don’t communist prove we need religion?
No. Communism illustrates the need for rational thought, as does religion. Both communism and religion are radical lines of thought based on nonexistent or spurious evidence.
How can you be so un-American?
For many on this board, it's "non-American." For those of us in the United States, we are quite familiar with the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers. Based on this empirical evidence, we know that the U.S.A. was founded as a completely secular nation. We are, in fact, being very pro-American by exercising our right of free speech. We are doing our best to prevent the radical religious element in this country from taking over the government and making America into a less free place to live.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. -- H. G. Wells
One that's definitely needed:
Aren't you better off believing? If you believe and are wrong you lose nothing, if you don't believe and are wrong you lose everything.
This is known as Pascal's Wager and has several problems. First, it's a flase dichotomy - there are more possibilities than Christianity and atheism. If the Moslems are right, you're going to the same hell as me. There are so many religions, it would be all but impossible to pick the correct one. Besides that, some sects of Christianity even teach that other versions are wrong and will send you to hell, too.
Second, it's not true that you lose nothing. Think of the time you waste praying, going to church, etc. What about following unnecessary restrictions due to your religion? And needlessly worrying that something you do or think will offend the creator of the universe.
Finally, wouldn't an omniscient god know whether you truly believed or were just "hedging your bets?"
How did the universe get here without God? Nothing can exist that wasn't created.
In that case, what created God? If God could have always been here then your statement is false. The universe could just have easily always been here. Richard Dawkins said the only thing capable of creating a being that can create is evolution!
There also should be one about the so-called "historical" evidence "proving" Christianity. I'd suggest Rook handle that one - he knows that stuff better than anyone I've ever seen.
Science works whether you believe in it or not.
Some just sent to my mail:
Why do you care if people believe in God?
Furthermore, how can you prove there is no God?
"I basically subscribed after I checked out that thread that Sapient posted on expenses and the like. Groceries are one of the most important items, so I'm hoping I'm helping there and I'm hoping I help Sapient break even. If I can help stop him from dipping into the retirement fund, I'll be happy." - The Sarge
How can you prove there is no God?
We can't (though we can easily prove certain gods don't exiist [probably yours.]) Can you prove a flying spaghetti monster doesn't exist? What about the ooga-booga monster from Jupiter? Leprechauns? If I told you I invented a machine that provided free energy forever, would you just believe me until someone could prove otherwise or expect me to prove I really did? See what we mean? The burden of proof, for very good reason, is always on the person that claims something exists.
Science works whether you believe in it or not.
Why don't you just let believers believe what they want to believe instead of trying to convince them they are wrong?
Because religious people often try to force their beliefs on others : See the anti-choice movement, anti-women, anti-gay, etc, too- the religious war on science (anti-evolution, etc.)
Besisdes that, isn't it better to have true beliefs than to waste time believing a lie?
Science works whether you believe in it or not.
The following is an FAQ I just made to be an autoresponse to anyone who writes us from Nightline tonight and really for all theistic mail for a while:
Thanks for writing the Rational Response Squad. Our email box now receives about 200-300 pieces of mail a day and we're unable to go through it all, so we've created this FAQ of some of the most recent questions. Please understand that if you have written us to debate us or respond to this email with your thoughts on our FAQ WE WILL NOT RESPOND VIA EMAIL. I'm sorry we just don't have the time to engage everyone who writes us on a one on one basis. However we have a thriving message board with a wide variety of people including many people who agree with what we have to say. Those people are just as much "The Rational Response Squad" as the readers of this email box are. So if you are interested in discussion about religion please post your thoughts in our atheist vs theist forum:
http://www.rationalresponders.com/forums/sapient/atheist_vs_theist
We will handle requests to appear on the show and customer service related questions through this mailbox, all others, please go to our forum.
FAQ's:
Q: What if you're wrong?
A: This is likely one of the most often used arguments to entice someone to believe in a particular god and it is likely the worst argument imaginable. It was originally conceived by a Christian named Blaise Pascal. He theorized that if you simply believe in the Christian god you have nothing to lose by being wrong, however his argument has so many basic fatal flaws it's amazing that anyone could think he was a man of high intelligence. First, one must be sure they've picked the right god to believe in. There are thousands of gods that have been worshipped in the course of humanity, and many if not all require that you believe in them above any other. So if you hold Jesus above Mohammad, you are going to hell, and vice versa. The easiest answer to the question "What if you're wrong" is "What if you're wrong." Additionally any god that is all knowing would know that we've chosen to believe in a god simply as an insurance plan, this god would know our belief wasn't genuine as one can't force himself to believe something that he doesn't think is true. Also, Pascals wager suffers another major blow, as he presumes that if he's wrong to be a Christian he has lost nothing, however the fact is he has lost everything. He lived a life based on a lie, a myth, he never had a chance to live in reality, and likely gave up substantial portions of his income to the largest conspiracy the Earth has ever known.
As a theist you don't believe in thousands of gods, like us at the Rational Response Squad you see no reason to believe in Mithras or Zeus, you are atheist towards all of those gods. When you realize why you don't believe in all of those gods, you will realize why we don't believe in yours.
Q: You're not actually blaspheming the Holy Spirit because....
A: Here is our response to all of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyttuw2wwLg
Q: Do you hate god? Do you hate Christians?
A: Of course not. How can you hate something that doesn't exist? You'd be hard pressed to find something we actually hate. Here at the Squad we recognize that people are brainwashed and indoctrinated into religious belief at an early age and we aren't mad at them for it. Obviouslly it's upsetting to see the obvious, and to realize that our 80% of the world doesn't, but we don't hate that. We dislike severely the extreme negative effects that religion has had on the world, and speak up against religious belief because it is the biggest danger in the world. We don't hate Christians either, in fact we love Christians just as we love all humans and other animal life on this planet. If we didn't love Christians we would selfishly devote our lives to ourselves instead of helping you to overcome the mind disorder known as theism.
Q: You guys are going about this wrong, you need to respect other peoples beliefs!
A: If you truly believed that then how about sucking up your hypocrisy and realize you just disrespected my beliefs. I believe that when a friend or someone I care about believes in superstitious nonsense, I should speak up and help he/she overcome it. I believe that if I don't do that, I in fact am being very disrespectful and selfish. So next time you tell someone to respect other peoples beliefs take heed to note that you are likely disrespecting theirs.
Q: Why don't you guys focus on Islam?
A: Often Christians will threaten us and tell us to focus on Islam for several reasons.
1. They haven't read our site enough to realize we do in fact focus on Islam.
2. They want to take an opportunity to call us cowards, threaten us, demean us, and tell us we're picking an easy target.
3. They will do or say anything to wipe the problems with their god under the rug and divert our attention to something else.
Here's the truth, we focus on ALL beliefs that require one to accept a claim based on faith. This includes ALL gods believed in on Earth today and a host of other claims. For example the moronic claim that this is a nation founded on Christian principle, which has bounds and bounds of evidence against it and none for it, is a claim based on faith, and one we confront as often as possible. We tend to focus on Christianity more often because it's mostly Christians who write us and ask to come on our show, we live in a society heavily plagued by Christian superstition, and we all grew up Christian so it's what we're most familiar with.
Q: Do you think Christians are stupid?
A: No. Some are, but some atheists are as well. We choose our words very carefully, and believe that a better word to sum up religious belief is: irrational. While to an outsider it might seem as if you must be stupid to believe the claims in the Quran and Bible without proof, we understand that brainwashing at an early age can cause even the brightest of individuals to believe some of the most nonsensical silliness the world has ever known.
Q: Your Blasphemy challenge makes me think you actually believe in hell, do you?
A: NO, we're merely pandering. Of course we don't actually believe in a hell, if we seriously believed in a hell we wouldn't commit ourselves to it. We're exposing the flaws and the holes in religion and stripping the fear based terroristic system that is Christianity of it's power. The power of hell is the most compelling reason Christians have to believe in a god, and you don't need to be afraid because THERE IS NO HELL.
Q: If you deny the existance of God, wouldn't taking time out of your day to "secure" your reservation in hell just be a waste of time if none of it exists anyway?
A: No. Since we've started the Blasphemy Challenge we have had several people come out of the wordwork and state that they have decided to leave religion behind. That alone was worth every moment we spent. However we have also given atheists that generally didn't bother anyone about their lack of belief a platform to speak up and show the world how they have no fear of a Biblical hell. We've also increased the level of discussion about faith, and brought a discussion to areas that don't often have it. We feel that if we talk about faith more often and more publicly it will wither away when held up to public scrutiny.
Q: I noticed on your homepage that you point out that God killed well over 2 million people in the bible and Satan killed less than 10, doesn't this mean you believe in God?
A: Did you also notice on our homepage that we state we're "freeing humanity from the mind disorder known as theism" in big gigantic letters at the top of every page? Now do you wonder why we call it a mind disorder? Of course we don't believe that the God of the buy-bull exists. However, if YOU believe he exists and worship him, then you worship a being that is said to be loving and hate a being (satan) that is said to be evil, while the loving being has committed some of the worst crimes in history and the evil being has done almost nothing wrong. You believe that a god who knew he would need to murder millions to make him happy, went through with a plan in which he would have to murder millions even though he could've tweaked his plan a little in order to save humanity from his wrath. And yes an all powerful god could've done all of this without affecting this supposed "free will," or he isn't all powerful.
A: We'll be thinking for you!Q: I'll be praying for you!
"I basically subscribed after I checked out that thread that Sapient posted on expenses and the like. Groceries are one of the most important items, so I'm hoping I'm helping there and I'm hoping I help Sapient break even. If I can help stop him from dipping into the retirement fund, I'll be happy." - The Sarge
If I may chime in, regarding a question I get alot myself:
I usually answer this question with the question:
Which version?
The usual ejaculative response to that question is that different versions are just different translations, and then it's incumbent upon you to point out that entire books are either missing or added among Orthodox, Roman, and Protestant Bibles, and much of what's "translated" is also added interpretation. You may then point out that the worst of these is the NIV--then point out that the NIV claims that the Mediterranean Sea gets northeaster storms. That's a type of storm peculiar to the shorelines in the area of the Atlantic Ocean.
The answer to the following question would go toward answering the question about how one can be an atheist and an agnostic:
That depends on which God is under discussion here; a general Creator God is an entity no human is in a position to ascertain. Abraham's God, on the other hand, proves himself to not exist in the text of the book that you call his Word. That God himself proves that he doesn't exist.
---withdrawn---
Wish to withdraw the others as well.
I signed up for membership yesterday, so bear with me please if I post where I should not. More, as I was reading the FAQ and reached the communism matter. First, are there people who actually believe that the history and the experiences of communist nations proves that there is a God?
Because, Communism, in my view comes with the provision of the same dogmatic crap that religion is. It tries to take away aggression through the elimination of private property with the belief that the only source of aggression is greed; therefore, had there been no landlord and capitalism, there would be no aggression and all would live in peace.
However, where this runs paralell to the notion of religion is that it is relatively easy to hold a considerable number of people to ostensively love each other for as long as there are those to be the recepients of their aggression. On the other hand, being free of dogmas and at the same time choosing to live with and respect other people is far more difficult.
The few enlightened are always outnumbered, guys. But, we'll get there.
Happy to finally be a member. -Max
Welcome Maxim
I'm atheist
Welcome Maxim! We're glad you're here.
We'd love for you to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself in the General Conversation, Introductions and Humor thread.
Rational Responders - atheist, atheism, agnostic.
Seculer nation???/ I thought Amarica was founded by Christians
This comment has been moved here. I meant 'none', certainly not one of them, got it right about truths.
my regards, asufi
If that is you in the pic, and you don't have a hormonal imbalance, perhaps you are to young to really add you thoughts.
my regards, asufi
This comment has been moved here.
I agree wholeheartedly, even though I am somewht of a theist. By the way, why is there so many errors as I navigate through this site. My screen keeps jumping to the top of the page. Thanks from Laura
my regards, asufi
'buy bull' too funny. I never heard of that before. Also, 'we'll be thinking of you' as apposed to praying for you-too funny.
my regards, asufi
How does god prove he does not exist in the bible?