Why can't atheists get any leverage ?

[Moostache]

39. FALSE, FALSE, FALSE!!!

I object strongly to the oft repeated sentiment that atheists "believe" or have anything to "say" about a specific religion or that they make any blanket statements about what happens after physical death. I see no compelling argument that would make me accept the assertion of any omniscient, omnipresent, benevolent deity figure. Atheism is non-belief; NOT a belief or statement about ANYTHING else, including specific religions!

Atheism is a default position of simply saying there is no physical or real evidence to support the claims of all religions - be they Jew, Hindu, Christian, or Greek, Roman, Pagan, etc. Atheism is a rejection of the positive claims of others that simply goes ONE GOD further than EVERYONE ELSE!

If you claim to be Christian, then by default you are atheist to all other known or previous religions (just as the priests of the temple of Apollo or Zeus or Athena were not dedicated to the other gods of the Greek pantheon)...and if reincarnation is real, you reject all future ones too! You do not worship Thor or Zeus or Isis any more than those ancient Norsemen, Greeks or Egyptians worshiped a cosmic Jewish carpenter-zombie!

When people self-identify as "Christians" (or any other religious label you wish to wear) they are applying an identifying in-group label to themselves - but they exclude all others as out-group (and in most cases inherently less valuable lives).

When people self-identify as "atheist" they are rejecting ALL labels from ALL religions - including the Jesus cult or Mohammedanism, or the Jews, or the Hindus, or anyone else from the thousands of religions that the mind of man has sprung forth since the dawn of communication (and in most cases I know personally, they do not care what you want to convince yourself of or what fables you wish to prefer or who you wish to convince yourself is "watching out for you", as long as you leave them out of it and have the decency to keep it to your own privacy).