Greetings from the Quotemeister! As I promised last month, I have a
special circumstance to add to this month's balloting. My wife and I
are leaving Monday for a trip to Hawaii, and we'll be gone a while. The
ballot period will stay in force, but I won't be able to pick up and
record votes from Sunday nigh on. So there won't be an announcement of a
winner until I get back, some time after Sept 8.

Here are the nominations for Atheist Quote of the Month for August 2005.
Vote for your favorite by responding to this thread. Votes will be
accepted until midnight, Aug 31. See rules below. Questions? Comments?
Email me.

* * * * *
1) In response to:

It's the anti-Christian bigots who should be sent to live with the
Taliban. After all, you share the same hate for Christianity.

Well, since "love the sinner, hate the sin" seems to be working so well
for you, we thought we'd try it out, too.

By: maf 1029
Nominated: stoney
Seconded: JohnN

------------

2) It's not so much a belief that there are no gods as it is a belief
that there a lot of people with belief in gods and that I don't agree
with them.

The only reason we "believe" gods don't exist is because there are
people who believe they do.

By: smozoma
Nominated: Uncle Vic
Seconded: skyeyes

------------

3) Everyone knows that the primary aim of a benevolent god is to be
reassured that he's cool for all of eternity. <For the ten billionth
time: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me...") It is also, apparently, to
torture for all of eternity anyone who doesn't come to the right
conclusions based on nonexistant or - at best - ambiguous data.

<tentative voice> "Ummm... Allah?"
<booming voice> "Wrong! Yahweh! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
<scream of pain> "AAAAAIIIIEEEEEE!"
<millions of years later> "AAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE=ADE!"

<tentative voice, elsewhere> "Ummm... Brahma?"

By: Kermit
Nominated: skyeyes
Seconded: Cary Kittrell

------------

4) When somebody worships at the altar of a war god in a death cult,
why should /anybody/ be surprised that murder and mayhem ensue?

By: Ben Goren
Nominated: Panama Floyd
Seconded: Uncle Vic

------------

5) We don't need your message of subservience, that makes us easy for
the kings to control. We don't need your message of voluntary
poverty, which makes it easy for the rich to live without fear. We
don't need your message of how wonderful it is to suffer pain, which
only encourages the sadists and keeps the doctors from moving forward.
We don't need your message that you are the revealers of the will of
a God we can't verify, which only give more power to pathetic,
boy-fucking puritans that never should be trusted even with a burnt-out
match.

By: nemo
Nominated: Tink
Seconded: Ben Goren

------------

6) In response to:

You people have been insisting you're atheists even if you
have no belief.

It must be a ***** walking by a duck pond and announcing, 'you're
not ducks because I said so.'

Quack!

By: Steve Knight
Nominated: Ben Goren
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

------------

7) In response to:

no i'm not, so, i'll say it again, christianity is unique and
not devised by human beings.

Say it, sing it, write it, chisel it,, type it, spray paint it, carve
it, braille it, encode it, sculpt it, represent it, testify it,
signify it, but whatever you do, don't try to justify it!

By: Jim07D5
Nominated: Ben Goren
Seconded: Harry F. Leopold

------------

8) Yes, undisprovability seems to be an essential attribute of the
traditional God; an attribute to be protected by sacrificing any other
attribute as needed; except existence. So, God is evolving toward the
being about which only those two attributes will be claimed.

By: Jim07D5
Nominated: Ben Goren
Seconded: Katt

------------

9) Well, FWIW, and speaking for myself, I have no particular problem
with belief in God, except where such belief compels the believer to
inflict their beliefs on me, or society in general through legislation
and so on. In my view "because God says so" isn't a particularly sound
basis for law and government.

By: Therion Ware
Nominated: Apostate
Seconded: Enkidu the Atheist

------------

10) In response to:

Finally, being an uncircumcised Jew is incompatible with a traditional
Passover because circumcision reaffirms Passover's theme-that sex is
everybody's business.

It always comes down to *cocks* with these idiots, doesn't it? If you
took their fucking genital obsession away, they'd *cease to exist*...

You know, there are times when I really wish I knew what it was like to
have an entire world-view based on the psycho-sexual fantasies of an
Oedipally crazed 5-year-old. It must be a bizarre experience: 'foreskin'
this; 'daddy' that; 'mummy' the other... Sheesh!

By: Katt
Nominated: Uncle Buck
Seconded: Apostate

------------

11) In response to:

No statement of the value-idea system by which you live?

There's nothing even remotely difficult about articulating such a
system. The reason that I'm an atheist is because I value intellectual
freedom above all else. Religion is willful stupidity and mental
slavery. Because I support intellectual freedom, I support the best,
most reliable and pragmatic answers to problems which are those produced
through empirical science and human reasoning, as opposed to prayers,
rain dances and witch doctor ceremonies.

By: quibbler
Nominated: G-Ride
Seconded: Virgil

------------

12) In response to:

We don't worship self.

Let's see, which one of these options sounds more like 'self worship?':

Option #1: The all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Universe *cares
about me.* If I give my life over to him and follow his commands, *I'll
get to enjoy a special place in heaven by his side for all eternity.*
God has a special plan for me.

-OR-

Option #2: I'm just a hunk of meat controlled by chemical reactions in
my brain. I was born, I'll (maybe) grow old, then someday I'll die.
That's it.

And he thinks atheism is self worship? It boggles the mind.

By: Grogs
Nominated: Katt
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

------------

13) In response to:

Instead, let the moderate Christians do their thing.

*****. These 'moderate' Christains you joyfully fantasise about
*won't do a ***** thing* to stop fundie nutbars trashing the nation and
its institutions. Reasons: (i) they all think they're in for *a piece of
the pie*; (ii) they'd rather see the place run by fundie nutbars than by
all those frightening 'atheists' and 'agnostics' who are really
'communists' and 'satanists' and 'lesbians' and 'wiccans' and 'pagans'
and who knows what else...

To put it in simple words: *they'll be as much fucking use now as they
were in 1930s Germany*. Take that to the bank.

By: Katt
Nominated: Paul Erickson
Seconded: Tink

------------

14) Surely even the likes of *you* knows that quoting World Nut Daily
in alt.atheism is like quoting Brittney Spears at a Mensa Meeting..

By: Panama Floyd
Nominated: Indefual
Seconded: The other Donald

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Here are the rules for the Quote of the Month Contests.


RULES

1. Only atheists and agnostics may participate in the contests.

2. A quote is a valid entry for the contests if:

a. The quote is a brief piece of text

b. The quote has recently been written in alt.atheism (verifiable),
and is original (no quotes by famous authors, for instance)

c. Nomination of the quote is made by an atheist or agnostic
in alt.atheism

d. Nomination of the quote is supported by at least one other
atheist or agnostic in alt.atheism;

e. The quote is not nominated or seconded by the person who wrote it
in the first place (no one is allowed to nominate him- or herself,
but a person can vote for the quote he or she wrote.)

3. There will be two categories: 'Atheist Quote of the Month'
and 'Theist Quote of the Month'. The category for which a
quote must be nominated must be mentioned by the atheist or
agnostic who wants to nominate it.

If a quote is miscategorized (e.g. an atheist quote is mistakenly
nominated in the Theist QOTM category), the quote will be re-directed
to appear in the correct category, with approriate notification.

4. Nominations can be made until five days before the first of the
next month. If quotes are nominated after this period, they will be
considered as entries for the contest of the next month.

* When making a nomination, please use this format for the subject
line:
"aa - <A or T as applicable>QOTM Nomination (was: <original thread
name>)"

5. Each atheist or agnostic who visits alt.atheism has one vote to
cast for each category (two votes total).

6. Voting starts 5 days before the end of the month. During the month,
votes will be ignored. This way, all nominees will have equal chance of
winning.

7. The two winning quotes will be published in the QOTM Archive.

SUMMARY

A nomination must contain the following information:

1. The lines of the quote.

2. Who wrote it.

3. Who nominates or seconds the nomination of this quote (that's you!)

4. Which category this nomination is for.

5. The word "nomination" MUST appear somewhere in the subject line!

6. The original thread title must appear in the subject line.

Publish the nomination or support for a nomination in a designated
thread, preferably called "[T/A]QoTM Nomination for [month]." You can
also e-mail it to me (see below).


VOTING

1. In the last five days of the month you can cast your vote in both
categories.

2. Votes must be placed in the designated thread.

11) In response to:

No statement of the value-idea system by which you live?

There's nothing even remotely difficult about articulating such a
system. The reason that I'm an atheist is because I value
intellectual freedom above all else. Religion is willful stupidity
and mental slavery. Because I support intellectual freedom, I support
the best, most reliable and pragmatic answers to problems which are
those produced through empirical science and human reasoning, as
opposed to prayers, rain dances and witch doctor ceremonies.

By: quibbler
Nominated: G-Ride
Seconded: Virgil

9) Well, FWIW, and speaking for myself, I have no particular problem
with belief in God, except where such belief compels the believer to
inflict their beliefs on me, or society in general through legislation
and so on. In my view "because God says so" isn't a particularly sound
basis for law and government.

By: Therion Ware
Nominated: Apostate
Seconded: Enkidu the Atheist

------------

13) In response to:

Instead, let the moderate Christians do their thing.

*****. These 'moderate' Christains you joyfully fantasise about
*won't do a ***** thing* to stop fundie nutbars trashing the nation and
its institutions. Reasons: (i) they all think they're in for *a piece of
the pie*; (ii) they'd rather see the place run by fundie nutbars than by
all those frightening 'atheists' and 'agnostics' who are really
'communists' and 'satanists' and 'lesbians' and 'wiccans' and 'pagans'
and who knows what else...

To put it in simple words: *they'll be as much fucking use now as they
were in 1930s Germany*. Take that to the bank.

By: Katt
Nominated: Paul Erickson
Seconded: Tink

------------

4) When somebody worships at the altar of a war god in a death cult,
why should /anybody/ be surprised that murder and mayhem ensue?

By: Ben Goren
Nominated: Panama Floyd
Seconded: Uncle Vic

4) When somebody worships at the altar of a war god in a death
cult, why should /anybody/ be surprised that murder and mayhem
ensue?

By: Ben Goren
Nominated: Panama Floyd
Seconded: Uncle Vic

Greetings from the Quotemeister! As I promised last month, I have a
special circumstance to add to this month's balloting. My wife and I
are leaving Monday for a trip to Hawaii, and we'll be gone a while. The
ballot period will stay in force, but I won't be able to pick up and
record votes from Sunday nigh on. So there won't be an announcement of a
winner until I get back, some time after Sept 8.

Here are the nominations for Atheist Quote of the Month for August 2005.
Vote for your favorite by responding to this thread. Votes will be
accepted until midnight, Aug 31. See rules below. Questions? Comments?
Email me.

12) In response to:

We don't worship self.

Let's see, which one of these options sounds more like 'self worship?':

Option #1: The all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Universe *cares
about me.* If I give my life over to him and follow his commands, *I'll
get to enjoy a special place in heaven by his side for all eternity.*
God has a special plan for me.

-OR-

Option #2: I'm just a hunk of meat controlled by chemical reactions in
my brain. I was born, I'll (maybe) grow old, then someday I'll die.
That's it.

And he thinks atheism is self worship? It boggles the mind.

By: Grogs
Nominated: Katt
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

12) In response to:

We don't worship self.

Let's see, which one of these options sounds more like 'self worship?':

Option #1: The all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Universe *cares
about me.* If I give my life over to him and follow his commands, *I'll
get to enjoy a special place in heaven by his side for all eternity.*
God has a special plan for me.

-OR-

Option #2: I'm just a hunk of meat controlled by chemical reactions in
my brain. I was born, I'll (maybe) grow old, then someday I'll die.
That's it.

And he thinks atheism is self worship? It boggles the mind.

By: Grogs
Nominated: Katt
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

10) In response to:

Finally, being an uncircumcised Jew is incompatible with a traditional
Passover because circumcision reaffirms Passover's theme-that sex is
everybody's business.

It always comes down to *cocks* with these idiots, doesn't it? If you
took their fucking genital obsession away, they'd *cease to exist*...

You know, there are times when I really wish I knew what it was like to
have an entire world-view based on the psycho-sexual fantasies of an
Oedipally crazed 5-year-old. It must be a bizarre experience: 'foreskin'
this; 'daddy' that; 'mummy' the other... Sheesh!

By: Katt
Nominated: Uncle Buck
Seconded: Apostate

14) Surely even the likes of *you* knows that quoting World Nut Daily
in alt.atheism is like quoting Brittney Spears at a Mensa Meeting..

By: Panama Floyd
Nominated: Indefual
Seconded: The other Donald

8) Yes, undisprovability seems to be an essential attribute of
the traditional God; an attribute to be protected by sacrificing
any other attribute as needed; except existence. So, God is
evolving toward the being about which only those two attributes
will be claimed.
By: Jim07D5

11) In response to:

No statement of the value-idea system by which you live?

There's nothing even remotely difficult about articulating such a
system. The reason that I'm an atheist is because I value
intellectual freedom above all else. Religion is willful stupidity
and mental slavery. Because I support intellectual freedom, I support
the best, most reliable and pragmatic answers to problems which are
those produced through empirical science and human reasoning, as
opposed to prayers, rain dances and witch doctor ceremonies.

By: quibbler
Nominated: G-Ride
Seconded: Virgil

------------

3) Everyone knows that the primary aim of a benevolent god is to be
reassured that he's cool for all of eternity. <For the ten billionth
time: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me...") It is also, apparently, to
torture for all of eternity anyone who doesn't come to the right
conclusions based on nonexistant or - at best - ambiguous data.

<tentative voice> "Ummm... Allah?"
<booming voice> "Wrong! Yahweh! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
<scream of pain> "AAAAAIIIIEEEEEE!"
<millions of years later> "AAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE=ADE!"

<tentative voice, elsewhere> "Ummm... Brahma?"

By: Kermit
Nominated: skyeyes
Seconded: Cary Kittrell

------------

Greetings from the Quotemeister! As I promised last month, I have a
special circumstance to add to this month's balloting. My wife and I
are leaving Monday for a trip to Hawaii, and we'll be gone a while. The
ballot period will stay in force, but I won't be able to pick up and
record votes from Sunday nigh on. So there won't be an announcement of a
winner until I get back, some time after Sept 8.

Here are the nominations for Atheist Quote of the Month for August 2005.
Vote for your favorite by responding to this thread. Votes will be
accepted until midnight, Aug 31. See rules below. Questions? Comments?
Email me.

* * * * *

11) In response to:

No statement of the value-idea system by which you live?

There's nothing even remotely difficult about articulating such a
system. The reason that I'm an atheist is because I value intellectual
freedom above all else. Religion is willful stupidity and mental
slavery. Because I support intellectual freedom, I support the best,
most reliable and pragmatic answers to problems which are those produced
through empirical science and human reasoning, as opposed to prayers,
rain dances and witch doctor ceremonies.

By: quibbler
Nominated: G-Ride
Seconded: Virgil

3) Everyone knows that the primary aim of a benevolent god is to be
reassured that he's cool for all of eternity. <For the ten billionth
time: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me...") It is also, apparently, to
torture for all of eternity anyone who doesn't come to the right
conclusions based on nonexistant or - at best - ambiguous data.

<tentative voice> "Ummm... Allah?"
<booming voice> "Wrong! Yahweh! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
<scream of pain> "AAAAAIIIIEEEEEE!"
<millions of years later> "AAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE=ADE!"

<tentative voice, elsewhere> "Ummm... Brahma?"

By: Kermit
Nominated: skyeyes
Seconded: Cary Kittrell

------------

14) Surely even the likes of *you* knows that quoting World Nut Daily
in alt.atheism is like quoting Brittney Spears at a Mensa Meeting..

By: Panama Floyd
Nominated: Indefual
Seconded: The other Donald

Greetings from the Quotemeister! As I promised last month, I have a
special circumstance to add to this month's balloting. My wife and I
are leaving Monday for a trip to Hawaii, and we'll be gone a while. The
ballot period will stay in force, but I won't be able to pick up and
record votes from Sunday nigh on. So there won't be an announcement of a
winner until I get back, some time after Sept 8.

7) In response to:

no i'm not, so, i'll say it again, christianity is unique and
not devised by human beings.

Say it, sing it, write it, chisel it,, type it, spray paint it, carve
it, braille it, encode it, sculpt it, represent it, testify it,
signify it, but whatever you do, don't try to justify it!

By: Jim07D5
Nominated: Ben Goren
Seconded: Harry F. Leopold

13) In response to:

Instead, let the moderate Christians do their thing.

*****. These 'moderate' Christains you joyfully fantasise about
*won't do a ***** thing* to stop fundie nutbars trashing the nation and
its institutions. Reasons: (i) they all think they're in for *a piece of
the pie*; (ii) they'd rather see the place run by fundie nutbars than by
all those frightening 'atheists' and 'agnostics' who are really
'communists' and 'satanists' and 'lesbians' and 'wiccans' and 'pagans'
and who knows what else...
To put it in simple words: *they'll be as much fucking use now as they
were in 1930s Germany*. Take that to the bank.
By: Katt
Nominated: Paul Erickson
Seconded: Tink

10) In response to:

Finally, being an uncircumcised Jew is incompatible with a traditional
Passover because circumcision reaffirms Passover's theme-that sex is
everybody's business.

It always comes down to *cocks* with these idiots, doesn't it? If you took
their fucking genital obsession away, they'd *cease to exist*...

You know, there are times when I really wish I knew what it was like to have
an entire world-view based on the psycho-sexual fantasies of an Oedipally
crazed 5-year-old. It must be a bizarre experience: 'foreskin' this; 'daddy'
that; 'mummy' the other... Sheesh!

By: Katt

5) We don't need your message of subservience, that makes us easy for
the kings to control. We don't need your message of voluntary
poverty, which makes it easy for the rich to live without fear. We
don't need your message of how wonderful it is to suffer pain, which
only encourages the sadists and keeps the doctors from moving forward.
We don't need your message that you are the revealers of the will of
a God we can't verify, which only give more power to pathetic,
boy-fucking puritans that never should be trusted even with a burnt-out
match.

By: nemo
Nominated: Tink
Seconded: Ben Goren

13) In response to:

Instead, let the moderate Christians do their thing.

*****. These 'moderate' Christains you joyfully fantasise about
*won't do a ***** thing* to stop fundie nutbars trashing the nation and
its institutions. Reasons: (i) they all think they're in for *a piece of
the pie*; (ii) they'd rather see the place run by fundie nutbars than by
all those frightening 'atheists' and 'agnostics' who are really
'communists' and 'satanists' and 'lesbians' and 'wiccans' and 'pagans'
and who knows what else...

To put it in simple words: *they'll be as much fucking use now as they
were in 1930s Germany*. Take that to the bank.

12) In response to:

We don't worship self.

Let's see, which one of these options sounds more like 'self worship?':

Option #1: The all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Universe *cares
about me.* If I give my life over to him and follow his commands, *I'll
get to enjoy a special place in heaven by his side for all eternity.*
God has a special plan for me.

-OR-

Option #2: I'm just a hunk of meat controlled by chemical reactions in
my brain. I was born, I'll (maybe) grow old, then someday I'll die.
That's it.

And he thinks atheism is self worship? It boggles the mind.

By: Grogs
Nominated: Katt
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

------------

12) In response to:

We don't worship self.

Let's see, which one of these options sounds more like 'self worship?':

Option #1: The all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Universe *cares
about me.* If I give my life over to him and follow his commands, *I'll
get to enjoy a special place in heaven by his side for all eternity.*
God has a special plan for me.

-OR-

Option #2: I'm just a hunk of meat controlled by chemical reactions in
my brain. I was born, I'll (maybe) grow old, then someday I'll die.
That's it.

And he thinks atheism is self worship? It boggles the mind.

By: Grogs
Nominated: Katt
Seconded: Hannele Huigens

------------

Greetings from the Quotemeister! As I promised last month, I have a
special circumstance to add to this month's balloting. My wife and I
are leaving Monday for a trip to Hawaii, and we'll be gone a while. The
ballot period will stay in force, but I won't be able to pick up and
record votes from Sunday nigh on.

So there won't be an announcement of a
winner until I get back, some time after Sept 8.

Here are the nominations for Atheist Quote of the Month for August 2005.
Vote for your favorite by responding to this thread.
------------

13) In response to:

Instead, let the moderate Christians do their thing.

*****. These 'moderate' Christains you joyfully fantasise about
*won't do a ***** thing* to stop fundie nutbars trashing the nation and
its institutions. Reasons: (i) they all think they're in for *a piece of
the pie*; (ii) they'd rather see the place run by fundie nutbars than by
all those frightening 'atheists' and 'agnostics' who are really
'communists' and 'satanists' and 'lesbians' and 'wiccans' and 'pagans'
and who knows what else...

To put it in simple words: *they'll be as much fucking use now as they
were in 1930s Germany*. Take that to the bank.

By: Katt
Nominated: Paul Erickson
Seconded: Tink

------------