with a figure like that, the poll has to be rigged. 44% of Americans? According to some I found, only about 70% of Americans are Christians... so that 44% figure would mean that over 60% of Christians believe that Jesus is coming. And most Christians (in my experience) are only Christian in name... they make the right noises but don't go to church and don't really believe much of anything.

btw, looks like the link is down

Well, Saddam wasn't really a religious nutcase...that was just play to please the masses. In fact, Saddam probably pissed on Allah when nobody was looking. He tortured and killed fundamentalists and was on a constant brink of war with the islamic state of Iran. And he had Christians high up in his adminstration. As a dictator, you either get rid of the religious extremists in any way you can (Saddam) or you are the religious extremists (Iran). In any other case you're screwed.

Maybe Saddam is so crazy by now that he started to believe the stuff, could be. But he definitely wasn't a fundamentalist.

well, I'll agree that religion is the root of a great deal of evil, but those numbers just seem mildly inflated. Anyway, hear hear to atheism. Or satanism...hell, I'll the satanism over christianity any day of the week. Well, Anton LeVay satanism at least.

Dawkins is our god!!! Lol, just kidding.

I thought: Religious belief makes people form communities, no? E.g. Christians hang with christians, Muslims hang with muslims...Then you have a group of Atheists. You don't see Atheists intentionally hang with eachother do you? This is the beauty of Atheism, it seems there is no need to belong to a group of people in particular. Rather harmonious.

To send this theory crashing, someone will now tell me that in the US there is a group of Atheist extremists or something.

There probably is (and Satis is their moral leader ), but what you are saying has been the topic of antropological research in the past.

When researching the question of howcome people are prone to identify with (artificial) groups like nations, religions and so on, it turned out that there's a minority of about 20% (iirc) in every population that is highly individualistic and is much less likely to identify with any group at large.

I should try to find that study.

Im willing to bet im in that 20%.

I think the core group of CK are pretty much all in that group, so yeah.

yea, I'll go with that. I tend to identify with groups that think. Thought is all I really require. Unfortuanetly, many people are sadly lacking in this department. :p

No extremist atheists that I know of. Certainly not the blow myself to hell type of extremist. But then again, in a (largely) Christian US, being an atheist is pretty extreme in and of itself. You don't wanna know the looks I get from people when they realize I'm an atheist. Not that I make a spectacle of it or anything, but there was a time in my life when I liked to shock people... I was under the impression that throwing someone off balance was the best way to see what kind of preson they are.

Now I realize that throwing someone off balance can be dangerous to your health.

Hehehe...yeah, often it's better to walk the middle road and then, when they least expect it, lash out with you fury and skillz. I can imagine that whoring around your atheism isn't exactly a superb career move in a society that is still very religious (for a Western country anyway).

Btw, when i come over to the Lone Star State I want to do some shooting. I'm still opposed to gun possession but a) the US is an ocean away so not my problem really and b) that doesn't mean I won't enjoy firing a gun for once. And I'm too lazy go get a license around here, and too poor to buy a gun.

You can also go to a shooting club, at least here in Holland, it's nice for a day out with friends.

Yeah, but shooting clubs in the US pwn!

yea...we've got two pistols and a rifle to play with. I'm sure Ox will enjoy it immensely. Assuming we can teach him rudimentary gun safety. I'd hate to have to violently disarm you because your waving a gun around like a moron.

Err...anyway... hear hear to guns!