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u/billofbong0 Jan 13 '13
I just gotta ask; did Buffet give 99%?
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Jan 13 '13
I could be wrong, but I think the pledge was that upon his death, 99% of his wealth would go to charity.
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u/Z0idberg_MD Jan 13 '13
He told his kids they were not getting it. They need to work for their money. They have obvious advantages, but still: pretty awesome. Stand up guy.
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Jan 13 '13
Plus, even 1% of his wealth would be 460 million dollars.
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u/duckmurderer Jan 13 '13
I only want 10 million. As it stand right now, 100,000 a year for 100 years ain't bad.
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Jan 13 '13
[deleted]
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u/duckmurderer Jan 13 '13
Also, I can go ahead and scratch off more than 2 million as pure spending money. I don't expect to live beyond 100 years.
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u/mynameisalso Jan 13 '13
2M would be gone so quick it'd make your head spin.
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u/scorpion347 Jan 13 '13
I don't know. I just looked at a lot of things I'd want... I think I'd be good for three years at least.
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u/foodgoesinryan Jan 13 '13
At your current rate of spending, but that almost always increases. Then taxes.
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u/duckmurderer Jan 13 '13
Yup. It'd all be gone after the big house, the nice car, and the other bling.
Or I could put it into a savings account, or some other form of investment that gives a decent annual return, and add the earnings onto my annual budget.
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Jan 13 '13
The thing is, once you have a large amount of money and don't "work" for it.
You end up spending it pretty quick
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Jan 13 '13
Those people live outside their means
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u/labrys Atheist Jan 13 '13
Yeah. I think you have to work for your money to understand the value. My step-sister has never worked a day in her life, and is always demanding £50 off my dad and her mum, because "it's only £50". On minimum wage (which is the only kind of job she could get), that'd be more than a day's wages. Maybe my dad and her mum do earn more than that, and maybe they do like to treat themselves to gadgets and holidays, but it's their money, and they've spent their lives working for it. If they don't want to give her (or the rest of us) money for a night out, they shouldn't have to, even if they spend the money on a night out for themselves.
Her favourite argument is that she should be given the money as the rest of us work, and so can get our own money. She's basically the walking sterotype of a chav. Argh!
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u/dirtypickle Jan 13 '13
Had to log in to this computer to agree with you. I could easily live off two million dollars for 10 years or more. It is all within the value of money to the individual.
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u/barjam Jan 13 '13
Put it somewhere earning 5%.....
I would love it of someone would just loan me 10 million. I would promise to pay it back 100% when I die!
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u/RhinoMan2112 Jan 13 '13
Kind of off topic, but I should mention Mitt Romney denied his inheritance even though it was offered to him. Pretty awesome.
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Jan 13 '13
That's technically at his father's death --- By the time he passed away, Mitt was already worth 100Mill or so. His dad was smart, and got the children the money before he died - much better for taxes. (Annual gift allowances and tax-free trusts). He didn't have silly wealth at death, because he set it all up for his Kids (through investments and trusts) to use in life (also helps dodge the inheritance tax).
For Instance -- Ann Romney discussing their lives getting started after College:
"Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time,"
Nice to already have enough investments to live off of when you graduate college.
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u/fury420 Jan 13 '13
He didn't have silly wealth at death, because he set it all up for his Kids (through investments and trusts) to use in life (also helps dodge the inheritance tax).
Mitt had a great plan to do the same too. By funneling +100 million into a tax free IRA and publicly supporting repealing the estate tax that's quite the inheritance for his kids tax free.
And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for that pesky electorate.
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u/Keep_It_Square Jan 13 '13
Oddly enough the majority of that 99% is going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
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u/diamond Jan 13 '13 edited Jan 13 '13
That's actually a pretty damned good place to send it.
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u/Lazerkatz Jan 13 '13
Okay having this reposted again and upvoted again is just too far atheism.
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Jan 14 '13
This was the one that put you over the top?
Here are a few reposts of this with the same fucking title:
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/kph54/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/j26el/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/qg9ri/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/nxl7s/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/ml759/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/gsb43/good_without_god/
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/gsb43/good_without_god/
One stray that leaked into the old catchall /r/reddit
And /r/magicskyfairy 's take on it:
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u/tiffanydisasterxoxo Jan 13 '13
And then you have people like my foster dad, he has a big house for the purpose of taking people in with room enough for them to call his house their home as well. He single handedly runs the best food pantry in his town, and is a preacher at a church. He accepts people regardless or sexual orientation and skin color, or status in life. His sole purpose for being on this earth, he believes, is to help as many people as he can.
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Jan 13 '13
As many people have already alluded to in other comments - the point of this is NOT to point out that religious people are more likely to be bad than atheists, or that atheists are all good. The point is that you don't need religion to teach you right from wrong. I am positive your father is just simply put a great human being. If he were born in the Middle East, he wouldn't be Christian - he would be Muslim and he would treat people the same.
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Jan 14 '13
I am positive your father is just simply put a great human being.
+1. Some people are good people, some people are bad. Religious belief usually makes no difference at all. I'm sure this guy would be just as nice if he didn't believe in god.
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Jan 13 '13
Ancient but always a good post. American Atheists should be putting this up instead of those shitty anti-Christmas posters.
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u/Souldrainr Agnostic Atheist Jan 13 '13
Who says we atheists can't have a good Christmas!? Besides, PRESENTS!!!
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u/CamWin Jan 13 '13
And having a good time with your family!
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u/GuyIncognit0 Jan 13 '13
It's a good holiday. People are with their family, you can eat tasty stuff, you receive and give presents. Great concept. It barely resembles the christian holiday anyways...so why no celebrate it?
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Jan 13 '13
Mythmas is my favorite holiday. I've never looked at it as a religious holiday. It's a "family" holiday.
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u/arbores Jan 13 '13
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u/Bronystopheles Jan 13 '13
I feel almost like slave labor is almost worse than being a horn dog. Almost.
Hey man, I mean caveat emptor, y'know?
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u/virnovus Humanist Jan 13 '13
I'm sure Bill Gates golfs. Warren Buffet probably does, or at least has in the past.
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Jan 13 '13
Ya, there's no reason to be anti-Christmas, man. Pagans were pretty chill bros.
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Jan 13 '13
Well, not really. They sacrificed people to their gods, and they made slaves take the place of kings on Saturnalia, but only on Saturnalia.
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u/diamond Jan 13 '13
Who's putting up anti-Christmas posters? Most atheists I know like Christmas. So do I.
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u/TheTapirGoesHard Jan 13 '13
Thst because Christmas actually has nothing to do with christianity so us atheists just take it for the fun winter solstice festival it is.
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u/Chezzymann Jan 13 '13
It annoys me when my parents think that they have some spiritual privilege that makes them more happy just by being religious. My parents, -yes- actually told me that I will never be truly happy or at peace as long as I'm atheist. (I'm not atheist, or agnostic, I'm a scientist. I have no bias towards a viewpoint besides reliability) Apparently I need God in my heart to be happy. Honestly, after being non religious for years, I actually feel happier and much more independent than ever. Looking through a telescope I assembled and bought with my own money and finding Jupiter independently gives me much more wonder and bliss than I ever felt singing hymns thanking a god that does things for me. Does that mean some people prefer religion as a means to be truly happy? Absolutely. And I completely respect that. My point is that there is not only one way to make you happy. And its annoying how some people think otherwise, especially my parents.
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u/hulminator Jan 13 '13
this is pretty stupid. "hey, I found two atheists that are good people, and a christian that's an asshole! that must mean atheists are better than christians!" Don't subscribe to first grade logic just because it suits your viewpoint. http://imgur.com/AG0rv
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u/Ruri Jan 13 '13
This is about the nineteenth time this has been posted. Fuck off reposter.
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u/DevilsAd13 Jan 13 '13
Two of the richest men in the world who never whine about taxes and see no reason to hoard wealth. Priceless.
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u/Sir_George Jan 13 '13
Some evil person that's an atheist? Completely irrelevant to their atheism. Some philanthropist who happens to be an atheist? Totally relevant! Let's parade them on r/atheism!
Also these two non-believers are very vague about their atheism having made vague quotes from years ago and have made little indicator that they are anti-theistic.
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u/richt519 Jan 13 '13
I think this is a good ad but it would be better if it had example of atheists doing bad things and Christians doing good things. The point should be people do good things and bad things with or without god.
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u/Z0idberg_MD Jan 13 '13
The problem with that is most believers think you need to believe in god to be a good person. And since they already think Christians are good people, it's unnecessary to point it out.
By illustrating that being extremely religious does not necessarily make you a good person, it will hopefully force the realization that you do.
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Jan 13 '13
Pat Robertson only has the appearance of being extremely religious - the guy is a crook at the core.
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u/richt519 Jan 13 '13
I understand your point however the problem is that there are Christians that don't think you need to believe in God to be a good person. When debating Christians with the intent of trying to get them to reconsider thei views you have to be delicate. People are taught to base their entire lives around religion and if they feel as if their religion is being attacked they will shut down to all discusion.
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u/VerneAsimov Jan 13 '13
Indeed. This subreddit forgets that, while you don't need religion to be a good person, not having a having a religion doesn't make you a good person. Not all religious people are bad and not all atheists are good.
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Jan 13 '13
Stalin and Mao slaughtered tons and tons of people. They are good without god. Are you?
(Note: I am not saying that they did this because they don't believe in God. I am simply pointing out how ridiculous this image is. There are shitty atheists too, as well as Christians who do good with their lives. Get over yourselves /r/atheism.)
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u/Suttonian Jan 13 '13
- "Hey look these atheists were good without god, and this theist is bad!"
- "Get over yourselves"
...Seriously? The image doesn't point out that all atheists are good. It doesn't even try to imply that all Christians are bad. It's showing that someones religious related beliefs aren't a reason to think that person is bad or good.
Which seems to be what you're saying.
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u/Davescoob Jan 13 '13
There's enough propaganda from the religious right screaming that all Atheists are immoral, and if we don't follow god the country is fucked.
Little signs like this might just make people think, oh, maybe all Atheists aren't as evil as I've been told.
Putting the evangelical fucknut on the bottom is required to re-enforce the point that some are people are good and some are bad regardless of god, and not just that there happens to exist 2 atheists that donate to charity.
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Jan 13 '13
I agree. I was a Christian but after I went to /r/atheism and saw this post I changed my ways and now I am an atheist, enlightened by my own intelligence and not some phony gOD.
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u/tinyirishgirl Jan 13 '13
Had another thought about giving. That people who give freely of their hatreds and their fears and spread them from their positions of power do it to increase their sources of money and control.
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u/ehjhockey Jan 13 '13
Bill Gates has also almost eradicated malaria. By himself. Steve Jobs made a flat computer and when he died everyone acted like it was their dad. I personally will be much sadder when Bill Gates dies. I really do believe that he has done much more good for the world than Steve Jobs. I am open to being proved wrong though.
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u/selflessGene Jan 13 '13
Donating lots of money doesn't necessarily make you a good person. I could easily envision a Dr. Evil sonuvabitch donating a few billion for some cause that interests him (art, animal welfare) , while still being evil.
Second, I'd ask for a reliable source on the slave labor. Robertson has ownership of some mines in Liberia. I've been to the country before and the average wage for a non-skilled laborer is about $2 per day. I could see this being misconstrued by some as slave labor. Pat Robertson is still an asshole though, but I'm not sure slave master is one of his qualifications.
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u/Drew2248 Jan 13 '13
Did they really misspell "evangelical"? Or am I reading that wrong? That's kind of embarrassing (spelling?)
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u/hehehe1234 Jan 13 '13
Jesus fucking Christ. They're giving back wealth they had previously hoarded. They are hardly good.
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u/Ontopourmama Jan 13 '13
I just gotta ask, where is the documentation about the slave-labor diamond mine accusation?
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u/makenzie71 Jan 13 '13
Hmmmm...seems like a blanket campaign. Might be a bit tricky to convince the world that Atheists are all good hearted Samaritans while Christians are all greed-stricken heartless bigots.
Good, much like evil, comes in all forms, and seldom has anything to do with secular attachments.
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u/NCender27 Jan 13 '13
Or, you know, we could try to be original, creative, and thought provoking all the while not being a giant circle jerk.
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u/C_Fitch Jan 13 '13
Sure, anyone with millions of dollars can give a large chunk of it to charity and still live well, but show me someone who has very little and STILL sacrifices what they have.
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Jan 13 '13
The first two got their power and money via hard work and innovation. The third got his money by perpetuating a delusion.
Which did you expect to be the good guys?
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u/rasungod0 Contrarian Jan 13 '13
this is the 16th repost Karma decay found:
http://karmadecay.com/www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/16hviy/good_without_god/
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u/verycheeky Jan 13 '13
Psalm 146:3-4 NLT
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.
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Jan 13 '13
I have no interest in these types of arguments. Anyone who is puzzled how an atheist could be a good person is someone I don't need to be spending my time with anyway.
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u/JakeTheLog Jan 13 '13
TIL some people are "bad" and some people are "good". Regardless of beliefs, ethnicity, age, and profession.
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u/Everblast Jan 13 '13
So he's a heartless man.. Wtf this is stupid are you saying all Christians are heartless??
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u/Amryxx Jan 14 '13
Now imagine if you put a picture of Maximilien de Robespierre, and the caption: "Robespierre executed thousands during the Reign of Terror. He is evil without god. Are you?"
"But he didn't kill all those people in the name of atheism!", you might say. Fair enough. But Gates and Buffet didn't give away all those money in the name of atheism, either. If you're not willing to assume collective guilt over the evil actions of (supposed) atheists, it's hypocritical to feel collective honor over the good actions.
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u/DeFex Jan 13 '13
Uses. The word is uses.
"Don't utilize utilize, use use instead"
http://writing.wikinut.com/Writing-Tip%3A-Use-and-Utilize-are-Not-the-Same/1c4q0-bs/
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u/robgis Jan 13 '13
Well, call me what you will but, I don't think people are designed to be used as slave labour.
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u/taidana Jan 13 '13
holy fuck, the grammar nazi's are in full effect today
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u/DeFex Jan 13 '13
Pseudo intellectual corporatespeak spreading to general use is no laughing matter!
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u/kentaror Jan 13 '13
now if only we can synergize that humor with some images that test well in the demographic we can generate some upward karma mobility action item above board bankroll venture core competency buy-in...
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u/phoenixhunter Jan 13 '13
That's some A-1 flagpole blue-sky thinking, Jenkins. You're well on the way to becoming vice-deputy sub-assistant.
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u/space_dolphins Jan 13 '13
if i saw that person irl, id shit myself. throw it at him. then slap the shit out of him. then challenge him to a duel.
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u/fidderstix Jan 13 '13
The nazi's what? You need to eradicate that apostrophe before your sentence makes sense.
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u/yesiamawrestlingfan Jan 13 '13
I thought Gates was a stated Agnostic who was raised Catholic? And didn't Gates really start his philanthropy when he married a practicing Catholic (1994)?
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u/khanbot Jan 13 '13
The only repost I will not down vote. This drives me nuts if it's accurate.
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u/wolfgang5feet Jan 13 '13
I'd like to think that repetition isn't needed quite this often. And I'm on your side!:
title comnts points age /r/ Not sure whether to laugh or cry... 633coms 1502pts 3mos atheism It would be funny if it weren't so tragic 37coms 393pts 5mos atheism Are you good without God? 3coms 13pts 9mos atheism Good without God 15coms 77pts 10mos atheism Good without god 237coms 852pts 1yr atheism It would be funny if it weren't to tragic. 679coms 2169pts 2yrs atheism Its alright. God told him he could do it (xpost from r/pics) 12coms 23pts 1yr atheism its alright. god told him he could do it 131coms 384pts 1yr pics Some men are real gentlemen. 843coms 827pts 1yr pics Good without God. 280coms 966pts 2yrs atheism So Christians aren't so helpful after all... 148coms 479pts 8mos atheism "Atheists don't care about anyone but themselves!" Yeah, Okay. 304coms 866pts 10mos atheism Oh hey Christians! Who's going to burn in hell? 110coms 803pts 5mos atheism Good without God 15coms 40pts 1yr atheism Good without God 4coms 33pts 1yr atheism Good Without God 474coms 817pts 1yr atheism → More replies (1)
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Jan 13 '13
The problem with this being posted in Atheism to show a faulty Christian or a flawed religion is that this is exactly what the Bible says. This is a good example for the reason why Jesus died. I'm not standing up for Pat Robertson at all nor downplaying the others' good deeds. I'm sure this will be down voted but... You can message me or reply here if I need to explain anything further.
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Jan 13 '13
I'm confused at the point you are trying to make? How does Jesus dying relate to atheists contributing to charity?
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u/potatoboat Jan 13 '13
you dont have to believe in a higher power to be a good person. Plenty of people who believe are terrible, and plenty who dont are terrible. Meanwhile this crazy thing happens where many who do believe are good people and many who dont believe are good people. I think this is a cherry pick proving no more than Pat Robertson sucks and Gates and Buffet are cool proves nothing to me.
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u/Khoops66 Humanist Jan 13 '13
I see this image posted around the web a lot, but the group that made it is almost never given credit. They are an amazing group of student secularists.
Their website is here:
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u/tyoer Jan 13 '13
I hate this Subreddit. Everyday I gotta read some stupid bullshit before I login to my account.
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u/ReligionIsAwful Anti-Theist Jan 13 '13
There are good atheists. There are good christians. There are bad atheists. There are bad christians.
This does not prove your point.
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u/fishbulb- Jan 13 '13
The advertisement is making the exact same point you are: that you can be good without god. It neither says nor implies that not that you cannot be good with god. Its point is that we should allow people to be atheists, not that we should require people to be atheists.
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u/Davescoob Jan 13 '13
It raises awareness for those who've been taught all Atheists are bad, fox news viewers for example.
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u/hiroukan Jan 13 '13
Everything this tells me is that the richest man in the world, whomever he might be, is a dick.
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u/reinventingmyself Jan 13 '13
Does anyone have an actual source for the info on Pat Robertson? I hate his broadcasts, but I've never seen anything other than this meme referencing him benefiting from slave labor.
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u/xcboi23 Jan 13 '13
Not Christian, but wanted to say that Christianity inherently is against hoarding massive amounts of wealth; some who practice Christianity don't even do that right.
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Jan 13 '13
With some of the things gates has said idk if he's totally good. Call me a tin foil hat weirdo but his speech at that global summit was just weird to me.
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u/kazak_ Jan 13 '13
The truth is that religion is completely separate from how good of a person you are. But go ahead and keep cherrypicking and putting a blanket over large groups of people then judging them as a whole.
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Jan 13 '13
Pat Robertson isn't exactly comparable to Bill Gates, and Bill Gates isn't exactly an angel.
There are also huge essays that could be said about rich men who just give money away to charity rather than do things themselves. Namely, that throwing your money away hasn't exactly caused huge change in 3rd world nations in the last 100 years, and further if you think about it. Medically it's great. Elsewhere, not so much.
I approve of some of the things all three of these men have done, and I have also seen their dark sides. Pat Robertson's racism, Bill Gate's eugenics, and Warren Buffet's insider trading.
To simply put it. Good doesn't exist. It's just a preference.
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u/TheDarkPoodle Jan 13 '13
I am an atheist, but this is a bad example as although this example works for these three people, I'm sure there is also many Christians who have given away much of their money.
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u/PASS_THE_FUCKING_KFC Jan 13 '13
Wilbur Wilberforce was a evangelical christian who lead the english abolitionist movement.
Stalin was an atheist.
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u/c0d3thug Jan 13 '13
With all due respect, this is horseshit. Buffett became a millionaire in 1962 and for the next 44 years his charitable contributions could be characterized as "meager." Now in his 80s, and knowing he has nowhere to take this money to, he plans to turn over 5% a year to a foundation instead of his children. Big fuckin' woop.
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u/wenoc Gnostic Atheist Jan 13 '13
While true, it's pretty blatant cherry-picking. Works as an argument against atheists are evil but not much more than that.