Committed atheist or not I see you can still quote the Bible GJ

Oi, I got it!
Hence my 'He gives ze orders!' 

I did forget to put my smiley, though!

I'm sure we can all enjoy spending time with a principle mover in an international criminal conspiracy to cover up child rape on a grand scale.  Who wouldn't?

I have visions of a large arrow pointing towards a wet patch everytime I read the thread title.

oh is that a reference to his German accent

Indeed!   People my age didn't have any choice, I attended Sunday School, Church, Choir,  I was confirmed by Don Ebor, and even rang the bells. 
I had an almost obsessive knowledge of the book and I think that this is why I find politics so fascinating.

Ja.

That reminds me of something I was told on Sunday in church.  Our minister had gone to see a lady of 104 who is not able to get to church herself any more.  She is virtually blind and not able to hear much any more but she has learned so much Scripture by heart that she remembers many passages which bring her much comfort now, some verses she was taught 100 years ago. I was impressed, as was Jonathan, our minister.

A commited Atheist needs to know what they are arguing against, IMO.

TBH I consider myself a lazy atheist.

Makes sense to me Blizzie

Strictly an atheist is someone who dies not believe in the esistence of a god and probably has given this careful consideration. An agnostic is someone who does not have firm views as to whether there is a god or not.. The term agnostic was invented by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 to describe his views.

From Wiki:
Huxley was slow to accept some of Darwin's ideas, such as gradualism, and was undecided about natural selection, but despite this he was wholehearted in his public support of Darwin. He was instrumental in developing scientific education in Britain, and fought against the more extreme versions of religious tradition.

So, he could be regarded as a predecessor to Richard Dawkins.

 

The Atheists' disbelief, applies to 'God' and 'gods'  :- 

Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.^[1] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.^[2] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.^[3] Atheism is contrasted with theism,^[4] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.^[5][6]

The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods", which was applied with a negative connotation to those thought to reject the godsworshipped by the larger society. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope. The first individuals to identify themselves as "atheist" appeared in the 18th century.^[7]

Today, about 2.3% of the world's population describes itself as atheist, while a further 11.9% is described as nonreligious.^[8] Between 64% and 65% of Japanese describe themselves as atheists, agnostics, or non-believers.^[9] In Europe, the estimated percentage of atheists, agnostics and other non-believers in a personal god ranges as low as single digits in Poland, Romania, Cyprus, and some other countries,^[10] and up to 85% in Sweden (where 17% identify them selves as atheists), 80% in Denmark, 72% in Norway, and 60% in Finland.^[9]

Atheists tend to lean towards skepticism regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence.^{[citation needed]} Atheists have offered several rationales for not believing in any deity. These include the problem of evil, the argument from inconsistent revelations, and the argument from nonbelief. Other arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to the social to the historical. Although some atheists have adopted secular philosophies,^[11][12] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere.^[13]

In Western culture, atheists are frequently assumed to be exclusively irreligious or unspiritual.^[14] However, atheism also figures in certain religious and spiritual belief systems, such as Jainism, some forms of Buddhism that do not advocate belief in gods,^[15] and Hinduism that holds atheism to be valid but difficult to follow spiritually.<sup>[16]  

Source: Wikipedia</sup>  

 

I wasn't. There's nowt like sour grapes. But rather a laugh to moan about it to be fair - when we "heretics" were faced with "aggressive Catholicism" it was being run by a bod called Torquemada (inter alia) with a fetish for thumb screws, faggots (the wooden sort) and any sort of inflicted pain.

All we throw at them is Professor Dawkins, Stephen Fry, Terry Pratchett and Peter Tatchell and they whinge. 

TBH, I was more disquiet by the accusation of being a 'Third World Country' after he stepped off the plane at Heathrow. His secretary tried to explain that he saw many ethnic people. Well this smacks of racism to me. The Church of Christ has a lot to answer for.

Really col ... I didn't hear that. tbh my folks moaned about how bloody awful it was arriving back at Heathrow with it's hard screwed down chairs and no carpet having experienced Singapore/Hong Kong/Melbourne airports over the preceding 2 months.

Having experience of Heathrow, I did think initially he might have a point.  The statement of the secretary put a different slant on it.

And the excuse made.........he was ill

Gout of all things. Isn't that an illness due to over indulgence?

after him with the allopurinol.

well there will be 24/7 coverage of him on BBC later, will be watching DAVE with repeats of Top Gear thank you.

PMSL