"Take a fucking chill pill, Jim! If the worst "militant atheists" have to throw at the world is a "critical response", then I think we should count ourselves lucky."

Well, I'm not sure thats the worst thing 'militant atheists' ever through at the world. There was the holocaust, the stalinist purges and the great leap forward. which killed total and PER CAPITA more than every religious war in recorded history. but hey, you keep the wholely unjustified moral superiority attitude rolling buddy! it works so well for christian dickwads too...

Wait. Spore is a religion simulator? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Hide the kids.

I wanted to congratulate Jim Sterling on continuing his tradition of doing absolutely no journalism work whatsoever in order to provide his little rant.

If you bothered to even read the original article, not only does Will Wright never use the term "militant", he just said he was surprised that atheist testers were the only ones who took issues with how religion is presented in the game, and that the majority just didn't care either way. No group is trying to ban the game or bringing up major complaints. Just a side comment about his surprise that religious people didn't have a problem with the game.

But then, if you had taken the thirty seconds to check out the article or present it properly instead of taking it completely out of context, then you couldn't make an inflammatory headline, call people names and get more pageviews with your made-up "controversy". Maybe you should think about that the next time you whine about how so many game interviews are carefully prepared PR answers, that junk like this is the reason companies feel they have to do that.

Good, but I always preferred:

I'm an atheist, and I can tell you that any true atheist would have no problem with a game that allows religion. If anything, it would serve to demonstrate some of the problems and benefits of ALL religion, and maybe help people to a different understanding of their own beliefs. I know it's asking a lot, but it's possible. Anyway, as long as it's just religion and not Christian religion, I can't see anyone raising a fuss. Not we atheists, anyway.

@Fanatism, Stahlbrand
You know what one of the best things about Christianity is? I don't need to come up with a witty image macro denouncing atheism. After all, if I'm right, my comeback will simply be waving at you from the "To Heaven" line, post-The End of The World. And that, my friends, will be some divine ownage. ;D

@TheDirtyHobo
I didnt try to gloat about anything, I expressed anger towards an ignorant statement. I posted a comment earlier where I asked people to keep the discussion calm and rational, instead of turning it into the shitstorm like on the kotaku commenting section. And then of course, the first "atheism caused holocaust" comment appeared. I believe these where his exact words:
"Well, I'm not sure thats the worst thing 'militant atheists' ever through at the world. There was the holocaust, the stalinist purges and the great leap forward. which killed total and PER CAPITA more than every religious war in recorded history"

"The only reason Hitler and Stalin were brought up was the idea that religion isn't the only factor for causing someone to do stupid and/or horrendous things. You can argue until you're blue in the face about what either of the two actually believed, but it was publicly known that their actions were driven by whatever sort of attachment they felt for their country or self, not for the sake of their eternal salvation. Yes, people did a lot of terrible things in the name of their religion, but people have done many things in the name of other things, too. No cause can excuse someone from that, religious or otherwise."

Yes, thank you for repeating what I said in my previous post: "Just because someone murders and happen to have a specific beliefs, doesnt mean that he did it because of his beliefs".

"Seriously, what the hell are you talking about, atheism is punished in the U.S.?"

I never said that. I said that you could be killed for being an atheist a couple of hundred years ago, in other words, NOT in current time! I apologize if I formulated myself badly, but I'm not from an English speaking country, so it gets difficult sometimes. What I meant was that in the states you could potentialy become a social reject for expressing atheist beliefs. And I've heard many stories about that, everything from "girl gets kicked out of basketball team for not participating in prayer", and "soldier becomes shunned by other soldiers for not praying".

I'm not lashing out on religion, I'm merely defending my own beliefs. So I dont find it fair that you compare me to these "extreme atheists". I just want to live in a secular world, where I can have my beliefs in peace, and religious people can have their beliefs in peace.

Well, to be honest, nothing about my (lack of) faith compells me to take the high road or be consistant ;)

If, as a self-professed christian you take your faith seriously enough to respond to internet arguments, I think perhaps more might be fairly expected of you.

And I didn't say you do it -all- day, but this is the second time in one thread you've spent time imagining THE END OF THE WORLD (healthy!) and having the last laugh over non-christians the world over. All atheists, jews, muslims hindus and others to be kicked into the lake of fire and all that, and there you go laughing.

But wheres the love, the humility, and the turning of various cheeks?

And yes, I'm an atheist and an asshole, but I'll tell you that I was one for years before I became the other ;)

@Projectexodus, I'm not arguing about the stuff you said happened in the past, I'm saying that atheism isn't something that will make you an outcast in America in the present day. Especially among youth/young adults (which is the main age for the target audience of a site like this), admitting you're a Christian is much more likely to get you socially ostracized than admitting you don't believe in a God.

Stahlbrand and Sharpless, you two make such a cute couple.

OK! Anybody disrespecting religious folk for no reason, like Stahlbrand, needs to die in a fire. You are exactly the type of people this post is bashing.

Anybody bashing atheists just for not believing in God, also can die in a fire.

People have the right to believe what they want to, and nobody can really prove one side right or wrong. As crazy as religion sounds, you can't exactly prove it's not real, so why bother trying? Just think what you want to think and be happy.

Play some Spore.