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BKLD12 t1_j48nxmj wrote

Reply to comment by CaveatRumptor in Skeleton of man who dreaded becoming a museum exhibit will finally be removed from display by BadAmateurBirder

Beg pardon? Religion is not necessary for respecting others, and religious people are not immune to being shitty people.

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CaveatRumptor t1_j48p1mh wrote

And being an atheist is no guarantee of morality either. I n my experience here online atheists love to disrespect and abuse theists. Certainly Hunter believed he had some sort of right to try to contravene Byrnes stated last wishes and to try to own his body as if he were merely a piece of personal property, all in the name of science, which is often quite antagonistic to religion. Feel welcome to defend atheists all you want, but you're not going to convince me Hunter wasn't an evil person.

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BKLD12 t1_j48qcqh wrote

Nobody claimed that it was. But you made the assumption that Hunter was an atheist because he did something that was disrespectful and dehumanizing. Being an asshole and a scientist doesn’t make someone an atheist; there are many people who are both while also being religious. I’ve met a few of them in my time.

The only thing that makes an atheist an atheist is a lack of belief in a God or gods.

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CaveatRumptor t1_j48rtd7 wrote

I did not assume it at all. If I had made a declarative sentence, stating that he definitely was an atheist that would have been an assumption. I asked if he were an atheist precisely because I did not want to assume it. And no one ever answered that question. Everyone assumed they needed to defend atheism and villainize and insult me personally as a theist. That kind of unneccessary defensiveness strongly suggests I may have been right. Apparently however the institute still thinks it morally acceptable to keep Byrnes skeleton, even knowing that he really didn't want them to have it. That kind of moral blind spot has to be the result of some kind of ideology.

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