Mark Zuckerberg (No Longer Atheist)

[Bad2g4e]

Do you believe Mark Zuckerberg's, "Religion is very important," comment is propaganda? Many religious people are in love with his recent comments.

 

 

 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/12/26/facebook-founder-mark-zuckerberg-says-he-is-not-an-atheist/

[Blood]

It's always awkward when a reporter writes that so-and-so "was raised Jewish." Since "Jewish" is an ethnicity, not a religion, it's like writing that Donald Trump "was raised Anglo" or Oprah Winfrey "was raised black."

 

Being "raised" in the religion of Judaism in the modern world is tantamount to being raised atheist. 

[florduh]

Why does it matter?

[RealityCheck]

This is the same vague definition of "faith" famous people seem to throw around. It's as cookie cutter as that default siluett on FB when you don't have a profile pic.

[midniterider]

Well, he didnt say, "Jesus is my Lord and Savior" or "Praise Allah" or anything else specific. "Religion is very important to me" is like saying, "I'm committed to the American people." Sounds like a stock answer when you are running for office.

 

It's one thing to tell atheists that you're a Christian because atheists don't care.

But if you post on  a public venue that you own that has millions of Christians on it and say, "I'm an atheist", well that's gonna cause some shit.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Appeal to Irrelevant Authority.

[dangitbobby83]

But if you post on  a public venue that you own that has millions of Christians on it and say, "I'm an atheist", well that's gonna cause some shit.

 

Indeed, he runs a business which has millions of fundies on the platform. He knows how they are - the moment he says "I'm atheist" is the moment he creates a shitstorm on his own platform and risks losing millions in revenue from that simple comment. 

 

His comment was vague enough to be interpreted however the reader wants. 

 

Guess what? I'm an atheist, ex-christian and religion is important to me too. It fucks with my life in so many ways - I have fundy in-laws who is currently trying to indoctrinate my child. I get called heathen and told I'm bound for hell just because I don't accept their supernatural claims. My gay and lesbian friends sometimes fear for their lives because of religion. 

 

So he could mean it as he's religious. He could mean it how I did. He could just be stating that religion is important to him because of it's history and effects on society. 

[midniterider]

Religion is very important to Zuckerberg as he has religious people buying advertising space on Facebook.

[SilentLoner]

It looks like Zuckerberg might be gearing up for a political run. Which makes his renouncing atheism (sadly enough) make sense.

 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/secularvoices/2017/01/04/the-likely-reason-zuckerberg-denounced-atheism-hint-not-daughter/

[Joshpantera]

From the article:

 

 

 

So now that he’s shed his atheism skin, Zuckerberg will be that much more palatable to the broader segment of American voters who think that not believing in magic is some kind of a barrier to office.

 

 

 

It's an interesting possibility though. We're going through a phase where reality TV personalities have become fashionable in the leadership realm. Perhaps that phase will extent to internet personalities. What else should we expect from a technological age? But on that same note I would expect that in a technological age we ought to grow out of believing as a majority that magic is some kind of barrier to office...

[REBOOT]

How hard was it to say: 'My religion is my damn business'

 

Anything else is planned propaganda to appeal to a marketing segment he's had trouble selling to.

 

[skysoar15]

Religion can literally mean anything.

His comment is no different than whenever a celebrity claims that they "have their own special relationship with God."

 

Like others have already said, it's vague enough to get a free pass from just about everybody.

When I was a Christian, my buddies and I would make fun of the celebrities who skirted around the name of Christ.

It was always 'God'...and never 'Jesus.'

 

My friend and I discussed this: "It's easy to say 'God,' but to say 'Jesus,' is an entirely different matter."

The name provokes so many different feelings from the world at large that people in the spotlight instead use generic terms to escape finger-pointing

Terms include generic titles like 'Christian' or 'God,' without 'Jesus' having to be used.

 

Using Jesus essentially makes anything sound preachy. Even when it's not inherently designed to go there.

This is why every comedy has to pull some sort of punchline about Jesus whenever he is brought up.

 

 I noticed this before my deconversion. 

'Jesus' divides. God (without dogma) unites.