Any other atheists here?

[Ekserb]

I'm an atheist and proud of it. I'm just curious to see if there are any others on this site.

 

[TallHotChick]

Im not exactly an atheist, although at the moment i really do dispise religion... I just dont see how, if there is a God, Why let horrible things happen?
Ah well...

 

[Ekserb]

Im not exactly an atheist, although at the moment i really do dispise religion... I just dont see how, if there is a God, Why let horrible things happen?
Ah well...

I will believe in god and miracles when I see network news coverage of a burning airliner falling wingless from the sky when it suddenly stops and hovers just inches from the ground while the passengers happily disembark.

Pulling a single screaming baby from the wreckage isn't a miracle. It's luck. I guess god was too busy to save the lives of the other 400 people on board.

 

[fallenupright]

I'm agnostic. The very concept of God is beyond human comprehension. We can't understand something outside space or time - because we can't go beyond space or time. Being limited by understanding, for me... means I cannot just blindly believe, because others tell me to.

When I can understand "God" and "it's" purpose, I will reevaluate my position. Until then, I do not believe, but I also do not disbelieve. Disbelief, to me would be claiming some sort of knowledge, which I do not hold.

 

[TallHotChick]

I will believe in god and miracles when I see network news coverage of a burning airliner falling wingless from the sky when it suddenly stops and hovers just inches from the ground while the passengers happily disembark.

Pulling a single screaming baby from the wreckage isn't a miracle. It's luck. I guess god was too busy to save the lives of the other 400 people on board.

I totally agree with you there.

 

[Ekserb]

I'm agnostic. The very concept of God is beyond human comprehension. We can't understand something outside space or time - because we can't go beyond space or time. Being limited by understanding, for me... means I cannot just blindly believe, because others tell me to.

When I can understand "God" and "it's" purpose, I will reevaluate my position. Until then, I do not believe, but I also do not disbelieve. Disbelief, to me would be claiming some sort of knowledge, which I do not hold.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who seem to have all the knowledge in the world and these people have their own television shows with which to spread their word, thereby fucking everything up for the rest of us.

No war that I can recall has been started by atheists. In fact, I'd bet that all the wars ever fought were started by leaders claiming to be devout religious souls. Isn't that nice?

(I'm willing to stand corrected if anyone can disprove my last statement.)

 

[fallenupright]

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who seem to have all the knowledge in the world and these people have their own television shows with which to spread their word, thereby fucking everything up for the rest of us.

No war that I can recall has been started by atheists. In fact, I'd bet that all the wars ever fought were started by leaders claiming to be devout religious souls. Isn't that nice?

(I'm willing to stand corrected if anyone can disprove my last statement.)

Many do use religion as a tool for furthering their own ends. I believe in theory religion provides a moral frame for those who are not able to make their own. Not everyone is able to be moral without the promise of a cookie at the end for them. In that sense, religion is good.

Many people just twist things to justify acts which if you look at the religion in it's intent, and take things metapohrically... were never intended to be justifiable. I don't believe people like this are always truly religious - some are, but misguided... but many I think are just trying to find something to move the masses and justify and gross indecencies they commit. After all, if it's done in the name of something that is supposed to be inheriently good ("God" and religion) it can't be so bad, can it?

 

[Vandren]

Borderline here. At one point, in high school, I claimed to be an atheist. That lasted a few months before I realized that I'd been an agnostic for my whole life, just never had the word for it. Personally, I know I have no faith. I've never felt it. However, just because I don't feel any sort of divine presence doesn't necessarily mean, to me at least, that there's nothing out there. That said, I have serious issues with organized religion and so-called monotheism (which doesn't really exist, based on my formal and informal study of religions). If anyone's "right," I'd have to say the Buddhists, Hindus, and "pagans" are on the best tracks.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who seem to have all the knowledge in the world and these people have their own television shows with which to spread their word, thereby fucking everything up for the rest of us.

No war that I can recall has been started by atheists. In fact, I'd bet that all the wars ever fought were started by leaders claiming to be devout religious souls. Isn't that nice?

(I'm willing to stand corrected if anyone can disprove my last statement.)

There's a sharp difference between a leader claiming to be devoutly religious but going to war to defend his/her country and one who starts a war in the name of religion. In the western world (ok, I minored in history ), the first wars openly waged in the name of religion came in the 4th or 5th century C.E. with the spread of Islam and later in the Crusades. Unless, of course, one takes the Bible/Torah as literal truth (then the Israelites waged at least one holy war). With the veracity of that source in question, the ancient world really didn't seem to have a concept of wars in the name of religion. Heck, the Romans absorbed the beliefs of everyone they conquered, just in case they accidentally pissed off a god or two. And the Greeks, as far as we can generalize about the disparate cultures that made up ancient Greece, assumed that everyone else's gods were versions of Greek deities.

Side note . . . good book to check out on the issue is Geoffrey Blainey's The Causes of War.

 

[Retrieval]

I'm agnostic. The very concept of God is beyond human comprehension. We can't understand something outside space or time - because we can't go beyond space or time. Being limited by understanding, for me... means I cannot just blindly believe, because others tell me to.

When I can understand "God" and "it's" purpose, I will reevaluate my position. Until then, I do not believe, but I also do not disbelieve. Disbelief, to me would be claiming some sort of knowledge, which I do not hold.

Exactly.

 

[Ekserb]

There's a sharp difference between a leader claiming to be devoutly religious but going to war to defend his/her country and one who starts a war in the name of religion.

You are exactly right and I do stand corrected. I should have remembered that until recently, atheism was a rarity and in some cultures punishable by death, so the thought of a godless leader was just ridiculous. While many wars have been fought in the name of religion and/or by religious men, none have been waged by atheists only because there haven't been any atheist leaders to call the troops to arms.

One day we may have an atheist president, but that day will probably be only after religion has been abolished altogether through the intricate studies of science and the known natural world. Of course, many wars will probably be fought before that day comes....

 

[Vandren]

One day we may have an atheist president, but that day will probably be only after religion has been abolished altogether through the intricate studies of science and the known natural world. Of course, many wars will probably be fought before that day comes....

And there'll be dozens that occur after there are agnostics/atheists in positions of power. Warfare occurs for too many reasons, too many variables, for any one to come to play 100% of the time. As long as people compete for resources, as long as people have differing ideologies (political, economic, or religious), as long as poverty and hunger exist, among other things, there will be warfare in one way shape or form, no matter who is in charge - Christian, Hindu, atheist, man, woman, or whatever.

Side note, abolishing religion is a patently bad idea. In part because it makes the abolisher as fundamentalist as the worse member of the religious right (if they have no right to tell us what to believe or not to believe, what right do we have to do the same to them?) and in part because religious faith/belief springs from emotion and a deep psychological desire which is part of being human - same reason there will always be ideological differences among humanity, without them, we'd cease to be human as we know it since we'd all more or less be identical.

 

[Ekserb]

And there'll be dozens that occur after there are agnostics/atheists in positions of power. Warfare occurs for too many reasons, too many variables, for any one to come to play 100% of the time. As long as people compete for resources, as long as people have differing ideologies (political, economic, or religious), as long as poverty and hunger exist, among other things, there will be warfare in one way shape or form, no matter who is in charge - Christian, Hindu, atheist, man, woman, or whatever.

Side note, abolishing religion is a patently bad idea. In part because it makes the abolisher as fundamentalist as the worse member of the religious right (if they have no right to tell us what to believe or not to believe, what right do we have to do the same to them?) and in part because religious faith/belief springs from emotion and a deep psychological desire which is part of being human - same reason there will always be ideological differences among humanity, without them, we'd cease to be human as we know it since we'd all more or less be identical.

Well, I didn't mean that we should abolish religion as a matter of course, but that I think eventually it will die a natural death - albeit a slow and painful one - when people finally realize that there is no god. I think the dedicated study of the natural world will one day prove beyong a doubt that we are on our own and that there is no almighty being working behind the scenes.

I do resent the implication that atheists are somehow less than human for not sharing this "deep psychological desire." I fear a lot of god-fearing types may have the same feeling and they think atheism is some kind of devil-worshipping cult, even though the idea of Satan is as ridiculous as that of an old man in the clouds.

 

[Vandren]

Well, I didn't mean that we should abolish religion as a matter of course, but that I think eventually it will die a natural death - albeit a slow and painful one - when people finally realize that there is no god. I think the dedicated study of the natural world will one day prove beyong a doubt that we are on our own and that there is no almighty being working behind the scenes.

Probably shouldn't use the word "abolished" then, seeing as that indicates some sort of legal/governmental involvement. Though I doubt that religious belief is ever going to completely vanish from existance. If "religion" as we know it in this day and age fades, something else will take its place - possibly to be replaced with faith in science, as you've obviously done. However, even science is an incomplete substitute, since there are scores of things that science can't explain or deal with (speaking as someone with a basic background in biology and a considerable background in the Humanities).

I do resent the implication that atheists are somehow less than human for not sharing this "deep psychological desire." I fear a lot of god-fearing types may have the same feeling and they think atheism is some kind of devil-worshipping cult, even though the idea of Satan is as ridiculous as that of an old man in the clouds.

Never said or implied anything of the sort. It's obvious from your posts that you've (for example) replaced the object of that psychological need/desire with faith in science. Then there are others who replace that need/desire with tangibles, like other people or their jobs (or a little of both and/or other things). Now, if you want to be offended, go right ahead. You'll read what you want to into any written text anyway, I have no control over that.

 

[pookies]

 

[JulietteRomeo]

Although I respect others' faith, I am atheist and I don't believe in any kind of God(s). I am sure that one's destiny is a combination of three factors: social environment (mainly cultural and economic growth), heredity and luck. No God, no star-signs, no spirits. Moreover I dislike organized religion, essentially because it works as a mechanism for mental and social exploitation.

But I don't think that history has ever recorded a really 'religious' war. If we analyze it, all wars of offence have happened for economic reasons! It was always people(s) who wanted to:
- settle in/expand to/govern a place with richer physical resources or
- occupy a more strategic territory for their army and commerce or
- plunder others' opulence or
- all the above!

Maybe some wars had what what historians call religious envelope: the leaders co-operated with the priesthood and invented a "great idea" to inspire the mob, and religious faith is always a good one. But the main reason was/is/will be always economic, so it is unfair to blame religion itself for this!

Romeo

 

[JokerWild]

I guess I'm a deist...aw screw it. I'm a borderline atheist. I've got a Jehovah's Witness for a grandmother, mom's a christian and my uncle practices Islam aka he's a muslium. So yea you can picture us at thanksgiving cant you lol.

I don't know if there is a god, but I know one thing, if we live our life right and are basically good people then he or she or it(if it/he/she exists) shouldn't hold our not beliving in him/her/it against us. Seeing as how all the bad shit is going on in the world...I'm wondering how people can still believe in their god?

 

[Cowbi]

Bang on

I'm agnostic. The very concept of God is beyond human comprehension. We can't understand something outside space or time - because we can't go beyond space or time. Being limited by understanding, for me... means I cannot just blindly believe, because others tell me to.

When I can understand "God" and "it's" purpose, I will reevaluate my position. Until then, I do not believe, but I also do not disbelieve. Disbelief, to me would be claiming some sort of knowledge, which I do not hold.

I agree totally. I couldnt say it better myself.
Does that mean I am agnostic or just confused?
I think I just admit I dont know the answer, because of lack of evidence.

 

[Ekserb]

I agree totally. I couldnt say it better myself.
Does that mean I am agnostic or just confused?
I think I just admit I dont know the answer, because of lack of evidence.

I've never seen a unicorn, either. Does that mean they exist? I've read about them in books. Does that mean they exist?

Don't forget: The bible was written by people who believed in fairies and goblins. The lone remaining argument for god is that we can't prove he doesn't exist. Well, hell .. I can use that excuse for anything. Maybe pigs can fly. You can't prove that somewhere, sometime, pigs didn't fly. There is a definite lack of evidence that pigs can't fly, so maybe they can.

I know these sentiments are going to get a flame job, but there is no difference between what I just said and someone saying they believe in an old man living in the clouds dictating all we see and do.

The very concept of pigs flying is beyond human comprehension. We can't understand something outside space or time - because we can't go beyond space or time. You have your religion, I have mine: Pig gods!

 

[Tranquility62]

Brought up by a Catholic mother and an agnostic father, I've kind of wavered between the two,

I've gone through times in my life where I went to church weekly and felt good about it. But then I lost my parents and I felt no comfort in a God who let my mother suffer so much pain.

I don't go to church anymore, except at Christmas. I don't know what I am... I still consider that there is a creator out there, can this Earth and everyone on in really be a freak accident of nature?

When having confirmation classes, I asked the vicar why God allowed bad things to happen to good people, and her answer was "because there is sin in the world". To me, that seemed like a cop-out.

 

[DevotedPugilist]

Militantly athiest, if you want to get technical. Heh.

Regardless, thanks for that last post Ekserb. Most thought provoking, even for one who thinks it most of the time.

 

[Darksage]

Agnostic

 

[richard_daily]

I see religion as something invented to keep the populace in line. It's a means of control, and turns personal freedom of expression into a joke.

Organized religion is one of the greatest causes of strife known to humankind. People kill in the name of their "one true" god every day. It breeds intolerance, ignorance, and hatred.

There are certain things you can depend on, and take faith in, but religion has shown itself historically to not be one of those things.

I feel that every person has a certain void in them that they're looking to fill with something. Some people fill it with positive things such as; art, writing, work they love.... Others fill it with addictions; drugs, god, and closed-minded pursuits.

If left to our own accords, and not inundated with religious dogma day in and day out; I would be willing to wager that the majority of people on this planet, let to their own devices, would possibly come to the conclusion that there might be some sort of greater meaning to their lives.. Some might even come to the conclusion that there might a "higher power" looking over their existence (although I would personally disagree). However, I don't think many people, if anyone, would create a system of religion that exists as we know it today.

We live in a very oppressive society. We are not free to explore our sexualities, our hopes and aspirations, in part due to the widespread effects of relgion on our every day lives.

I see it as something that has caused far more harm than good to the evolution of the human mind and our race as a whole.

 

[Ekserb]

If left to our own accords, and not inundated with religious dogma day in and day out; I would be willing to wager that the majority of people on this planet, let to their own devices, would possibly come to the conclusion that there might be some sort of greater meaning to their lives.. Some might even come to the conclusion that there might a "higher power" looking over their existence (although I would personally disagree). However, I don't think many people, if anyone, would create a system of religion that exists as we know it today.

Doesn't this describe the history of mankind from its earliest primitive roots? I mean, the reason religion came about was from ignorance and fear of the natural world. Man's ancestors saw lightning and heard thunder and believed that there must be something more powerful at work there. Not because they were stupid, but because they were fearful and didn't know any better. Slowly, some humans decided to explore what they knew about things like weather and electricity, and eventually we learned that the things we fear are simply natural occurrences and not The Hand of God. (Mighty powerful natural occurrences, to be sure, but not the act of a supernatural being.)

I think if you put a bunch of people into an environment bereft of books and knowledge, the vast majority would try to explain that which they didn't understand by assigning mystical properties to it. A few might wonder more deeply at how things work, but for the most part we are fearful, ignorant animals.

The farther we peer into the darkness of space, the more we learn about the long, violent history of the universe. The late Pope John Paul II actually warned Stephen Hawking not to study the origin of the universe as this was God's work (the story is here). How dare he? I think that we will one day have the technology to reveal what happened to cause the Big Bang, and maybe even what was here before that event. Probably not in my lifetime, but someday science will reveal all.

 

[oldtopcat]

If I could be bothered...

I see religion as something invented to keep the populace in line. It's a means of control, and turns personal freedom of expression into a joke.

Organized religion is one of the greatest causes of strife known to humankind. People kill in the name of their "one true" god every day. It breeds intolerance, ignorance, and hatred.

There are certain things you can depend on, and take faith in, but religion has shown itself historically to not be one of those things.

I feel that every person has a certain void in them that they're looking to fill with something. Some people fill it with positive things such as; art, writing, work they love.... Others fill it with addictions; drugs, god, and closed-minded pursuits.

If left to our own accords, and not inundated with religious dogma day in and day out; I would be willing to wager that the majority of people on this planet, let to their own devices, would possibly come to the conclusion that there might be some sort of greater meaning to their lives.. Some might even come to the conclusion that there might a "higher power" looking over their existence (although I would personally disagree). However, I don't think many people, if anyone, would create a system of religion that exists as we know it today.

We live in a very oppressive society. We are not free to explore our sexualities, our hopes and aspirations, in part due to the widespread effects of relgion on our every day lives.

I see it as something that has caused far more harm than good to the evolution of the human mind and our race as a whole.

If I could be bothered, I'd express an opinion very much like the above. BUT
Its weekend,this is Literotica and can't you guys think about anything else?
Never will understand Americans.
As soon as they tell you they are a 'history major' you know it's time to bring out the hot air balloon.

 

[maymie]

i dont beleive in anything except that people can beleive hwat they like, it makes no difference to me as long as they dont try and push their religion on to me