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Re: Atheists - An Increasingly Outspoken Minority
I can't say I'm an atheist but I certainly don't hold onto any specific religious beliefs and I definately don't buy the whole Jesus story the way it's presented by so called Christians. I find it extremely arrogant and self righteous for people to denounce any possibility of a God and yet I find it equally arrogant for people to claim without a shadow of a doubt that their god is in fact the only true god. Like all the others who hold an equally strong faith are just wrong. That's arrogance personified when there is in fact no substantial proof for any of these gods. It's about one person's faith but the minute you start preaching it to others in a "matter of fact" way you've become an asshole.
This is an excellent read in support of why people are athiests. I agree with much of it, although like I said I don't necessarily feel I'm 100% an athiest. I'm much more of an agnostic.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/ … n-atheist/and as far as organized religions go one of my favorite quotes is from Bono
~ "Religion is what happened when God left the room" ~
Pretty much how I feel to a T. Religion is man-made doctrine and I ain't down with that. All you can do is be the best person you can be (Neemo).
Re: Atheists - An Increasingly Outspoken Minority
Bono wrote:I can't say I'm an atheist but I certainly don't hold onto any specific religious beliefs and I definately don't buy the whole Jesus story the way it's presented by so called Christians. I find it extremely arrogant and self righteous for people to denounce any possibility of a God and yet I find it equally arrogant for people to claim without a shadow of a doubt that their god is in fact the only true god. Like all the others who hold an equally strong faith are just wrong. That's arrogance personified when there is in fact no substantial proof for any of these gods. It's about one person's faith but the minute you start preaching it to others in a "matter of fact" way you've become an asshole.
This is an excellent read in support of why people are athiests. I agree with much of it, although like I said I don't necessarily feel I'm 100% an athiest. I'm much more of an agnostic.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/ … n-atheist/and as far as organized religions go one of my favorite quotes is from Bono
~ "Religion is what happened when God left the room" ~
Pretty much how I feel to a T. Religion is man-made doctrine and I ain't down with that. All you can do is be the best person you can be (Neemo).
Thats well said
Re: Atheists - An Increasingly Outspoken Minority
Re: Atheists - An Increasingly Outspoken Minority
Neemo wrote:maybe i'm an atheist then, i dont really beleive in religion, i just try to be the best person i can
When asked if I believe in God by Christians I usually ask them in return:
"Do you believe in Thor? Odin? The Greek Gods? The Egyptian Gods? The Hindu Gods?"
Very likely they say "of course not, don't be silly".
Then I say:
"Oh good then, we're the same you and me, I just include that last God into what I don't believe in".
Only thing difference between an atheist and a Christian is the God Yaweh. They believe in "him", and we/them don't.
I don't like to label myself athiest, as I like to believe in what I believe in and not follow any specific idea, but as I don't believe in the God called Yaweh, the Christian God, I guess I'm an athiest.
They should though, cause technically they're all the same god under different names.
Not that I'm an authority or anything, but after reading a fair bit about it think you can divide all religion into two paradigms:
- The eternal force, god is everything, man is god, you are god etc. The non-submissive, non-judgemental god that most if not all religions originally based their faiths on. These days often brushed off as various forms of "paganism" or "heresy".
- The Lord God from Babylon that slayed all of humanity because they wouldn't obey him (this guy might be an actual historical figure). The trinity dogma that seperates god from man and places authority with the priesthoods. The god most organized religion (and especially catholicism and islam) want you to believe in and submit to.
Re: Atheists - An Increasingly Outspoken Minority
I would say i'm agonostic because to me the only people that can know the truth about what happens after you die, if anything, are those who have died.
Anything else is speculation. There is no way to 100% know there is NOT an afterlife, just as there is no way to know there 100% IS.
Many things cannot be 100 % proven. Actually, many things we are certain about has never been proven with 100 % accuracy. Proving something 100 % requires that it can somehow be manipulated mathematically or logically, and that is usually not the case.
It's like the 'flying spaghetti monster.' Few people claim to be agnostic when it comes to this ludicrous entity's existence -- we are certain that it is bullshit. But it hasn't been proven with 100 % certainty, and that is actually impossible. For me this is just like with most other gods. I find them more or less just as implausible and would never take the half-assed position to be agnostic about them. I am as outspoken atheistic about the christian god, or Ra, or Odin, as I am of the flying spaghetti monster.
When it comes to an afterlife there is absolutely no reason to assume it does exist. Actually, there are many reasons to assume it doesn't exist, including the fact that it would violate the laws of physics and the fact that an afterlife is the only way theisms could get away with offering something supernatural to believers (because if they promised something supernatural while you were still alive they would fail) and hence the idea of an afterlife is presumably designed to strengthen religions grip on their followers. Some scientific studies have also indicated that people's supernatural memories from near-death experiences are false.
So, the rational person, free of any belief baggage, would not believe in an afterlife but assume that life after death is just like life before birth: Nothingness because your body does not exist. This realization might suck, unfortunately, but that doesn't make it less rational and probable.
