This is primarily meant for those who do not consider themselves to be card-carrying members of any given religion. Are you an atheist or an agnostic. If you are an agnostic, what is keeping you from making the jump to atheism. Likewise, if you are an atheist, what is it that makes religion a closed issue for you, rather than something with a possible future?
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100% Atheist20% Voted for by short4ever, sjrlink100, LveNtesNRzrBldes, Dekiru, creason.
everyone in my family is catholic or believes in god of some form. i was brought up to believe in god and no one in my family knows i dont. i dont know how i became to believe in atheism. i think as i got older i started thinking about things and reality. i started thinking about the possibilities of there being a superior being controlling our everday lives. it just doesn't seem possible to me. that goes along with destiny, heaven, hell, soul mates, anything that suggests somehow that our lives are planned out and that there is someone watching out for us. in my opinion thats just a bunch of crap that someone created because they couldnt deal with the fact of living on their own. they needed to believe that their life had purpose and they needed something to make them feel like they're life isnt over after they die. they basically needed something to make them feel safe as most people do. okay sorry, im rambling on, but basically i just don't believe in any for of religion because the idea to me is just too fake.
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Agnostics are Atheists16% Voted for by Eye-Beam, Untouchable Blue, petethemeat, Hardhittn63.
George H. Smith, author of "Atheism, The Case Against God" makes the point that atheism is a logically negative position. That is, when you have faith (in a god) then you have something, but when you don't have it, that's all it takes to be an atheist, you simply don't believe. Either you believe or you don't. If you aren't sure if you believe, then you don't. A belief (in a god) is something that you know if you have.
If you kind-of think that there might be a god, if it seems possible to you, well ok, but that doesn't mean you have faith that there is a god.
Some people say that atheists believe that there is no God, but that isn't accurate. Atheism comes from the prefix, A, meaning not and theism, meaning belief in God. It doesn't have anything in it that means a positive belief in no God. It also doesn't mean you hate God. An atheist who doesn't believe that there is a god can't hate him any more than I can hate the tooth fairy. These kinds of definitions for atheism were made up by religious people who didn't like atheists and wanted to make atheism sound bad so that no-one would call themselves one. You have to believe in God in order to hate God.
An atheist can be agnostic though. Agnostic has the same prefix A, meaning not and gnostic, meaning knowing. You can say, I do not believe in God but I don't know for sure if there is a God or not. That makes you an agnostic atheist.
You can also be an agnostic if you are religious. You might say, I do not know if there is a God but I believe that there is.
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Agnostic8% Voted for by ExistentialTheist, joleahe.
I have referred to myself on here as Christian a couple times too many, so I thought I might take this post as an opportunity to clarify or perhaps correct my past mistakes-- I am agnostic, although I find a number of tangible benefits in religion (Christianity the most) and also consider the place of religion on the intellectual scene to be more or less at a stalemate, although it is treated rather unfairly (the acolytes of "reason" sometimes make leaps of faith to deem religion closed rather than simply doubtful). I am not a Christian, Muslim, Jew or Buddhist because I do not possess the certainty or faith to honestly take up one of these labels. I do not find atheism to be rationally grounded.
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Atheism Is My PathPersonally, I don't see the point in believing in a God or religion. Not only am I atheist but I am also AGAINST all religion. Religion causes conflict and violence. Even the Bible contradicts itself in saying that Man shall not murder man in one of the 10 commandments. Then you read some more and it tells you if someone tries to persuade you not to believe, you should kill him?? What the hell is that? And if there was a God, who is he to decide who is born where? Why does he keep putting more people in Africa, where their fate is to die of starvation and sorrow. Also, God has never been proved, evolution has so why do people believe? People believe because that's the way they've been raised and because they're scared to think that death is the end. Well....why would there be such thing as death if it were not the end?? I just don't see a point in worshiping and admiring something that may or may not exist. I'm not denying the possibility, just the probability.8% Voted for by HopelessDreams, softball19girl32.
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Why believe?8% Voted for by SteveMoney121, Glitter Goddess.
Believing in God is ridiculous and immature, God is just like believing in Santa Clause….Why believe in Something we truly cannot see……People who do believe have basically been brainwashed there whole life, there is no changing there opinions. Atheist are the smartest people on the earth just because they know there isn’t a creator and ruler of the universe.
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God is Just An Imaginary Friend for Grownups8% Voted for by Untouchable Blue, Tarianas Last Hope.
I have three main reasons for being an Atheist. Reason one is simply that the world works in natural ways and everything is explainable. An area of raised land in the red sea could very well have been crossable at low-tide, this was actually researched. Reason two is that in the past, there have been thousands of Gods and religions, what makes God any more real than they are? Reason three is simply that nobody can give me a good reason to believe in God. Why should I have blind faith in God, if there was a just God who created us all, why would he expect us to worship him?
I am an atheist. Atheism is not defined by belief, it is defined by lack of belief. I think God was created to explain how some people seem so much better than others. I mean the saints and the heros and the leaders. Egyptian pharos claimed to be chosen by Ra. Some people are more sacrificing and more willing to work hard than others. People don't want to face that to achieve greatness, you simply need the determination behind it, so they say those people are blessed, and they pray to a non-existant deity in order to have things happen instead of just working for it.
Children create imaginary friends partially to justify things, and partially for companionship. God is just an imaginary friend for grownups.
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Atheism transcient - God eternalVoted for by rain 1.
There is a one true God who created us, we can contact Him directly. As a Muslim, I pray to God five times a day. I can't live without that. He establishes rules of justice, order and peace in our lives.I can't have inner peace without submitting to God.
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neitheri am not religious in any way...Voted for by Crazyhead.
nor am i atheist...
nor am i agnostic...
i recognize that i will not know, in this life, whether there is or is not a god... and i accept that... and then i go on with my day...
i refuse to believe anything about the subject simply because it is impossible to know, therefore a waste of time... -
To believe or not 2 believeVoted for by dr3a-martin3z.
I don't know...to reject something or someone is admitting it exists,right? Cus doesn't something have to exist before you can deny it? I mean, you feel the wind but don't see it , right? Check it, I don't follow any religion...I know there was or is an intelligent being that MUST of created us,but, I'm not falling for the whole Bible story at face value...I'm still searchin for the truth...maybe the truth will only be answered in death...but,nobody can come back and tell us anything...so, the search continues........
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July 25, 2005
July 25, 2005
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July 26, 2005
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October 18, 2005
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December 15, 2005
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Energizer Bunny
February 17
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aerozeppelin
February 17
Just because someone isn't religious, it doesn't mean they attempt to use mathematics to explain things like love, it's just that they believe these kind of phenomena are a part of the real world, without trying to attribute them to any kind of supernatural force or being.
Energizer Bunny
February 17
petethemeat
February 22
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Alexander Hine
February 23
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Don't create straw men. Deal with the realities - neither religious people or atheists (or agnostics) are usually anything like the caricatures made of them by their adversaries.
Energizer Bunny
February 17
I believe when we process God with the human mind it's like processing an apple with a blender. We reduce the original to a blizzard of parts. Then, using logic, we set out to order and arrange those parts back into a reconstructed facsimile of the original. It's an extraordinarily labor-intensive process, a fact borne witness to by human history. Some of the greatest minds of humanity have applied their entire lives to an understanding of God. Their final assertions usually orbit two basic conclusions: the limits of logic, and the limitlessness of God.
There is no irony or conflict here. Logic has limits. Limits define and separate known ground from unknown ground. Logic can assign something not proved or disproved as being a nil or null state, i.e., something that does not exist within the limits of logic, which are defined as what can be perceived and proved by the mind. The perception of conflict between logic and God arises when logic asserts that God is not knowable within its limits, and therefore God is not. There is ground beyond the limits of logic. Ground perceived with a faculty other than the human mind. Logic does acknowledge and even defines the limitations of its own process. Logic asserts that, within its own boundaries, its own rules of order and arrangement prevail. Logic holds no recognition of what is outside its perceptual limits. Logic can allow the existence of unseen ground outside itself as being, at best, an unproven hypothesis awaiting logical proof.
petethemeat
February 22
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Logic qualifies perception, and subjects qualia to the logical process in order for a belief or sensation to be accepted. That which is limitless or non-perceptual is just as qualified as the imaginary goblins that talk to a mental patient.
Applehead
February 19
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pnktrky
February 25
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pnktrky
February 25
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Applehead
February 28
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June 25
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Re: Evolution
I was taught the three ideas in school. They were evolution, creationism and big bang. Never have I ever heard of them being entwined in any way. How would one go about creating evolution? Also, if God was real and created all, what created God, where did God come from?This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
June 25
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June 25
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Re: Evolution
I was taught the three ideas in school. They were evolution, creationism and big bang. Never have I ever heard of them being entwined in any way. How would one go about creating evolution? Also, if God was real and created all, what created God, where did God come from?This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
June 25
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Re: Evolution
I was taught the three ideas in school. They were evolution, creationism and big bang. Never have I ever heard of them being entwined in any way. How would one go about creating evolution? Also, if God was real and created all, what created God, where did God come from?This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
June 25
Edit | Reply
Re: Evolution
I was taught the three ideas in school. They were evolution, creationism and big bang. Never have I ever heard of them being entwined in any way. How would one go about creating evolution? Also, if God was real and created all, what created God, where did God come from?This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
June 25
Edit | Reply
Re: Evolution
I was taught the three ideas in school. They were evolution, creationism and big bang. Never have I ever heard of them being entwined in any way. How would one go about creating evolution? Also, if God was real and created all, what created God, where did God come from?This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
June 25
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This book I am reading, is shedding a bit of light on me. It's called In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray, it's quite good I must say. "God is eternal because religion never dies, because myths and illusions don't disappear."
Crazyhead
June 28
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an agnostic accepts that there may be a god...
i dont accept that... i accept that i dont know...
i veiw myself as the highest power in my own life... i am my own god...
every time i have tried believing in something else, i have felt empty... now i simply believe in myself..
Crazyhead
June 28
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an agnostic accepts that there may be a god...
i dont accept that... i accept that i dont know...
i veiw myself as the highest power in my own life... i am my own god...
every time i have tried believing in something else, i have felt empty... now i simply believe in myself..
Crazyhead
June 28
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god...
i have neither the belief (agnostic) nor the disbelief (atheist) to qualify for either...
i have no opinion either way...
gods existance does not effect my day to day existance therefore i simply have no need for the idea either way...
reguardless of it's existance i am the same person with the same ideals that lives and will eventually die...
no belief, no ideal, will change that...
Crazyhead
June 30
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to point remains that the modern definition is not that of the link you posted...
i have no intention of fighting a link war....
Crazyhead
July 2
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not at all what my assumed meaning for the word agnostic was...
so i guess my beliefs to mirror the true definition for agnostisism, though i do like to keep myself away from as many "ism's" as i possibly can, thus the defensiveness...
i'm not angry with the world weydon... i am angry with people, mainly polititians, that inhabit the world... and i am constantly surprised by how stupid we all are...
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