Feelings on Atheism

hehe... i respect atheist for their decisions but if they mock belief, that is were they get annoying. I will not say anything of what you say but i will imply you a problem of Genesis: to many people are taking this too literal.

Like i said as well with St. Augustine, the six days is not a physical framework but a summary of the events that had existed.

This thread interests me greatly. *takes out popcorn*

I'm an atheist too. Well, more like agnostic leaning towards atheist. If someone gives me complete, absolutely 100% undeniable evidence that a god of any sort exists, I'll believe them and switch sides. But that hasn't happened yet, so... yeah. Fence-sitting is fun. :3

The real reason I'm posting is because my current story is partially about atheism. My FMC is an atheist, but her dad is a pretty hardcore Catholic Christian (he even has some sort of important position at the church). Have any of you had experience with having a different religion than your parents and the rest of your family? And did that make any sense?

sure, i went to this meeting where i met a muslim woman and an indin man...they explained their belief to us and i was greatly intrigued because of some similarities between our faiths...

I'm an atheist too. Well, more like agnostic leaning towards atheist. If someone gives me complete, absolutely 100% undeniable evidence that a god of any sort exists, I'll believe them and switch sides. But that hasn't happened yet, so... yeah. Fence-sitting is fun. :3

Well, I'm an Atheist too, and I'll happily switch side if presented with good enough evidence. I imagine the same applies to the vast majority of Atheists.

There seems to be a general misunderstanding about the distinction between Agnosticism and Atheism. I'm an Atheist (I don't believe in God) but I'm open to the possibility that I'm wrong - I've had people tell me that this isn't Atheism, that it's Agnosticism, and those people were wrong.

As far as I'm aware, atheism and agnosticism are not exclusive. Agnosticism = disbelief in having ultimate knowledge. So, I guess I belong to both schools of thought. I don't believe in a god but nor do I claim that my belief is truth.

I think.

I don't think there should be a word for atheism. It's too much of a marked term - there isn't a word for not believing in fairies. Is there? Heh, I don't know. I don't feel that people should need to describe themselves as atheist, anyway - it's not like they're claiming anything from initial belief.

But! I kind of wish I wasn't an atheist. I really wish I was able to have that security, but the more I look at the Koran, or the Bible, the less I feel that I can take part in organised religion. My god wouldn't have a rulebook. That's not to say that people who believe in these faiths are in any way "stupid"; they just see things in a different way to me, which is all good. =D

Not really.

Agnostic = neither believes, nor disbelieves.

Atheist = disbelieves.

That's really all there is to it. So they actually are exclusive.

Okay, fair enough. I guess I should go and torture my RE teacher. =D

For years I resigned myself as being Agnostic but on the whole I realized later in life I was born believing in something entirely different. My belief now is Druidism but I don't practice it because my belief in Druidry stems in a different route, which is nice. Druidry is not an organized religion. Everyone has a different path when connecting back to nature. It is a belief where a person see many gods and godesses but there are modern Druids that believe there is life in every living thing, animal and vegetation alike- that is my path, always has been. I agree with the five points on the Penticle, which would probably be borderline Paganism. Without Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, there wouldn't be the Fifth, Life. Mother Nature is ever powerful and with a flick of a finger, the ground quakes.

So no, I'm not an Atheist.

I'm catholic, but I don't go to church at all.
I don't think it matters.

People choose their beliefs or non-beliefs, I don't think it's fair judge other people.
I respect other people's opinion.

Kamas

Anyone can believe in anything. A person's world is built on his beliefs.
I accept all kind's of beliefs, almost every kind of belief.

.

Be warned, this might be long.

Nowadays, religion causes more harm than good. Wars, feuds, politics, all created by these stories we heard when we were young. I can't say what is or isn't right, and if there's no global agreement god doesn't exhist, I can't be certain. The one concern I have is that the world NEEDS religion. It's the reason we're on this forum right now.
WHY?!?
Arts.
Every bit of the arts, from writing to drawing to music, all started based on religion. Murals, readers of stories, hymns, all became the many types of art we are a part of. If we never beleived in god, we may be a more advanced race of humans, but we'd have no personality, no originality. Without the arts, we'd be nowhere special.
I don't concern myself with religion much (but if you ask my parents, I'm Jewish). For the most part, religion has become a dangerous weapon, but not a lot of people realize that it wasn't always. We need art as much as we need science. People can beleive whatever they want, god or no god, but nobody can say religion is evil or useless. If the world was all science, we'd probably all come to a global consensus that life was meaningless and we'd all die. We need personality, thus we need art, thus we need art's roots, religion.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts.

Religion, to me, causes too many problems.

If it weren't for religion many people wouldn't have died. Wars have been fought over religion, fights start over religion, relationships crumbled over religion, hearts are broken over religion and people are just bad when it comes to religion.

I can't exactly call myself an atheist, possibly more agnostic. But that is only because religion seems bad. You can see how people are all discussing this and some people will get angry over a few remarks, if God was real would he want you to get angry about something you yourself don't believe to be true?

The thing I dislike the most are the crazy religious - they make me angry. "You won't be going to heaven because you don't believe in God." That . . . just . . . *sighs* I've been told that and it's not very nice - not very nice at all.

I think the point here, that all of us seem to be missing, is that no matter what colour we are, what language we speak, what religion we believe in - we're all human and equal. People tend to forgot that and that is what causes the calamities in our world.

So, I don't have a religion, I don't have a belief. To me the Big Bang Theory makes almost sense. I'm probably agnostic, but I'm probably not. Once in a while I will try talking to God, but I don't feel better after it, I don't feel suddenly enlightened or like someone was listening, it felt like I was talking to an empty room, because I probably was.

And that's why I can't really believe. Anyway, I'm happy with you all having different religions, or none at all, but the word "religion" will always bring up more arguments and collisions, so, perhaps it safer to say, I am happy we're all equal.

i would agree on that remark that religion does cause problems and it ahs been a great distress that such a thing should happen. Dante remarked that religion must seek enlightenment rather than using it as a weapon or gaining power.

That is the problem for some people uses that as a way to gain followers and to possess power. Look at the reformation for example, Leo X had made use of religion as a way to profit himself. His love to fill the Vatican with great artworks had cause such a revolt. There are other cases though that such people usually misinterpret or overhear what their particular religion teaches. Such is seen on Dante's "allegory of the chariot" where the whole concept of a particular religion is blinded by a certain person in order to gain their own needs.

For example, Christians are taught to "love thy neighbour" and yet some had caused violence just because particular person does not agree with their views. Their own self needs or pride had blinded them on such teaching.

Light_Devil, I hate to undermine anything that you have said, but it was not religion itself that caused war, rather it was caused by religious extremists.

If you look, and I mean really look, at most religions most of them preach some pretty good stuff. Some people twist religion and use it to do terrible terrible things, claiming it is for God.

I will never see religion alone as a negative thing. I see prayer and faith as very beautiful acts.

It is the extremists that ruin my good opinion on religion.

I'll never be against religions as a whole, but rather that I am against extremists. And that goes for extremist atheists as well. If you go around insulting someone because of their faith, claiming they are brainwashed, mocking their central belief system, in my opinion, you can be just as negative as the extremist religious people.

It's all about balance. Believe one way, sure, but don't write off a religious person as a bigot, most aren't. Don't write off an atheist as "souless" or "dangerous"... just, find the balance.