Atheism

[Direwolf]

just like I have yet to find a Christian who thinks people should be put to death in the name of God if they don't rest on Sunday.

Yea try spending some time in the deep south. My brother goes to school in Clemson South Carolina and you would be suprised how upset the locals get if you want to do shit on Sunday.

 

[Bustaballs]

That's a pure whitewash statement. They're following their interpretation of their holy writings; just because they're the minority of Muslims doesn't mean they're not doing what they think their book says. That's like saying Fred Phelps and his yokels from the Westboro Baptist Church aren't "following the Bible" with their rabid hatred of gay people.

You're right. I take it back.

Edit: But the mainstream has the idea that the Qur'an specifically tells Muslims to kill people who don't follow their religion and that's just not true. Most people don't even know that Jesus is a big Muslim prophet. So are many of the Christian prophets.

That being said you can cherry pick all sorts of wonderful quotes from any holy book and they say all sorts of delightful things.

Very true.

 

[crookedmidget]

Being raised Christian and non practicing today, I've changed my views on religion as I've grown older. I think the human interpretation of their religion is what I'm most interested in when I discuss this topic with someone. It's very much like the story of the 3 blind men touching an elephant describing what they're feeling and saying the other 2 are wrong.

I am most displeased by the mainstream hijacking (no pun intended) of Islam. I see that the media at large has struggled to properly label them and be politically correct at the same time. I've seen "Radical Muslims", "Islamofascists", or just "Islamists". While their interpretation of Islam does differentiate them from other Muslims, how they are labeled does effect the average Mohamed. I can't honestly say that I know lots of Muslims, but the ones I do know feel that their religion's global perception has been stolen from them by a relatively few radical members.

 

[Halifirien]

I can't honestly say that I know lots of Muslims, but the ones I do know feel that their religion's global perception has been stolen from them by a relatively few radical members.

That's a public relations problem, but it's not just confined to Muslims. Christianity is full of even-tempered, humble liberals who aren't interested in legislating their own morality, but how often do you get to see them stating their opinions? It's the right-wingers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who get all the ink and sound-bites because they're making an effort at marketing themselves as the authority figures.

The "religious left" is starting to push back, but there's a lot of perceptual inertia they're going to have to overcome because the culture warriors have become entrenched as the face of Christianity.

 

[Uzor]

Religion is something people hold on to because they have a hard time believing everything is a coincidence. Its also something they hold on to to give them hope.

All religions in the world have death as its center. Most everyone is affraid of death. Religion gives them a hope that there's something better beyond death. That all of their dead relatives and friends are somewhere better.

It also gives them hope when things go out of controll in their life. They pray that something higher then them will help them out.

So yes, religion can be a good thing in some cases.

However, I personally think believing in a religion makes you rather narrowminded. Makes you claim on to something that's not real. And instead of trying to solve your own problems, you hope something else will do it for you. Humans constantly search for reasons. Why things are the way they are. If we don't have an explanation, we make one up. Religion is the result of that.

So no, my only religion is helping myself.

 

[Zaltana]

i aggree with Uzor 110%

as i stated briefly in my trip home thread. there are religious crazies everywhere in the french quarter during mardi gras. and when i say crazies im not exagirating. those people are seriously nutz. some of the signs they proudly walk around displaying are beyond ignorant, beyond stupid and any other far fetched phrase you can think of. on Mardi Gras Day they park themselves in front of the St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square and you better not pass them wearing a costume. their mouths become a gattling gun of "you're going to hell" babble and they never run out of ammo.

i was raised catholic but as i grew up the stories and everything the preachers would say and stuff my family would read out of the bible just didnt seem to add up. thats when i realized i was an athiest myself. funny thing is at that time i didnt even know what an athiest was. :wacko: i have a live-and-let-live stance on this whole thing. the people on that site are zealots. the worst kind of followers imaginable. Zealots are forever traped by their own beleifs. consumed wholey by what they think is right & wrong they just lash out at anything to the contrary with emotion instead of logic and facts. and thats not just religious people. every major influence group has em and they are the black marks of said groups.

there are far to many people in this world to please everyone thats why i just let others be and not bother them.

 

[Direwolf]

I think the human interpretation of their religion is what I'm most interested in when I discuss this topic with someone. It's very much like the story of the 3 blind men touching an elephant describing what they're feeling and saying the other 2 are wrong.

I absoloutly LOVE that analogy, have heard it elsewhere and I think that sums up the whole religiuse conflict thing nicely.

That being said, religious conflict is an excuse. Its people trying to pretend that their hatred for another person or people is justified. Its like that ole doctor suess book with the people and the stars. When you get right down to it most religions say just about the same things. They are (idealy) basic outlines on how people should live their lives. The ancient cultures felt a need to get a form of civility among the local populaces. Basic rules and regulations in a time before any form of organized goverments. Its the insanity of man that has brought things to the point where they kill for diffrences of opinions. Nothing unifys a people so much as a common enemy, and religious diffrences are the oldest excuse. (Other then you know food, water, that sorta thing.) Only in the last couple of centuries have we seen nationalism emerge as the leading cause of warfare.

But look at the middle east, culturaly (I know someone is gonna bitch but I really can't think of a better word) they are more or less where the west was during the middle ages. The diffrence being the technology base is so much more advanced and deadly. The conflicts between shiites sunnis and kurds looks an awful lot like the 30 year war. Except you know with AK-47s and IDEs instead of swords and arrows. The Fanatics going nuts in Northern Africa? Damn similar to the inquisition. History repeats itself time and time again. We made the awful mistake of getting involved in their matters because our economy is so is dependant on the resources, and our sympathies to the jewish people in Isreal are so strong.

Really did not mean to turn this into a discussion of the middle east but I really find it fascinating how things just keep on happening over and over.

 

[Airou]

Religion is something people hold on to because they have a hard time believing everything is a coincidence. Its also something they hold on to to give them hope.

All religions in the world have death as its center. Most everyone is affraid of death. Religion gives them a hope that there's something better beyond death. That all of their dead relatives and friends are somewhere better.

It also gives them hope when things go out of controll in their life. They pray that something higher then them will help them out.

So yes, religion can be a good thing in some cases.

However, I personally think believing in a religion makes you rather narrowminded. Makes you claim on to something that's not real. And instead of trying to solve your own problems, you hope something else will do it for you. Humans constantly search for reasons. Why things are the way they are. If we don't have an explanation, we make one up. Religion is the result of that.

So no, my only religion is helping myself.

Uzor, you just nailed it

 

[Excalibur]

I must have misunderstood the meaning of the word then. I always thought that Atheism meant disbelieving in any god-like figure, but that one could still follow some of the ceremonies taken by a religion despite that? But I guess that's contradictory, so yeh, sorry.

You were half right. Atheism isn't just the absence of religion, it's having the belief that there is no god/s and the denying of religion.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheist

I, for one, celebrate Christmas...though only out of my own nerdish knowledge that Saint Nicholas was a real person, and the holiday does for the most part bring out cheer in people. I don't celebrate, nor believe in most any of the rest of the Christian religion, so I'm unsure if you'd consider me to be Christian or not, since I believe in just that one thing, and actually believe bits of other religions...but do I believe in gods? Not too sure. So I dunno if I'd be considered Christian, Atheist or Polytheist, really.

I think the closest you are to anything is agnostic.

I can't honestly say that I know lots of Muslims, but the ones I do know feel that their religion's global perception has been stolen from them by a relatively few radical members.

Just like what's happened to Christianity.
Most people nowadays only see the fanatics, the bad side of Christianity, because that's all the media really shows. People see all these dumbfuck "Christians" and think that's what our religion is all about, or that's what they'll become if they believe in God, and that's simply not true. Study it yourself and draw your own conclusion about it, don't let some radical define it for you.

If I'm wrong, and there is no God, and this was all just a random coincidence, nothing bad will happen to me when I die, I'll be worm food and that will be that. If I'm right, I'll go to heaven and live in eternal bliss, sounds good to me. Either way, no matter which is true, I'm still gonna strive to be a good person my whole life, that's not gonna change. So why not go with the option that gives me a reward when I die as opposed to my entire life meaning nothing? The only difference in the way I would live if I believed in God or not is just that - believing in God or not.

 

[Ruffyreborn]

Yea try spending some time in the deep south. My brother goes to school in Clemson South Carolina and you would be suprised how upset the locals get if you want to do shit on Sunday.

I live in the south. Kentucky. This is kind of inaccurate, actually. lol

 

[Tyrath]

Atheism is merely not believing in, nothing more and nothing less. Hating all religions is just grossly ignorant bigotry. Not believing in the sayings of stories of a religion is one thing, going out of the way to scream at how it's wrong and "evil" is badly crossing a line. That site seems like the kindof people that'd publicly set up a cross and burn it down just to make an effort to prove their point.

I basically agree with everything she said.

Just like there are religious people who are total wacks and cool religious people who don't bother me at all(I'm a non believer!), there are atheists that are also tool bags.

 

[Uzor]

If I'm wrong, and there is no God, and this was all just a random coincidence, nothing bad will happen to me when I die, I'll be worm food and that will be that. If I'm right, I'll go to heaven and live in eternal bliss, sounds good to me. Either way, no matter which is true, I'm still gonna strive to be a good person my whole life, that's not gonna change. So why not go with the option that gives me a reward when I die as opposed to my entire life meaning nothing? The only difference in the way I would live if I believed in God or not is just that - believing in God or not.

That's why religion exists, as I said before. Everyone is more or less affraid of death. They feel they need to hold on to a hope that the life after death will be great.

The bolded part makes me worried though. Do you really think your entire life on earth will have ment nothing if there's no life after this? isn't that a rather bad attitude to have?

To be honest, that's the reason I don't like religion. I like being in controll of my own life, instead of clinging to the hope that something else controlls it and will fix anything. In my oppinion, life is what you make it. You need to find your own meaning, and live by that meaning. Your entire life won't mean nothing if you have your own meaning. thus, the need for religion is gone.

Just because you have religion, doesn't automatically mean your life have a meaning. Sure, your meaning and reason to be alive might be to be devoted to your religion. ut that creates another problem. If the religion isn't real, then you devoted your whole life to nothing. And then you'll realize your life mean nothing. Personally, I'd like to find my meaning before I die, rather then realize when I'm dead that I devoted my life holding on to the hope that there's something else that will help me. That, if anything, would make me depressed on my death bed.

 

[Zephayra]

I'm part of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster because I like their policy on pirates.

That being said, I'm a firm believer in "people can worship whatever they want, and whatever they like, I just don't want them harassing me to join in". I like different religions, they're fun to study and its interesting to learn how people all over the world cope with life, and with death. I'd like to think that there is some sort of afterlife, whether its a paradise, reincarnation, waiting in a reception room or haunting a house for 10,000 years on earth. However, I don't think you need to believe in a Creator(s) to get there.

 

[Excalibur]

That's why religion exists, as I said before. Everyone is more or less affraid of death. They feel they need to hold on to a hope that the life after death will be great.

The bolded part makes me worried though. Do you really think your entire life on earth will have ment nothing if there's no life after this? isn't that a rather bad attitude to have?

To be honest, that's the reason I don't like religion. I like being in controll of my own life, instead of clinging to the hope that something else controlls it and will fix anything. In my oppinion, life is what you make it. You need to find your own meaning, and live by that meaning. Your entire life won't mean nothing if you have your own meaning. thus, the need for religion is gone.

Just because you have religion, doesn't automatically mean your life have a meaning. Sure, your meaning and reason to be alive might be to be devoted to your religion. ut that creates another problem. If the religion isn't real, then you devoted your whole life to nothing. And then you'll realize your life mean nothing. Personally, I'd like to find my meaning before I die, rather then realize when I'm dead that I devoted my life holding on to the hope that there's something else that will help me. That, if anything, would make me depressed on my death bed.

If we're all alone on this planet, then why does anything mean anything? If there's no consequence or reward for your actions then no, I don't think any of this(life) is relevant. If the world was destroyed, or hell even if one person died what would it matter? It wouldn't if we're the only ones here, in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't make a bit of difference what we do.

 

[Romper]

Might have been said already, but for the hell of it.

Random Guy from SP episode: Would you believe me if I said God was a flying spaghetti monster?

Mr/iss Garrison: It makes perfect sense! God is a flying spaghetti monster! Guess what everybody? I'm an atheist!

 

[Mattaru]

I can undersatnd some people hating all the terrible things done in the name of religion, but whatever thats not me. I think religious is a personal thing and it becomes dangerous when people start looking past their personal relationship with god.

I'm atheist and it is purely a metaphysical opeion of mine.

 

[Nicolette]

FSM here.
http://www.venganza.org/
Your religion is musty and old. Mine grows new bits if you keep it in the fridge too long.

 

[Dejavu]

that link is hilarious

i love their hatemail but i suspect that it is written by a bunch of fanboys rather than real bible thumpers

 

[Halifirien]

So why not go with the option that gives me a reward when I die as opposed to my entire life meaning nothing?

That line of reasoning is what's known as Pascal's Wager. You may as well believe because if God is real, you win when you die. If he's not, then you didn't lose anything. I've never bought it, though. It still assumes the Christian deity is the "right one."

 

[RoM]

Ex touched on somethign i wanted to comment on about 'us' being 'alone' in the universe, etc etc.

I'm fairly positive if anyone's got the right idea about god they live on another planet.

That being said the idea that the human race is/has been/will be the only collection of sentient/spiritual life forms is laughable.

Math > Humanity's various gods.

Slightly more on topic I've been called an atheist but i don't think it's an accurate label. I'm not a 'God' person perse. I am entirely comfortable saying i know enough to know i don't know enough to make that kind of decision for myself, my family, or anyone else for that matter. I take what i can from where i can and piece it together how it makes sense for me. Personally, i'm for faith. Faith is something that's quite tangible and has consequences and reprocussions unlike numerous other attributes many religions share. I don't care wtf you believe in, i care that you believe it. Moreover i care how much you believe it.

That's all that really matters.

If you're right you're the only one who's going to know about it when the time comes.