Good reason to be an atheist?(moved from Christian Appologetics)

juvenissun · Jul 9, 2009

Alhamdulilah said:
Atheism is not really a religion one chooses, to them it seems right because they can prove allot with science, but if you study science enough you CAN prove god, of course you need to study everything else too.

No. Science can NOT prove God. No matter how much you study.

To me, one of the most significant character of all atheists is that they do not have enough curiosity. They stopped ask questions.

Gregor Rayne · Jul 9, 2009

I'm actually not sure that the question is particularly intelligible. Why do you want to believe in gravity or that the earth revolves around the sun?

Believing something is true has little to do with what one "wants" to be true. Most atheists probably interpret available evidence as either indicating that God does not exist, or as being incapable of supporting a conclusion that God does exist. I think that everyone wants all of their beliefs to not be false.

Bravo. Best response I read. Atheism (at least for me) was not something I decided to start 'following', but was the end result after a lot of questions were answered, or rather not answered.

But, to keep the conversation going, in response to the OP, a good reason to be an Atheist: You keep your reason, your answers aren't provided by non-answers, aka faith. In no other area of life does one accept answers to inquires by means of 'simply believing'. Everyone has a line of logic or deductive reasoning to do anything they do. So, if Atheism could be classified by a certain set of beliefs or non-beliefs and was contrasted to theism, that would be answer as to why it's good to be an Atheist: to remain consistent with ourselves and remove the faith element.

jarrettcpr · Jul 9, 2009

I think it has been said before, but I think atheists view that they believe in truth through science/empircal evidence, and so far all of their evidence tells them that there is no God.

As far as a good reason, I guess they see it as seeking truth, and who doesn't want to seek truth.

JGG · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
To me, one of the most significant character of all atheists is that they do not have enough curiosity. They stopped ask questions.

May I say that this seems backwards to me. To me the concept of faith is necessarily the end of curiosity. I have always seen faith as deciding on an answer to a question for the sake of having an answer. I mean no offense, but your own story of choosing a belief system before you actually believed in it seems like a good example.

So out of curiosity, which questions do you think I have stopped asking?

Gary51 · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
Yes. I chose first. Then I "gradually" believe. For me, it takes 25+ years to make my faith solid.

I believe this is not an uncommon experience for many Christians.

I see. So you chose something that you didn't believe in and then after time you came to believe it.

Why would anyone choose a religion they don't believe in?

praisejahupeople · Jul 10, 2009

Gregor Rayne said:
Bravo. Best response I read. Atheism (at least for me) was not something I decided to start 'following', but was the end result after a lot of questions were answered, or rather not answered.

But, to keep the conversation going, in response to the OP, a good reason to be an Atheist: You keep your reason, your answers aren't provided by non-answers, aka faith. In no other area of life does one accept answers to inquires by means of 'simply believing'. Everyone has a line of logic or deductive reasoning to do anything they do. So, if Atheism could be classified by a certain set of beliefs or non-beliefs and was contrasted to theism, that would be answer as to why it's good to be an Atheist: to remain consistent with ourselves and remove the faith element.

most of scientific reasoning behind atheism/ naturalism is based on faith.I put on a lab coat and point at a lemur,tell you its an ancestor,you say yes sir.

pdudgeon · Jul 10, 2009

MOD NOTE

this thread has been moved from it's previous home in Christian Appologetics.

please continue posting.

Eudaimonist · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
Why would people want to be an atheist?

I never thought to myself: "Gee, what would I like to be...? Hey, I know! An atheist! What a great choice!"

I had no choice over my atheism. All I had was the choice to carefully examine my beliefs, and this examination lead me to become an atheist. My motivation was to understand reality as honestly as I could.

But to my experience, one "should" have a religious belief.

Not in my experience. I can't think of a single reason why I "should" have a religious belief.

eudaimonia,

Mark

Eudaimonist · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
Yes. I chose first. Then I "gradually" believe. For me, it takes 25+ years to make my faith solid.

This is completely alien to my life. I do not "choose" my beliefs because I am interested in understanding reality for what it is, not for what I might like it to be.

Choosing beliefs sounds like a lack of honesty with oneself. That's like choosing to believe that the Moon is made of green cheese. Perhaps after 25+ years of telling myself this I might feel like I truly believe this, but what damage have I done to myself?

eudaimonia,

Mark

Eudaimonist · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
To me, one of the most significant character of all atheists is that they do not have enough curiosity. They stopped ask questions.

Absolutely false. Atheists are generally intensely curious people. We simply don't ask the questions you want us to ask, because we've already answered them and have moved on to other questions.

eudaimonia,

Mark

Dharma Wheel · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
How could "no god" lead to any enlightenment?

Buddhism claims no god. But it pursues a personal status which is equivalent to being a god. If one recognized there exist something after this life, he is not an atheist.

But in Buddhism, devoution to the gods does not lead to enlightenment, therefore ''no god'' can lead to enlightenment regardless of the belief in the afterlife or ''personal status which is equivalent to being a god''.

juvenissun · Jul 10, 2009

Gary51 said:
I see. So you chose something that you didn't believe in and then after time you came to believe it.

Why would anyone choose a religion they don't believe in?

Because there is a desire to choose one. That is the key.

juvenissun · Jul 10, 2009

jarrettcpr said:
I think it has been said before, but I think atheists view that they believe in truth through science/empircal evidence, and so far all of their evidence tells them that there is no God.

As far as a good reason, I guess they see it as seeking truth, and who doesn't want to seek truth.

So far, all he evidences said that we do not really know anything.

How could that even begin to satisfy any truth seeking person? If I were an atheist, I would be very very depressed because of that.

juvenissun · Jul 10, 2009

Dharma Wheel said:
But in Buddhism, devoution to the gods does not lead to enlightenment, therefore ''no god'' can lead to enlightenment regardless of the belief in the afterlife or ''personal status which is equivalent to being a god''.

The state of enlightenment is beyond the domain of atheism. So, Buddhism IS a religion. A Buddhist is not an atheist.

Penumbra · Jul 10, 2009

Someone should follow what they believe is true. So a good reason to be an atheist is because you don't believe in any gods. That's misleading, though, because by not believing in any gods, you're already an atheist whether you want to use that particular term or not.

I do not have the ability to "choose" what I believe in. I can't choose a particular religion and decide that it is true and I will follow it.

juvenissun said:
Yes. I chose first. Then I "gradually" believe. For me, it takes 25+ years to make my faith solid.

I believe this is not an uncommon experience for many Christians.

So you picked a religion that you did not believe in, and then forced yourself to believe it over 25 years? That's not something I have the ability or the desire to do to myself.

-Lyn

Penumbra · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
The state of enlightenment is beyond the domain of atheism. So, Buddhism IS a religion. A Buddhist is not an atheist.

Atheism doesn't mean you are not religious. It means you don't believe in gods. The two are not necessarily synonymous.

-Lyn

juvenissun · Jul 10, 2009

Penumbra said:
Atheism doesn't mean you are not religious. It means you don't believe in gods. The two are not necessarily synonymous.

-Lyn

I don't have that concept.

Could you define "religion" for me? To me, no "after life", no religion. And atheism or atheist to me means people do not believe the existence of after-life.

jarrettcpr · Jul 10, 2009

juvenissun said:
So far, all he evidences said that we do not really know anything.

How could that even begin to satisfy any truth seeking person? If I were an atheist, I would be very very depressed because of that.

That's not how science works.

Science is based off of the scientific method... meaning you must be able to show and prove something and that needs empirical data. God, can neither be shown to exist or not exist, and one cannot get empirical data to either prove nor disprove God, so therefore using science to seek truth (using the scientific method) will say that there is no God (at least for now).

Atheists view one day, science will prove everything... which they view as truth... and therefore makes very good reason why one may be an atheist. They see things as material/empirical/calculated and believe that so for there is no evidence of a God, and therefore there is no God (again, at least for now).

As Carl Sagan said, "I don't want to believe, but I want to know." He was an agnostic, and also said, "that the idea of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely old universe."

So, I really don't know why one would be an atheist, but better yet, an agnostic. Though there is ambiguity in the word atheist. Meaning there's no one set/true meaning to the word atheist. Some say atheist is simply one who doesn't believe in a deity. Others say atheist is one who is very confident that no God at all exists. So, some would say Carl Sagan was an atheist b/c he didn't believe in a God, but never did he say there is not a God.

juvenissun · Jul 10, 2009

Penumbra said:
Someone should follow what they believe is true. So a good reason to be an atheist is because you don't believe in any gods. That's misleading, though, because by not believing in any gods, you're already an atheist whether you want to use that particular term or not.

I do not have the ability to "choose" what I believe in. I can't choose a particular religion and decide that it is true and I will follow it.

So you picked a religion that you did not believe in, and then forced yourself to believe it over 25 years? That's not something I have the ability or the desire to do to myself.

-Lyn

No. It was not like that.
I chose a religion which I did not know much about (no acceptance, no rejection). I was simply trying to understand it.

I ended up accept it not because of anything forced me into it. I accept it because it eventually answers ALL of my questions in a satisfactory and convincing way. Notice it took a long time to convince me, not in one week or one year. The key is: before it convinced me, I did not reject it. That is very important.

Super_Rational · Jul 10, 2009

praisejahupeople said:
most of scientific reasoning behind atheism/ naturalism is based on faith.I put on a lab coat and point at a lemur,tell you its an ancestor,you say yes sir.

Wow, somebody's obviously not a scientist. I suggest you go to a scientific seminar at a local university. There are always people in the audience waiting to pounce on mistakes/bad science. Sounds like you learned your science from Kent Hovind.

Good reason to be an atheist?(moved from Christian Appologetics)

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