Why Atheism?

[Morcova]

Do you see guys? This post is exactly what I mean! I mean this poster, as with many Atheists, seems to think everyone has an ulterior motive! This is what corruption of the spirit causes; it causes thinking of this order. With it will come other forms of spiritual diseases, of course, such as envy, strife, back-biting...
Do not accuse me of being hard on Atheists! How can you? There is no denying what I'm saying is correct!
Morcova: What happens after a mod runs an IP address check on my IP and Yomin's IP? What happens if I were to submit some of my activities at synagogue (Beth Israel, San Diego)? What then? Well? Sheepishly come back and say you're sorry? Only to accuse people of ulterior motives later on?

To those of you who think I'm a little harsh on some Ahteists, take heed...

Yes take heed! Some people know what it means to be Jewish and some people know what it means to be a Christian!

But not HR.

 

[NegativeCool]

maybe this has been asked before but i'm just curious. why don't you believe in anything?

I have an internal need for my beliefs to be backed up by a certain amount of evidence. It isn't that I don't want to believe in gods and fairies and ghosts, I just can't due to there being not enough evidence.

I know that this has been said already, but atheists do actually believe in things, things that there are evidence for, things that are grounded in reality.

 

[Cognitive]

But with the rejection of G-d follows the rejection of what G-d stands for. Many reject G-d because immorality appeals to them. I get very critical of these types...

You don't know me well but I come from what you would call a very honor bound family, morality in some cases appeals to my own sense of ethical stand point. However, it is a much different set of morals than what a conventional Christian, or Jew for Jesus... would consider. My morality is not the issue, you believe there are many Atheists that use the term as a shroud to be immoral? It makes sense, and there is evidence such as Hitler(Even though I think it was the being Catholic originally which did him in...) I would have to say over the span of most Atheists it has little to do with morality and just a lack of belief in deities.

Just like fundamentalists on the religious side Atheism has over zealous members which stir the pot a little too much at times. I tend to be that way the majority of time but I wish to be civil at the moment.

Now, I must bid the forum farewell for the night. It is late in my time zone and I have work in 5 hours. HR, don't expect me to always be this nice. I do rather enjoy mockery at times.

 

[NegativeCool]

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

No, I just can't believe in fairy tales any more. At some point I just realised Santa was just another guy with some fancy clothes.

1 Corinthians 13:11

 

[IndomitableAmy]

maybe this has been asked before but i'm just curious. why don't you believe in anything?

Why don't I believe in a deity? because one has not addressed me, I suppose. Because the whole thing doesn't make sense to me, why such a thing as a deity should be.

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

Brain damage, actually. Mine. (Really. Neurological illness.) It wasn't some sort of "why me!" grief, either.. It was sudden, as sudden as my waking up not knowing who I was. Apparently, among other things, I suddenly did not believe in God anymore and mentions of God addressed to me personally made me feel sick. *Boom* Instant atheist. That was the only beginning I know of.
I will admit, though, there were people who did not (and do not) make religion seem appealing.. But I do not think I could believe or disbelieve because on account of that.

I don't know why I believed before.. if it was for any reason other than that I had been raised in religious belief. *shrug* (I figure it was more unhelpful to me than it was helpful.. it had physically and emotionally dangerous consequences for me, though I might not have realized while I was still in it.)

 

[Eudaimonist]

Doesn't he remind you of Yomin Postelnik? All the whining about Dawkins site and such.... after the intellectual beating he got here last time he posted under his name I see why he would start using a sock.

I don't remember Yomin Postelnik.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eudaimonist]

So why have your posts read 'somewhat offensive and high in ridicule' in the first place?! What purpose does that serve? All that happens is people take all that you say the wrong way. Write the way that it should sound and then there will be no ambiguity.

Agreed. All Holy Roller has managed to do is damage his credibility and desirability as a discussion partner. There are far more civil Christians who I would rather speak with at CF.

Treating people with ridicule does not uncover any secret motives. It only reveals the simple truth that no one likes being ridiculed. If you go looking to offend people, you will succeed, and you will be branded a troll in their minds.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Minty]

Agreed. All Holy Roller has managed to do is damage his credibility and desirability as a discussion partner. There are far more civil Christians who I would rather speak with at CF.

Treating people with ridicule does not uncover any secret motives. It only reveals the simple truth that no one likes being ridiculed. If you go looking to offend people, you will succeed, and you will be branded a troll in their minds.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Hear, hear

 

[UncleHermit]

well, this has turned into quiite an interesting thread...

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

I can't think of anyone. Most of the Christians I knew growing up (which was pretty much everyone I knew, including my family) were very nice people.

 

[UncleHermit]

Do you see guys? This post is exactly what I mean! I mean this poster, as with many Atheists, seems to think everyone has an ulterior motive!

Indeed, we now know (Atheists on this forum, Christians, Moderators and agnostics) why I'm exposing the Atheists on this forum for the frauds they are: they are not my enemies; in reading their posts here and at richarddawkins, they hide an evil intent.

 

[Celticflower]

Look. CelticFlower. You have yet to ask the question. When are you going to ask it?
You know, the question about why Yeshua openly and publicly condemned the Pharisees.

Actually I asked you many questions, all of which you chose to ignore. Instead you accuse me of making a comment I did not make. I never said you are no Yeshua (although I don't think I would be far off the mark if I did, given the evidence you have pesented here.)

As for why he condemned the Pharisees - I did say there is a time for anger and discipline did I not?

I don't like ulterior motives, and Atheists are rife with them.

And so to it seems are you.

 

[UncleHermit]

I didn't even see that one!

Do you see guys? This post is exactly what I mean! I mean this poster, as with many Atheists, seems to think everyone has an ulterior motive!

Indeed, we now know (Atheists on this forum, Christians, Moderators and agnostics) why I'm exposing the Atheists on this forum for the frauds they are: they are not my enemies; in reading their posts here and at richarddawkins, they hide an evil intent.

I don't like ulterior motives, and Atheists are rife with them.

 

[Rasta]

well, this has turned into quiite an interesting thread...

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

People like HR were one of my first clues . . . .

How can the Holy Spirit exsist if two people are saying that the Holy Spirit has given them two contradictory messages? As evidenced with this thread!

THANK YOU HR for providing your evidence.

What are the implications of this dynamic?

Well, it is certain that at least one is wrong. So how can it be that at least one individual believes they are communicating with the Holy Spirit if they are not?

Answer: It's all in their head. (for at least one of them)

 

[Celticflower]

Answer: It's all in their head. (for at least one of them)

And for the other it is all in the heart.

 

[Eudaimonist]

And for the other it is all in the heart.

Agreed.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Rasta]

And for the other it is all in the heart.

 

[uberd00b]

Indeed, we now know (Atheists on this forum, Christians, Moderators and agnostics) why I'm exposing the Atheists on this forum for the frauds they are

Is that really what you think you're doing? How are you attempting to accomplish this? By spreading falsehoods about atheism? Isn't that a little...fraudulent?

So far you've managed to embarrass most of the Christians in this thread, yourself and no doubt confirmed to many people why Christianity is not for them. That's a pretty spectacular own goal.

(But please, do go on.)

 

[uberd00b]

well, this has turned into quiite an interesting thread...

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

Simply the fact that it doesn't appear to be true.

After a bit of study of other religions it becomes apparent that they are qualitatively the same as Chrisitianity. There is nothing to tell them apart.

Also from an atheistic viewpoint the world actually makes sense. It's quite a eureka moment for some. Questions that would have begun "Why God..." need no longer be asked.

 

[franklin]

Why atheism?

Basically because it is very liberating for the rational human mind as it enables one to think and reason and accept the world we live in as natural. Atheism is the complete emancipation of the mind from superstition.

As for why you think atheist don't believe in anything? I don't have a clue as to where you have learned that misguided notion but as an atheist/clear thinker, one of the main things I cherish most of all is being kind to my fellow human being. I don't find it necessary to look in some primitive religious book to learn how to not harm others.




Do not be mislead, flock, when they try to join "clear-thinker" up to the word "Atheist", since they are antonyms, if anything. Albert Einstein said so. He said that science without religion is lame (and religion without science is blind).
Atheists will usually pull this trick to try and fool people. It's the oldest trick in the book.

Those of you with a skeptic's mind, if you don't want to follow what I'm saying (I urge you to do, however, for reason's sake), then at least start with what Einstein said. Do not be moved.

This trick they pull is as obnoxious as the "put Darwin's pic next to Dawkins pic" trick. Don't fall for it.

There isn't any tricks being pulled here putna. Atheism is just simply taking reality for what it is right before you plain and simple. IF there is any tricks being pulled, it's the tricks and lie's perpetrated by religious beliefs more than anything. Because I don't believe any religion is based on truth and facts whatsoever. And you can include reality in on that too. It is totally unrealistic to the core. That's the reason religion forces and demands belief only through blind faith. I live by the bright light of reason and "clear thinking".


As for your Einstein comment? I'm willing to bet that he had his tongue in his cheek when he made that statement. He wasn't a believer, he was an atheist. And a very clear thinking one at that.

Here's another quote by Einstein I think you need to ponder your thoughts upon for a moment. Maybe it'll cause you to think too:

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.

 

[Naturalist_Atheist]

well, this has turned into quiite an interesting thread...

so, did anything specifically gear you away from religion? like some certain people?

I think enough people have finished with your first opening question, that I need not comment on it. Other atheists have answered it in the same way I would.

As for your second post...

I think there are people who have never needed to be steered away from religious thinking. Those who were not brought up in a religious family would never have been religious. So for them there would be no outside force to pull them away from religious mentality. It would be natural for them to have no thoughts of God(s)

As for myself, I was raised by my Mother. She was religious, and therefor I did know of God growing up. I was never made to goto church, or read scripture, but I was always reminded that Jesus, and God are real and they watch over us and this and that.... The problem with my Mother being the only religious influence on me as a child, was that I knew from an early age that my Mother was also.. Uh.. different. Not quite normal. I always knew that my Mother had mental problems, and so this helped me to question her religious views.

I actually started on my path to atheism when I was about 11 or 12 years of age. I began by actually praying on my knees in the middle of my room for my Mom. Asking that she be helped, and turned away from drugs. That she would be happy. It was only a matter of time before I started to realize, nothing was happening. Nothing was changing. I felt stupid sitting in the middle of my room talking to the ceiling every night. This is what lead to my realization. It took me awhile before I would outright say, "I do not believe in God." There was a little hesitation at first. Didn't know if I would be struck by lightning or hit by a car. lol

But after a couple years I became more sure of myself. After I learned a bit more of the workings of the world and the universe. School of course helped my understanding. By the time I hit highschool I was convinced of my decision. Of course my Mother was never fond of my conversion. It is only in the past couple years that she will even acknowledge that I'm atheist. Throughout my childhood, I was not allowed to really talk to her about it. Before then she would become furious and either kick me out of the house, disown me, or refuse to discuss it. To this day I really can't express my views in her house. Not that I would want to anymore. lol

So for me, no particular person really pushed me away from God. It was just me following what I felt made the most sense. My Mother brought me to religion, and as I became older I rejected it.