Any atheists here?

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I am of the opinion that the existence or non-existence of the gods is irrelevant. We have to deal with the world as it IS, regardless of how it come to be. If the gods exist we have not get the means to comprehend their nature and if they don't exist there is no such nature to comprehend. Either way we are in the same situation. Here we are, as we are and here is the world in which we either live or die. In the last analysis all we have is ourselves and each other.

I am sure the Rabbi who presided at my bar mitzvah would excoriate me as "Apakoros" (epicurean). For the Epicureans, the gods were irrelevant.

ruveyn

ruveyn

In humanity's history natural phenomena were invested with intent and were attributed to godly intervention into human affairs. Today fundamentalists who declare that tsunamis or earthquakes or hurricanes are the vengeance of the gods or of the Christian God is considered by most reasonable people to be slightly nuts. So, in general, the gods seem not to have a noticeable effect on ordinary life and the debate as to their existence is pushed back to absolute belief in the Bible or to areas where science is uncertain like the origin of the universe. My own outlook is that there is no discernible direct evidence for a God so it plays no part in my concept of existence.

God lives in the gaps where our reason and knowledge do not reach. The progress of science is narrowing the gaps at a pace. Think of God as a placeholder for our ignorance. Theists, fear not! There is more in heaven and earth than can be accounted for by our sciences, so God will not be unemployed. He will just be marginalized. And as long has people hit their thumbs with hammers, God's name will never be forgotten.

ruveyn

The bus is wise.

And in a world that is all thumbs religion reigns supreme.

Well done!

Edit:


Sorry, but allow me to piss on this idea further. This shows undeniably that you couldn't care less what is true or not. You want to believe whatever is "edgy" or "cool". These are your f*****g beliefs we're talking about. This is how you determine what is right or wrong. Who the f**k cares what is "mainstream" or not? What are you, an emo kid? "I don't care if music has talent, I just need to make sure I listen to the most obscure bands imaginable so the other kids will think I'm hardcore." Go back to highschool.

And also, when has it ever been "conforming" to NOT do something? Is that even possible? It's the people that latch onto an idea that are going along with the herd. Unless you live outside of North America, these "mainstream" Atheists are a very small minority.

That statement is about as telling as



Of course! Why question? Why not just submit! It's like an opiate! An opiate of the masses! So peaceful! Hell, I'm going to believe there's sugary rainbows and cotton candy puppydogs in my backyard, that I have infinite stores of money and that girls don't go to the bathroom because it makes me feel so peaceful! Just leave me alone and let me live in my world! You ignorant skeptics with your.... SCIENCE....

We live in a very real world with very real consequences for your actions. Your beliefs inform your actions. You people who just don't want to know, or say we cannot know anything, want our perceptions to stay cloudy, full of mystery because you think if we learn about this universe it will suddenly lose its beauty to cold, calculating science. You people are morons. Not only are you hampering real progress but you are giving license, even protecting the people who use people's gullibility and religious faith to cheat, steal and commit atrocities.

There is much more beauty in experiencing reality than human minds can pull out of their asses. Sorry if that's not an objective statement.

The ignorant skeptics with their ... SCIENCE.... have provided you with a computer on which you can spew to your heart's content.

ruveyn

that's kind of my point. Are you agreeing with me here?

I would like to subscribe to your new belief system.

Once you apply Occam's Razor to religious belief, and also recognise that nothing can truly be known as irrefutably true either, then you find that the only sensible thing to do is believe in whats most healthy for you. Neither the 'faith' nor the 'proof of non-existence of god' are feasible , so its a tail-chasing exercise. A cotton candy puppydog tail-chasing exercise!

That's silly. Sure, no one can claim absolute certainty about anything but to function in the real world around us we are best served to construct as accurate a model of reality as we can. There is overwhelming evidence at every step to support this. You don't drive your car under the assumption that you will pass through stopped traffic unharmed. You step on the f*****g brake because we are as certain as we can possibly be that driving a car into a solid object can kill you. When your child is deathly sick and you choose to pray for her instead of getting her medical treatment, you should be charged for her death. Our society instead applauds criminal ignorance. Nobody imagines that a society that treats rationality with disgust and intellectualism with sneers can cause real damage and that is intolerable.

It's not only tolerable, it got G.W.Bush elected twice.

Agnostic Athiest: I don't belive in any form of god/-s, but I don't rule out that they might exist. (Whatever they are doing, if they do.)

I think it's funny, an anti-theist atheist is a religius form of atheist, since (s)he is building his/hers beliefs on a unconfirmed (= no evidence) feeling that there is no god(s). No matter that evidence is presented to prove otherwise. They are simply fanatics.

And for the records, You people that are saying that you are "Agnostic" and nothing more, that's like aswering "I don't know." if some one asks you if you are in pain. Either you are, or you are not, just as either you are an athiest or you are not.

I don't think he realized you were sarcastic.

Yes of course!
either in pain or not
Just as you are.....
either black or caucasian
either right-wing or left-wing
either part of the solution or part of the problem
either a patriot or a traitor
either a nondrinker or an alcoholic
either a gay-marriage supporter or a bigot homophobe
either a feminist or a misogyinist
either a Kanner's autistic or NT

Wow - a lot going on here!

@zOrp, and zOrp's critics-by-virtue-of-age -

I have met 15 year olds whom I find vastly more wise and rational than most 30, 40, 50 year olds I've met. Rock on zOrp! Just so long as you never start believing that you or anyone else is all-knowing.

@Transplantman -

I think you've said most of what I would, only probably clearer.

@The thread in general -

On atheists who also believe in crazy things like karma and ghosts - count me as one of them. I do have *some* scientific basis for those beliefs, but only some - which is why you won't see me arguing their existence with much vehemence.

On that in-between of believing for its psychological usefulness - I am an atheist who also practices neo-Paganism and Wicca. While I do not literally believe I am invoking a deity in the form of a coyote, using such imagery in my meditation gives my very imagery-driven human brain a point of focus. Our minds naturally wish to take something we don't fully understand or don't have a visual picture of - such as the Unifying Field of cosmic consciousness - and relate it to something we do recognize. "For me, it's kind of like a rainbow of light ... or the coyote trickster of Indian lore ... or if it were a person, it would look like Halle Berry in the first X-Men ..."

To that end, remove the "it's kind of like" part, and poof! You have created a god!


- Jo; Off to conjure the image of an Aboriginal Deity of Car Transmissions. Wonder what kind of sacrifice he/she/it would enjoy?

Wow - a lot going on here!

@zOrp, and zOrp's critics-by-virtue-of-age -

I have met 15 year olds whom I find vastly more wise and rational than most 30, 40, 50 year olds I've met. Rock on zOrp! Just so long as you never start believing that you or anyone else is all-knowing.

@Transplantman -

I think you've said most of what I would, only probably clearer.

@The thread in general -

On atheists who also believe in crazy things like karma and ghosts - count me as one of them. I do have *some* scientific basis for those beliefs, but only some - which is why you won't see me arguing their existence with much vehemence.

On that in-between of believing for its psychological usefulness - I am an atheist who also practices neo-Paganism and Wicca. While I do not literally believe I am invoking a deity in the form of a coyote, using such imagery in my meditation gives my very imagery-driven human brain a point of focus. Our minds naturally wish to take something we don't fully understand or don't have a visual picture of - such as the Unifying Field of cosmic consciousness - and relate it to something we do recognize. "For me, it's kind of like a rainbow of light ... or the coyote trickster of Indian lore ... or if it were a person, it would look like Halle Berry in the first X-Men ..."

To that end, remove the "it's kind of like" part, and poof! You have created a god!


- Jo; Off to conjure the image of an Aboriginal Deity of Car Transmissions. Wonder what kind of sacrifice he/she/it would enjoy?

If you one day tell me there's a dragon in your backyard, I'm not "religious" for believing there isn't a dragon in your backyard. If it's a silly belief pulled out of ones ass without any real reason to believe it, I am justified in disbelieving it. It's all about likelihood. If something is very unlikely, I am justified in believing it isn't so. Likewise, you don't "know" I don't have a pet leprechaun in my garage, but you are quite justified believing I don't.

And yes, It's true. Either you believe, or you don't. There is no fence to sit on here. But it's spelled "Atheist".

JoJerome - Remember that believing something is "useful" doesn't make it true. I'm a very "artsy" person and that's where I get off. I can appreciate mind-trips and the feeling of elevated consciousness, surrealist films, even what you'd call meditation, and I get the same thrill now as I did back when I believed It was truly "transcendental". I don't need to believe in new-age spiritualism to appreciate exploring my own mind and emotions, as well as aesthetic beauty... just something to think about. You don't seem to "literally" believe in paganism or wicca, but Im guessing you are practicing them for the same head-rushes I get when I smoke a bowl and listen to Pink Floyd... it's all in good fun, you don't need to actually believe something magical is going on. We live in a seemingly infinite sea of stars, we are made up of a seemingly infinite sea of particles, all spiralling and working together. Isn't that magical enough?