are you an atheist ? whats your theory ? im an atheist

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The situations are not the same. When we were born, we hadn't ever lived. When we die, we have lived.

Why has just about every atheist I've ever come across always announced the fact that he or she is an atheist in the first minute or two of any discussion? Just curious.....

I believe in Jesus. What I find interesting is that I'm finding that more Aspies are usually Atheists or Agnostics and a lot of NT's are religious. I never even met an Atheist until I went to Aspies Central. Of course, I'm still going to believe what I believe, but it sure was interesting to hear how the other side thinks. I don't believe in the Big Bang either. Someone would have had to light the Big Bang to make it bang, you know? I've seen too many things in the hospital too when patients die to not believe that there is a place we go to beyond this reality. This world has its perks, but if this was all there was, I would really be depressed.

Are you overtly religious? Do you frequently reference a god in conversation? Are you an ordained minister who wears religious garb wherever you go? Are you a street preacher who initiates conversations about a god with random strangers on the street? Are you talking primary about people on the internet who tend to be less reserved and more inclined to wear their personal beliefs (or lacks thereof) on their sleeves?

Perhaps you're simply underestimating how many atheists you've come into contact with. Most atheists I know tend not to be remotely interested in the subject of faith until it's raised by someone who is.

For me, the majority of the time I don't mention it. Maybe, you are assuming some atheists are religious because they don't announce they are non-believers.

Reginald D. Hunter says he once tried to spend a whole day in rural Georgia pretending that he had never heard of Jesus. And people there are still mad at him for it.

There are physical illnesses that are much worse than any fear of death.

At least one of those physical illnesses, I experience for over five years;

Type Two Trigeminal Neuralgia, is like someone drilling teeth without novocaine;

from wake to sleep; and in my case a pain worse

than anything imaginable to me before; in my

right eye and ear; making effective use of my sight and hearing almost

impossible for over five years; along with a synergy of 18 life threatening catastrophic

illnesses as whole; make me a firm believer that death is the greaTEST BLESSING OF ALL.

I DO NOT FEAR DEATH at all; I have 100% faith
in GOD; as GOD all naturally cures me of
19 medically documented disorders through
innate instinct and intuition after escaping
all the lies of culture and religion.

God is REAL. Death is a blessing and REAL; and considering how large this thingy named
Infinity is; what eventuAlly happens after death, as far as any chances of becoming a
sentient creature are still very much on the table, for anyone with common sense;
However, the details of that are well within the realm of all natural GOD; and will
likely never be fully understand by puny little human being grey matter between
the ears; even with big tools of scientific method science; but without fear of
death and human bliss in the heaven of now; every now is heaven; there is
no perception of time; whereas in the real hell of reality now; every second
is an eternity of real hell now; I've been to both places; and trust me
ya do not wanna go to the second place; unless
you get out with the heaven of NOW
perspective; I for one
have
now.

Anything that increases fears in the existential anxiety of
human is bad stuff; and whatever removes that
fear for a better life is good stuff; so
if people wanna believe in pink
unicorns and fairy dust;
and it removes anxiety
as the source of most
human stress, misery,
suffering, and even
premature death;
go for it; I dam
sure ain't gonna
call one the
dummy one; as
long as one leaves
this 'place' with
a smile on
one's face
now;
and then
as now..

The key to life is WHATEVER WORKS;
AND HUMAN IMAGINATION, DREAMS,
AND CREATIVITY ARE NO SMALL
TOOLS OF POTENTIAL
HEAVEN IN NOW..

Those who fail to use ALL the human
tools available for human happiness;
are the real fools in eyes of human
happiness; and IN frigging simple
now to now; PEACE OF MIND
AND BODY BALANCE;
COMFORTABLE
FINaLLY
in one'S
OWN SKIN;
NOW 'TILL DEATH
DO US PART, NOW..

I'm none of those things. During my adult life I've veered between Agnosticism and some sort of faith in a superior, creative power ('God', if you will). Some of the issues and arguments seem to me exceptionally difficult, obscure and even incomprehensible, and I am generally wary of taking a dogmatic attitude in discussing them. I was referring to the fact that on numerous occasions I've heard people wading into such discussions by stating very dominantly at the outset "I'm an atheist", and often giving the impression this is the foundation on which their views are built, rather than a (tentative) position based on their (imperfect) understanding of (incomplete) evidence.

I get the impression that in my country at least, militant atheism is every bit as polemical and intolerant as many types of religious fundamentalism.

Hah, love his work. I'd never heard that before, but I believe he answered an interview question about Jesus by asking if he was a Mexican superhero - though that might actually have been Frankie Boyle. I'd have to look it up.



The reason I asked for more background is because what you're describing is completely alien to me, and I've lived all over the UK. There are outspoken fanatics of pretty much any background, often among the recently converted, but the topic of religion tends not to come up without cause or provocation.



Could you define exactly what you mean by militant atheism? Are you suggesting that parts of modern Britain are analogous to Leninist Russia or akin to the destruction of catholic churches in China, or are you merely being hyperbolic?

^ Well I was referring to people who often proclaim their atheism quite ostentatiously at the outset, within the confines of discussions related to religious topics. I wasn't meaning to suggest such people knock on my door out of the blue to proclaim "I'm an atheist", nor was I describing them as 'fanatics'.

And yes, I was using the word 'militant' figuratively. No-one ever thought the Militant Tendency in the 1980s Labour Party was an armed organization bent on carrying out murders or physical destruction, despite its embracing the word in question.

Thanks for the clarification, DeepHour. You'd be amazed how often such requests are ignored or evaded.

I think in the situations you describe, it's simply a shorthand way of establishing a bit of perspective regarding their views or identity rather than a sign of strident or militant (however mild) anti-theism. Are you equally critical of theists who do the same?

If people are genuinely trying to understand what will happen after life, they should atleast try to understand our scientific discoveries. That is by the way what a true atheist would do. Of course one would meet alot of possible answers to these questions in the process of understanding the functions of the Universe, and so my number 1 advise would be that you do not settle with these answers until you gain an even deeper understanding. I believe that we already have the answers to this; your physical matter would be consumed by your surroundings, which is the earth in the case of burial, and your thermodynamical energy would also be absorbed by the earth until your body is at the same temperature as the earth you are buried between. As for your consciousness, which I believe is what you really are discussing, I believe the brain is what produces this, thus your consciousness would simply be no more after your body is dead.

That's a difficult question to answer well. I'm pretty sure I found theistic arguments unconvincing in the past, because they seemed unclear, unreal, contrived, circular or whatever. But I think my attitude to this has more to do with emotional attachments than logic.

I still feel an affinity to the values of the small-town community I grew up in during the 1960s and 1970s, which were partly religious in origin and as far from those of 'Swinging London' as it was possible to get: family life, sense of community, politeness, restraint, and just about everything else you might associate with Mid-20th Century Britain.

The environment I moved into at university and later at work in 'academia' couldn't have been more different: essentially dominated by the Cult of the Self (Economic Liberalism/Thatcherism on the right, Social Liberalism and 'Identity Politics' on the left), and a sneering, dismissive attitude to traditional religious ideas. The more I've experienced and thought about the society which has emerged since about 1980, the more I've come to despise and reject it.

A good few years ago, I attended a debate at one of the old Wren churches in the City of London, between an Atheistic senior journalist from The Guardian or The Independent (I forget his name) and an old-fashioned churchman (I think it was the Bishop of Winchester). The journalist was ever so 'smart', delivering his arguments with a witty flourish and pausing to smirk at the audience and the Bishop, whenever he made a telling point. His opponent by contrast was far less entertaining and articulate, bumbling his way through the usual clichés about Human Free Will, the Grace of God, Christian Charity and so on. The audience clearly felt the journalist had 'won' the debate, but I was in no doubt which of the two gentlemen I'd have wanted on my side in a crisis.....

So really, though I find the academic arguments on both sides full of inconsistencies, special pleading and insoluble issues, my sympathies do lie on the theist side, for essentially irrational reasons. Oddly enough, I recognise that the acerbic, sometimes cynical, destructive logic often deployed by Atheists against their opponents, is something I struggle against within myself, without much success - so there's probably an element of self-loathing involved.

My initial post by the way was an off-the-wall, light-hearted remark about a certain type of stereotypical atheist. I don't think it's amenable to any amount of laserbeam logic-chopping or spectrometer-type analysis. Here's a joke I saw a few hours ago on the internet, which maybe shows that the same phenomenon has been observed by at least some other people:

https://twitter.com/mctuthill/status/532504591439777792


BTW, what the hell is a 'CrossFitter'?

No one honestly knows.



As above.



Okay. Well, you could start by researching "Near Death Experiences". Raymond Moody's book "Life After Life" is a good place to start, even though it has now been quite some time since it was first published.

YES! That happens to me too! A lot. Why do they always do this? Right now I am sitting next to an atheist who, without anyone asking about it or even hinting, just straight out said, "I'm an atheist". What is it with these people and their need to preach?

This has happened to me too. They usually state it with a sense of smug superiority too, that makes one just want to punch them in the face.



That's because it is just as intolerant.