Is any one else on these boards an atheist?

[InsaneApache]

Just being a bit naughty....or am I?

If you have the atheist in you, why? What brought you to that conclusion?

For myself, I shall reveal why, if the thread is positive.

[Lorenzo_H]

oh wow this looks familiar...

[Aenlic]

I became an atheist after beginning to doubt my Methodist upbringing. As a teenager, I asked my pastor one day about something which had been bothering me. Prompted by some news stories at the time, I asked why God allows children, especially innocent babies to be tortured and murdered. His response was that God was calling the child to Heaven. I pointed out that such wasn't my question. If this just and loving God, and most importantly all-powerful and all-knowing God, wanted to call an innocent baby to Heaven, then why allow that innocent baby to be tortured, sexually abused and murdered first? He had no answer; so I went looking for one.

I had already read the Bible cover to cover several times. I did so again. There was no answer. I am unable to believe that a so-called loving and just God would do such a thing, for any reason. That called into question all my other beliefs. I began to discover all of the various inconsistencies in those beliefs. I ceased to be a Christian in any sense. I searched elsewhere, but other religions were also full of blatant inconsistencies. All of them. By high school I was rather well-informed on various religions and belief-systems. I began to take an interest in the history of religion, how early humans developed their myths. At just the right point, I discovered Joseph Campbell. And that was the end of my belief in the mystical. I was cured of a need for ancient archetypes.

[doc_bean]

Although I'd call myself an agnostic, you can pretty much count me as an atheist.

[Don Corleone]

I've toyed with the idea that God doesn't exist. I could truly believe that He does if I hadn't considered the very real possiblity that He does not. I'm just not wired that way though, I'm afraid. 1) I find anecdotal evidence (well, to me) everywhere and 2) even if I could force myself to set all that aside, life rapidly becomes meaningless to me in such a context. As humans, we strive to have purpose. It is fundamental to our nature. Now, I couldn't use this for an argument for a Christian God, because there's plenty of alternate theories on how this hard-wiring for purpose got into our brains. But it certainly points away from 'nothing at all', at least it does to me.

[Lemur]

I've posted previously about the mystery and grandeur of the universe, and how that consistently leads me back to theism. But all I've ever gotten for my pains is smart-aleck kids with sassmouth telling me I'm a ninny, so I'm not going to bother this time.

It's called "faith" because it cannot be proved. You either have it or you don't, and I rather suspect it's genetic in nature. People who have faith, much like people who have a sense of humor, are more apt to survive tragedies and disasters. It's probably an evolutionary advantage to have faith in something bigger.

There, now I've offended everybody. The Christian fundies will hate my evolution-based argument for faith, and the atheists will resent my assertion that they're less survivable. Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls! Merry Christmas, you old savings and loan!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Born and raised.

And Lemur I don't remember calling you a ninny :/ though I did comment on your mystery of the universe thing.

[Dutch_guy]

I consider myself an atheist, yes.

[Somebody Else]

No religion here... I believe in myself, sometimes.

I do like some of the paraphenalia of religion though - there's nothing quite like drunkenly belting out schoolboy hymns in restaurants/bars/taxis/atop some lunatic mountain.

I'm not going to believe something without any basis for doing so, and a whole bunch of people all claiming the same belief doesn't sway me; a whole bunch of people believe, for example, the antics of some peasant footballer are interesting. Not me.

[lancelot]

Im an atheist to the core...I have had many debates with people of the religious persuation...ironically enough, I have yet to 'convert' one to my way of thinking

I often argue my perspective from the following points-

1) Why is Christianity for example a religion, yet many other things are considered wacky cults...only difference I can see is that Christianity has 2000 years of driftwood attached to it...yet this somehow makes it legitimate?

2) Similarly, do people believe in superman or 'the force'? If people went around saying superman was their god, they would be branded as borderline insane...there is as much proof of a god existing as there is superman, so again- why is one legitimate and the other not?

3) Belief in miracles. What is up with that? A large proportion of a human brain is 'unused' and uncharted, yet unexplained things are often atributed to divine intervention...is it not more likely people are unconciously tapping into a part of their 'unused' brain...ala xmen/mutant evolution?

4) Isnt it all a little convenient? Forgiveness for sins, an afterlife that just happens to be paradise, seeing all your relatives again...c'mon people...life isnt that perfect.

I could go on but I'll leave it at that for starters.

[InsaneApache]

Rooney?

[BDC]

Yes, since I was about 7 or 8, and started noticing the major issues I was having reconciling what I read in science-related stuff and was was said in church.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Is any one else on these boards an atheist?

[Lorenzo_H]

I became an atheist after beginning to doubt my Methodist upbringing. As a teenager, I asked my pastor one day about something which had been bothering me. Prompted by some news stories at the time, I asked why God allows children, especially innocent babies to be tortured and murdered. His response was that God was calling the child to Heaven. I pointed out that such wasn't my question. If this just and loving God, and most importantly all-powerful and all-knowing God, wanted to call an innocent baby to Heaven, then why allow that innocent baby to be tortured, sexually abused and murdered first? He had no answer; so I went looking for one.

I had already read the Bible cover to cover several times. I did so again. There was no answer. I am unable to believe that a so-called loving and just God would do such a thing, for any reason. That called into question all my other beliefs. I began to discover all of the various inconsistencies in those beliefs. I ceased to be a Christian in any sense. I searched elsewhere, but other religions were also full of blatant inconsistencies. All of them. By high school I was rather well-informed on various religions and belief-systems. I began to take an interest in the history of religion, how early humans developed their myths. At just the right point, I discovered Joseph Campbell. And that was the end of my belief in the mystical. I was cured of a need for ancient archetypes.

How can you know what is the difference between good and bad, right and wrong without some preliminary knowledge given to you by something.

To put it into perspective, how can you know a line is crooked unless you have seen a straight line before? How can you know when something is wrong, if you don't know what is right?

[Husar]

I believe in myself, sometimes.

So you believe in somebody else?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Justiciar]

I've had a strict Aethiest upbringing. I even attended a State School. That said I was never really lacking piety, and I've been to a Church on a number of occasions. Perhaps it's because of that slip towards faith that I'm having doubts. Perhaps god does exist afterall. Infact, I might even go so far as to call myself an Agnostic. My parents look down on me because of that, but it's what I choose to believe!

[Lorenzo_H]

Wow! you poor child, not an example of freedom of will!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

How can you know what is the difference between good and bad, right and wrong without some preliminary knowledge given to you by something.

To put it into perspective, how can you know a line is crooked unless you have seen a straight line before? How can you know when something is wrong, if you don't know what is right?

Crooked: having or marked by bends or angles

Ta-da!

[Lorenzo_H]

Yeah, but who first found that out? Nice post though...very creative.

[ZombieFriedNuts]

All hail the sensible people and as my dad says religion just an excuse for war

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Yeah, but who first found that out? Nice post though...very creative.

Someone looked at a line that was straight and said: "we'll call this straight"
Then they looked at a line that was crooked and said: "we'll call this crooked"

And thus the English language was born.

[AntiochusIII]

God showed me that Atheism is the right way to go.

[Big_John]

i was basically raised with no concept of god forced upon me by my parents, though they are both theists. i never really thought about the concept until i was probably 10 or so. when i did think about it, i approached it simply as an evidentiary concern. since i saw no evidence of "god", and still don't, i see no reason to believe in it.

[Ice]

Yeah, but who first found that out? Nice post though...very creative.

Diablo, leave them be. If they don't want to believe in God, it's their personal choice. Don't go Jehovah's witness on us.

[Somebody Else]

So you believe in somebody else?

Yep. And that somebody is clearly nobody important, therefore not worth believing in...

[BDC]

Yeah, but who first found that out? Nice post though...very creative.

Someone with a bit of string and 2 sticks...

Maybe the horizon in Beligum.

[Claudius the God]

I find the simple definition of Atheism to be too limiting a definition for self-description. I would say that I'm a Secular Humanist, with views somewhere inbetween Agnosticism and Atheism

are there any other Humanists or Secular Humanists here?

[Blodrast]

Is any one else on these boards an atheist ?

No.
I'm a believer.

And sorry, I must have missed it when it happened last time, but I can't pass it up now:
Lemur is a ninny, Lemur is a ninny...

[Aenlic]

Well that's a separate issue, Claudius. Yes, I'm also consider myself a rationalist and a secular humanist. I came to those positions before I discovered libertarian socialism and thus found much smarter people than myself who had also considered questions such as the one diablodelmar asked. The socialist ideas of mutual aid and mutual benefit arise from the same foundations as secular humanism and concepts of humanist ethics which don't require an outside supernatural source saying basically, "you must be good because I said so!"

[Lemur]

And Lemur I don't remember calling you a ninny :/ though I did comment on your mystery of the universe thing.

Not only did you call me a ninny, you said I had poopy pants. And then you danced around and poked a stick in my eye. I remember all of this clearly.

Lemur is a ninny, Lemur is a ninny...

You see? You see how the mean kids treat me? That does it, I'm taking my marbles and running home to mommy.