If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

[FictionJunction]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

That's easy. Your beliefs call theirs into question. No one likes having their core values attacked on any level. (How many people like being told that they are/could be wrong when they don't ask? Let's not kid ourselves, even school-enforced constructive criticism isn't a pleasurable experience.) The natural human reaction to having your core values attacked is to get all defensive and possibly to attack the attacker in retaliation. As such, being logical is a horrible thing to some people. You just happen look down on this because science and logic tell you you're right and they're wrong.

You may not understand (I'm not going to assume you do or do not) how people can be religious because you look at religion purely from the scientific point of view and have ever since you started questioning Catholicism in the first place. I will admit it's not at all an easy thing to examine religion while completely ignoring science, but it's the only way to understand where religious folk are coming from.

Members of <insert organized religion here> should be apathetic to other's beliefs. It's that simple.
People shouldn't put their beliefs to quesiton merely because atheists/agnostics do. The fact that people even doubt their faith just goes to show that they aren't even sure that they should be believing it.

[iggymatrixcounter]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Many of the writings in the Bible were written hundreds of years after Jesus died.

Unless you're talking about a catholic Bible, no book from the Bible canon was written 100s of years after Jesus' death. 98 C.E. was the date of the last books written (John wrote them).

Sorry had to side point XD.

To go along with kilga, I don't see why people who believe in religion have to throw out scientific logic. I mean yes there are things in the Bible that science cannot explain, but it's not like there's a scientific point that we have proven that contradicts what the Bible says either. (That I know of at least).

[Reach]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Christianity is the oldest religon out there, and it has more evidence than the rest that it is the true religion.

evidence?




I'd say the age from when you begin to question things depends...it depends on your intelligence level, it depends on your parents and it depends on your friends. It's different for everyone. Some people never question anything...which is kind of sad actually. I think everyone needs to question their beliefs and reflect on themselves and the world around them in a critical manner. I respect all religious people that have real faith, but blind faith is pretty annoying.

I don't know what your life experiences have brought you, but every atheist I've ever talked to knew more about the Bible, religion, etc than your average Christian. (Which is really ironic XD)

In fact atheists are always the best to talk to about religion because they think logically and aren't afraid of giving you the facts over some slant on a subject. (based on my experiences)

Yea. Actually I could go as far as saying in general atheists are more intelligent, even though this would probably piss some peopel off. Not to say I havn't seen or met plenty of religious people that are intelligent, that's not the point. It's a correlation. Most critical atheists are highly skeptical, educated and generally bright people. Skepticism is a really strong trait for intelligence.

It's kind of the common denominator. You can be religious and a skeptic, and most highly intelligent religious people are. They just see things in another light.

Mind you I don't really classify blind atheism as atheism.


Intelligence probably scares people. People are scared of things they don't understand.

[iggymatrixcounter]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Intelligence probably scares people. People are scared of things they don't understand.

True but sometimes I don't think it's just that. I think it's that they are complacent with what they know right now and don't want to rock the boat because (like bandit's story) you almost become an outcast.

I also believe that people get into this paradigm of thinking of what religion is supposed to be and that's why you have people who throw out any and all ideas... because they don't line up with what they already know. (which lines up with what you said about people fearing intelligence)

[Reach]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Oh I know there are many factors involved. I just kind of spat it out because it's one of those fairly obvious answers that noone wants to say, even though they know it's true XD

I mean your family and your friends are going to have an incredible impact on your decision. I think if you are allowed to explore your own mind, most people will come to their own conclusions. However, it isn't that hard to influence someones ability to do this, and dragging them off to church all the time and having an entire family that is telling you that God is the only way doesn't help much for your own thoughts.


But then there are still lots and lots of people that will never ever come out of their box even when they're shown the other side of the story. They're stubbron, ignore evidence, don't consider alternate ideas or modifying their viewpoint, and persist to propagate fallacy. Call them fanatics or whatever you'd like...I'd just call them stupid. They usually arn't the most inspiring people to talk to.


My friend is a jehova's witness. The guy is extremely cool and fun, and really quite an intelligent person to talk to. I mean, I completely don't agree with his beliefs, and when you talk to the guy I don't think he believes in an ounce of some of the things he does, but his family is so absolutely fanatic about their religion he doesn't really have much of a choice about it while in that house.

[rade0110]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Unless you're talking about a catholic Bible, no book from the Bible canon was written 100s of years after Jesus' death. 98 C.E. was the date of the last books written (John wrote them).

Yes catholic Bible sorry XD. It's said that the first 'complete' Catholic Bible wasn't finished until around 600 A.D.

[iggymatrixcounter]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

*Jehovah's Witness is how you spell it I do believe.

But I can understand where he comes from. When your beliefs are so different than everyone elses, it's hard to explain it in a way that people understand, so usually things are glossed over so people will leave you alone XD.

[RandomPscho]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

With regard of other people telling you that you should believe in god, it brings up another (what I call) problem with religion; control. The person is scared that you will go to hell, so much so that they try to impose their believes onto you.

Most atheist know more about religion because they almost need an exuse and explanation for their disbelief of god. This confuses me, because I am not blindy following an idea that has no tangable evidense of, other than a book written long ago. It would seem as though an atheist would require approval of another one's religion because there is no evidense of it. There is evidense for being atheist; the absense of proof of a higher being.

[GuidoHunter]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

The money that goes into the higher ups (Denominational leaders,etc). Not priests or pastors, they are as controlled as anyone else.

And those people lead lavish lives funded by the poor, "controlled" masses? Right.

You know that every Catholic church's finances are public record? If I went into my church right now and asked to see their books, they'd let me.

Religion, or at least Catholicism, was used as a way for people to make money, (e.g. indulgences).

THIS JUST IN: CATHOLICISM TODAY ISN'T THE SAME AS IT WAS 1000 YEARS AGO, OR EVEN 50. It boggles my mind why people even bother to bring up a religion's history to judge it today...

I thought doubting the doctrines of <insert branch of Christianity here> was a sin? At least it is heavily frowned upon in Catholicism, that much I can say.

[buzzer noise] Try again, bud. In fact, it's encouraged, as the only way to become truly devout is to question your faith, understand why you believe what you do, and feel secure in it. Really, the most devout people are converts to a religion, since they sincerely believe in it and understand that, as opposed to the people who were reared in the religion and just follow it out of habit. My questioning of my faith is the reason I have such an appreciation for it today.

Unless you're talking about a catholic Bible, no book from the Bible canon was written 100s of years after Jesus' death. 98 C.E. was the date of the last books written (John wrote them).

All of the apocryphal books are in the Old Testament, and were thus written well before Jesus' time.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[spyke252]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Christianity is the oldest religon out there, and it has more evidence than the rest that it is the true religion.

I come into this thread, and the first thing I see is this.

Christianity is NOT the oldest religion out there. Judeaism (sp?) existed during and way before Jesus' time, it even says in the Bible. (Reach, if you could please point to me who said it...)

And more evidence? True Religion? Where do you get all that from?

[RandomPscho]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

THIS JUST IN: CATHOLICISM TODAY ISN'T THE SAME AS IT WAS 1000 YEARS AGO, OR EVEN 50. It boggles my mind why people even bother to bring up a religion's history to judge it today...

Guido, if religion is always changing, how can it be rite?

[GuidoHunter]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

The religion hasn't changed, but the practices have.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[FictionJunction]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

[buzzer noise] Try again, bud. In fact, it's encouraged, as the only way to become truly devout is to question your faith, understand why you believe what you do, and feel secure in it. Really, the most devout people are converts to a religion, since they sincerely believe in it and understand that, as opposed to the people who were reared in the religion and just follow it out of habit. My questioning of my faith is the reason I have such an appreciation for it today.

My confirmation leader would detest when I questioned anything from mere practices to the Bible. I used to converse with the priests at my church. They'd mock me by saying "You just don't understand, my son," "You shall soon be enlightened." etc. Honestly, I don't find Blind Faith appealing.. so I won't be 'enlightened' by or through it. I renounced Catholicism because I couldn't doubt what I was doing as a Catholic.
I will agree that converts are the most devout though.. Someone who chooses to be part of a religion clearly knows more about it, or atleast has a justification for believing in it, than someone who is born into it.

[MilfeulleSakuraba]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Members of <insert organized religion here> should be apathetic to other's beliefs. It's that simple.

I wouldn't say they need to be apathetic - tolerant would be a lot better. Unfortunately neither of these will ever happen simply because human nature is to want to be right and correct the wrong, and this applies to both the religious and the non-religious.

People shouldn't put their beliefs to quesiton merely because atheists/agnostics do. The fact that people even doubt their faith just goes to show that they aren't even sure that they should be believing it.

Like Guido said, questioning one's faith is an excellent way to find answers previously undiscovered. The harder you work for something, the more you appreciate it. If you try to just sit back and enjoy the ride it won't be very enjoyable.

[FictionJunction]

Re: If you've moved from being religious to Athiest, how did that go?

Like Guido said, questioning one's faith is an excellent way to find answers previously undiscovered. The harder you work for something, the more you appreciate it. If you try to just sit back and enjoy the ride it won't be very enjoyable.

Thing is, most dislike questioning it because questioning brings forth doubt, and doubt brings forth both a negative and positive possibility. The average believer doesn't like to consider the negative aspect of the doubt. This is why they dislike atheists/agnostics, and see them as people with lesser morale. They can't understand how atheists/agnostics live without a designated faith. There are people who question to be englihtened more, or to seek an actual truth.. but this isn't the case with absolutely everyone.. not even half the people who are 'devout.'