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

[Reach]

I wasn't really contradicting myself, Reach. I did mention it being a domino effect. For the domino effect to work, somebody has to push the first domino for the rest to topple.

It was a contradiction.

If you're going to say that everything requires a cause to have a reaction then it is a contradiction to say that someone can push the first domino without first being pushed.

I think the domino theory is very much incorrect. It has to be, or our entire existance is a contradiction.

If you're going to go a long with the idea, as I proposed that existance does not necessarily require a beginning then you have to consider occams razor.

As I see it, if a God were to exist in this situation it would be radically different than anything we can possibly perceive. The idea of some entity makes no sense to me when considering physics.

[Squeek]

Originally Posted by Kilgamayan

What's the deal with these people announcing themselves as "non-religious"? There's nothing inherently wrong with being atheistic or agnostic, and if you're not religious then one of those terms must apply to you. Are you really that desperate to not be lumped into a group? This is the kind of elitism and rebelliousness I would expect of Rai and Moogy rather than the people who have demonstrated it in this topic so far.

Because if I say I'm Atheist in public people go "YOU'RE A SATAN WORSHIPPER YOU'LL BURN IN THE FIRES!!!!!!!!!1111111111"

I just wanted to remove myself from having a classification. That's all.

[Kilgamayan]

Who the hell would actually say that?

If someone actually does, then just don't bother to bring up the subject in the first place.

[FictionJunction]

Originally Posted by Squeek

Because if I say I'm Atheist in public people go "YOU'RE A SATAN WORSHIPPER YOU'LL BURN IN THE FIRES!!!!!!!!!1111111111"

I just wanted to remove myself from having a classification. That's all.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that.
Most people just frown upon my views and pity me, aside from trying to convince me that God is the one and trueway. This is where I tell them they are retarded for being close minded and not trying to make sense out of what I tell them. Apparently, Faith is fact instead of belief.
No offense to the intelligent Catholics or <insert branch of christianity here> who actually understand both points of view but just choose to engage in Blind Faith. I love you <3

[Grandiagod]

Originally Posted by Kilgamayan

Who the hell would actually say that?

Actually more people than you might think.

Athiests least trusted group

[Kilgamayan]

The reservations about marriage seem reasonable because of the whole idea of "holy" matrimony. Plus the ceremony usually (not always, but usually) takes place in a religious building.

But like I said, just don't bother to bring it up unless asked.

[Squeek]

Told you Kilga.

People think Atheists are Satanists.

It's just so much easier to say "I do not affiliate myself with any religion."

[Kilgamayan]

And then they won't just affiliate you with Satan anyway why?

[Reach]

"(Atheists) have the right to believe whatever they want, even if that belief is nothing,"

Well there you go.

People continue to propagate the fact that atheists are bad people through their ignorance. Where the hell did this assumption of not believing in anything come from?


I think most people completely miss the point of being an atheist, and have never truely sat down to talk to one of them that wasn't an extremest. Most of the greatest people were the least understood in their time.

Regardless, the atheist population has exploded. In the past 10 years atheists have grown more than 7% in representation, and now account for more than 15% of the population.


Looks like these people are going to have to come out of their box.

[RandomPscho]

I think most people completely miss the point of being an atheist,

Yeah, atheism has nothing to do with morality, just the existence or non-existence of god. People always seem to think if you do not have a god, then you have no values. It is very annoying, but they don't call you satanic, just a terrible person. A lot of people oddly enough tell me I am going to hell, which I think is weird since I don't believe in it and have told them that. Also people try to 'convert' you which is even more annoying, I don't go around saying "god doesn't exist and you shouldn't believe in him!," so why do they do the opposite to you?

[dietbuddy12]

To Christians who converted- Do you still have a feeling you are wrong about your conversions? The main religions in this world all branched off from Christianity. It was made by people who thought God wasn't enough for them, so they create their own. Christianity is the oldest religon out there, and it has more evidence than the rest that it is the true religion. Haven't you read teh Bible stories? That was before Jesus was even born, and yet, peopled believe in God.

[RandomPscho]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Christianity based of Judaism? And long before Judaism there were a ton of polytheistic religions? And in Japan and Korea wasn't there religions that thought everything was holy in spiritual in this world?

Christianity is only 2000 years old, it is hardly the oldest out there.

[iggymatrixcounter]

Originally Posted by Reach

People continue to propagate the fact that atheists are bad people through their ignorance. Where the hell did this assumption of not believing in anything come from?

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)

[iggymatrixcounter]

Originally Posted by dietbuddy12

To Christians who converted- Do you still have a feeling you are wrong about your conversions? The main religions in this world all branched off from Christianity. It was made by people who thought God wasn't enough for them, so they create their own. Christianity is the oldest religon out there, and it has more evidence than the rest that it is the true religion. Haven't you read teh Bible stories? That was before Jesus was even born, and yet, peopled believe in God.

"Christian" generalities like this make it no surprise to me why people hate religion.

Take a look:
-"wrong about conversions" -kind of a forced freewill eh?
-"main religions branched off christianity" -ummm more like many aspects of christianity 'branched' from those religions (research how many pagan customs are mixed with 'Christian' ones)
-"oldest" -nope
-"more evidence than the rest" -this may be true but evidence for proving a religion ture or false is many times very subjective, too broad
The rest is a jumbled mess that has nothing to do with the flow of logic.

[lord_carbo]

Originally Posted by FictionJunction

1) People at 11 years of age don't generally have enough reasoning to state what they'd like to believe. They blindly follow whatever is presented to them, much like all devout Catholics and <insert other religions here>.

Actually, around that age I started to question Christianity, as well. Maybe not confirm that I wasn't religious, but I had much much less faith that a god existed.

[Grandiagod]

I'd say around puberty is when the innate rebeliousness of teenagers makes them question what has been force fed to them through their formative years.

They usually end up keeping the parts that make sense when looked at them through their own perspectives and filtered throught their proclivities and discarding the teachings and ideals they deem obtuse, restrictive or just illogical.

[banditcom]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

Yeah, atheism has nothing to do with morality, just the existence or non-existence of god. People always seem to think if you do not have a god, then you have no values. It is very annoying, but they don't call you satanic, just a terrible person. A lot of people oddly enough tell me I am going to hell, which I think is weird since I don't believe in it and have told them that. Also people try to 'convert' you which is even more annoying, I don't go around saying "god doesn't exist and you shouldn't believe in him!," so why do they do the opposite to you?

EXACTLY!

My mom, sister, aunt, cousin, grandma, and I all went to my great grandmother's favorite restaurant. We had just came from her pre-viewing at the funeral home, seeing how everything was and how she looked. We ordered some food and were talking and of course, the subject of seeing her in heaven came about or something like that. Don't know how but I mentioned I didn't believe in any of that and my aunt was all shocked that I was that way. Now, my family isn't even really religious. They have their beliefs but don't attend church often, other than the grandma and uncle on my dad's side, but that's it. My aunt showed sudden concern that I felt this way, said a few things that made me feel as if she felt bad for me or thought I was less of a person. My cousin noticed this and commented like, those are his beliefs, don't say those things, etc.

But yeah, like I said in my other post, my grandma on my dad's side would always say that "it'd be good for me" to go to church with her, as if I have no morals or beliefs because I don't believe in God. -_-;

Note: Excuse this post if it sounds rambled or jumbled. It's 4:30 am and I need some sleep.

[Squeek]

"This never happens with anything else.

You don't use mayonnaise? Why? Are you addicted to mayonnaise? Is it OK if I use mayonnaise? I could... go outside..."

"You don't believe in a supernatural unproven being in the sky? Why?"

I don't get it. It's like being logical is a horrible thing to people.

Kilga, this is why I don't say I'm atheist.

[rade0110]

Wow jumping in this late had a lot of catch up reading. Let me start out by saying that I am agnostic. I do believe that there is a possibility that everything was created by a higher power or multiple powers but am unsure if there actually truly is. I was actually born in a very interesting home where my parents did not focus on one specific religion, but rather was told about and even tried practicing several different types. When I was 15 my parents told me that they had shown me the different religions because they felt I should be allowed to set my own beliefs and decide for myself what I truly want to believe in. I felt that the matter should have been taken seriously since to most people their beliefs/ religion is important to them. I studied 6 different religions over about 4 years (which by the way was very confusing for me). When I studied them I noticed a very consistent trend that there were (to me) parts of a religion that I believed in and parts that I was opposed to. I do believe there are answers to things beyond what we can comprehend out there, but I also believe that there are too many people looking and spitting out answers to know what can and can't be trusted. If I found a religion that I truly believed in yes I would follow it.

To diet who claims that Christianity is the oldest and most proven. CLEARLY not the case. First of all random is right christianity has only been around for between 2000-2100 years. B.C.E stands for before christian era. This obviously means that there was a time before christians roamed the Earth. And as far as it being the most proven. You actually are EXTREMELY wrong. No religion is more proven then any other. What makes it more proven the fact that there is a bible (not writen by Jesus Christ the founder of the Christian faith). Because I could tell you that the Tora (Jewish version of the Christian Bible) was writen about 3000 years before the Bible. Things like news articles saying that they "Found the tomb of Jesus" or that "Jesus' body was possibly found", all that crap is BS first of all and secondly even if they did find those things, they are just find a gravesite or a body. Egyptian pyramids have been around for tens of THOUSANDS of years. Pyramids are a gravesite. Mummies are in those graves does that mean that Egyptians religious views are right? Maybe you feel that it's because of the 'miracles' performed by Jesus makes it the most proven. First of all, any disease 2,000 years ago was life threatening. You would be lucky to survive if you had Influenza. What if he practiced the science of medicine to heal people. And what if people thought it was magic. Rumors happen and obviously as we all know a rumor is like playing telephone, you could start off saying "I wet my bed last night" and end with "Jason went to bed and didn't wake up because he drowned in his bed last night". Many of the writings in the Bible were written hundreds of years after Jesus died. Who KNOWS how those stories could have been altered. Also, Christianity was a spread religion meaning that "the word of God" Spread by Jesus started in a main location and moved outward. There are many Polytheistic religions that are EXTREMELY similar in stories, structure and morals that had continents and oceans seperating them. Many times the main differences are names and times when they happened but not necessarily the story itself.

No I'm not telling you to all of a sudden stop believing in Christianity if that's what your heart truly believes in but you should definately understand others and ALWAYS question yours before you make a definitive decision. Even if I had a designated religion, I would still question it looking for more answers. And trying to better understand it. Don't (like a few have said) blindly follow what you were raised to believe. Question it. Strengthen your knowledge of religion especially your own.

[Kilgamayan]

Originally Posted by Squeek

I don't get it. It's like being logical is a horrible thing to people.

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.