Frownland

I think it's the misconception that a lot of people, religious and nonreligious alike, have that all atheists are the militant asshole atheists (who also tend to be the most vocal and obnoxious) that causes that mindset among agnostics.

And I love the avvy man, Branca is a god.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Mondo Bungle

I don't think atheists are awful, I just think it's a dumb thing in general.

And that, in turn, makes me dumb too. Because putting down other people's beliefs is dumb.

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only_dancing

I can get that, although obnoxious atheists annoy me too. Not because they're obnoxious atheists but just because they're obnoxious people... (I don't equate outspoken with obnoxious).
Thanks!

@Mondo Bungle: You think atheism in general is dumb? Why?

Frownland

Well it's just as much of an affirmative statement to say that there isn't a god than to say that there is. Sure you could be scientific about it and put the burden of proof on the accuser (spare me the flying spaghetti monster analogy), but with something vague and difficult to prove like the nature of God it's foolish to be certain in either direction.

Then again I was raised as a Christian, so even though I'm agnostic, maybe I'm still clinging onto some of those beliefs.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Mondo Bungle

I just personally can't understand how someone can believe something so firmly when in reality you don't know anything at all.

But I also don't really know what atheism is all about so I'm just being ignorant. Do they believe that there is absolutely no God? Because that's what I'd consider dumb, for my reason stated above.

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only_dancing

@Frownland: I don't know if I'd say atheism is certainty. Just like science is not really "certainty" but going by the most evidence that we have at this current moment. At this moment we do not have enough evidence for a god so I choose not to choose one to believe in.

I do understand where you would get that though. There are many atheists out there that act like atheism is a certainty.

I suppose that's sort of the burden of proof argument, huh? But, I don't feel "certain"... I feel like I'm just going by what is knowable.

@Mondo Bungle: Personally I don't make the statement "There is no god", although some atheists do. I just chose not to believe in or worship a god that I don't know exists.

The Batlord

You can skip to 1:10. But the gist is that there are plenty of beliefs that nobody feels the need to respect (Bigfoot, Flat Earth, Loch Ness Monster, etc), and to be perfectly honest, I don't find the existence of a deity to be any more credible. I could lie to you and say I respected the concept of believing in god, but I could also lie to a Flat Earther. I might respect you more than a Flat Earther, but if you believe in something that I see as being just as nutty, then that respect will not extend to that belief. Sorry, I guess.



I lack a belief in god simply because I have never been religious, and never seen any even remotely credible evidence to make me believe otherwise. Hence, I don't believe in god. Now, unlike many atheists, I actively extend that to believing that he doesn't exist. Why? I've probably told this anecdote on here before, but I think it illustrates my thoughts on human psychology in regards to religion...

Back when I was a kid (say around ten), I'd always go to this one friend of mine's house, like every day in the summer. We'd just chill out for hours playing video games and pretend fighting to the Mortal Kombat movie theme. And while we were playing video games, often one of us would be playing by ourselves while the other one was sitting and watching or playing on the computer or whatever. Point is, there would be two of us in the room. I'm sure plenty of gamers know all about gamer rage. You lose, you bitch, you lose more, you curse, you lose again, you hurl the TV out of a third story window. Well, we had our own mock, gamer rage cult going on. You lose, you bitch, other guy tells you that you have angered the gaming gods and that you shall continue to lose, you lose more, you ask the gaming gods for forgiveness, probably still lose, honest to god prayer to the gaming gods, repeat until you win and then the gaming gods like you again.

Clearly the idea of gaming gods is nonsense, and while we were ten, we were neither idiots nor given to that kind of thing (I was an atheist and he was a lazy Jew). And yet it came entirely naturally, and I swear to dog, we half believed it. You've felt it too. When you really can't get past some part in a game, and it just feels like the game is a self-aware entity who is for some odd reason making it its mission in life to prevent you from beating Super Mario World. It's like your brain is hard-wired to see agency in ANYTHING, in the vain hope that you can somehow appease it, which is your, and was our, logical next step. It may have been childish nonsense, but forming a religion out of praying to video game deities was as natural as breathing.

That's my biggest reason for actively believing that god does not exist. If human beings are that hard-wired to create religions at the drop of a hat, even when they actively know that they are not dealing with a sentient being, then why on Earth should I treat anything that "adults" have come up with with any more credibility until I see some compelling evidence. Human beings are just too psychologically dependent upon religious thought processes to be trusted to come up with anything other than nonsense unless proven otherwise, making me believe that from day one, when the first human thought up the first god, it was all Video Game God nonsense.

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John Wilkes Booth

it's basically semantics tbh. nobody really agrees on what atheism/agnosticism really mean. i can explain it after work if u want or u can just google. long story short tho no atheist i've ever met actually claims to know for sure that there's no god. it's basically the stance that it's more logical to reserve belief in something until there is evidence for it. so like me for example i have no idea why **** exists and i don't pretend to. could be god could not be god. i'll let others decide whether that makes me an atheist or an agnostic or both but i'll throw in the stipulation that my opinion is it's more logical to not make the assumption of god until we get some indication that it's a valid assumption or at least a more probable solution to the problem, which i haven't ever seen so far beyond wishy washy apologetic rhetoric, some of which is very cleverly crafted but ultimately falls short imo.

Janszoon

I consider myself an atheist because I have never seen any kind of compelling evidence for the existence of a god or gods. I think it's a pretty reasonable position to have. There are a million other things I also lack belief in because of insufficient evidence and I've always found it strange that this one particular thing is the only one that such large numbers of people are hypercritical of.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

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Lord Larehip

W.C. Fields was an ardent atheist who wanted to found a school for orphans where they would receive no religious schooling. He had a large library of both atheistic and theistic literature that he spent a great deal of time studying. He knew more about theology than most theologians. One day, a friend come to see him and found him in his library poring over the bible. Knowing Fields' leanings, he asked, "What are you doing reading the bible, Bill?"

Without looking up or missing a beat, Fields replied, "Looking for loopholes."

One day in Springfield, Abraham Lincoln and William Herndon, law partners, were on their way to their offices. There had been a cloudburst earlier but now the sun was out and kids about playing in the mud and puddles. As they approached their office building, Lincoln noticed Willie, a 12 yo black shoeshine boy messing around in the mud.

Lincoln called out to him, "Willie, now you know your mother is going to be very cross with you if you go home all muddy!"

Willie said, "I'm bein' real careful, Mr. Lincoln. I'm not gettin' dirty. She wouldn't be mad anyway."

"And why wouldn't she?" asked Lincoln.

"Cuz I'm makin' a church, Mr. Lincoln, see?" Willie pointed out the design he made in the mud. "There's the church, there's the pews, there's the doors, there's the steeple and there's the pulpit."

Lincoln examined Willie's work carefully and said, "Well, Willie, it all seems to be there--except for one thing! The preacher! Can't have a church without a preacher, Willie. Where's the preacher?"

Willie innocently replied, "Laws, Mr. Lincoln! I didn't have enough mud for that!"

Herndon said Lincoln threw his head back and laughed so hard he had trouble breathing. Lincoln gave Willie a silver dollar and laughed all the way up the stairs to the office. Herndon was a lifelong friend of Lincoln's and accompanied him when Lincoln traveled about as president. He said Lincoln retold the Willie story hundreds of times.