To all atheists

I don't believe in this "Higher power" because I don't need any context to guidelines on how to live to my life, what essentially religion is. If it keeps people sane, so be it.

 

Well to be honest it works both ways, i mean sure atheists can give religious people a hard time but religious people also give atheists a lot of grief. My mum used to rage at me for not believing in Hinduism, but i just don't get the whole idea because i migrated from Nepal to Britain at a young age.

 

Yes that is what religion is but you do have something that your using as a "guideline" for your life. You just chose religion not to be that source, whether it's your parent's ideals or from another source, you borrowed your belief system and problem rationalization skills from somewhere else.

 

Awesome, I've gained Safire's respect

And, there is something to lose in believing in something you don't truly think is real. Most atheists are either logical thinkers, or are easily swayed by whatever they're told (gullible folk); most though, are the thinking type, and find it hard to believe there is a single entity in this plane of existence who, well, created it. Maybe it's because we cannot truly wrap our minds around that, or maybe it's because it doesn't make sense. Proof and sense are two in the same, essentially; if you have valid proof, things tend to make sense. There is NO concrete evidence of God, so in the eyes of the atheist thinker, it seems silly to believe in something so blind-sightedly.

Personally, the day God comes down from the sky and saves the world is the day I'll start to believe. If He is truly the creator of all things, He's an idiot for giving us free will to fuck everything up.

As for atheists pushing their ideas on everyone, Christians do the exact same thing. The only religious folk I've ever come across who didn't give two shits about spreading their beliefs were Unitarians and Buddhists.

 

Religion is extremely harmful to society, look at 9/11, the crusades and even the holocaust in which Hitler believed he was "carrying out the lords work". Although these are obviously very extreme examples, they are the harsh reality.

Also, perhaps if we all realised how little we know about our universe, more of us would start looking for answers rather than looking at the bible or any other holy book as a textbook for everything around us.

 

@last sentence: I honestly believe that if i were to believe in a god, it would be foolish.
Your question is like asking what do you gain believing in a god. You only gain something if it's true (heaven), therefore if you don't believe in a god you shouldn't say you do.

 

I hate your condescending title "To All Atheists".
That immediately classifies us all under your little label.
I do agree that atheists shouldn't force atheism on others, but most religions push their religion so hard on others that I don't know who to be pissed at more.

 

I think religion is for most people either a Crutch, A Hope for salvation, Something to live for, and or A way to divide people.

I may not be correct just how I think of things...

I'm not atheist nor do I believe in a particular path or religion I think it splits you away from god.

Again I might not know what I'm talking about nor do I claim too lol...

 

Ok i'm not going to read all 7 pages as i'm sure it's all the same thing repeated or tweaked 10 times with slight edits.

I personally am happy with letting people follow their own paths without being prompted by propaganda of salvation. I don't follow any religions and I do like to hear theorys however everyone has their own opinions and should be allowed to follow their religion without descrimination.

Now to answer your questions.

No it isn't necessary however it's human nature to have opinions and share them. The same could easily be said to christians. Is it really necessary to try and convince everyone else of christianity?

Probably because they believe they have picked up superior knowledge because they have seen string theory:revealed or some other tv show on the discovery channel. Also the internet is full of bigots.

Thanks.

The answer to this is simple, Nothing at all.

I find it sort of silly you ask this really as following a religion because "you have nothing to lose" is just idiotic in my opinion as you have no real commitment to it.

 

This is quite a hypocritical statement (no offense intended). But in your argument you start off with the statement

Now, tell me if I am wrong, but I believe every other religion on planet earth has been spread threw preaching and conversion .

- Source : http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/preaching


So your argument states that is alright that it is to preach YOUR religion to others, but when one with NO religion preaches to you, it is simply demeaning and unmoral.

As for your argument that atheist have no proof, well what proof do religions have besides their holy books (who were written by man).

Look forward to your response.

- The Llama

 

First off, is it necessary for religious people to evangelize everyone around them?

Second, you talk as if Atheism is a religion itself. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in theology. A (meaning anti, which means lack of) -theist (beliefs with usually pertain to spirituality and the supernatural).

So, when you say convincing people to Atheism, you're referring to the spreading of science and the truth? Because, as far as I can see, that's all there is. If you don't like the truth, that we are evolved primates (still technically part of the great apes family) then go back to your bible.

Sorry if that sounded harsh, but don't say things that you don't understand. You have a huge miss-conception of what the term Atheist actually means.

Now, you say that an after-life is something better? Let me tell you something, living forever would suck, no matter where you were. Which brings me to another point.. What is "you"? An invisible spirit? No, "you" is just your amazing consciousness created from the brain. So, "you" are all in your head, which becomes non-existent after death and your brain ceases to function.

If you did have a spirit, it wouldn't be you. You wouldn't even know you existed, because everything you think is you, your thoughts, memories, emotions, etc, are all created by your brain.

Also, I personally don't believe in a higher-power for many reasons.. The fact that it slows the Human Race dramatically from progressing, it's ignorance, it causes more problems then solutions (think about how many wars there have been, how many killings in the name of jihad?), and the list go's on and on. If religion wasn't around, the Human Race would be so much better off.

That is all.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPOfurmrjxo&feature=related

 

Not at all. I see no reason to actively "preach" atheism. Religion is such an integral part of a person that only a rare individual that probably going to become an atheist later anyway is "converted."

I only argue in my defense, that is, when someone continually harasses me about my beliefs. If they do that then I get them in a situation where they have to listen to my step-to-step breakdown of their entire faith. I've done it twice, once to a Mormon (oh god that was a breeze) and a steadfast catholic (who was left-leaning enough for me to tease their sympathy strings, which is completely valid in and of itself).

Please, if you assault ME for my atheism, I'll bite back. But no. I have no desire to openly challenge religion and have constant debates. They'll never change anyones mind anyway.

P.S.: Oh PLEASE everyone, don't get your panties in a knot. Atheism is a SINGLE movement, get used to it.

 

Atheism used to be nothing, now people act like it's everything. It used to be something to be ashamed about (Greece, BC) and now everyone is boasting about it. 'I'm an atheist, debate me.'

 

IMO people should mind their own business. Most atheists do. Its the other way around from what you said.

 

Let me barge into this right now and solve this. I really could careless what your belief system is like. In general though. Ever single person has that thought system in your head. You can not avoid it. Our minds have been programmed to have FAITH (Not to believe) in something.

A great example of this is gravity. We know what gravity is. We are learn about it in the schools. Here is some questions.

Can you touch gravity? Can you smell gravity? Can you taste gravity? Can you hear gravity? Can you see gravity? None of our senses (except for the fact that we can feel it keeping us attached to the earth) can give us a solid physical answer that gravity exists...but we know it exists. When we drop something, we have faith in gravity to carry it to the ground or pull it or whatever. The point I am getting at is we have Faith every day and we don't even know it.

When we sit on a chair. We have faith that it will hold us up. When we drive our vehicles. We have faith that the oncoming traffic will not turn into our lane and kill us. It is really easy to see all the things people have faith in.

Now. Having faith in something. Is it the same as believing in something? Or is it like they say. In order to believe in something you must see it first. In a sense this is correct because the human race is becoming more and more interconnected through the media. If you see something on TV. Like a commercial for a new product. After "seeing" the product on TV does that make you believe in that product? Just cause you seen it doesn't mean that you will believe it.

This is what happened from 0 A.D. - 34 A.D.

(This is not religion. This is history.)

Jesus Christ was born and lived to be the age of 34. While he was here on earth he performed many miracles that are not possible for a regular human being to perform. These miracles were like "commercials" or "news stories" today. Except they were from God himself. Some people believed in Jesus because of these "commercials". But many did not. Instead, they wanted to kill the competition. Literally.

This is the same situation we live in today. Except it is more modernized. Today there is much more competition though. There is thousands of religions out there. And I respect every one of them. There is millions of atheists out in the world who claim to believe in nothing. I respect their decision too.

Here is a way of looking at it from Einsteins point of view. This is what he said.

"I believe that someone who believes in the afterlife has nothing to lose. If they die believing in heaven and hell and it happens to be the truth. They will be in heaven as they claim. If there is no afterlife...they are dead. Nothing happens. Which is not much to lose. But people who do not believe in the afterlife have everything to lose. If I died today and there is an afterlife, I would 'burn in hell'. I would be in torment for eternity. Because that is the punishment for my sins. Am I willing to take that chance?"

Are you willing to take that chance?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencefaith.html


Being religious doesn't make you ignorant.

You can't really call someone ignorant because they don't agree with your beliefs.



"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein.

I agree with this statement.

 

Don't you think the core ideology of communism is a beautiful concept?

I agree, applied communism hasn't worked is is generally corrupt. But I think this is because of the way it is/was enforced. Communism goes against human nature, thats because humans aren't perfect.

The idea that everyone is equal is a valid and thoughtful outlook on life, is it not?

 

I personally am an athiest, however alot of my friends to believe in God. I won't preach to you about why I think you're wrong for believing in something but I don't understand it.

Unless you have studied every religion possible, how do you know which you actually believe? I was raised a Christian, I have little or no knowledge of any other religons.



Edit: I do totally agree with you about letting people believe what they want, but people preach about religon, I guess some athiests like to do it back?

 

Religion was used as a way too know. It was created out of frustration. Since the prior knowledge and technology was not there for them to know. Stories were created and accepted as a way to know.