Is not believing in Unicorns nihilistic? What about not believing in Santa Claus, is that nihilistic too?
Nihalistic I ain't. As I said I believe my morals are sound and better than the religious folk I have met. I do not reject a high moral standard I live by a high moral standard. I have never "stiffed" anyone. I am kind to people and animals I don't treat the planet as mine to mistreat because something gave me dominion over it. If there is a purpose to life I think is unknown but does not have to be related to superstitious beliefs about a non active entity or an unrealistic expectancy that there is an ideal after life where our sole function is to worship anything. I don't know if life needs a purpose but I don't make up stuff to avoid the fact that death awaits us all. I don't lie to myself. I would like to note that my comments about the religious folk I have met are based on sad experiences as I am sure there are honest religious folk out there who have as decent morals as myself. I still think they are unenlightened but that is their problem. And I don't care really what they choose to believe but I do expect folk to practice what they preach and not preach to me as if I lack something they feel they have. Such a condescending attitude is wrong. And if you quote the bible at least read it and do not select little bits or reject the fact so much, relevations but one example, is nonsence. Alex
I am following the teachings laid out in the new testament of encouraging faith and hope in my thinking. Alex
Well personaly... i dont know of any religious/spirititual person who has beter morals than any demon ive read about... much less beter than your's... and definately not beter than mine... so wit-out you even givin the name of such a person i will remain a non-believer.!!!
May I ask what your intended relevance is to this thread? I'm guessing it has to do with nobody "surviving" passing on to the other side, thus how can there be any stories about heaven?
Well from what I gather from the article Atheism isn't a religion and Atheists each have their own different beliefs and believe in different things, and they do not all congregate together towards a centralized belief. But nevertheless, they are grouped into a category and slapped with a label. The common conception of most non-atheists is that Atheists believe that God does not exist, that life comes to an end, and that there is nothing more than the physical universe. Usually a belief or a set of beliefs are identified by a label, and normally a group of people are placed under the label that identifies that group that are attached to the beliefs the label describes. Do Atheists attach their self to the Atheist label as defined and perceived by most non-atheists? Also, I may be misunderstanding, but I get the impression from the article that Atheists in general have no beliefs at all, which non-atheists would probably also consider as Atheism. So again my question is, do Atheists consider their self as an Atheist and place their self within this label based on the perception of most non-atheists or do Atheists consider their self as an Atheist because of what they believe or the lack thereof? Or do the so-called Atheists even consider their self as an Atheist at all and just disregard what the majority thinks? And that's why I'm just curious because it would appear that the majority believe that Atheists have a set of common beliefs, but the "Atheists" say that they don't. I can easily say I believe in nothing, and many people might consider that as being Atheist, and anyone can use whatever label they wish. However, I have no interest in attaching myself to labels, nor do I consider myself an Atheist. For myself I believe in everything but I have no interest in being bound by none of them, so I can also say I believe in nothing. Again, many might consider that as Atheist. But like I said I also have zero interest in labels. I don't consider myself as Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, New Ager, Conspiracy Theorist, Atheist, Satanist, etc. I don't consider myself as anything. Nothing more than just an individual experiencing life on Earth. I would imagine they wouldn't consider it at all. I know I don't. It's not even a thought really.
Atheism, polytheism, agnosticism, theism, etc are all personal choices. I do not understand: Why would anyone care about someone else's personal choice in this matter?
Atheists say they don't have a "set of common beliefs" for one simple reason: they actually don't. Atheists lack a belief on "god/s" (the most extreme ones have a belief that "god/s" do[es] not exist. Other than that it's up for grabs. I know atheists that believe in ghosts, UFOs (as alien craft), crystal power ... The disbelief in "god/s" is the only - and defining - characteristic of "atheism". If you do believe in "god/s" you're not an atheist. If you don't you are. Exactly. The only times we self-identify as atheists, or non-chess players, is when someone else raises the subject.
I don't care in the slightest, unless the believer tries to teach their personal choice/belief in an educational setting (like creationism or intelligent design)
I agree that one should be free to make such choices. But I'm interested in the choices of other people because these beliefs have effects throughout society.
No. Because people have misconceptions about what atheism is. It's about how atheism is defined among most atheists. Which is also the academically correct one.
No one is required to believe in a supernatural power or become religious, in order to find hope. Atheists have hope, just not hope in what a religious person might have hope in.
Many atheists are out and proud. Do you think there is something shameful in declaring oneself to be an atheist? Is your comment intended as an oblique reference to the idea that if lots of people believe in religions/gods, then it somehow makes it more likely that religions/gods are real/true? Do you, yourself, think that if large numbers of people believe in something, then it must be true? Do you care whether your own religious beliefs are true, or only whether they have the capacity to give you hope? Would you still believe just to cling on to the hope, even if you knew your religion wasn't true?
ForrestDean: As Dywyddyr said, the only thing atheists can be guaranteed to have in common is that they lack a belief in god(s). Having said that, it turns out that a quite a lot of the most prominent atheists also share other beliefs in a broad sense. For example, many hold to humanist values on ethics. And having said that, its still very dangerous to generalise about any of a person's beliefs from the mere fact that he or she is an atheist. Different atheists differ in their political views, their moral views, their views of what makes a good life (or whether that is even important), their attitudes to religious people, and so on and so forth. Again, it's dangerous to generalise. Many educated atheists are skeptical of the supernatural in general, but there's no guarantee that any particular atheist you meet will automatically be a rationalist. You can be an atheist and still believe that Elvis is a alive, that the government is run by alien lizards, that pyramids have special powers, and so on. I regularly come across religious people, in particular, who insist on using their own particular definition of the term "atheist", rather than using the kinds of definitions that atheists themselves use. In fact, I've seen many insist that their preferred definitions are the correct or only acceptable ones, even in the face of protests from actual atheists. So, I think it is important to listen to what atheists say about themselves, and not to just assume that what others say of them is automatically true. And I apply the same rule to Christians, Muslims and other religious people. I would not presume to tell a Christian what it means to be a "real" Christian, for example. That's a strange thing to say. Atheists obviously have many beliefs about all kinds of things. They simply do not believe in god(s). For most atheists, the test is simple: if you lack a belief in god(s), then you're an atheist. "The majority" also has a set of beliefs regarding, say, Muslims, contrary to what many Muslims say about themselves. You realise that the majority aren't always right ... right? If you believe in nothing, then you lack a belief in god(s), so you're an atheist. But it would be a very strange thing indeed for a person to claim honestly that they believe in nothing. To function effectively in the world, everybody has to believe in lots of things. So, let me ask you directly: do you believe that any god(s) exist? Importantly, notice that this question is about what you believe, not about what you know. No atheist knows that no gods exist. In fact, nobody knows whether gods exist or not. When believers say they know, they don't know. They are just making statements of faith (or, in a few cases, delusion). Typically, the atheist position is "I can't be sure that gods don't exist, but I don't believe they exist", as opposed to the theist position, which in all honesty should be "I can't be sure that God exists, but I believe he does." If, as you say, you never bother to consider the question of whether god(s) exist, then you're not really in a position to assign yourself a label like "believer" or "atheist". Probably best to consider yourself simply confused or not very self aware.
Cool, thanks for the replies. I was just curious. Well, as I'm sure you know, the word god is an extremely loaded word and has a lot of baggage and religious dogma attached to it. My answer would be yes, but not in the way that most others would. I believe in all things, in everything. For me god is all things. But if I tell someone I believe in all things they would most likely not understand, so to make things easy I just say that "yes, I believe in god" regardless of how they interpret it. Considering that I believe in everything then I must also believe in nothing or else I could not believe in everything. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Although I am still quite bound by many beliefs that are not religious in nature, I have no interest in being attached or imprisoned by any belief. I can very easily believe in one thing today and believe in it's totally opposite the next if I choose. One becomes enslaved or imprisoned by a belief if they are unable or incapable of believing in it's opposite. If I wanted I could be an Atheist today, or a Christian tomorrow, or even a Satan worshiping Christian the next. Also I have no judgement or bias for or against anyone else's beliefs. I could just as easily hang out with a Satan worshiper as I could a Christian, or a Muslim, or an Atheist, or whatever. If they want to discuss their beliefs, then I don't have a problem with that either, as like I said I believe in everything, so for me whatever they believe is neither right nor wrong.
Unicorns, and even Santa Claus are not as fundamentally believable as God. Yet still I would only do positive things.
