Are you an Atheist/Believer?

[Nepal4me]

Personally I would be 7 if it's a personal god. There could be something out there we don't know about but it wouldn't be a god (in terms of the way god is normally espoused), don't know what it would be so for that reason, I cannot claim to be a 6.

Interestingly, maybe it's the company I keep but virtually everybody I know is a 6 or 7 Atheist or would be if they bothered to think about it. I have very very few friends that are believers. The reason I started this post is because polls indicate a high level of religiosity, especially in the US but I would say 80 to 90% of my friends and closer acquaintances have no belief in a god of any sort.

How about you? Believer or non believer?

[Aussieroaming]

I reckon most people don't know what stand to take until they hit a major crisis...then the decision pops out

OMG, god help me, god spare me, there is no god

[i claudius]

You die ,end of road ,there is nothing .

[Costas2008]

I believe that Father Christmas is real

Where do I fit on your scale?

Nasty comments will be deleted.......when I become a moderator!

Edited January 3, 2014 by Costas2008

[khwaibah]

I'm a bacchanalian.

[Sayonarax]

Please close this thread, as its going to turn in to a group of hateful religious comments.

People have the right to practice any religion they choose. Respect it

Edited January 3, 2014 by Sayonarax

[tartempion]

10: there is no such thing.

I am aware of this since age 10.

In fact I realised early on something is wrong with human beings: they are unable by nature to function correctly on this planet.

Eckhart Tolle calls it nicely Dysfunction, he dare to say Madness. I would rather use the last word strongly.

It takes madness to kill millions in wars, to kill because some have a different opinion, a different religion, to kill for money, for power etc etc.

God created man to his image, you must be joking isn't?

Edited January 3, 2014 by tartempion

[tw25rw]

I'd waver between 6 and 7. I can respect people's religion, or at least the right to adhere to one, as long as they respect my right not to.

[infinity11]

zero

[Nepal4me]

I'd waver between 6 and 7. I can respect people's religion, or at least the right to adhere to one, as long as they respect my right not to.

Can you really "respect" other people's religion? Or would it be more accurate to say you acknowledge their religion and you don't care as long as they don't bug you about it?

[zeichen]

I wonder of those that don't believe in God, when you are child/loved one is diagnosed with cancer and the doctors say there is nothing that they can do, would you then pray to God?

My personal experience is that people with like minds find each other. The reason that the OP has no friends that are religious is because he isn't. Why would they or he want to be around people they cannot share their beliefs together?

I believe that there are a lot more people looking for something to believe in than not. My generation of people seemed to stray from faith but now those that have no faith often have children that want to understand what their parents reject.

There are those of faith that want to talk with everyone about it, and then there are those that have the same faith but are very private because of the scorn they get from the 7's on your list. It is socially acceptable to be atheist and talk about it, but it isn't socailly acceptable to praise the lord in mixed company. At least in Thailand people accept you and don't argue with you when you share with them.

[zeichen]

I wonder of those that don't believe in God, when you are child/loved one is diagnosed with cancer and the doctors say there is nothing that they can do, would you then pray to God?

My personal experience is that people with like minds find each other. The reason that the OP has no friends that are religious is because he isn't. Why would they or he want to be around people they cannot share their beliefs together?

I believe that there are a lot more people looking for something to believe in than not. My generation of people seemed to stray from faith but now those that have no faith often have children that want to understand what their parents reject.

There are those of faith that want to talk with everyone about it, and then there are those that have the same faith but are very private because of the scorn they get from the 7's on your list. It is socially acceptable to be atheist and talk about it, but it isn't socailly acceptable to praise the lord in mixed company. At least in Thailand people accept you and don't argue with you when you share with them.

[itsrebel]

10. And I have many friends who would rate zero on your scale. I don't question them and they let me be.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[BookMan]

You sound like you do believe there could be something out there OP...maybe u are a 4 or 5?

For myself i would be a 7.

On my deathbed maybe a 1

[BillyBobThai]

I am a number 6.5 on that scale.

I just read an article in the last week or so that stated that some 38% of American adults do not believe in evolution. Most of those who did not believe did not have any sort of a degree. That is scary.

A few years ago I was back in the states vissiting my son. With no transportation I was stuck at his house with no TV and the only book I could find to read was the bible. I finished the old testament and half of the new before I put it down.

Some of the best science fiction I had read in a while.

Edited January 3, 2014 by BillyBobThai

[soomak]

I'm a 7 with regards to the biblical, all knowing god, as well as the god of thunder and the goddess of war.

But as for non-physical beings, I really don't know, would be interesting to find out they do exist. Not ghosts, werewolves and that sort of crap, but beings that we cannot see or hear.

[Nepal4me]

I wonder of those that don't believe in God, when you are child/loved one is diagnosed with cancer and the doctors say there is nothing that they can do, would you then pray to God?

My personal experience is that people with like minds find each other. The reason that the OP has no friends that are religious is because he isn't. Why would they or he want to be around people they cannot share their beliefs together?

I believe that there are a lot more people looking for something to believe in than not. My generation of people seemed to stray from faith but now those that have no faith often have children that want to understand what their parents reject.

There are those of faith that want to talk with everyone about it, and then there are those that have the same faith but are very private because of the scorn they get from the 7's on your list. It is socially acceptable to be atheist and talk about it, but it isn't socailly acceptable to praise the lord in mixed company. At least in Thailand people accept you and don't argue with you when you share with them.

1. If an unbeliever has a loved one dying and he chooses to pray. That does not make him a believer, it just means he's grasping at any hope no matter how irrational. I'm a 7 and I might pray if my child had cancer even though I really know it doesn't work.

2. Yeah, nothing worse than people that are really pro-religion. My fewer number of friends that do believe are not proselytizers so they're cool.

3. Younger people are straying from religion but their kids are not looking for what their parents reject. That just does not follow. It's like saying, my dad didn't believe in alchemy, I'm going to search that more deeply.

4. This is an interesting point and one I hadn't thought of before. It is now socially acceptable to profess atheism but religion gets scorn. The times have flip flopped things.

[Robby nz]

When I was diagnosed with cancer I didn't pray to any god I put my faith in the skill of the doctors and so far after 5 years that has worked for me

I see religious type, Muslims, Jews, monks and others dressed in ways that to me seem to me silly, I see Christians of many kinds peddling their religion, monks chanting for hours, Muslims down on their benders 5 times a day, born again Christians with their hands in the air praising their version of a god and cant imagine living a life like that.

And I wonder why, but that's not my business, they can do what they like if it pleases them and they don't try to involve me.

I think putting a label on yourself believer, atheist is subscribing to some sort of religious belief, that's right atheism is a belief.

Me I get out there and look around, away from people if possible.

I see the trees the birds the insects the animals the forests the rivers the seas and see what few others see, nature and how it works, finds its own level without needing a god to create it.

I also see how man has stuffed up so much of it.

Possibly you could call that a belief, but I don't have to pray only observe and sometimes marvel.

Then I see the plastic bags, empty bottles, polystyrene containers and yea man is stuffing it up all right.

[David48]

Call me a Donkey, but I'm a Believer ...

What was the question again?

.

[GuestHouse]

I'm in the "not at all bothered by other people's faith" bracket.

While observing with admiration the inspiration so many people of faith find in their faith to live good lives, often making huge efforts for the good of others.

Certainly I feel no threat whatsoever from other people's faith.

[BookMan]

I'm in the "not at all bothered by other people's faith" bracket.

While observing with admiration the inspiration so many people of faith find in their faith to live good lives, often making huge efforts for the good of others.

Certainly I feel no threat whatsoever from other people's faith.

So a 4 for yourself on the proffered scale?

[edwinchester]

100% atheist.

[Tim1980]

God bless you

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[GuestHouse]

So a 4 for yourself on the proffered scale?

I choose to keep my own point on the faith scale to myself, which is I understand something many members would prefer we all did .... Though that begs the question, why does the question of faith arise so often on this forum.

[Northpoint]

I'm a 7 with regards to the biblical, all knowing god, as well as the god of thunder and the goddess of war.

But as for non-physical beings, I really don't know, would be interesting to find out they do exist. Not ghosts, werewolves and that sort of crap, but beings that we cannot see or hear.

I am a strong believer of the Norse god Thor, as I was born on a Thursday.

[kannot]

So a 4 for yourself on the proffered scale?

I choose to keep my own point on the faith scale to myself, which is I understand something many members would prefer we all did .... Though that begs the question, why does the question of faith arise so often on this forum.

Because once you step out of the front door you'll need "blind faith" to get where your'e going alive in Thailand.

[David48]

.... Though that begs the question, why does the question of faith arise so often on this forum.

Touch trite I know but ... "why does the question of faith arise so often on this forum?"

... If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything?

.

[uptheos]

I know Christopher Hitchens is quoted often, but.......................

“Faith is the surrender of the mind, it's the surrender of reason, it's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other animals. It's our need to believe and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. ... Out of all the virtues, all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated”

He later referred to the idea of heaven, as being a 'Celestial North Korea'

Edited January 3, 2014 by uptheos

[Scottythai]

Do they have a " I don't care either way option??"

[Ulysses G.]

I'd waver between 6 and 7. I can respect people's religion, or at least the right to adhere to one, as long as they respect my right not to.

I vary between a 2 and a 3, but am not religious. I like how Charles Krauthammer put it:

" A universe that’s too awesome to be a total accident but also too awesome to be explicable by any human conception of God."