Are you an Atheist/Believer?

[thailiketoo]

Wondered where this thread went 8-)

Good article on the ethics of dealing with religion/spirituality when raising your child

http://aeon.co/magazine/world-views/is-it-wrong-to-teach-children-to-believe-in-god/

This article start with the wrong premise, and goes from there.

In the title he says:

Christian parents teach their children to believe in God, atheists teach them not to. Who is doing the right thing?

Atheists do not teach their children not to believe in God, As an Atheist I teach my daughter to think. What she thinks is her own business, and if after doing her own thinking chooses to believe in God , I will respect that decision, as I would expect her to respect my decision not to believe. All the rest is nonsense and intellectual contortion to get the beliefs to fit the facts as opposed the facts fitting the beliefs.

What about Joe's Atheist Prep School for Boys?

[Fookhaht]

For myself i would be a 7.

On my deathbed maybe a 1

Probably the most honest reply on this thread.

A revealing read is "Last Words of Sinners and Saints." It seems like nearly everyone, as they approach the Great Threshold begin to get a sense of eternity in the presence of a personal God Whom they have either offended or befriended in life.

Even history's greatest atheist, Voltaire, suddenly had a glimpse of the supernatural in his dying moments, which scenario is hideous to contemplate, if you can believe his last words.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Fookhaht

[thailiketoo]

For myself i would be a 7.

On my deathbed maybe a 1

Probably the most honest reply on this thread.

A revealing read is "Last Words of Sinners and Saints." It seems like nearly everyone, as they approach the Great Threshold begin to get a sense of eternity in the presence of a personal God Whom they have either offended or befriended in life.

Even history's greatest atheist, Voltaire, suddenly had a glimpse of the supernatural in his dying moments, which scenario is hideous to contemplate, if you can believe his last words.

Atheist Christopher Hitchens had no death-bed conversion, widow says "He lived by his principles until the end. To be honest, the subject of God didn’t come up"

[sirineou]

Wondered where this thread went 8-)

Good article on the ethics of dealing with religion/spirituality when raising your child

http://aeon.co/magazine/world-views/is-it-wrong-to-teach-children-to-believe-in-god/

This article start with the wrong premise, and goes from there.

In the title he says:

Christian parents teach their children to believe in God, atheists teach them not to. Who is doing the right thing?

Atheists do not teach their children not to believe in God, As an Atheist I teach my daughter to think. What she thinks is her own business, and if after doing her own thinking chooses to believe in God , I will respect that decision, as I would expect her to respect my decision not to believe. All the rest is nonsense and intellectual contortion to get the beliefs to fit the facts as opposed the facts fitting the beliefs.

What about Joe's Atheist Prep School for Boys?

In the US we have, or at least we are supposed to have secular schools, for those with religious convictions there are private schools for every sort of religion and denominations.

Every once in a while public schools try to bring religion in to the curriculum, and we have a showdown in the appropriate court .

separation of Church and state is not there to only protect the non believers, but more importantly, to protect the believers from each other,

The founding Fathers were very smart. With out the separation of church and state, the majority in a particular community would be able to impose their religious beliefs on the community, forcing people of different faiths to leave the area, and establish communities of their own, where they are the majority. This type of situation creates an environment of balkanization, which is what we have in many religious countries, where we see sectarian strife.

[boomerangutang]

A revealing read is "Last Words of Sinners and Saints." It seems like nearly everyone, as they approach the Great Threshold begin to get a sense of eternity in the presence of a personal God Whom they have either offended or befriended in life. Even history's greatest atheist, Voltaire, suddenly had a glimpse of the supernatural in his dying moments, which scenario is hideous to contemplate, if you can believe his last words.

Whaoh Nellie, wait a cottonpickinminute. You are equating supernatural experience with belief in God. That's like saying a wedding cake is only legit if it has a caricature of a bride and groom at its apex. There are endless supernatural experiences a person can have - which don't involve one or more Gods. You can be a Buddhist and have supernatural experiences. You can be a non-religionist like me, and have such experiences. Who's to say whether deists or naturalists have deeper, more splendorious experiences? You wanna compare trips?

Whomever asserts the following: "Christian parents teach their children to believe in God, atheists teach them not to." is full of rotten bologna seeping out their mouths. Deists need to understand, that those of us who don't believe in God myths, actually have other beliefs, which are more in tune with science and nature (no need for un-natural births and such). In other words, non-diests are not people who have no beliefs (triple negative, sorry). I am not a deist, but I relish my ideas (and supernatural experiences) with NATURE. I'm not walking around in a dull-headed void, as deists would want to believe.

Edited February 5, 2014 by boomerangutang

[Fookhaht]

A well-written post, making the persuasive point that atheists are not necessarily anti-super naturalists.

Sent from my tin can via string

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

Deists need to understand, that those of us who don't believe in God myths, actually have other beliefs

<snip>

[ravip]

And who would have a law such as this?

21 Exception:A minor will not be penalized for if discovered consuming alcohol through a medical emergency. Underage drinking allowed on private non-alcohol selling premises with parental consent, for religious purposes

Edited January 23, 2015 by ravip

[JetsetBkk]

And who would have a law such as this?

21 Exception:A minor will not be penalized for if discovered consuming alcohol through a medical emergency. Underage drinking allowed on private non-alcohol selling premises with parental consent, for religious purposes

Yes, ridiculous: the 8th word - "for" - is totally unnecessary.

[zierf1]

I'm a #6 Atheist. I guess some people still believe in a "God" and/or spirits in 2015? Seems incredible that anybody could be that dumb. I know that in my home country(US) we have a lot of believer types. I still can't believe most of them are that dumb but I guess you really can't tell how much air is in a person's head until you talk to them.

[ThePlant]

I'm Agnostic. Atheists make me chuckle with their 'free thinkers' claims. They are the most closed minded sect around. I'm open minded enough to be awake to the idea there might be more to life than just the ' solid facts' Atheists like to bang on about.

[sirineou]

I'm Agnostic. Atheists make me chuckle with their 'free thinkers' claims. They are the most closed minded sect around. I'm open minded enough to be awake to the idea there might be more to life than just the ' solid facts' Atheists like to bang on about.

Nonsense. Atheists do not say there is no God , they say there is no evidence there is a God

We are as open minded as open minded can be, Provide the evidence and I would be the first one to consider them.

What other than "solid facts" will you accept? pseudo facts? feelings? wishes?

No one can prove a negative, not me , not you. But a fair minded person can say that with relative certainty the evident suggests.......

What is an Agnostic? some one who lucks the courage of his convictions.

I dont know? there might be a God. boo Hoo.

Sure , there might be, there also might be a Easter bunny , or a flying spaghetti Munster

there is just as much evidence for all, the only difference the Easter Bunny followers never tried to kill me for not believing in the Bunny.

[MAJIC]

You die ,end of road ,there is nothing .

There is no evidence of anyone coming back to state otherwise,although there has been many who have entered into pacts that if possible,they will come back and show the person who they had the agreement with,that there is life after death,so far no one has made a convincing appearance! since the beginning of time!

Unless they were con merchants,and crooks!

However,if there is no life after death,there is no point to having a Religion or a long life,or a short life,a happy or a tragic life,a successful life or a pointless life,a historical figure,or a nobody, because in the space of time,nobody will remember you,or whatever religion you believed in, or nothing we will all just fade away into history which nobody will have the time to remember! the pointless dead, billions and Trillions of people! Perhaps that is why Politicians, world leaders,and even mass murderers (Responsible for millions of deaths) fight so desperately to gain a place in the History books, it's slightly better than dying into nothingness! with or without a Religion!

Edited January 25, 2015 by MAJIC

[manarak]

I'm Agnostic. Atheists make me chuckle with their 'free thinkers' claims. They are the most closed minded sect around. I'm open minded enough to be awake to the idea there might be more to life than just the ' solid facts' Atheists like to bang on about.

Nonsense. Atheists do not say there is no God , they say there is no evidence there is a God

We are as open minded as open minded can be, Provide the evidence and I would be the first one to consider them.

What other than "solid facts" will you accept? pseudo facts? feelings? wishes?

No one can prove a negative, not me , not you. But a fair minded person can say that with relative certainty the evident suggests.......

What is an Agnostic? some one who lucks the courage of his convictions.

I dont know? there might be a God. boo Hoo.

Sure , there might be, there also might be a Easter bunny , or a flying spaghetti Munster

there is just as much evidence for all, the only difference the Easter Bunny followers never tried to kill me for not believing in the Bunny.

It's a question of semantics.

Many agnostics don't believe there is a God, but can't exclude it 100% - still, for all practical purposes will assume there is no God.

So the intellectually exact personalities will declare themselves agnostics, while characters who like to simplify or those who are unable to think in percentages and need certainty to function will choose the atheist option.

No practical difference between the two

Edited January 25, 2015 by manarak

[MAJIC]

I'm Agnostic. Atheists make me chuckle with their 'free thinkers' claims. They are the most closed minded sect around. I'm open minded enough to be awake to the idea there might be more to life than just the ' solid facts' Atheists like to bang on about.

The difference of an Atheist and a Agnostic is: one can make up his mind and the other just hedges his bets!

[AYJAYDEE]

I'm a #6 Atheist. I guess some people still believe in a "God" and/or spirits in 2015? Seems incredible that anybody could be that dumb. I know that in my home country(US) we have a lot of believer types. I still can't believe most of them are that dumb but I guess you really can't tell how much air is in a person's head until you talk to them.

do you believe in dark matter and dark energy?

[NoshowJones]

I'm a #6 Atheist. I guess some people still believe in a "God" and/or spirits in 2015? Seems incredible that anybody could be that dumb. I know that in my home country(US) we have a lot of believer types. I still can't believe most of them are that dumb but I guess you really can't tell how much air is in a person's head until you talk to them.

Dumb???? That's a bit strong, if people are following any religion and not interfering with anyone else, then that should be respected.

[garrya]

I have always wondered why we have to "believe". Why can't we just know?

If we don't know something or there is no evidence about it, why do we have to "believe" in it? Why can't we just say, ok, I don't understand this. But instead, when something seemingly unexplainable happens we always turn our attention to "God" or to "ghosts".

Many people believe in "ghosts", but I have never seen one.

My missus and myself had moved to a house 3 years ago. All the neighbours had warned us that the house had been haunted by ghosts and that no one could live there long. Of course I laughed off these claims and invited them to our house. Of course there hasn't been any sign of any "ghosts". According to a neighbour, ghost sightings happened weekly before we moved in. I guess the ghosts are just scared of me.

[boomerangutang]

Christianity is the way to go. 'Jesus died for your sins.' That's their primary mantra. What that means is, all the bad stuff you've done since you got out of pampers, is forgiven, as soon as you accept Jesus as your Lord or saviour. It's not only retroactive, but probably also applies to sins of tomorrow and the next day. In other words, a person can keep getting forgiven, over and over. Yippee, let's go party and do whatever - it all gets forgiven!

[Ulysses G.]

I'm a #6 Atheist. I guess some people still believe in a "God" and/or spirits in 2015? Seems incredible that anybody could be that dumb. I know that in my home country(US) we have a lot of believer types. I still can't believe most of them are that dumb but I guess you really can't tell how much air is in a person's head until you talk to them.

Dumb???? That's a bit strong, if people are following any religion and not interfering with anyone else, then that should be respected.

Agreed and I bet that a lot of those "dumb" believers are a heck of a lot more intelligent than he is.

[EmptyHead]

Jesus Christ died for our sins guys...come on!

[notmyself]

I'm Agnostic. Atheists make me chuckle with their 'free thinkers' claims. They are the most closed minded sect around. I'm open minded enough to be awake to the idea there might be more to life than just the ' solid facts' Atheists like to bang on about.

Which actually makes no sense since atheism (and theism) address belief while Gnosticism (and Agnosticism) address knowledge.

[sanuk711]

.

I think It's fair to say, that if God really made everything, he was probably from China..............................

[A1Str8]

Why would anyone believe in something that was created by someone else is beyond me.

[stat088]

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist?

My kids are being raised as Bhuddists and i tolerate that because of my love for my wife.

[notmyself]

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist?

My kids are being raised as Bhuddists and i tolerate that because of my love for my wife.

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist

?

[canuckamuck]

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist?

My kids are being raised as Bhuddists and i tolerate that because of my love for my wife.

Well here's hoping your wife is merely brainwashed.

[AYJAYDEE]

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist?

My kids are being raised as Bhuddists and i tolerate that because of my love for my wife.

exactly what is it about buddhism that must be tolerated?

[stat088]

I am a 7. Anyone that is less than 7 is either stupid or brainwashed. How can you believe in something like a god that does not exist?

My kids are being raised as Bhuddists and i tolerate that because of my love for my wife.

exactly what is it about buddhism that must be tolerated?

The widespread hypocrisy.

[johnbs]

When the chips are down, there's only one Higher Power mere humans call upon. OMG