A question for Christians AND atheists

[hmkpoker]

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Atheism doesn't go around claiming God doesn't exist.

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I think it does that by definition.

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That's a rather sanctimonious claim. Atheism doesn't go around claiming God doesn't exist. It is healthily unconcerned with his existence or lack thereof.

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Isn't that an agnostic?

[imported_luckyme]

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Atheism is hostility toward God, enmity with Him.

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If I wasn't an atheist I could answer, "If there were a god ... ". Atheism is merely a philosophical statement. Atheists, otoh, may have none or various hostilities. Those that have a hostility regarding their position tend to have it focused on things like bigoted thinking in the guise of religion, or some religion wanting to enforce compliance with their version of it, or if it gets personalized it'll be at narrow-minded, dogmatic bullies ( like a Falwell).

God is not something we can be hostile toward, by definition. Too bad, beause the flip side of the purpose the god-concept serves for religion could be a great tension reliever for atheists, it just doesn't work that way....darn.

In a sense, yes. I'm talking about the behavior of atheism, or at least my brand of atheism. It is passive, not active. God's nonexistence doesn't actively participate in everday life and thought.

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Atheists: (if you were non-atheist at an earlier point) What caused you to believe what you believe about theology?


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I was raised Catholic, I stopped believing in that garbage in college. I stopped believing for two reasons:

1. No evidence, whatsoever, of a god. Even if I (or anyone else, for that matter) could not disprove certain instances of paranormal occurrences, this did not mean that there had to be a god, this leads into No. 2...

2. Occum's razer - the simplest explanation is usually the the correct one. Which of the two is more simple. A) The the Universe began and life evolved off of matter and energy behaving in their natural states; or B) a super powerful and invisible being exists beyond the physical world, who can foresee how everything will occur down to the atomic level, and so on and so forth...I choose A

In addition, I have an extreme distaste for religion people who only want your money. How many of you have gone to any church where they didn't want your money? I bet not a single person.

No, I believe there is no God. Why would I spend my time defying something I don't think exists? There is nothing to defy.

[imported_luckyme]

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Isn't that an agnostic?

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agnostics are a subset of atheism. A-theism = lack of a belief in god. It can be chopped up various ways from there but the answer to the initial question - "Do you believe in God(of some definition naturally)" is answered "No" by an agnostic.
The second question "How do you view this topic?" is where the subsets take over.

[hmkpoker]

I'm going to make fun of you before one of the Christians gets the chance:

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1. No evidence, whatsoever, of a god. Even if I (or anyone else, for that matter) could not disprove certain instances of paranormal occurrences, this did not mean that there had to be a god

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That would actually be a relatively good argument for God.

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Occum's razer

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*SMACK*

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Which of the two is more simple. A) The the Universe began and life evolved off of matter and energy behaving in their natural states; or B) a super powerful and invisible being exists beyond the physical world, who can foresee how everything will occur down to the atomic level, and so on and so forth

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I have an easier time grasping the ideas in Genesis than I do the physics of the creation of the Universe. God's motives don't make much sense to me, but still...

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In addition, I have an extreme distaste for religion people who only want your money. How many of you have gone to any church where they didn't want your money? I bet not a single person.

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I have. I used to go to a Greek Orthodox mission church that was owned by a priest, who also worked at Covenant House, a charitable organization in Atlantic City. He refused most donations, and what few donations he accepted went into the thrift shop that was annexed to the church so he could get more supplies for the poor.



Don't make the rest of us atheists look bad.

[hmkpoker]

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In a sense, yes. I'm talking about the behavior of atheism, or at least my brand of atheism. It is passive, not active. God's nonexistence doesn't actively participate in everday life and thought.

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Ah, ok. I see what you meant.

[hmkpoker]

Here's a question: is atheism more of a belief or a non-belief?