A question for Christians AND atheists - Page 6

peritonlogon · #51 12-09-2005, 05:19 AM

I feel so excluded..... Atheist born and raised.

ZeeJustin · #52 12-09-2005, 06:34 AM

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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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Logic and reason over time. There was no one epiphany that did it.

evil_twin · #53 12-09-2005, 07:28 AM

I very young in school. We were made to pray every morning and I never really gave it much thought. I vaguely visualised prayers going up somewhere near the moon. One day when I was ten years old a very good friend of mine said "You realise there is no god, right?". I was a little shocked, but over then next few days came to realise he was right, it was all utterly ridiculous. I felt the same about it as I had about the tooth fairy and santa.

hmkpoker · #54 12-09-2005, 09:31 AM

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Anything that I do that contains any purpose (including such things as investing, studying, working out) is done in context of the future.

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What about things that are...you know...fun? Fun things have a purpose: a very simple purpose.

I like eating out, going to parties, playing videogames, swimming, surfing, dancing, meditation, painting, making love, playing music and the occasional entheogenic experience for no reason other than the fact that I enjoy doing them. Life is full of enjoyable things.

hmkpoker · #55 12-09-2005, 09:38 AM

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And do you really think atheism is an easy answer? It's much easier to believe in a god. Realizing nobody is up there after believing it your whole life doesn't exactly make you want to jump for joy.

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Agreed. I went from the belief in eternal life, to reincarnation, to Taoism, to atheism. None of the steps were very pleasant, but each one focused me more on my life, and accordingly, I became a much happier person.

#56 12-09-2005, 10:51 AM

My terse answer:

I was a Fundamentalist, then a Calvinist. Then I could no longer believe the Bible was inerrant/infallible. Then I allowed myself to question the deity of Jesus. Then I looked at other religions. Then Unitarian Universalism. Then I became agnostic. Then pretty much atheist -- in practice if not belief.

There may be a God... and I hope there is... as long as it's not the "Christian God of the Bible". But, I'm a skeptic by nature... I'm a doubting Thomas. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Occam's razor & Hume's maxim are two principles I find useful in examining beliefs.

Kurn, son of Mogh · #57 12-09-2005, 10:55 AM

It's just a basic antipathy towards a "this religion is right and the rest are going to hell" attitude. I grew up with a Roman Catholic mother and an atheist father. I minored in religion in college - mostly American religious history.

I tend to gravitate more toward eastern thought like taoism and zen, which are non-theistic philosophies.

hmkpoker · #58 12-09-2005, 11:14 AM

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I grew up with a Roman Catholic mother and an atheist father. I minored in religion in college

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Wow, me too [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

hmkpoker · #59 12-09-2005, 11:20 AM

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Faith and religion were invented by people who felt the same weaknesses I did and we all do from time to time. It's comforting to think there is an all-knowing being out there. It's not reasonable, though. I'd rather live honestly than blissfully. Then again, my religious days were anything but blissful.

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Do you see how inconsistent this is? You said religion made you miserable so you became an atheist. Logically, atheism was invented by people who didn't want to feel uncomfortable. That very tired, old bromide you offer for why religion was invented just doesn't wash, logically or practically. You might want to think a little deeper about why you rejected God.

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It is consistent if religion was invented by people who want to make people feel happy, but failed in doing so.

RJT · #60 12-09-2005, 12:03 PM

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I grew up with a Roman Catholic mother and an atheist father. I minored in religion in college

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Wow, me too [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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I think we just found our two compatible candidates for Lestat’s brain transplant experiment. Are you two willing to give it a go for the sake a science ( and Religion for that matter)?