Category: Let's talk
Hay all, wondering who around if anyone is atheistic? If so how strongly and what drew you to it? Speaking for myself, I am a very strong atheist and logical positivist. Be interested to see the response I get.
I'd say I'm more agnostic than atheist. To clarify a tiny bit, that means my asnwer to a lot of the great questions about if there is or isn't a god and what its nature is or isn't is a resounding "I don't know." LOL! Yeah, it's a flippant answer but it works for me. I'm also not a big fan of organized religion, because a lot of it can create needless shame and guilt and people can tend to use it to justify their own petty hatreds and prejudices.
Absolutely I'm a born atheist I have no time for organised religion its a form of cruel exploitative mind control for the weak.
The only belief I have is in Paganisim as it in part, celebrates and worships the earth and the forces of nature. What drew me to atheism was the very intolerant attitude of a relative who could not accept me being bi and goth, never mind my condition..smile, she tried very hard to convert me in return I rebelled until she gave in.
I'm an agnostic, I believe there may be some sort of godly being out there but I really think it's not worth bothering about because it can't be proven either way that there is or isn't, at least that's how it seems to me. I choose not to follow any religion, I believe that religion is hipocritical, they say we must love each other, but each religion isn't prepared to accept each other's beliefs. Not only that, I hate the way that organised religions condemn someone to "hell", they try to categorise people on what they believe is good and bad, but what they seem to conveniently forget is that different people's perception of what is good and bad varies depending on culture and generation and upbringing etc. I don't believe in heaven or hell, to be honest I'm not really sure, maybe in re-encarnation,or an alternative to this is that when we die we go to a better place than this, but who knows. I've got a lot more respect for people who are good people, they help others, don't indulge in criminal activity than people who claim to be religious, and use their religion as a front to disguise their true personality.
I am proud to say that I am atheist. I never believed. Religion to me is pointless. It is too immpossible for the world to only start with 2 humans. It's doesn't make sense.
I think one thing a lot of non-believers try to do, unfortunately, is expect Christians to be better than the rest of us. The reason why some Christians are hypocrites is that they're still humans and still ruled by human nature, even though they've gone through certain rituals that are supposed to mean they are saved. I don't mind most Christians, as I think they're just trying to quietly live their lives and muddle along like the rest of us, but it's the fanatics and people who want to show off or who spend most of their time thumbing their nose at secular society because they don't have total power over it that I take issue with.
yeah, I was once interested in the pagan thing, but my only response to it is quite simple, the earth is a rock! Lmao, uh, sorry, but praying to a rock or whatever mystical beings are attributed to this world, something seem a bit wrong there? We are not the only world in this universe, we are one of many, so saying that some entity create the universe and it settled in this world...a bit self-centred no? Respecting the environment is all well and good but extremes, people! extremes!
We do not only worship the earth as the planet, but we see the earth as our home and therefore soemtimes things might be centered around the planet we call our home. We also see beauty, in the stark severe beauty of the winter night sky, and in the sun and moon. So it is mainly symbolic, nothing more and nothing less. Think of the Greeks, we worship the gods behind the symbols, not the symbols themselves. and believe me, we do respect the environment. We see the logic in the circle of life, birth death and rebirth. Some do not choose to believe in rebirth. I myself do not know what to think and still am struck dumb by the thought of it. It makes sense, no? Makes sense that we should be given another chance to try again and again until we have attained a certain level of perfection until we have learned all there is to learn in the life we are given.
We see Nature as a symbol of nurturing, like a mother suckling her young. So therefore we adorn the world around us with symbols. Spells are merely symbolically enhanced prayers to a higher power for assistance. Human nature relies on hope, we can live without food for days, water a few less than a few days, and without hope it is hours beofre our spirit lets go.
I hold it near and dear to my heart, seeing the symbolism in everything. I do not overdo this, however.
Symbolically, we are part of a web of light and life.
Blessed be,
Lady Silver Starsong
to see beauty is all well and good, no artist can go a day or night seeing no beauty. However, the problem comes when you worship that beauty. Why? You ask me to look at the greeks? Ok, they had a god for everything they could not explain, thousands of years later, human nature still accounts for what it cannot explain in the shape of religion. You talk about symbolism, gods represented by symbols of some form or another? Well...prove it! And, the thought of being able to try and try again is, actually rather absurd. This world is unforgiving and harsh in nature and in life. You try, you fail, sometimes you can't try again. Stars and planets and atmos are destroid every day...no trying again here. Who judges this perfection? These gods that cannot be proven to exist? I'll tell you what paganism is. Look at the social revolutions of the past 40 years, suddenly we can be open about sex, liberal about adult content and...more free with religion. With that, comes the rebellion of people that say, that we are going to create something new, just because we don't like the old, AKA christchianity. Of course, the pagans were not original enough to create something unique, so they changed around something hundreds of years old and threw it back into popular culture. Most pagans, all they are doing is rebelling against the harsh and dictatorial christchen regime! So you tell me worship the earth, worship an old dead guy on a cross, worship an arab, an old philosopher named Booda, it's all the same, that's why i go against religion, it's all just expressions of that hope of people that cannot dare to look inside themselves because they are not, strong, enough, and so must look elsewhere for what they need in life. That's what it boils down to, the psyche of the human that created these things, and that is why no religion is perfect as no man is perfect and no religion has any more validity than the others. THey are all psychological death traps of broken hopes and empty promisses. Keep in mind this is just a debate, I'm not attacking any user and if you don't like what I have to say, that's fine, take it up with me. I'm not writing out of malace or hate, just an exasperation with what should be glaringly obvious.
just because you're a born atheist does not mean you have to go and act like a christian by shoving it down another's throat. things we often pray for are answered.
prayer is a desperate cry for something wanted and sometimes answered for.
now, this is all i will say.
go take your atheism and shove it up your ass sideways!
I'm certain you'll enjoy it loads!
did I ask you to read it? Did I say, you will go and die if you don't become an atheist? So much for civilised debate, and, saying, "shove it," when you have no further logical argument...that's very cristchen of you, yourself. We can't argue, so we'll just kill you now...hmmm how furmilliar is that. Anyone else?
i'm definitely with you on this one mathew. i can't stand anyone who tries to shove his or her beliefs on others, it gets under my skin like nothing else!
I take the view that there might be higher beings out there. If they ever want my attention, I'll be willing to talk, but I will treat them as other beings, no more, no less. I shant worship them for being, any more than anything lower than I would or should worship me.
I actually think the pagans are a breath of fresh air compared to traditional faiths. At least they're not into the whole guilt and shame thing from what I can tell. I look at religion this way. It isn't my thing, but if it works for somebody else, good for them. But if you want to intrude on my life and want to recruit me or whatever, I refuse. And extremism is extremism, no matter who's doing it and I don't want a part of any of it. So there, too. Now, I have to work out how one is actually supposed to take an idea, turn it sideways and anally insert it when the idea has no physical substance. Most puzzling, Captain.Hahahahahaha!
Fabulous I have to take issue with your attitude towards the Pagan religion. First of all Pagans believe as do the native Austalians that each and everything has a god or goddess attributed to it. I.E The sun/moon seasons and forces of nature. It is NOT as you childishly pointed out, praying to rock. Godzilla thank you Pagans are forbidden from harming others with any form of control it's the most honest of religions.
Also, in I think it's Zen Buddism, they believe if a person reincarnates as a disabled person then they have been evil in their previous incarnation.Yet, who has a bad word to say about buddists? I find that attitude deplorable. In Scotland a strong catholic country, I've lost count of the number of people, who have said to me and/or my friends, that's a sin, regarding their disability ..all things are relative.
first, goblin, they can believe there is a god or whatever atributed to every single thing as they like, but at the end of the day, the true and simple fact is...they are praying to a rock, a tree, bird, whatever, it's still the same. Also, harmless religion? I'd rather not harm someone because that's the choice I've decided to make and that's because I feel that harm is wrong, not because I fear some carmic backlash.
I am atheist, yes, but very open minded to a lot of things. But I hate religious institutions, they are just not for me. I don't need a god's picture to tell me what's wrong and what's good, I can make my own law. But like I said, I personnally think every religions are good, as long as people don't fall in fanatism, respect other's beliefs and don't try to convert you. I love to read about this subject. For open minded interrested atheist, you might like something called pantheism. Very cool stuff
What is Pantheism I'm intrigued already.
I know this is an old topic, but I had to revive it being that I'm an atheist and proud of it!!
I'm an atheist!
as far as i'm concerned, the now is what matters. we should pay attention to the isues we have now. instead of making the 3rd world all happy that they're getting something better when they die, how about we use all that religious money to actually feed them instead of convert them.
As a Hellenic Polytheist, not a Wiccan or newage spiritualist but one strictly believing in the Greek pantheon, I must comment a bit here. When most people think of religion, they mostly mean the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These bring the shame, guilt, oppression, suppression of knowledge etc. These also demand blind obedience without question. Now am I saying that all people who follow these religions are like that? Absolutely not. There are some very liberal adherents of all three faiths. Butt the religions themselves teach these things. I've never seen any pagan religion which inforces guilt, shame or hatred of onesself. Not every pagan religion is Earth-based nor is every one a mixture of old and new beliefs. Yes, it it true that there are some Hellenic pagans who are more eclectic, incorperating different aspects in their faith while others claim to worship The Gods but only do so in name. But there are also those who honestly want to bring back many of the old ways. While most of us agree that, for example, animal sacrifice, except in the case of hunters, is wrong as well as the subjugation of women etc. there are still ways of following The Gods in a more traditional manner. I might also add that not all of us see Them only as symbols. Many of us, myself included, see Them as immortal, individual, living beings. I respect The Gods far more than any mortals and offer Them worship, honour and love. But there are some people whom I respect, not as much as The Gods, but more than most other people. Paganism itself is not a religion, but rather, is a word denoting originally nonChristians and now referring to many different faiths which fall outside the so-called mainstream. The idea of not harming others, while an admirable one, is not a part of all pagan religions. But neither is forcing your beliefs on others either through verbal or through physical means.
All that said, I have no problems with atheists or those of other faiths. I think that religion, whether it has a deity or not, or even total lack of religion, is a very personal matter in the sense that no one can tell you what is good for you. The only thing with which I disagree is harming others in the name of religion. I myself was never an atheist, but there was a large period in my life when I just believed that there was some kind of higher power out there but didn't know His/Her/It's name. I also believed, as I still do, in the spiritual realm and that some people are reincarnated, others stay here if they have unfinished business or sometimes if they died tragically and that still others go to another place but can visit here as spirits if they choose. I also believe in the paranormal but usually don't associate that with my religion.
just to clarify, atheists don't believe there's any sort of higher power, so you're wrong there, Tiffinitsa.
Reread. I said "I myself was never an atheist". I never claimed that atheists believe in higher powers, though I know some certainly believe that certain things are sacred.
Ok, out of curiosity, am I the only person who thinks that death is the end? Why do we have to go somewhere, or come back as a turtle or something? Why can't it be, your born, you live, you die, you rot, that's it? No golden gates, no afterlife, no boatman on the river styx no eternal battle at the side of the gods, no state of perfect enlightenment, nothing. We don't say that a dog has gone to a better place. If we shoot a deer, we don't say it went to heaven, or worry that it might come back as a virus one day and give us an STD or something. We say, its dead, that's it. Please explain to me why we believe that we are not animals? Please tell me one thing, one simple thing that we do, that some creature in the animal kingdom does not do. We are nothing but food for worms. One day each and every one of us is going to stop breathing, and die. that's all there is to it. Why do you need the comfort of some false hope that there will be some wonderful place waiting for you if you've been good? That sounds like the santa clause story. If your good, you get presence, if your bad, you get coals. compare that with, if your good, you go to heaven, if your bad, you go to hell. Not a whole lot of difference if you think about it. Its just a story we're told to make us shut up as children.
Oh, and the whole worshipping trees and rocks and birds and stuff, that is technically druidism, not paganism. Paganism is actually worshipping any god other than the christian god, as pagan is a christian term, made up by christians, and used primarily, and at one point only, by christians. Now, the term has been twisted and poluted to include all forms of mystical beliefs and religions, which most people believe are these new crazes, but have really been around for thousands of years. Sorry, but wicka, is not all that new, its just a new name, which does not change the product. Spiritual oneness, tuning fork praying, chi, all have been around for centuries. And they still haven't really dilivered, but hey, believe what you want.
While agree that yes, we are animals, I've never heard of other animals having philosophical debates on where they go after death, starting/maintaining civilisations and creating industrial revolutions, styles of consumer products etc. I personally do think that animals go somewhere, even if I don't know where that place is. So not everyone simply says "it's dead".
that's what true atheists believe though, SL.
that's what I believe. I am not interested in worshiping something that isn't there, and something that has consistently not been there throughout history.
Actually, there are animals who have cultures ad civilizations, look at ants. There are also animals with the equivalent of designer merchandise. As for philosophic arguments, I think its mainly that animals are too busy trying to make the one life they know they're given work out for them, that they don't piss around worrying about one they won't ever get.
I'm not saying that they don't have social groups with higherarchies etc but they're still not as advanced as humans. And this is coming from an animal lover, so I'm not the type to be ignorant of their intelligence. There are some who, one day if taught, really might learn a great deal more than they know now. But as of this writing, they haven't surpassed or equaled us yet.