16 Common Myths About Atheists

reply to post by depth om


I agree, I am not perfect. Nobody can honestly say that they are really. I just dont believe that rather than commiting a sin......I just make bad decisions and will continue to make bad decisions throughout my whole life. Just because one is not perfect does not mean one is sinning against god

Originally posted by Bob Sholtz
But let me pose a question, on what athority are your morals based?

none. simple as that. my morals are based on logic and reason. here's the basest statement of morality for me, i've borrowed it from wicca because i find it to be the best way to some up logical morality: do no harm
that's my morality.

Your own? that would indicate that you have the right and power to decide what is right for everyone.

ok... then what is your morality based off of?

Originally posted by John_Q_Llama
I'm not an atheist, but as I recover from 30+ years of living in a Christian environment and 13+ years of being a Christian, I can't deny that I may one day end up as one. That said, I have to disagree with the point about not hating Christianity. As an ex-Christian I constantly find myself battling with a Christian mentality, doing things because that's what Christian programming dictates, and fighting with Christian assumptions while thinking about my spirituality from a post-Christian view. This struggle to let go of that brainwashing pisses me off. Do I hate Christians? No. Do I hate Christianity...perhaps hate is too strong a word, but I would say that, at the very least, I look upon it with significant contempt.

That inability to LET GO from (Brain Washing) isn't brain washing. What you are experiencing in your struggle is the Holy Spirit doing HIS BEST to hold on to you. Eventually He will let you go once He sees that you are just unwilling. I go through it too, or, have gone through and find that once I stopped resisting and figting, then I was much more happy!

reply to post by jdposey


this thread, for preaching it is not

i'm rebumping because i keep seeing these myths repeated ad nauseum.

Theism - religion

Atheism- not religion

what's so complicated to understand?

You are an atheist if you reject religion(s) or god(s).

Anything else you do or chose to do, morals and standards, belief systems or otherwise have nothing to do with the definition of what an atheist is.

Seriously, stop turning it into a religion.

The causality of atheism is not atheism itself. Just like fundamental christianity and holy jihad are not christianity or islam- just biproducts of those things.

So these- ask an atheist- misconceptions- etc threads, are basically saying switch to our religion 'Atheism' and this is how we 'Atheists' behave. People are different, their interpretation of a thing is not the thing itself.

Stop putting labels on things and try to think about something for yourself, just this once.

Has an Athiest read and learned everything there is to know or discover?

Baha' i, Buddhism, Christianity, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Latter-day Saints,Falun Gong, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Scientology, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Unitarian Universalism, Zoroastrianism

And this isn't even close to all that's out there to read and learn. I for one think you should study everything before you come to a conclusion. To stop learning or searching for more will only cut you short of the real truth. I myself will be searching and learning until the day I die and will not call myself anything but a student.

[edit on 4/23/2008 by Solarskye]

Great thread. It's too bad someone has tried to put up a very poor parody of this original thread. Oh well - at least he included the link to THIS thread in his poor copy.

J.

reply to post by Solarskye


um...you can reject the concept of a deity without rejecting all the stuff that goes along with religions

for example, i'm an atheist that admires many of the things that jesus said

it doesn't matter how great some of the stuff in a religion is, it's the concept of a deity that doesn't work out for me.

because someone repeated one of these myths (to me) in another thread i'm going to have to say this again for the record: atheists don't hate people that believe in god (well, very few might, but it's not a rule)

example: i'm dating a wonderful young woman that believes in god
2 of my closest friend believe in god
my grandparents who i love dearly not only believe in god, but try to subtly convert me (i take it in stride though it is annoying)
my mother believes in god, i love her too

in fact, if you look at basically every atheist you know, you'll find that they love and care for a theist.

forget it, not worth it

[edit on 5/5/08 by madnessinmysoul]

I believe in general relativity in a quantum perspective. Nearly everything can be broken down to E=mc^2. What makes things happen (E) is knowledge (m) mixed with the constant of faith (c) in a hightened perspective (^2). The core of all science if faith. Whether or not we like it, science is based on faith and evolves from faith. Life (E) equals experience (m) times constant perception (c) from hightened third dimention senses (^2). And so on. The super-universe (I believe in multiple parallell universes) must be of constant mass and total mass of each universe must be relative in order for a universe to expand or be dynamic. Light can be stopped and reflected/deflected and even absorbed and is thereby not a real constant, eventhough Lightspeed (c) through a vacuum appears to be constant (allthough ^2 requires acceleration it seems), but what about gravity? it makes the light move either shorter or longer way. Therefore I say that the constant of general relativity is mass, not lightspeed, since light travelling along a bent line (due to the gravity of a star or a black hole) use more energy than light travelling in a straight line, and the equation is a fixed formula which seems to be universal. Division of mass (m) both produce and requires energy (E) and light (c) is the product, and it travels from origo to every side (^2) in a commonly understood constant speed.



[edit on 6/5/2008 by Neo Christian Mystic]

Ok, I'm seeing a lot of people in society at large misrepresenting what an atheist is, I'm just going to bump this to try to clear some of that up.

Also, another common myth about atheists: They exist only on the internet.

Actually, I exist in Europe as well as online, myth debunked.

Here is a statement about atheists that you can call a myth if you want

Atheists rightfully criticize untruthful religious sentiments, but in doing so, assume that all mysticism/spirituality can also be classified as religious nonsense. For example, it is a common line from atheists to say that they do not believe in a 'sky daddy', implying that God is a physical person or thing literally in the sky, while every mystic throughout history has unanimously agreed that the Absolute Godhead is immaterial, a 'spirit' and not in fact a physical thing. So in summation, atheists present a straw man argument implying all people who believe in God think it is a 'sky daddy' which follows certain religious passages but is a rejection of the overwhelming literature of mystics who claim again and again that the Highest Truth is immaterial, not material

In doing so, atheists agree with religion more so than they think, because it was none other than the Catholic church that burned gnostics as heretics for believing that God can be experienced through direct personal gnosis, rather than through the church. In assuming that God can only be a sky daddy, atheists agree with the religious in assuming that a mystic is a heretic since he believes in some type of unofficial account of God, and that furthermore all people who believe in God believe in some type of ridiculous sky daddy notion of God. If that were the case, people would be better off worshiping the sun, a literal 'sky daddy' in the sky.





[edit on 23-8-2010 by filosophia]

There are no atheist myths and only one atheist fact: they don't believe in a god. You're acting like atheists are a race of people being discriminated against. I don't like to go swimming but I'm not compelled to defend my fellow non-swimmers at every turn. Get over yourself.

reply to post by Def Youth


And you're acting quite rude.

Atheists are lumped together as a group and discriminated against immensely. More so in some places than others. In certain states in the USA there are still laws on the books that say an Atheist cannot hold public office or testify in court. The majority of people in America would not vote for a person simply because they are an atheist (according to a Gallup poll). In my own nation I have to keep my atheism a secret, lest I get failed out of a few of my philosophy courses.

Atheists are discriminated against more than people know. But the problem is that we're like homosexuals used to be, heavily closeted. Most people don't know I'm an atheist because I can't let some of them know because it could ruin my life.

Hey look, a series of links that have more information about atheists being discriminated against!

Wikipedia

About.com

About.com again

Another link

And one from the secular humanists

reply to post by filosophia



We use the term 'sky daddy' typically with regard to non-gnostic Abrahamic religions and we use it either as an endearing jab or (unfortunately more often) as a barbed insult towards religious believe. We don't say those sorts of things because that's how we view the philosophy of that religion.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Good to see you back.

I think a few people should buckle up and get ready for a rough ride!

Athiests, don't you know that if you don't believe in Jeebus, you'll spread herpes in the afterlife and you junk will fall off... It's TRUE.... Rosie Odonell told me so!

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
Atheists are discriminated against more than people know. But the problem is that we're like homosexuals used to be, heavily closeted. Most people don't know I'm an atheist because I can't let some of them know because it could ruin my life.

Oh don't get your panties in a bunch. Seriously? Grow some balls. Life is tough, people have opinions and they all stink. If you are confident in your beliefs or lack thereof what does it matter what others think? People look at you and would never be able to tell that you are an atheist. So what if you can't go around and interject it into every random conversation possible. You aren't an evangelist are you?

reply to post by mattifikation


Ok let me stop you right there for a sec ok.You said

"The Christians will never be convinced that those myths aren't true. These myths aren't something they make up on their own. It's part of the brainwashing they get as children. "

Now let me first say I am an ex- Atheists as a "child" my mother and father made it a point to let us kids pick our own faith or lack there of. So i studied many things like the paranormal,ancient civilizations,religion and so on.

I started tearing down peoples beliefs all the time i was opened minded and unbiased i truly was. Now i wont get into detail but im a Christian now because of it.

So im sorry there was no brainwashing here.

And i would like to say most people really just don't know what an Atheists is and some of the "other" Atheists do fit this bill as well as some Christians fit the "Christian Myth" bill.

But it is pure arrogance to say what most people on this post are saying (brainwashing,blinders of religion,logic,reality,and so on) so i would like to shear a FACT with you all.


You can NOT prove God does not exist = FACT
You can NOT prove God does exist = FACT


So please stop the arrogance. That is what makes myths.

Originally posted by The Endtime Warrior
Life is tough, people have opinions and they all stink.

That's right, but I would give anything to press my nose up against Lily Allen's opinion.

Originally posted by GunzCoty
You can NOT prove God does not exist = FACT

This is a silly statement and could be said about anything that cannot be proven to exist. I can't prove that I have an invisible pet unicorn, but I'll be damned if you can prove that I don't.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Welcome back, you'll find ATS has become a darker place.