Riddle me this, Atheists..

Applause!
Applause!
Applause!
Applause!

reply to post by CHA0S


Did you read the whole OP?

This thread isn't a Atheist Vs. Christian bashing thread. If you feel the need to criticize please take it somewhere else. Thanks.

reply to post by Ghost in the Machine


Some people say that a love of humanity unites atheists, this is wrong there are atheists who hate humanity.

Others say it is a love of science that unites atheists, this is wrong, there are atheists who couldn't be bothered with science.

Some say that it is a love of truth that unites atheists, but there are atheists who are not really concerned with the truth.

I think the thing that truly unites atheists, other than a lack of belief in a god is the inability to pigeon hole atheists, we cannot be defined. As for the reason we may come together as a group, well if you are under attack you seek out like minded individuals. Even so, there are many atheists who do not join in with these groups, when you hear of atheists protesting religion it is only a small selection of us.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
Greetings.

Being a believer in a supreme being, I can understand why people of faith unite on ATS and throughout various parts of the world. The thing I can't seem to grasp to the fullest though is.

What unites Athiests?

I've heard it many times on ATS. "Atheism is not a religion!". Why unite then? What is your purpose of coming together? To share in your disbelief?

I am honestly puzzled by this question.



*This has seriously gone off the point. This is not a Christian/atheist bashing thread. A simple question was asked and a response should be given. People, try to be mature about this please.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by Ghost in the Machine]

If you're talking about coming together politically it's to stop people like you from completely trampling our rights and shoving your fantasies down our throats.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
reply to post by itchy_tartan_blanket

 

Well said. Sorry for my mistake. I'll tread more carefully when reading posts next time.

My hat comes off to you All too often, many people cannot accept making a small error then spend the rest of the thread making jibes and everything personal. I truly wish the rest of ATS would take heed. If we were all like this then ATS and truth-seekers all over could progress with our ideas instead of petty playground squabbling.

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
reply to post by Ghost in the Machine

 

Some people say that a love of humanity unites atheists, this is wrong there are atheists who hate humanity.

Others say it is a love of science that unites atheists, this is wrong, there are atheists who couldn't be bothered with science.

Some say that it is a love of truth that unites atheists, but there are atheists who are not really concerned with the truth.

I think the thing that truly unites atheists, other than a lack of belief in a god is the inability to pigeon hole atheists, we cannot be defined. As for the reason we may come together as a group, well if you are under attack you seek out like minded individuals. Even so, there are many atheists who do not join in with these groups, when you hear of atheists protesting religion it is only a small selection of us.

Many religious people don't embrace humanity either. Religious wars and prejudices.

Many religious people embrace science. There are Christian scientists.

Many religious people aren't concerned with the truth either. They choose to follow in the doctrines of their religion with blind faith.

Atheists can be pigeon-holed the same as religious people can. Every person on this planet can be pigeon-holed into many categories. I have atheists and religious friends and many share a love for football, Glasgow Celtic (no jokes please, it's hard enough as it is ). Our religions, beliefs, non-beliefs are only a PART of what we are. As a species we tend to stick with what we are comfortable with. Creatures of comfort and habit. But our minds are like parachutes and only work when open. The more we categorise ourselves, the more we seperate ourselves from each other. We are dividing and conquering ourselves allowing the elitists of the world to keep us in a constant state of alert to potential threats to our comfort zones. Divided we stand, united we fall. Remember that.

Originally posted by Astyanax

And once we were united, we atheists would of course try to take over the universe. We would rip off our Beyond Belief t-shirts to show the Satanic symbols tattoed on our chests, sacrifice a few virgins to the Evil One and, filled with his dark power, proceed to exterminate all Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Mormons and Bah'ais, kidnap and brainwash their children, rape their wives (who can't possibly be religious because women don't have souls... no, wait a minute, all atheists are gay, surely, so we'll have to rape the men instead, souls or no souls, before we exterminate them). We will burn down every church, mosque, synagogue, temple and Vegas wedding chapel in the land. Then we will march on Cape Canaveral, pile into the Shuttle and blast off into the heavens on a mission to tear God from His throne.

Oh no.... what have you done my satanic brother??

You were not supposed to reveal the Grand Plan of the Atheists.
You have ruined our progress...

Satan will not be happy. :shk:

Originally posted by Niccawhois
MOST ATS USERS are more likely Agnostics

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.

Is that so bad!!!

Agnostics unite out of mutual respect for each others sense of reason and logical thinking!

Agnosticism and Gnosticism deal with knowledge. Atheism and Theism deal with belief.

You can't just be an Agnostic, you are either an Agnostic Theist or an Agnostic Atheist. If you claim to be Agnostic but can't decide/don't make any claims on whether or not you believe in a deity, then you are an Atheist, for you lack the belief in a deity.

reply to post by godless

If you're talking about coming together politically it's to stop people like you from completely trampling our rights and shoving your fantasies down our throats.

People like me?

Apparently you must know me very well. *sigh* Such anger I sense in you.

Originally posted by DJW001

You said- The ten commandments however are good for social structure but as so many historians and philosiphers said the ten commandments came from the egyptian book of the dead. Nothing to do with Christianity.

Name the historians and philosiphers that believe this to be a hard fact and ill name you 10x more that say its bunk.

If what you say is true im wondering why people dont raid Barnes and Noble every time Zacharias Stitchin puts out more pseudo history.

Similarity and plagiarize are not the same thing.

Edited, cant seem to get the quote thing down.

[edit on 30-3-2010 by SiKFury]

Originally posted by SiKFury
You said- The ten commandments however are good for social structure but as so many historians and philosiphers said the ten commandments came from the egyptian book of the dead. Nothing to do with Christianity.

Some good points here.

Riddle me this Christians.

Isn't it odd how paedophilia wasn't in the 10 commandments, or rape, or torture. I'm only a poor little mortal and yet if i wrote some commandments i would be including these and others. I could think of another 5 things at the very least i would like to see banned.


[edit on 30-3-2010 by ImaginaryReality1984]

How can you categorize like this? Your post is ridiculous in my opinion. Your looking into it too much!

Speaking from my point of view, I don't base my friends and my social group/ surroundings on whether or not those individuals believe or follow my beliefs or not! I am atheist but, I could care less if a friend or family member has alternative beliefs. I have many friends from all spectrums of religion...

It's not about what religion they follow, this is the problem with society as a whole! It's about who that person is, inside, their morals and values, along with their personality! Whether they developed those characteristics from certain religions or not, it's more about looking past what they believe in and looking at who that person really is.

Damn, who cares what they believe in, it doesn't necessarily matter, when you look at the big picture!

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984

Isn't it odd how paedophilia wasn't in the 10 commandments, or rape, or torture. I'm only a poor little mortal and yet if i wrote some commandments i would be including these and others. I could think of another 5 things at the very least i would like to see banned.


[edit on 30-3-2010 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Indeed.... they are a rather stupid bunch of Commandments


Have a laugh at this

dds spec aye

[edit on 30-3-2010 by rossmage]

Originally posted by Portugoal
reply to post by Retrovertigo

 

Well you can argue the same for Christians. Not all Christians live every facet of their lives to be with other Christians.

My question is aimed more at the fact that atheists all have one fundamental belief (that God doesn't exist) and therefore can be classified as part of a religion. The fact that atheists (not all or even a majority) congegrate on websites, basements, wherever, to express their beliefs sounds like a religious experience to me.

someone else may have responded to this (sorry if thats the case).

the above post is incorrect. being an atheist does not preclude you from being an agnostic. in fact, most atheists are agnostics by default. and agnostics can be inherently atheist because they've established, within themselves, a doubt of proof of a deity - of course agnostics can vary on "how close" they are to believing in god or not, but by declaring agnosticism, they are indicating a lack of sureness of the existence of a deity. there are agnostics who, for whatever reason refuse to cut the line, so they may be labeled as doubting believers.

atheism describes a lack of belief in a god or gods. it is not a declaration that there is no god. atheists don't know (that's why they're also agnostics) because they have established to themselves that no evidence exists, in their view, to know. and they, generally, elect not to believe in something for which there is no proof, particularly when it is a framework for understanding the world and living their life.

if your definition of religion is a fundamental belief (which is a dubious definition, but whatever), then atheists are obviously not religious. the whole point is that there is no belief. they lack a belief. there can be no fundamental belief or observance of belief when you define yourself, in this arena, by the fact that you have no belief. atheists typically do not indicate there is no god. they wouldn't know - the whole point is there a lack of evidence for god, but there's a lack of evidence for god not existing, as well. given the lack of evidence, they indicate no belief.

atheism, as defined by "believing that god does not exist" would imply there is a god and it is incumbent on people to choose whether or not to believe in him. this is non-sensical.

if evidence was revealed that proved god, an atheist would then believe in god ... not by choice or through an angsty decision-making progress, but because the evidence indicated that god exists. it's that simple. atheists do not deny god. there's nothing to deny!

the anecdotal stories of atheists congregating is specious and irrelevant to any possible thing i could ever think of.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
I've heard it many times on ATS. "Atheism is not a religion!". Why unite then? What is your purpose of coming together? To share in your disbelief?

Most atheists are not united. They just go about their business and keep to themselves. The ones who do unite, however, do so because they see that organized religion (like any organization) has political power, and sometimes push agendas that they, the atheists, do not feel are worthwhile or reasonable. They may also feel a kind of forced brotherhood as a result of responding to over-zealous religious types who naturally think they're wrong, will go to Hell, are evil/stupid/etc.

Otherwise, however, you're right. It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to sit around and discuss how much you don't believe in something.

That might make even less sense than sitting around with a bunch of people and chanting and agreeing that you do believe in something, even though none of you can define exactly what that thing/ entity/ person/ force/ feeling actually is.

reply to post by Ghost in the Machine


What unites Atheists?

A sense of community or a desire to not be alone is psychological, ingrained in our brains as a survival instinct. Long ago it may have been the instinct that kept us in groups, giving us an advantage over our prey.

The idea that you cannot have community without religion is incredible. No wonder you received a negative response.

People gathering to conjure up flaws and such of said various beliefs is common with both abrahamic religions and atheism. Those select few of both beliefs go around preaching and both fail to see they are both doing the same thing. I myself do not believe in a higher deity but i don't limit myself to imperialism. There is much to be unexplained.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
What unites Athiests?

Nothing much. The phrase "herding cats" comes to mind.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Thank you very much for posting the differences between atheist and agnostic.

Every believer on here needs to go back and read your post at least once a day .

I don't claim to be 'this' or 'that'. To put it simply , " I AM ".

To myself, I need not 'fit' into any category, just leave me be and let me 'BE' .

But for those who won't understand this, then if you must give me a label , I suggest you lump me in with the 'agnostics' rather than the 'atheists'.

Again, thanks for the post .