The Growth of Atheism and What it Means for Our Future

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
reply to post by coastlinekid

 

As do atheists. Who also attempt to absorb agnosticism through semantic twists.

But aren't there different types of agnostics? I used to say I was agnostic until someone asked me if I believed if god existed. I said no. He then said (his definition) that agnostics believe in god but that they also believe that he doesn't communicate with man and that even if he tried we would never be able to understand.

From that day on I considered myself an atheist.

Originally posted by korathinbiologically defective and can't feel spirituality are now more free to speak their minds(much to biologically functioning peoples dismay.

Look up the Soviet Union.

Originally posted by gentledissident

Originally posted by korathinbiologically defective and can't feel spirituality are now more free to speak their minds(much to biologically functioning peoples dismay.

Look up the Soviet Union.

Evil! Clever, but evil!
/dumps holy water on gentledissident

Anyways to those that don't understand I am using Atheist's own writings against them. In Richard Dawkins book "God Delusion", and in other sources atheist say spirituality is all in the brain. So from that point I merely claim that most atheist's are biologically defective and can't feel it(I say most as I don't view people to be naturally sentient. We have the capability to become sentient but it isn't automatic or by default.).

--
As per the Soviet Union, most of the bolshevik where atheist's from varied backgrounds. And contrary to popular belief they where incredibly racist and to a degree sexist. Look at Cuba, did you know there are African Cubans?
Most people don't because the COMMUNIST Cuban government herds them into ghetto's, out of sight out of mind.

The operative word when it comes to atheist's time and time again is that "They Lie". Granted being a (insert religion) doesn't guarantee the person won't lie, but few others are proud and smug about it(again look up the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks promised civil reform and civil rights. Their main PR guy even came out and said "nananana we lied and now we rule!"[he ended up being executed for disagreeing with Stalins economic policies]).

I fear a society where the leadership, or the major policy making and enforcing institutions have no limits or boundaries on what they do. I fear I time when the leadership starts questioning things like "why not slavery?" "why not lobotomize or in other ways limit the brains of the working class". Start taking away children to raise and condition them, not so that they may empower themselves, but so that they will be most usefull to the state. To be most useful to the people benefiting from the system. When people say why not sacrifice the unusefull and inconvenient people, for the good of society (which really means for the good of people taking advantage of society). Atheists, like hitler (who was not a christian if you do your research, merely used it as one of many rallying calls, later to be abandoned when convenient), decide to exterminate a particularly problematic group of people. (problematic to his plans and intentions that is)

Now, I am not a "religious" person. I am also not an atheist, that is to say not a pure materialist. To be plain we haven't come close to solving the mysteries of existence in a satisfying or convincing way. Nor do I think that religion bars the types of things I'm describing from happening. Certainly history shows us that tyrannical rulers are more than willing to use religion as a tool for accomplishing such things. What I am trying to say is that I see a push in our society towards a world described above, and to me it seems that this rising trend in a disbelief in all things spiritual, down to a disbelief in consciousness or freewill, is a part of this push towards a world that I don't want to have anything to do with.

I keep hearing the response "I don't want there to be no God because there will be no boundaries." Those who want to commit atrocities will, and those who don't want to won't regardless of a God concept. What the God concept IS doing is clouding our minds. If we're going to fix this planet, and I do mean utopia, we're going to need a good grasp on reality. If we're chasing ghosts and waiting for the next life, TPTB have already won.

Originally posted by nicolee123nd
There's no debating that America is becoming less and less religious. Do you think this is good or bad? What would you say is up for the future?

the antichrist will emerge among us when people no longer believe in god and religion. on that day, he will rise above us all and declare himself as "god". the worldly system that is set for his arrival is already up and running in its early phases.

I don't know if it's a good thing. I've interacted with a lot of atheists and frankly, there's no nicer way to put this but they all come off as being arrogant pricks. They're so up them selves about the fact that they're atheist, and denouncing everyone who isn't EXACTLY like them, to the actual point where it looks like atheism is becoming a religion/belief in itself. I've also interacted with religious people, you obviously get the over zealous ones, but overall I didn't get the vibe from them that they were the superior specimen, and all should follow their path or otherwise be considered retards.

So, I'm not really sure. Have a race of humans who are all arrogant and narcissistic, who deny any other view and insult anyone who dares challenge science. OR... we stay where we're at right now with conflicting views. OR... an entire race of religious people whom go to church all the time and pray all the time and and have stricter laws and morals and whatnot.

Frankly, I don't know what it means for our future. If atheism is truly on the rise, then what changes?
More people belittling others?
Great, fun future ahead then.

When it comes to technological advancement, I don't see religion holding us back ... some religious people won't like certain things done in the scientific field, and that's their prerogative.

Anyway, I look forward to being insulted

This is not evidence of a rise in atheism due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people worldwide convert to Christianity alone every year........and thats obviously not including Islam thats on the rise also.

If it were true then lets look at it like this......if Christians decided to become athiests and there were little to no Christians,then Christianity would go.Sadly for those who hate religion though is that Islam or other relgions would take its place and sadly it would be envitable as its like the survival of the fittest religion.

A world without relgion is not likely.

Looking at the heavy indoctrination in this thread, I don't think religion is going anywhere anytime soon.

I don't think that one has to believe in a creator. However, the main relevance this thread is missing is this - if not a creator, then who do our rights come from? The government? Right.

One of the posters said: ”newborn does not believe in god, by definition he is an atheist.”
Confusing. Very confusing.

New born does not believe in god and, he does not ‘not believe in no god’. He does not know. He is an agnostic. I wish you people distinguish the difference between those two concepts. Belief is dogma. Agnostics do not know. Straight and simple
.
Oooops…….I just realised. I’m new born and I’ll always be newborn, and I’ll live forever.

For now, I’m gonna go away from this tread to cry and pick my hair in desperation. One by one. Or, I might start picking my nose and wander, why the anunnaki have left me here 140000 yrs ago.

When they come back, I’m going to twist their noses so hard, that everyone here will hear their screams of pain. Either way I’m gonna cry AND STILL LOVE ATS.

Do you see anything wrong with me...or do you have the same problems?! Might be about other issues?

i think what gets under theists skin the most is that atheism is not a religion. its hard to crusade against non-religious doubters. atheism isnt anti-theistic it only seems that way because theists see it as a threat... God bless


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Nice Post, i totally agree, having been sucked into religion myself years ago found myself questioning the irrationality of the Bible its completely oxymoron from what i can tell. ex: 'god' tells his believers not to kill yet goes out and kills his enemies? what kind of a father would do that. I know people are becoming aware of what this reality is and how messed up it is, nothing here makes any sense at all. A creation that basically dies after a short amount of time, is a flawed reality. Kudos for the post!

one more thing, if anyone has ever seen a benny hinn crusade you'll know exactly what i mean when i say Mind Control Techniques are being used to suck people into any kind of belief system that is virtually unproven other than word of mouth by people who were totally untrustworthy or hypnotised themselves to believing in order to appease their conscience of the one thing all religion holds over peoples heads, HELL and Evil Beings out to get you if you Dont Believe. It's Madness and it's complete Brainwashing Insanity..

Originally posted by nicolee123nd
If you ever get into a religious conversation with an atheist, at one point the person almost always says "I was raised Christian..." How come you never hear a person say "I was born an atheist..."? This simple notion is evidence that the population of atheists is growing -- religious people are changing their minds!

edit on 14-6-2011 by awareness10 because: (no reason given)

Quantum Physics is sending most atheists into a fit, because it's science which they love but don't want to agree with it because science and God are merging now... everyone thinks you have to pick a side of the argument but in reality we are tearing down all walls of separation, no more sitting on the fence because the fence doesn't exist it was put up to divide us and whoever thinks the words of God have ever been written down and told to us are effin efftards

reply to post by dreadblitz


How so?

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Quantum Physics tells us that we are basically able to will things into existence and create our own reality... how does that fit into an atheistic viewpoint?


We have rules we can't explain and as far as i know most atheists believe we crawled out of the water after a few particles mashed together, they believe atoms are 99% empty but don't explain why we don't just fall apart... how did the planet grow to give us food specifically for us to make our bodies gain nourishment, why is there a man and a women instead of one unisex gender, how can i create a baby? were are the half monkey men? so many questions to ask... i'm not religious because i think it's garbage mostly fear based control and my God doesn't work like that, only Love homey only Love.

my girl who just loves Jesus, we watched the movie Priest (To go against the Church is to go against God) and while watching the movie she was saying that's BS, once we finished i read her Romans 13 and she started doubting her book... felt pretty good

reply to post by daskakik


He was incorrect. Agnostic holds that the answer as to whether god(s) exist is unknown and perhaps unknowable.

Good thread, and some very thoughtful and cogent responses on both sides of the debate. With a few exceptions I think the 19 pages of posts have proven that not all atheists are arrogant elitists, and not all people that proscribe to religion are unthinking drones.

Some posts I'd like to respond to:

Originally posted by Q:1984A:1776
a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father that can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree

Originally posted by pplrnuts
Stubbornness, laziness, fear, and lack of education = religious believing folks.

These actually set the tone for the whole thread for me. I personally know 3 quite vocal atheists, and they say these very things when they know I'm around (while I'm not, strictly speaking, a "Christian", I'm a follower of his). As evidenced by the "Christian" group of thugs at Westboro Baptist Church, condescension and rudeness is a mark of low intelligence. There's no room in an intelligent debate for it. It would be advised you two never debate on the subject.

Originally posted by Annee

Please tell me where you meet these Atheists? Do you seek them out?

I'm curious because I am Atheist - - and never met another Atheist in real life.

I mean - you can't go down the street to the local Atheist church - - because there aren't any. There is an Atheist symbol I suppose Atheists could wear on a chain like Christians wear a cross - - but I have never seen anyone wearing one.

I must have won the "meet an Atheist" lottery, then! Seriously, though. I only know 3 (that have admitted to atheism) and all 3, in the discussion of religion, can't help but be condescending. One of them invariably resorts to yelling and anger.

Originally posted by MrXYZ
Nice post, S&F!

Agree with most of what you said. In my case, my mom is Catholic, and my dad atheist. When I was born, they decided to let me pick a religion (if any) once I am intelligent enough to look at things rationally...which lead me to the only rational conclusion, religion isn't based on rationality or facts...ergo, I won't accept it as a guiding force in my life.

Whoa, shouldn't your parents have been like matter/anti-matter and exploded?

I take exception to your reference of choosing atheism "once you were intelligent and rational enough". Religion and intelligence aren't always anathema to the other. Neither does atheism suddenly make one intelligent. Likewise, rationalism isn't only the purview of atheism. That was pretty condescending, verging on offensive.

Originally posted by Silicis n Volvo
everyone is born an atheist...religion is then introduced to them in life.

im glad more people today realise its bull[snip].

Those that say "we're born as atheists" truly have no romance in their heart. I would say that a baby is born only knowing one, true God: mother.

Originally posted by Magnus47

Technically speaking, an atheist is defined as "a - theist" which means "not theist." A theist is somebody who ascribes to a theology, which is the study of a particular belief system that tends to involve spirituality, one or more deities, and other material that cannot be confirmed by the scientific method. So, an atheist might be defined as anyone who "does not subscribe to a single religious belief system."

The term "agnostic" was created in the 1800's. It means "a - gnostic" or "not gnostic." Gnostic comes from a Greek word meaning "knowledge," however, it is important to note a historical context here. At the time the word "agnostic" was coined, early church leaders were using "gnostic" to refer to someone who claims to possess "spiritual knowledge." Additionally, Thomas Henry Huxley defined the word in basically its modern context, which is someone who defines their beliefs using scientific inquiry. In other words, if you claim to "not know" something is true (like the existence of God) because there is no scientific evidence, you might be an agnostic.

I have a philosophical, and admittedly nit-picky, problem with the term "atheist". In Greek, as well as Latin, "a-" as a prefix is an absolute. It's not a belief, and there is no wiggle room. The usage of "atheist" or "atheism" in regards to the rules of grammar set by the language, is (interpreting) "there absolutely is no God or gods". My problem arises in that a mortal being absolutely cannot know that there is absolutely no omnipotent being. They can only "absolutely have no knowledge", thus can only be agnostic.

Again, it's a philosophical ideal based on grammatical usage of the language, and since I'm a world-class grammar Nazi, it bugs the crapola out of me. That doesn't mean that the term can't be used in practice, and any philosophical idea has room, indeed whole office buildings of rooms, for debate.

/TOA

reply to post by gentledissident


Too bad TPTB as you no doubt imagine it *a unified entity* are little more than a fantasy fabricated in the minds of the paranoid. Funny that you would pull that line out while calling others crazy for their beliefs.

reply to post by nicolee123nd

Without religion (Christianity in particular), we could have a better society overall. No longer would gays, women, blacks, and anyone else looked down on in some religions be considered lesser citizens. Kids wouldn't be bullied for their beliefs. It's a fact that, if there was no religion, most wars wouldn't have been fought. Some say 90% of wars are started because of religion, some say only 15%, but there is no way to tell really.

I'm not sure why you would think that because no one believed in God that woman,blacks ,and any minority would be treated better ? Maybe a lot of people use their theories of God to justify themselves in doing certain things...but if everyone quit believing in any deities..they would just find another excuse to do what they want to do.

I hope when you said ALL religion, you were including druid religions, old eastern religions...I mean all of them....even luciferians. Correct?