Poll shows atheism on the rise in the U.S.

Originally posted by dominicus

its an attempt to discredit everything because everything can be used to justify killing, which is just part of animalistic human nature. Every single one of has the capability to save and to kill.

Do lower form animals (mammals) kill.

Or do they hunt?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

And I agree, a lot of it is comforting and wise.

Lately I try to keep it simple, I will never know the secrets of the universe, it is enough to know I am part of it, we are all on different paths to the same source,
Do our best, I guess.
We only get so many days,now I have one less,




My new favorite gurus, ;o)

youtu.be...

reply to post by Annee

Do lower form animals (mammals) kill. Or do they hunt?

both.

if your implying they hunt only, then do some research. They kill each other over mates, territory, food, and some killing is just for the sake of the kill (like some orangatungs have) .....some kill the other's babies to ensure no males grow up to become alpha's to threaten their own position (sounds like some corporate behavior!!! Ha!)

reply to post by silent thunder


Great find. Of course I knew the fact but now you provided the source. Thanks.

here ya go

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

Oh I wanted to say instead of giving up on Abrahamic religion, correct it to the best of your ability.

The best way to improve on Abrahamic religion, is to give it up.

So why not call it God? The word "God" may have negative connotations to some, and positive to others, but ultimately the word and label of something, has never been, nor will it ever bee, the same as the actual thing.

Often I hear Christians say this and rarely do I hear them refer to their god as Allah. Case in point. You're right it is just a label, but dogmatic religions almost always don't treat it as such.

No one is truly an atheist...They are agnostic.

To say that someone cannot fully believe there is no god is the belief someone cannot fully believe in god. Yes many are agnostic (atheists AND Christians). Probably most.

Would you believe me if i told you atheism is just another religion?

I would think you have not put much thought into it.

On another note, saying "Christianity" as an Entity is responsible for tons of killings or for the most killings is improper because many of the Biggest denominations go by "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "Love Thy Neighbhor" .....

Really? You're going to support that with saying "Thou Shalt Not Kill"??
There are full on books that just address the passages in the Bible where killing is commanded. Read those if you somehow missed them when reading the Bible.

Actions start as beliefs. From that an objective person can connect religious killings to religious beliefs.

so they would say that anyone who killed in the name of Christianity was not only wrong, but perhaps was never a real Christian.

You Christians can say that amongst yourselves but it would require belief non-believers don't have to take anyones word on who is or isn't a "true Christian". If you say you're a Christian and preach from a Christian Bible we will consider you a Christian.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Can you elaborate on what your response to me meant.

What does showing there are scientists that have spiritual belief or even belief in God, address my post on stem cells?

Here is a really short vid from one of my favorite modern intellects. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Originally posted by superluminal11
No one is truly an atheist...They are agnostic.


Would you believe me if i told you atheism is just another religion?

No.

However the reverse is provably true - every theist is also an atheist.....in respect of all the gods s/he does not believe in.

As an atheist I only believe in one less god than a x-ian or moslem believes in!! And none of us believe in Odin or Zeus, etc.

Originally posted by spiritualzombie
People are beginning to see religion is nothing more than a Nigerian Email Scam. It was only a matter of time. It doesn't take anything away from the existence of a higher power. It only takes away the power of false divisive manipulating control machines called Religion. It's good to see more people are waking up. It's sad to meet someone who's mind has become so spiritually addicted and dependent on these clearly false beliefs. There's really nothing you can do but keep feeding them their religion drug. To take it away would make them crumble. It should be considered mental abuse to take kids to church.

edit on 17-8-2012 by spiritualzombie because: (no reason given)

Is this the definition of Atheism?

No. this is common sense.

Originally posted by acmpnsfal

Originally posted by SpearMint
Fair enough, sorry for the assumption. I don't actually class my self as an Atheist because claiming that there is no God without evidence is almost as bad as claiming there is, but I strongly believe that organized religions are a creation of man and full of crap.

Agnostic is a cop out, please answer this question. What else are you agnostic about?

Agnostic is not a cop out, thinking that there is something larger than yourself, but not being able to identify it, is not a cop out, it is merely a confession on what you don't know. One thing about agnostics though, they don't run around trying to convince others to believe in zombies in the skies.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


you said something to the effect religion holds back the strides of science, I was point out scientist can be religious and many are.

Many great minds I believe accomplish what they do because they have a connection with the divine.

Originally posted by AgentX09
Obviously there are many lost souls on this site.Children of the anti-christ soon to arrive.There have been divine visitations at Fatima,Lourdes and Garabandal in modern times witnessed by thousands.There will be no grey area on this issue.Peoples eternal souls are at stake.I suggest you choose wisely...

Based on your post, you openly support an organization that has allowed the sexual abuse of children for 100's of years. Somehow this is supposed to make me believe in zombies in the sky?

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Okay I understand. I wouldn't disagree with that on a whole. My position really is specific to dogma and not the belief in God or spirituality. It's following a belief systems that allegedly knows the mind of God.

That has rules, commandments and tenets that are interpreted in ways that the religious today influence the prevention of much needed advancement in science and medicine. Justifying the 'loss' of a hundred cells as a greater or equal loss than helping a child with spinal cord injury (as Sam said in the video) would not have been rationalized that way if it weren't for religious thought. Did you watch it? I found his talk about the soul in relationship to twins and chimeras a rather strong case against the soul angle for stem cells.

reply to post by dominicus

Originally posted by dominicus
not sure whether it exists or not ..... now we're talking. What I'm saying is there is sets of blueprints out there, and I can post my own (which are just reguritated mash-ups of one's that already have existed since Buddhism and earlier) that basically spell out step by step how to get to a direct experience of said "central source."

I don't understand what you mean by that. There are "blueprints" "out there" that tell me how to get an experience of the "central source"? That sounds like total religious jargon to me.

What is a "blueprint"?
Where is "out there"?
What is the "central source"
And what does it mean to "experience" it?

So here I am saying, "Hey go look for yourself, here's how" but then I have the religious which say, "No no no no, your crazy and only our way is right," and then I have the hardened atheist group which says, "well I don't believe in anything so I'm not even going to bother."

It sounds to me as thought you are traveling your path in life and you think others should travel on your path, too, and come to the same conclusions you've come to. In essence, that's religion. We each have our own path in life, and cannot travel the path of our brother. I have my own "blueprint", my own experiences, my own beliefs and my own conclusions. They're just as good as anyone else's.

I'm talking about a direct knowingness and direct experience which always trumps belief vs. non-belief.

That sounds to me like you're saying, "You have beliefs, but I KNOW... and you can, too". No, thanks. I don't want to follow your path, I have my own.

reply to post by superluminal11

Originally posted by superluminal11
No one is truly an atheist...They are agnostic.

I see this statement all the time. It tells me that the speaker hasn't really studied the concepts and don't know what they mean.

Gnosis is knowledge.
Theism is belief.
The "A" on the beginning means "not" or "negative".

So, an "agnostic" doesn't KNOW if God exists or not.
An "atheist" doesn't BELIEVE it does.

By the same token, a "gnostic" KNOWS about spiritual matters (or God).
A theist BELIEVES in spiritual matters (or God).

So, an Agnostic Atheist (which I am) says, "I don't KNOW about spiritual matters or God, but I don't BELIEVE they exist."

Would you believe me if i told you atheism is just another religion?

No. A religion is a shared set of principles, beliefs, rituals and dogma related to the worship of a superhuman power. Atheists reject all of that and share only ONE belief. They have nothing else in common and there's no worshiping, no deity or dogma associated with it.

At this point in human history, there is no purpose for religion. Our collective consciousness has come along in such a way that we're beyond having the need for a book to tell us how to behave. That's what it's all about, innit? Behavior? I think the vast majority of us know we must behave in rather specific ways to ensure not only our sustainability, but, the planet as a whole. Everything will come into focus from that. If we continue to push away from a natural way of living, we will further entrench ourselves in an unsustainable environment of our own making.

Originally posted by InfiniteConsciousness
At this point in human history, there is no purpose for religion.

Pfftt...palpably untrue

1/ maintaining power over the masses
2/ some people do need a crutch of some sort to help them through their lives...
3/ did I mention maintaining power over the masses??
4/ perpetuating medieval power structures
5/ keeping the masses in their place
6/ an extra excuse to hate other people
7/ to get forgiveness for all the stuff you would do anyway, but now you can claim to feel better about it
8/ enabling people to feel holier than thou
9/ enables us to be us, so we know us from them
10/ an excuse to kill, murder, molest and oppress

See - that's 10 easy one s right off - plus of course when you run out you can always add "keeping the masses oppressed" and "maintaining power over the masses" any number of times

Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul

Originally posted by InfiniteConsciousness
At this point in human history, there is no purpose for religion.

Pfftt...palpably untrue

1/ maintaining power over the masses
2/ some people do need a crutch of some sort to help them through their lives...
3/ did I mention maintaining power over the masses??
4/ perpetuating medieval power structures
5/ keeping the masses in their place
6/ an extra excuse to hate other people
7/ to get forgiveness for all the stuff you would do anyway, but now you can claim to feel better about it
8/ enabling people to feel holier than thou
9/ enables us to be us, so we know us from them
10/ an excuse to kill, murder, molest and oppress

See - that's 10 easy one s right off - plus of course when you run out you can always add "keeping the masses oppressed" and "maintaining power over the masses" any number of times

#7 is the one that bothers me the most. With absolution you can commit these sins and still be forgiven by your priest. It gives people a reason to misbehave other than because it's wrong. You can rape, murder, steal, cheat, and you're okay to do that as long as you confess and repent and still get to go to heaven. You can do it as much as you want as long as you confess and repent. To me, this is one of the worst aspects of most religions. Instead of relying on the golden rule, they get a pass on their many sins.