Are you an Atheist?
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- flagellum0
Atheism requires too much faith.
- TheBlueOne0
my dad grew up in the evangelical free church. they didn't believe in santa because since he wasn't real, people might think god wasn't real.
he is now an atheist.
jaylarson
(Apr 11 07, 10:46)I'm unclear on your thesis. Are you saying that one needs to believe in Santa to maintain a lifelong belief in a divine god? Or is it related to the fact that that by growing up in a Church which is "evangelical free" leads to lower lifetime retention rates in same said belief?
- Mimio0
His thesis is that one lie often exposes another.
- 305artist0
nope. Not an atheist here. Although I wont disrespect their point of view.
- CyBrain0
I'm sure the Christian man in the clouds vision of God is as much a myth as Zeus or astrology (false, by the way). I believe in God as a force of nature in living things but when people as me, they're typically thinking of the man in the clouds. So, I usually say I'm an atheist.
All you need is love.
- flagellum0
CyBrain: Your vision of God is closer to the Biblical depiction of God than you think. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit being who is not confined to the dimensions that we can comprehend.
I think maybe you conflate medieval art with Christian Theology.
- flagellum0
I struggle with understanding jaylarson's line of reasoning, as well. People grow up and stop believing in Santa. But adults do not stop believing in God. And it is often growth in knowledge and life-experience which produces faith in God.
- mrdobolina0
sally got a one-track mind
- acescence0
And it is often growth in knowledge and life-experience which produces faith in God.
flagellum
(Apr 11 07, 12:32)that's funny, it's often growth in knowledge and life experience that forces one to question the existence of a god
- 305artist0
I agree with the "God is "the force" theory.
Hes not a guy sitting up there wearing sandals and a toga...
although he could be, if you want him to be that.
But isnt that just Fn weird?
- flagellum0
That is true, acescence. I don't deny that. Adversity often drives people to reject faith in a higher being. Just as it drives many to embrace faith.
- acescence0
people are strange that way
- FrdmOfSpch0
It's inevitable that parents with deeply held religious beliefs will react terribly when their kids react against their absolutism.
This, i feel, is a typical example. You will never get a an atheist acting like this if their kids embraced buddhism or anything.
I guess it's true, to an extent, what dawkins said. Indoctrinating your kids to your absolutist truth is a form of child abuse.
so sad.
- jaylarson0
I'm unclear on your thesis. Are you saying that one needs to believe in Santa to maintain a lifelong belief in a divine god? Or is it related to the fact that that by growing up in a Church which is "evangelical free" leads to lower lifetime retention rates in same said belief?
TheBlueOne
(Apr 11 07, 11:43)Thanks Mimio. Yeah, to them, santa is a lie that can sap away its members. I am very glad he raised me away from that environment.
All you need is love? Just about. I dig compassion and empathy. I don't need to believe spaghetti monster to develop these qualities.
- TheBlueOne0
Hes not a guy sitting up there wearing sandals and a toga...
305artist
(Apr 11 07, 12:43)...so no eternal keg party then?
Bummer.
- CyBrain0
CyBrain: Your vision of God is closer to the Biblical depiction of God than you think. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit being who is not confined to the dimensions that we can comprehend.
I think maybe you conflate medieval art with Christian Theology.
--------------------
You may be right. I should distinguish Christianity from what most Christians say. I would say the same for any faith. Hopefully belief systems should be open to interpretation.
- ********0
the thing that makes me remain undecided is stuff like Jevad's NDE, which either means there really is something after - or the brain kicked into hollywood mode playing every death scene clichee...its a tough call
i guess until it happens to me.. i dont know..
as far as kids go - infant baptism is just a 'ticket out of hell' for kids because of many infant deaths centuries back - its totally uncalled for now - when i have kids ill encourage them to make up their own mind - censoring decisions is extreme
- FrdmOfSpch0
atheism requires too much faith whilst a belief that every single animal on earth today is descended from a single pair all of which were put on the worlds biggest boat there ever was, and that a bearded man who was executed came back to life, needs no leap of imagination.
riiiiiiiight.
- Mimio0
Exactly, you don't argue that one idea is improbable or that it requires faith(Atheism doesn't, that's the point) while countering with a replacement theory that is exponentially less probable and necessitates a complete revision of the natural world and the scientific method.
- flagellum0
I say that atheism requires faith because everywhere one turns, one encounters the shrill cry of design. It's deafening really. From human consciousness to the code in molecular life... design. To avoid this logical inference, one must concoct all manner of statistically improbable (impossible) scenarios in a vain attempt to explain away this design.
For some reason, it's harder for me to swallow that life sprang from non-life, by non-living mechanisms, and developed into all we know today, than believing that it's all the result of the animals on an ark.
[btw: the pairs of animals in the biblical ark account are called generic "kinds" in the literal Hebrew which would mean limited speciation into all of the kingdoms of animals would have occurred. Which actually harmonizes quite well with the fossil record]