God **** It! (pardon the pun)

[RyuReiatsu]

Random Question:

Do Atheists participate in any sort of ceremonies or ANYTHING? Do they follow any sort of moral code? Because saying that you don't believe in God might not make you an Atheist, but just a non-believer. I may be wrong, but the whole "I'm an Atheist, I don't believe in God" thing I'm hearing from the 9-year old down the street is really starting to make me wonder.

Atheism can be either the rejection of theism, or the position that deities do not exist. In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.
Atheism

You've brought doubt in my mind. So I felt the need to look it up on the net... And luckily, I'm truly atheist, not only a non-believer.
Well, it's basically the same thing lol.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Random Question:

Do Atheists participate in any sort of ceremonies or ANYTHING? Do they follow any sort of moral code? Because saying that you don't believe in God might not make you an Atheist, but just a non-believer. I may be wrong, but the whole "I'm an Atheist, I don't believe in God" thing I'm hearing from the 9-year old down the street is really starting to make me wonder.

Um, Atheism isn't some kind of community or group, there are no special activities associated around it lol, they're just normal people that don't do religion based stuff. Morals vary for everyone dude. I believe in God and I'm borderline amoral.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

Um, Atheism isn't some kind of community or group, there are no special activities associated around it lol, they're just normal people that don't do religion based stuff. Morals vary for everyone dude. I believe in God and I'm borderline amoral.

LOL. The whole community could second this .
Not that we know you, but you did give us a good preview of your likes.

 

[Firus]

Random Question:

Do Atheists participate in any sort of ceremonies or ANYTHING? Do they follow any sort of moral code? Because saying that you don't believe in God might not make you an Atheist, but just a non-believer. I may be wrong, but the whole "I'm an Atheist, I don't believe in God" thing I'm hearing from the 9-year old down the street is really starting to make me wonder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

No. Atheism is a BELIEF, not any sort of practice.

 

[Teran]

Religious debate?
You have got to be s***ting me.

 

[M.K]

Atheism can be either the rejection of theism, or the position that deities do not exist. In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.
Atheism

You've brought doubt in my mind. So I felt the need to look it up on the net... And luckily, I'm truly atheist, not only a non-believer.
Well, it's basically the same thing lol.

Haha, thanks for looking that up. I was just curious, because hearing some of my friends say "Oh, I don't believe in God, I'm atheist" or "Oh, I accidentally tore the corner of page 519 Exodus Banana:Turkey in my Bible, which in turn, makes me Atheist", or "I'm a Christian, so I'm Atheist."

Spoiler

That was an exaggeration, forgive me for that. Now stay tuned for the rest of the post after the spoiler...it's coming....here-->

really got me wondering if they truly fall under the category of "atheism".

EDIT: Okay, then can someone tell me what I might be considered?

I was born and raised Catholic. I very much would like to believe that there is a God somewhere and that, yes, I will ascend into Heaven when I die; however, I realize that there is substantial evidence to support a lack of aforementioned, and I acknowledge so, causing me to question my own beliefs. I don't want to completely oppose the idea, because for the small chance that God does actually exist, I would like to have faith that there is life after death. However, I also believe in the evolution of species over time (how can you not, it takes place all around us and it has been documented, studied, and observed through many generations).

What would I be classified as?

 

[GwJ]

No ceremonies unless it's a hobby. Moral Code-wise, we go by what we feel is right. We go by the code of common sense.

 

[Firus]

Okay, then can someone tell me what I might be considered?

I was born and raised Catholic. I very much would like to believe that there is a God somewhere and that, yes, I will ascend into Heaven when I die; however, I realize that there is substantial evidence to support a lack of aforementioned, and I acknowledge so, causing me to question my own beliefs. I don't want to completely oppose the idea, because for the small chance that God does actually exist, I would like to have faith that there is life after death. However, I also believe in the evolution of species over time (how can you not, it takes place all around us and it has been documented, studied, and observed through many generations).

What would I be classified as?

If you're questioning what you believe and you're not quite sure of a God/life after death/etc. I would probably say you're agnostic, though I can't be certain.

 

[:mad:]

Replied to something on the last page, lol.

edit'd.

 

[Zero Beat]

Haha, thanks for looking that up. I was just curious, because hearing some of my friends say "Oh, I don't believe in God, I'm atheist" or "Oh, I accidentally tore the corner of page 519 Exodus Banana:Turkey in my Bible, which in turn, makes me Atheist", or "I'm a Christian, so I'm Atheist."

Spoiler

That was an exaggeration, forgive me for that. Now stay tuned for the rest of the post after the spoiler...it's coming....here-->

really got me wondering if they truly fall under the category of "atheism".

EDIT: Okay, then can someone tell me what I might be considered?

I was born and raised Catholic. I very much would like to believe that there is a God somewhere and that, yes, I will ascend into Heaven when I die; however, I realize that there is substantial evidence to support a lack of aforementioned, and I acknowledge so, causing me to question my own beliefs. I don't want to completely oppose the idea, because for the small chance that God does actually exist, I would like to have faith that there is life after death. However, I also believe in the evolution of species over time (how can you not, it takes place all around us and it has been documented, studied, and observed through many generations).

What would I be classified as?

Here's a post by me a while ago in the DH, it may help you.

 

[Clownbot]

Religious debate?
You have got to be s***ting me.

Yeah, who would expect a blog like this to end up with a religious debate?

 

[Virgilijus]

Keep it on topic, people.

 

[GwJ]

We are on the current topic.

 

[john!]

Wow... I drew something exactly like this a few months ago (probably after you did) during philosophy lecture. Except mine looked like this:

...where the challenge lies in collecting and interpreting evidence.

It's nice to know that others think the same way...

 

[victra♥]

@OP: rough man. My dad and his girlfriend tried to get me to volunteer at the local church's camp last summer, and yeah, I'm also an atheist. Luckily, I was able to get out of it by taking a class over the summer, but my brother, who was 11 at the time, ended up going.

From what I've seen my brother take home, and what I've seen at the church when I picked him up made me both sad and angry. Literally, each day, they learned a "fact" and the day was spent reinforcing it. For example the first day was all about how God is, without a doubt, real. The second day was about how Jesus is our lord and savior etc etc. In fact, my dads gf bought a cd from there and it sings about all this. It's hilarious and disheartening all at the same time.

Anyways, my brother has grown up in a Christian-inclined home for the most part but it didn't go vey far beyond basic moral ideals etc. When he learned about the stories such as the age of he universe, the snake and the garden and noahs ark, he ended thinking the whole thing was really questionable. As a brother, I was pretty relieved to be honest.

Oh god, you haven't sang the "songs" yet have you? *dies*

 

[Blitzmidfielder]

Funny Story: Somewhere in the texts, it says that to force Christianity is unbefitting of Christians.

Well, not as clear as that, but that is the message intended.

 

[Mewter]

Yeah, that is a nifty little chart Zero Beat made.

@MetaKirby:
Diagnosis: Agnostic
In my opinion, atheism should just be defined as having no religious affiliation. Life would be so much easier without these kinds of semantic arguments.

 

[mountain_tiger]

Did he really just say this?

Wow, you are a douche.

If God is real, then you have permission to laugh at me when I'm in hell.


Anyway, if you think about it, why do people believe in a particular religion? 90% of the time it's because that's what their parents taught them to believe as a child, indoctrinating them to pander to their own thoughts. This generally starts at a very young age, when the child's brain is not developed enough to think for itself. If you say it in a convincing way, you can get a five-year-old to believe basically anything you say, even if it contradicts something else they were taught.

If you think about it, everyone is born an atheist. I mean, at that stage, your brain couldn't possibly be developed enough to know about gods or religion or whatever. IMO, a person can't count as a true believer until they reach their adolescent years most of the time. This is because small children will usually be force fed religion, and they are unlikely to start questioning it until they're older. If after questioning it they still believe, then they can be considered a true believer.

I suspect that there are more atheists than would first appear. It's just that often their families threaten to disown them or something if they deconvert, and thus they keep quiet about their lack of belief. But nowadays atheism is considered mroe socially acceptable, so that's less common, and more people are 'coming out' in a sense.

 

[SuSa]

Truefax:
Grandmother kicked me and my mother out of her house (we were living in a spare bedroom because my mom couldn't afford a place to live) when she found out I was atheist.

Sometimes it's not the smartest thing to "just tell them".

After all, what's the worst that can happen?

EDIT:
That's my story, I've been PM'd twice now about why I'm so anti-religious.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

Truefax:
Grandmother kicked me and my mother out of her house (we were living in a spare bedroom because my mom couldn't afford a place to live) when she found out I was atheist.

Sometimes it's not the smartest thing to "just tell them".

After all, what's the worst that can happen?

EDIT:
That's my story, I've been PM'd twice now about why I'm so anti-religious.

Go****, she's ****ed.
Hm, sorry. I shouldn't say that... But the actual problem about all this are the extremists...

 

[Circa]

If you think about it, everyone is born an atheist. I mean, at that stage, your brain couldn't possibly be developed enough to know about gods or religion or whatever. IMO, a person can't count as a true believer until they reach their adolescent years most of the time. This is because small children will usually be force fed religion, and they are unlikely to start questioning it until they're older. If after questioning it they still believe, then they can be considered a true believer.

Wrong. Actually, you kind of contradicted yourself when you said that all babies are Atheists because they don't know about deities and religion. You see, in order to truly be Atheist, one must first know about theism. If there is no knowledge of such a thing, then one cannot reject it. Thus, a baby is not Atheist, Theist, or even Agnostic, because one must know of the existence of the belief before they can choose to accept or reject it. So according to YOUR logic, babies actually carry no belief system. There is no true wording for it and probably never will be, thanks to the fact that human beings tend to make such a big deal about the existence of something that children will learn about it at a young age whether they would ever care to or not.

 

[mountain_tiger]

According to the (admittedly prone to spamming) Wikipedia article:

Atheism can be either the rejection of theism, or the position that deities do not exist. In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities

So, in a sense, it depends on how you look at it. Babies cannot properly reject theism, because they don't even know what it is, but they do hold the position that no deities exist, because they have not been taught anything saying otherwise.

 

[thanortinzak]

But the actual problem about all this are the extremists...

Yeah, I agree.
I have nothing against people who believe in God (although I personally don't believe in God), however, I do have something wrong with those who use religion as an excuse for stupidity, homophobia, intolerance of other beliefs, etc.

 

[Darkslash]

Also 3mmanuel, can you change your title? I see no pun in it. All I see is irony.

 

[Firus]

Also 3mmanuel, can you change your title? I see no pun in it. All I see is irony.

No, the "irony" is really a pun, in my opinion.

 

[Darkslash]

No, the "irony" is really a pun, in my opinion.

Really? I can't see it. He's asking God to **** what ever, yet he doesn't believe in it.

That seems like massive Irony in my book.

 

[SkylerOcon]

No, the "irony" is really a pun, in my opinion.

It's not a pun though. An example of a pun would be:

So a water-treatment facilitator is talking with his friend about all the procedures he has to go through at his job, and having successfully puzzled his friend, he asks in response, "water you talking about?"

"Water" sounds like "what are", and is relevant to the topic at hand, so putting that in makes it a pun. Saying god ****it when you're an atheist isn't a pun. You aren't replacing any words with anything (because only Gods can **** people), but it's ironic that you're asking something you don't believe exists to condemn something.

 

[Mewter]

It doesn't matter what your opinion is on it! It's just irony, not a pun!
Puns are above irony!

 

[Heartz♥]

Emmanuel means "God be with us". It is your destiny to believe in Him. lololol

 

[Darkslash]

Emmanuel means "God be with us". It is your destiny to believe in Him. lololol

I think thats even more ironic. Like the irony meter is going off the charts!

 

[Oracle]

Haha, thanks for looking that up. I was just curious, because hearing some of my friends say "Oh, I don't believe in God, I'm atheist" or "Oh, I accidentally tore the corner of page 519 Exodus Banana:Turkey in my Bible, which in turn, makes me Atheist", or "I'm a Christian, so I'm Atheist."

Spoiler

That was an exaggeration, forgive me for that. Now stay tuned for the rest of the post after the spoiler...it's coming....here-->

really got me wondering if they truly fall under the category of "atheism".

EDIT: Okay, then can someone tell me what I might be considered?

I was born and raised Catholic. I very much would like to believe that there is a God somewhere and that, yes, I will ascend into Heaven when I die; however, I realize that there is substantial evidence to support a lack of aforementioned, and I acknowledge so, causing me to question my own beliefs. I don't want to completely oppose the idea, because for the small chance that God does actually exist, I would like to have faith that there is life after death. However, I also believe in the evolution of species over time (how can you not, it takes place all around us and it has been documented, studied, and observed through many generations).

What would I be classified as?

Well if you want to believe in a god with certain attributes (afterlife, sin, etc.), but don't want to do it with organized religion, that makes you deist.

Agnostic means that you don't believe in anything because there isn't sufficient evidence for either side to form a solid, factual belief

 

[Falconv1.0]

Emmanuel means "God be with us". It is your destiny to believe in Him. lololol

Oh my God Heartz just owned the thread.

I find the thread title to be kinda silly, there is no pun there though.

 

[Mewter]

Well if you want to believe in a god with certain attributes (afterlife, sin, etc.), but don't want to do it with organized religion, that makes you deist.

Agnostic means that you don't believe in anything because there isn't sufficient evidence for either side to form a solid, factual belief

0_0... Deist.
That makes more sense than calling him agnostic. No wonder it didn't quite fit!

 

[mountain_tiger]

Emmanuel means "God be with us". It is your destiny to believe in Him. lololol

As stated previously, mine means 'Gift from God'. So yeah, I got owned by my name as well lol.

 

[HiveSteel]

@OP: rough man. My dad and his girlfriend tried to get me to volunteer at the local church's camp last summer, and yeah, I'm also an atheist. Luckily, I was able to get out of it by taking a class over the summer, but my brother, who was 11 at the time, ended up going.

That's actually a pretty good idea, though. Try to sign up for lessons of a hobby that you like, or for a sports team... That way you'll be able to enjoy one of your hobbies like painting or guitar or football, whatever, and not go to church.

Tell your parents you really want to try that activity, but you HAVE to stop that church volunteering to do so..Hopefully they'll understand

 

[thanortinzak]

That's actually a pretty good idea, though. Try to sign up for lessons of a hobby that you like, or for a sports team... That way you'll be able to enjoy one of your hobbies like painting or guitar or football, whatever, and not go to church.

Tell your parents you really want to try that activity, but you HAVE to stop that church volunteering to do so..Hopefully they'll understand

My parents won't let me do that kinda stuff on sunday if I'll be missing church.

And church voluteering is almost over

 

[|RK|]

lolwut? No. Just...no. The majority of the freedoms we have today were to keep us from getting ****ed in the *** by our government like they did the European government. I'd love to see you look through the Bill of Rights and tell me otherwise.

I mean hell, we even have the FREEDOM OF RELIGION, meaning WE CAN BELIEVE ANYTHING WE WANT. Doesn't sound very Christian-like if you ask me, considering they have the whole 'Believe in this religion or burn in hell' thing.

Um, so? Let me rephrase: The history of our country is religion, no Christianity. Look at our money, look at what the folding of our flag (each fold) represents, etc. There. That's true enough. And a lot of our ideals are based off of Christianity.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

Emmanuel means "God be with us". It is your destiny to believe in Him. lololol

:bigthumbu I love you Heartz.
You totally won the thread.

 

[GTA_Hater_331]

3mmanuel, it sounds like your mom doesn't care if you're happy or doing something you like, as long as she's convinced that you're faithful to God whether or not you are. I can't follow her logic at all. If you suffer needlessly in life, you have my condolences. A life without independent thought is like... I don't know, but it sucks. If she's forcing you to be a preacher or another related role when that's so clearly not what you want, I have no respect for her.

 

[Clownbot]

3mmanuel, it sounds like your mom doesn't care if you're happy or doing something you like, as long as she's convinced that you're faithful to God whether or not you are. I can't follow her logic at all. If you suffer needlessly in life, you have my condolences. A life without independent thought is like... I don't know, but it sucks.

A lot of Christians/Catholics (not ALL of them, mind you) just want their kids to be faithful no matter what. Even if they're unhappy about it.