Any other atheists here?

[Ekserb]

I suppose you've all heard by now that the new pope wants to abolish the idea of limbo. (Limbo is where the unbaptized children go when they die.) Here's the story.

After centuries of belief in this limbo thing, they've decided it isn't popular so they're going to get rid of the idea altogether. Nice. The best part is the group appointed to find a replacement for the idea of limbo has to come up with a new "theory" that is more palatable to the masses of people in Africa and Asia where infant mortality is high and thus many of the children die before baptism, ending up in limbo/hell/whatever and leaving the parents of these children questioning the wisdom of such a cruel religion that would send an innocent babe to somewhere other than eternity in the loving sight of god.

Being the pope must be pretty cool - he gets to dole out the new rules and get rid of the old ones at will.

 

[pookies]

 

[pookies]

 

[Ekserb]

I like how my poll is a dead heat between the atheists and agnostics (or whatever you people want to call yourselves). As of this writing, we have 14 Atheists and 13 who haven't the courage to dive in head first. LOL

 

[Lorali82]

I like how my poll is a dead heat between the atheists and agnostics (or whatever you people want to call yourselves). As of this writing, we have 14 Atheists and 13 who haven't the courage to dive in head first. LOL

Okay, I'll bite.

It's just that you don't know there isn't a god anymore than anybody else knows there is one. If you ask me, being an atheist takes just as much faith as being religious.

 

[Ekserb]

Okay, I'll bite.

It's just that you don't know there isn't a god anymore than anybody else knows there is one. If you ask me, being an atheist takes just as much faith as being religious.

You're right in one aspect: I have tons of faith. My faith is in science's ability to accurately describe all things and occurrences. If we haven't figured it out yet, we will.

I'm sure that someone once said, "There's some guy over there who thinks the Earth is round. HAH! He'll never prove it!"

 

[pookies]

 

[Lorali82]

You're right in one aspect: I have tons of faith. My faith is in science's ability to accurately describe all things and occurrences. If we haven't figured it out yet, we will.

I'm sure that someone once said, "There's some guy over there who thinks the Earth is round. HAH! He'll never prove it!"

Do you think science will one day be able to prove whether or not existence has meaning?

Personally, I don't believe that will ever happen.

 

[sperling]

...I'm sure that someone once said, "There's some guy over there who thinks the Earth is round. HAH! He'll never prove it!"

As a matter of fact I don't know any serious christian who believes the earth is flat.
And please stop confusing the pope with serious christians.
Oops, that was a bit harsh, wasn't it?
Never mind.
I believe in God, I'm practicing, I'm quite a cheerful guy, I post on pornboards (not only on pornboards) ,
I think one of the most wonderful things god created is the two sexes of mankind.

 

[artistgonewyld]

No war that I can recall has been started by atheists. In fact, I'd bet that all the wars ever fought were started by leaders claiming to be devout religious souls. Isn't that nice?

(I'm willing to stand corrected if anyone can disprove my last statement.)

The the name Adolf Hitler mean anything to you? LOL. He believed in witchcraft and many other activities but was a strong opponent to Christ and any religion that supported Christ. Also, having a history degree it comes fairly easy, but most wars have been started by non-christians.

The Mongul wars, half of all eurorean bvorder wars. The communist/fascist conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Generally wars are started for pride or territory, not God. Don't get me wrong, there have been many wars where people claimed God was on their side, and the Crusades were all about God, but the wars weren't started by God, they were started by the free will of man. People make choices and their choices are obvious and easy.

Also, in this country alone, thousands upon thousands of men and women have refused to fight because they believe God tells them war is wrong--killing is wrong. It's actually more common than people think.

As for your plane analogy, God gives people free will. I am a Christian, proudly, but I know God doesn't change the actions of man, he simply wants us to make the right decisions. A plane crash or car wreck are aspects of life. In God's eyes, we need to make a certain decision before those incidents happen. It's called free will. We choose to live with or without God. If you have God, in the eyes of a Christian, then dying in a plane wreck is only sad because people will miss them, but to a Christian, they are in a better place.

But, very interesting thread.

 

[artistgonewyld]

I know one thing, if we live our life right and are basically good people then he or she or it(if it/he/she exists) shouldn't hold our not beliving in him/her/it against us. Seeing as how all the bad shit is going on in the world...I'm wondering how people can still believe in their god?

I believe because the world is so hard. The world is hard because humans make it hard. We are all imprefect and make mistakes (sin) but the only way to find redemption is in God because he didn't make the mistakes, we did.

 

[Ekserb]

Do you think science will one day be able to prove whether or not existence has meaning?

Personally, I don't believe that will ever happen.

I said "all things and occurrences." Whether or not existence has meaning is neither of those, but belongs instead to the long list of things we will never know, like what women want to hear when they ask if that dress makes them look fat.

Personally, I don't think there is any higher meaning to life. It's just a random series of synaptic impulses and chaotic happenstance. Try not to hurt anybody while you're alive and do the best you can to have fun before you die. This is your only shot. When you're dead, it's over.

 

[Lorali82]

I said "all things and occurrences." Whether or not existence has meaning is neither of those, but belongs instead to the long list of things we will never know, like what women want to hear when they ask if that dress makes them look fat.

Personally, I don't think there is any higher meaning to life. It's just a random series of synaptic impulses and chaotic happenstance. Try not to hurt anybody while you're alive and do the best you can to have fun before you die. This is your only shot. When you're dead, it's over.

"No, not in the slightest."

Every single time. No exceptions.


Also, this is kind of where religion steps in to fill in a theoretical gap left by science. Some people find meaning in existence by living for a god and his supposed doctrine.

Atheists tend to think there's no meaning. Agnostics tend to not know if there's meaning...

I've found this to be true amongst the people I've met in my own life anyway.

I don't know what the point of this is, I felt like delineating stuff.

 

[ShinigamiSama]

I'm an atheist and proud of it. I'm just curious to see if there are any others on this site.

I lean more towards Zen and Shintou beleaves, with a light touch of Shintou
but I dont really practice, its just a mind set

I do tolerate people to a point, the point mostly depends on how much of their bull I wanna deal with

 

[Dhalgren150]

The the name Adolf Hitler mean anything to you? LOL. He believed in witchcraft and many other activities but was a strong opponent to Christ and any religion that supported Christ. Also, having a history degree it comes fairly easy, but most wars have been started by non-christians.

The Mongul wars, half of all eurorean bvorder wars. The communist/fascist conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Generally wars are started for pride or territory, not God. Don't get me wrong, there have been many wars where people claimed God was on their side, and the Crusades were all about God, but the wars weren't started by God, they were started by the free will of man. People make choices and their choices are obvious and easy.

Also, in this country alone, thousands upon thousands of men and women have refused to fight because they believe God tells them war is wrong--killing is wrong. It's actually more common than people think.

As for your plane analogy, God gives people free will. I am a Christian, proudly, but I know God doesn't change the actions of man, he simply wants us to make the right decisions. A plane crash or car wreck are aspects of life. In God's eyes, we need to make a certain decision before those incidents happen. It's called free will. We choose to live with or without God. If you have God, in the eyes of a Christian, then dying in a plane wreck is only sad because people will miss them, but to a Christian, they are in a better place.

But, very interesting thread.

In all wars the name of God ( Goddess) are invoked.

More lives have been lost in the name of God than have lived in the name of God.

Also God, Goddess are not exclusive to Christians.

God, Goddess were here long before these upstart followers of a Prophet came.

Tolerance, and acceptance is the way.

The earth is the God Goddess.

my humble opinion.

All wars have been fought with God on our side.

 

[bluebell]

Changed my mind

Nevermind.

 

[Ekserb]

Also, this is kind of where religion steps in to fill in a theoretical gap left by science. Some people find meaning in existence by living for a god and his supposed doctrine.

Atheists tend to think there's no meaning. Agnostics tend to not know if there's meaning...

See my earlier post about pig gods.

 

[Lorali82]

See my earlier post about pig gods.

Yeah yeah, both you and my mother use that argument.

My inner script as far as this stuff goes is usually something like, "Maybe there actually was some sort of intent in bringing forth our existence. That's not so hard to believe..."
"No, that's just my own human arrogance. We're random chaotic bags of molecules at best."
"But why are the molecules here in the first place? Are they really here at all? If the universe is really infinite then the chances that we exist within a finite span of time in the first place are pretty much asymptotic to zero. Oh jeez, am I even thinking this right now? What was that thing Descartes said again? My brain hurts."
And this is when I settle back into the comfortable bean bag chair of agnosticism...

It's probably true that God is in the brain and not out there somewhere, but the truth is that we just don't know. And, no Ekserb, we also don't know for complete 100% fact that unicorns don't or never existed either. I mean, I'm pretty sure they don't but we aren't omniscient beings and we don't actually know much of anything at all for 100% undebatable fact despite what science tells us. Yeah, it sure looks like the earth revolves around the sun. But what if what appears to be fluid planetary motion is really an illusion created by, like, the universe blinking in and out of existence a billion times each second and popping back in shifted slightly to the left each time? Ok, that's a weird example, but you see what I'm trying to get at.

Why do I feel like these are the crazy ramblings of the bag lady who lives on the steps outside of my office building?

 

[OGME]

I'm disappointed but not surprised to see the canrd about Hitler being brought up again.

Need I remind you of the three principles of Nazi womanhood?

Kinder, Kuche, Kirche

 

[Ekserb]

Yeah yeah, both you and my mother use that argument.

My inner script as far as this stuff goes is usually something like, "Maybe there actually was some sort of intent in bringing forth our existence. That's not so hard to believe..."
"No, that's just my own human arrogance. We're random chaotic bags of molecules at best."
"But why are the molecules here in the first place? Are they really here at all? If the universe is really infinite then the chances that we exist within a finite span of time in the first place are pretty much asymptotic to zero. Oh jeez, am I even thinking this right now? What was that thing Descartes said again? My brain hurts."
And this is when I settle back into the comfortable bean bag chair of agnosticism...

It's probably true that God is in the brain and not out there somewhere, but the truth is that we just don't know. And, no Ekserb, we also don't know for complete 100% fact that unicorns don't or never existed either. I mean, I'm pretty sure they don't but we aren't omniscient beings and we don't actually know much of anything at all for 100% undebatable fact despite what science tells us. Yeah, it sure looks like the earth revolves around the sun. But what if what appears to be fluid planetary motion is really an illusion created by, like, the universe blinking in and out of existence a billion times each second and popping back in shifted slightly to the left each time? Ok, that's a weird example, but you see what I'm trying to get at.

Why do I feel like these are the crazy ramblings of the bag lady who lives on the steps outside of my office building?

But the universe isn't infinite, it's expanding. What lies beyond the boundaries of the universe we don't know. Yet.

The unicorn thing? So you're saying that because we've never seen a unicorn that we can't say for sure that one never existed? How about mermaids, dragons, leprechauns, fairies, witches, the chupachabra, werewolves, and giants?

The framers of all modern religions sure believed in these things, as did all the peoples of the world at one time or another. Until the tools of modern science came along, people just believed what they were told and took it on faith that sailing too far would have you dropping off the face of the earth and into ... well, I don't know where you were supposed to fall to, but I'm sure it wasn't nice.

I know that a lot of people need to feel that there is something more to this world and to their lives in particular. I kinda feel this is a personality defect and steer clear of those people. When I die I'm hoping my remains will be cremated or used for science, and I know that there will be nothing left for me to do or see after I'm gone. Does that mean I'm going to be a bad person and kill random strangers on the street? No, but it also doesn't mean I have to ever worry that something I did (or didn't do) is going to land me in a burning river for ever and ever. Or that I have to strive to prove something to some old fart in the clouds in order to sit by his side while the unbaptized children rot in Limbo. (A reference to an earlier post of mine.)

 

[Ekserb]

I'm curious. Do any religious readers think that Bill Clinton is going to heaven? I mean, the ultimate hypocrisy is seeing that fucking rapist walking into church every week with the bible his grandmother gave him, towing the woman he married and probably lusting for every young woman he sees as he walks down the aisle.

 

[Lorali82]

But the universe isn't infinite, it's expanding. What lies beyond the boundaries of the universe we don't know. Yet.

The unicorn thing? So you're saying that because we've never seen a unicorn that we can't say for sure that one never existed? How about mermaids, dragons, leprechauns, fairies, witches, the chupachabra, werewolves, and giants?

The framers of all modern religions sure believed in these things, as did all the peoples of the world at one time or another. Until the tools of modern science came along, people just believed what they were told and took it on faith that sailing too far would have you dropping off the face of the earth and into ... well, I don't know where you were supposed to fall to, but I'm sure it wasn't nice.

I know that a lot of people need to feel that there is something more to this world and to their lives in particular. I kinda feel this is a personality defect and steer clear of those people. When I die I'm hoping my remains will be cremated or used for science, and I know that there will be nothing left for me to do or see after I'm gone. Does that mean I'm going to be a bad person and kill random strangers on the street? No, but it also doesn't mean I have to ever worry that something I did (or didn't do) is going to land me in a burning river for ever and ever. Or that I have to strive to prove something to some old fart in the clouds in order to sit by his side while the unbaptized children rot in Limbo. (A reference to an earlier post of mine.)

I'm not saying believe in anything, I'm saying believe in nothing.

No, we cannot say for sure that mermaids, etc. never existed. Or did exist for that matter. You cannot say for sure that for every decision you make there aren't an infinite number of alternate universes in which every other possibility plays itself out. I am saying that we are small, our brains are small, and we don't really know anything at all for sure. This includes whether or not I really ate that Christmas cookie today, or whether or not a colony of fairies lives on my lawn, or whether or not 2 + 2 = 4, or whether or not there is a god.

I swear I'm not on drugs.

 

[Lorali82]

I'm curious. Do any religious readers think that Bill Clinton is going to heaven? I mean, the ultimate hypocrisy is seeing that fucking rapist walking into church every week with the bible his grandmother gave him, towing the woman he married and probably lusting for every young woman he sees as he walks down the aisle.

Who did he rape? The cigar?

 

[monique1971]

I'm starting to become a little hesitant about trying to post in the midst of an Ekserb-Lorali debate -- it's like walking in on people while they're engaged in foreplay -- but I was reading as I ate my dinner and I learned that 47% of Americans polled read the Bible every week. This seems high to me. Of course the numbers came from an evangelical polling firm being quoted in a mainstream periodical, so they may be over- or under-estimated.

Why are so many people reading the Bible?

 

[Ekserb]

Who did he rape? The cigar?

Google "Juanita Broaddrick"