UpwardForward Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 And? I can still call myself whatever I like. Atheism is a label based on the religious paradigm. If I choose not to participate in a religion, there is no need for me to identify as anything in religious terms. It's only significant to theists. Your belief system - or lack of, is in the dictionary. Like it or not. Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God = Atheism. Yes the dictionary gives that definition but so what. What are you trying to argue? Also don't forget Nihilism, which is the rejection of all religious and moral principles and believes that life is meaningless. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
UpwardForward Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I guess liking some one is the equivalent of declaring them a god and worshipping them now. Hope you don't like anyone , ever, or look up to anyone. Gotta stay consistent. I'm not throwing them in as a replacement or gospel on a religious thread. Link to post Share on other sites
pickflicker Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Let's hear it for more false gods - and quotations of such. What? Now you're making even less sense. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Your belief system - or lack of, is in the dictionary. Like it or not. Oooh you won that argument didn't you? Atheism is defined in the dictionary but xxoo can define himself/herself without that label. Is that really the best you have to offer this illogical, crazy, messed up thread? 1 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Let's hear it for more false gods - and quotations of such. Who said Fry was a false god? What quotations are you even talking about? You're not making any sense, sorry to say. Link to post Share on other sites
Haydn Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Dylan Moran - Religion, Politics, Science, Technology and Consumerism in under 11 minutes - YouTube 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Keenly Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I actually have a very strange belief system that is hard to describe. I beleove in the universe as an unconscious, non - sentient being. Basically the universe is like a giant tree or plant. Its unaware of its own existence, but it goes on. Its incredibly vague and out there, my thoughts on how I view life. 5 Link to post Share on other sites
xxoo Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Your belief system - or lack of, is in the dictionary. Like it or not. But I'm saying that I don't typically call myself an atheist. If asked to explain my religious beliefs, I'll clarify that I'm atheist. But outside that question, when living my life, I give literally zero thoughts to how I relate to the religious paradigm, and I call myself human, woman, wife, mother, etc. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
UpwardForward Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Oooh you won that argument didn't you? Atheism is defined in the dictionary but xxoo can define himself/herself without that label. Is that really the best you have to offer this illogical, crazy, messed up thread? No. I am so grateful for the Christians who helped me find my way to Jesus when I was at the lowest depths of my life. Replace God with false gods, and the return will be just that: nothing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 That's awesome!! That makes me laugh out loud because it's so true. Also, as much as we non-believers deserve respect, we'll never get it as this thread proves so easily. Religious people will always feel threatened by non-believers and condemn the nonbelievers out of fear and ignorance. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that religious people are hypocrites the way they tout their ten commandments of Christianity yet don't put those into action when confronted with someone who simply doesn't share their same belief. If we look at the concept of faith, we are that its very personal. Personal in the sense that it is yours, and no one can take it away from you. If you are strong in your faith, then there is no reason why you should feel threatened or offended when some one says they do not believe. I've seen it on the internet and I've seen it IRL, when a non believer tells a believer " I don't believe in god, religion, etc " they react like you just told them that Jesus liked to eat babies. Its okay to be different than you are. Trust me... we aren't going to kill you or corrupt your children or rob your grandma. All we want is the same mutual respect that you'd give a fellow human being, assuming you actually follow what your own religion teaches. I went to catholic school for six years, and when I passed the age of reason I decided the concept of god and religion wasn't for me. Sometimes I like to show these people that I know more about their religion than they do. Yahoo actually posted an article within the last few months of a study where atheists were are to answer more questions correctly about Christianity than Christians were. You bet your ass I laughed at those results. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ThaWholigan Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I actually have a very strange belief system that is hard to describe. I beleove in the universe as an unconscious, non - sentient being. Basically the universe is like a giant tree or plant. Its unaware of its own existence, but it goes on. Its incredibly vague and out there, my thoughts on how I view life. Almost similar to my own, except that I believe it is somewhat sentient. I believe in the presence of a higher power, but that it is energy and exists in all living things. It's complicated to explain at the moment, but I understand this. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Keenly Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 No. I am so grateful for the Christians who helped me find my way to Jesus when I was at the lowest depths of my life. Replace God with false gods, and the return will be just that: nothing. You might get nothing. Others might get a strong sense of purpose and well being. You view life through your prism. Others view it differently. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 No. I am so grateful for the Christians who helped me find my way to Jesus when I was at the lowest depths of my life. Replace God with false gods, and the return will be just that: nothing. So basically you're proving my point about how Christianity rejects intellectualism because in your post you are calling Stephen Fry a false god because he intellectually argues a sound argument against Christianity. So because he shares a different viewpoint, because he is a nonbeliever, he is a false god? That makes no sense whatsoever. Try again. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Brilliant!! Love that guy!! Dylan Moran - Religion, Politics, Science, Technology and Consumerism in under 11 minutes - YouTube Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I like your belief system ThaWholigan because I too believe that every living organism in nature is interconnected and exchanges energy. I don't believe in an institutional religion, but I do believe that every living thing in nature is tied together somehow. I just don't believe that a 'creator' of any sort is responsible for creating the universe. It just happened - the universe etc., but people feel the need to define how it happened to make themselves feel less afraid of the unknown. I think that is why so many people fall under the spell of a faith-based system. Almost similar to my own, except that I believe it is somewhat sentient. I believe in the presence of a higher power, but that it is energy and exists in all living things. It's complicated to explain at the moment, but I understand this. Link to post Share on other sites
florence of suburbia Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Almost similar to my own, except that I believe it is somewhat sentient. I believe in the presence of a higher power, but that it is energy and exists in all living things. It's complicated to explain at the moment, but I understand this. I've sometimes thought along the same lines of what you and Keenly are saying. I read somewhere that the universe moved toward the eventual development of humankind (with our big forebrains) so that it could understand and reflect upon itself. This is certainly not a scientific theory or a spiritual belief on my part, more like just a cool idea. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
xxoo Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 To me, the world is a huge mystery beyond the understanding of humans. I'm ok with that. I don't have a burning desire to have answers for all the questions. I've studied a decent amt of religion, after beginning to question my Christian upbringing. That was enough for me to reject ALL human religions as stories. Quaint stories, with lovely themes at times. I don't hate religion at all, and have seen examples of many religions being practiced in beautiful and inspiring ways. It just isn't enough for me to actually believe what the religion teaches as fact (although I do take away the inspiration and teaching from the stories, as I would from any wise fable or tale). 2 Link to post Share on other sites
florence of suburbia Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 To me, the world is a huge mystery beyond the understanding of humans. I'm ok with that. I don't have a burning desire to have answers for all the questions. I've studied a decent amt of religion, after beginning to question my Christian upbringing. That was enough for me to reject ALL human religions as stories. Quaint stories, with lovely themes at times. I don't hate religion at all, and have seen examples of many religions being practiced in beautiful and inspiring ways. It just isn't enough for me to actually believe what the religion teaches as fact (although I do take away the inspiration and teaching from the stories, as I would from any wise fable or tale). And the need to create stories out of little bits of chaos is one of the main things about us that makes us human, that we all share. IMO when you start to insist on taking these stories literally they become distorted and people start wars over them. They have deeper truths beyond the literal. The ideas of sacrifice, love, and the golden rule transcend religion. Even Jesus said "do unto others" is the most important rule of all. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Janesays Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 To the person who mentioned Atheists knowing the bible better than Christians....that is so totally me! I've read through the bible, cover to cover, multiple times. (Even the boring 'begats' in the beginning.) I'm quite ashamed to admit this, but as a child I was very deeply religious. Went to a religious school. Attended church 3 times a week. Part of a youth group. Prayed every night. Constantly trying to become more 'Christ like. The whole freaking nine yards. I turned away from the concept of God and organized religion for a very specific and personal purpose: It hurt me. Period. Christians now can't fathom how their precious religion can HARM a small child, but it did hurt ME. And I know I'm not the only one. 4 Link to post Share on other sites
Allumere Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Almost similar to my own, except that I believe it is somewhat sentient. I believe in the presence of a higher power, but that it is energy and exists in all living things. It's complicated to explain at the moment, but I understand this. There was actually a really cool experiment or test some gent was working on based I think (forgive me, not an engineer) on one of the laws of thermodynamics. Having to do with the human body and how when someone dies their energy still exist but is just transferred or absorbed. Obviously some of it was over my head but aligns with what ya believe. Link to post Share on other sites
florence of suburbia Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Someone posted this on another forum, and though I don't think it is standard interpretation, I really like it. Also it is well written and funny: • Jesus of Nazareth might (theoretically) have said, meant, and believed that no one could know God except as a consequence of worshipping him, Jesus, and accepting him as God, etc. If so, Jesus was wrong. It ain't so. • My general read on the entire context of Jesus and what he had to say has long since led me to believe that in statements like this Jesus is using his personal self as a metaphor for the things he is "about", in much the same way that someone might say "You can't really provide quality education to young children except through Montessori". In the latter case, we would not interpret the speaker to mean that young children cannot be educated unless Signor Montessori himself, in person, is invoked and involved in the process — if pressed to think about it, we would not even assume the speaker meant that one must even know of this Montessori fellow's existence, insofar as it's always possible that some other person could come up with the same insights and essentially formulate the "Montessori method". It is in that sense that I think Jesus of Nazareth said "I am the way, and the truth and the light; no man comes before God except through me". Jesus of Nazareth, as you may recall, said love your neighbor as yourself, even your hateful neighbor who isn't loving you in return; share what you have, even with those who will not be paying you back, and don't keep track of who did and who didn't; forgive those who mistreat you, multiple times over, and don't expect thanks or favors for having forgiven; and don't do all these things to impress your community with what a holy man you are, either". That is what constitutes the way, the truth, and the light, and you shall not be one with God apart from that. He who taught these things was not the kind of egomaniac who insists on his self-importance as an individual personality. • For the sake of the willfully literally-minded who really don't like that interpretation, umm, it is hypothetically possible that Jesus of Nazareth meant that only those he swallowed whole and caused to enter into his Holy Belly, their sins perhaps being washed in the hydrochloric acid of Christ, thenceforth to be transported by peristalsis through the coils of his intestine and bathed in the bile and pancreatic trypsin, amylopsin, and steapsin of the Lamb, and finally evacuated from the bowels of the Savior can truly say that they candidates for coming face to face with God, having sought to arrive before him through the Lord Jesus Christ. But I doubt it, and, again, if that's what he meant, I'd say he's wrong. Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Someone posted this on another forum, and though I don't think it is standard interpretation, I really like it. Also it is well written and funny: Um, are you evangelizing with this post Florence? Link to post Share on other sites
pickflicker Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Dylan Moran - Religion, Politics, Science, Technology and Consumerism in under 11 minutes - YouTube Black Books! 2 Link to post Share on other sites
writergal Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Black Books! It's not on Netflix so I can't watch that tv series. It looks SO funny! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts