Question for all atheists?

Question

Have you ever found yourself in a dire or just frustrating situation saying somthing like....GOD, I WISH THIS WOULD END !!....or even starting to pray and then catch yourself, remembering that you do not beleive in a higher power
If so what do you make of that?

Answer 1

Actually, no. On one occasion I came inches from death and believe me the last thing on my mind was someone else's ridiculous fantasy about gods and heaven and hell and whatnot. What I thought about was how it would affect my family, of all the 'loose ends' and unfinished things that I would never have had a chance to tidy up, and all the things that I wanted to do and had never got around to.

You might as well ask why I don't inadvertently catch myself wishing for prezzies from Santa Claus at Christmas. It's the same kind of childish nonsense as gods and goddesses - Just something that some other unenlightened people believe in.

Answer 2

Yes, actually I do, but I wouldn't call it prayer. It is a phrase that I, and many of my other fellow Americans, have become accustomed to using. Like saying "God why does this always happen to me?!" or "God damnit!" I know that I do not believe in a Christian God but I have always grown up using these phrases and am used to using them. I guess you could say it is a habbit. I also use 'Jesus Christ' but nothing Biblical comes to mind when using these phrases. It's basically just a force of habbit, nothing more, nothing less.


And also, I mean no offense by anything stated above.

Answer 3

I use the words god and christ in my everyday vocabulary, not as an invocation of a higher power that I believe in, but because they are part of the modern American vernacular. They pepper my speech the same way expletives do, and serve the same function.

Answer 4

Actually, I'm a polytheistic agnostic, so I usually say, "Oh, gods." Though I've never been Christian and I still say, "Oh, Christ!" sometimes. It's just part of the vernacular. After all, it takes a really seriously strong-willed atheist to shout, in the throes of extacy in bed, "OH! Oh outdated religious superstition to which I do not subscribe!"

Answer 5

I say god sometimes like that. It doesn't mean I believe in anything; it's not a prayer, just a convention used in our language. Why would I pray by accident? Do you sometimes catch yourself thinking by accident?

Answer 6

I have used that term. I don't recall ever praying.

What I make of that term is that it is a manor of speech and doesn't reflect my belief at all. I really really really really do think the belief in god is silly. And that is really the end of it. I wouldn't think to waste time praying about something.

Answer 7

Yes, it is just a manner of expression that is no proof of the existence of the thing that you speak. For example, say "Pink Flying Rhino in Briefs" and you can imagine a Pink Flying Rhino in Briefs, but that does not exist.

Answer 8

i say "god" all the time, but i think its a conditioning thing. we hear people say the name in vain all the time, grew up with it, its on tv & the radio and all around, so it makes its way into vocabulary. but i dont ever pray, even by accident, so i cant help you with that one.

Answer 9

nope.

did you ever find yourself having sex with a turtle, and then suddenly jump back and say "oh no!! my myth-cult icon jesus doesn't want my tongue on that part of a turtle, stimulating it like that!!"

or, worse yet, have you found yourself gazing at a houseplant with unnatural thoughts, thinking that jesus would be mad at you for such thoughts!

how many times has that happened to you, hon?

Answer 10

yea, but what does saying God at that particular time mean, it's just something said, like a slip of the tounge. and people talk to themselves all the time that doesn't mean their praying!