Do atheists have beliefs to which there is strong support for?

Question

again, i ask questions here because it takes less time than researching. i'm just wondering what atheists have to say besides "just think logically" and "there is no god." just take me beyond the stereotypical, if you will.

maybe even tell me, if you're an atheist, why you believe what you do.

starwoode: you didn't answer the question, and you immediately thought i believe in a book though my question had nothing to do with it. if i get real answers to my question, i hope you can learn something about what you believe.

music girl: i always thought this was a website to ask questions whether you can find the answer on your own or not. i may think twice next time.

Answer 1

Yes. Among other things, atheists believe in the scientific method, they believe in the material world, they believe only in what they know through their senses, they believe in their own happiness and in societal values (whatever they may be), and they believe religiously in the atheistic article of faith that there is no God.

Answer 2

For thousands of years no religion has been able to prove or produce a man who lives in a cloud. not one. They all come up empty handed. The only so called proof that they have is because someone said so. Our God Concept came from ancient people who didn't have a clue as to what was going on in the World they lived in. They thought that a if a person got to close to the edge of the Earth, they would fall off and go to hell. The beliefs of these ancient people in Medicine, Science, Geology Astronomy, you name it , have become obsolete, updated, abandoned or proven wrong. none have been kept. Except their dogma regarding a man who lives in a cloud who has a problem showing up. we are not allowed to touch that. We now know the mistakes of their thinking. We now know that 2 of every species of living thing on this planet weighs over 50 million tons. Only a gullible person would believe that the story of Noah & the Arc is the word of any god. Yet over 100 million people have been killed in the name a God. that no one can prove exists. The believers are coerced into looking the other way. And the religions and news media ignore it so there's no incentive to stop the killing for a god that no one can prove exists. Are we as a people crazy?

Answer 3

But in your question you say you are too lazy to do the research. We did it. Are you proposing that 1. We write you a book right here and now and 2. You should have the benefit of every bit of work we have done to think about our worldview?


You want a good book on the subject? Read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. And, for evolution check out the Talk Origins website.

You may think twice all you want. You want the evidence to back it up, I gave you two resources that will give you most of that evidence and I believe I was clear that it would be impossible to detail all of it here. Hence, you might should stop shirking the research and look into it.

Answer 4

I think a general consensus is that the bible is obviously not the word of God, and that the bible is a very genocidal book to begin with that atheists do not want to be associated with.

That and most atheists are generally well educated in biology and physics...at a minimum. We know life on earth wasn't put here or designed by anything; evolution. So then, begs the question, if the bible isn't true, and we wern't put here by someone directly, then where's God? Did he set the whole plan in motion?

I personally don't see design in the universe. It just doesn't, to me, appear to have anything to do with design. The universe is too chaotic, too stupid, too unorganized, too strange and random to be created, all while being so magnificent and beautiful it is beyond design.

If the universe actually has a creator, then I think this creator is probably beyond our feeble minds, and our religious bigotry here on earth is almost degrading to something that must be so beyond our comprehension.

Answer 5

It's not a difficult concept. An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god. There is no actual hard core proof that a god has ever existed. Just books & beliefs. Give me evidence and proof that there is such a god & make me a believer. I believe in god as much as I believe in ghosts & vampires. There are plenty of stories & movies about ghosts and vampires, but that certainly doesn't make them real now does it. An atheist is more willing to look at scientific evidence that humans evolved over time from apes. There is more evidence to back up this theory than any religious theory. You have to follow the evidence. Don't you watch CSI.

Answer 6

There have been soooooooooooooooooooooooo many studies which have shown t hat the experiments which show 'evidence' for anything supernatural are generally LAUGHABLY, MISERABLE , and FOOLISHLY conducted. My suggestion would be to check out the works of a guy named Ray Hyman.

Also, the fact that no one has yet taken Randi's million seems to throw many things (including God) into a very unconvincing light. If you want information on why theres little reason to believe in the supernatiral, though, do yourself a favor and read some of Hyman's work. Fascinating guy, and funny as hell....

Answer 7

Well... it is pretty simple in fact...

1. Many, if not all, of the cultures of the world have had different forms of religions and gods, so there is no real reason why to believe one over another.
2. Historically, every religion has evolved.
3. No real indication of any Deity. The only ones used are the amazement at the complexity of the world.
4. Science has explained many, if not most, of the things ever attributed to any god, goddess, gods, and goddesses.

Answer 8

It might be hard to wrap your brain around but Atheism is not a "belief" like a religion. A religion takes a "leap of faith" as in there is no physical evidence or repeatable experiment to support the belief.

An atheist requires physical evidence supported by facts, not a "leap of faith" or belief system. There is no physical evidence to support the existence of "god" or a "god" or "gods". There is no experiment in existence that is repeatable by another person that could prove the former. All current evidence supports the idea that "god" or a "god" or "gods" is a man made idea, notion, faith, etc.

so i don't "believe", no leaps of faith, facts only, they don't require belief. I may believe one theory is more or less probable over another but that can change with the introduction of new and relevant facts.

clear as mud

Answer 9

"People are so markedly lacking in spirituality these days that the Bahá'ís should consciously guard themselves against being caught in what one might call the undertow of materialism and atheism, sweeping the world these days. Skepticism, cynicism, disbelief, immorality and hard-heartedness are rife, and as friends are those who stand for the antithesis of all these things they should beware lest the atmosphere of the present world affects them without their being conscious of it."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 19, 1945)

1843. There is a Need for a True Spiritual Awareness

"The need is very great, everywhere in the world, in and outside the Faith, for a true spiritual awareness to pervade and motivate peoples' lives. No amount of administrative procedure or adherence to rules can take the place of this soul-characteristic, this spirituality which is the essence of Man. He is very glad to see you are stressing this and aiding the friends to realize its supreme importance."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer on April 25, 1945)

1844. Spiritual Education and Progress Depend on Recognition of the Infallibility of the Manifestation of God

"Regarding your Bahá'í friend who does not fully understand the infallibility of the Manifestation of God: You should influence that person to study the matter more deeply, and to realize that the whole theory of Divine Revelation rests on the infallibility of the Prophet, be He Christ, Muhammad, Bahá'u'lláh, or one of  543  the Others. If They are not infallible, then they are not divine, and thus lose that essential link with God which, we believe, is the bond that educates men and causes all human progress.

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 542)

Answer 10

There are ways of approaching morality besides using a religiously based or deist approach. There are moral systems that are teleological in which the end justifies the means, such as utilitarianism which aims to provide the greatest happiness to the the greatest number of people and uses that as the basis as to what is right and wrong. There are moral systems which are non-teleological such as Kantianism which believe that our actions themselves should be morally correct, not considering the outcome of the action. Specifically, all people need to make judgements pertaining the moral standing or animals, the morality of illicit drug consumption, and negotiate what exactly fall under the Golden Rule (eg. should I punish my roommate for leaving hairs in the bathroom, or her boyfriend for leaving the toilet seat up?).

Personal Morality is not really created by religion, but can be heavily influenced by religion. Morality is not a number of rules and regulations governing everyday life but a paradigm by which a person experiences and reacts to life. True morality should be as much a universal applicable system as possible. For example, if an action that does not harm another is acceptable, why can drug use and prostitution be unacceptable? One needs to have very strong justifications to argue for the unacceptability of these practices. What is life? What is death? Is inflicting physical and emotional pain and suffering on others justified? is it justified for people in other countries? is it justified for animals?

I don't pretend to say that Atheists endorse a comprehensive moral system, but they are in no way amoral and arrive to moral decisions often in the same way as religious people do. I don't support any orthodox religious doctrine because they lack compassion, are morally inconsistant, and are often more inclined to judge than to comfort. Why should religion extend more compassion to a poor person than to a poor homosexual or a poor drug addict and how can men in their limited and biased capacity make these sorts of decisions, particularly from the subjective viewpoint of religion?

Answer 11

Having been an Atheist before I converted to Buddhism, I can say it's really one of two reasons:

The denial of believing in a higher power then the laws of nature, finding that scripture has gone through too many man-made channels to be worthy of worship any longer and that it'd be safer to stay away from such misgivings, or that they were brought up to believe only in what can be proven.

The second reason is rebellion.