Are these the Atheistic beliefs...please read before you get nasty...?

Question

Okay in my last question I posted the "teaching"s of Athiesm from American Atheists Org. and I got blasted for asking if they were indeed what you teach. I am just trying to understand why you all tell me one thing then you give me references that say another. I know you all don't beleive the same thing. No two groups of those of faith do either. I am just trying to reconcile what you all are telling me. This group perports to represent you. I am just asking if they do. Here is their "creed" the link is http://www.atheists.org/visitors.center/because.html

We Are Atheists Because...

* There is no proof of the existence of god.
* There is no need of, or use for, a god.
* A good god would be useless if it were not powerful.
* A powerful god would not deserve worship if he were not good.
* There is no all-powerful good god; otherwise there would be no
imperfection.
(I will post it all in just a minute)

We Are Atheists Because...

* A powerful god would not deserve worship if he were not good.
* There is no all-powerful good god; otherwise there would be no
imperfection.
* If this is the best world god can make, the stories of Heaven must
be lies.
* History shows that godism is accompanied by ignorance and
superstition.
* There has never been such intolerance and persecution as godists
have practiced.
* Godism had to be fought when humankind made its successive steps
toward science, liberty, and reform.
* Godism was invented in the earliest days of mankind's ignorance.
It is incredible that primitive humans guessed wrongly about
everything else, but discovered the truth about the origin of
life. Everything about which science has discovered the origin was
claimed previously to have been the work of a god. Godism recedes
when a new

* Godism was invented in the earliest days of mankind's ignorance.
It is incredible that primitive humans guessed wrongly about
everything else, but discovered the truth about the origin of
life. Everything about which science has discovered the origin was
claimed previously to have been the work of a god. Godism recedes
when a new fact is discovered. No new discovery ever supports a
theistic explanation of anything.
* All revelation proves, on investigation, to be human, and
generally fraudulent.
* Godism is consistent with crime, cruelty, envy, hatred, malice,
and uncharitableness. [top]

Atheism Teaches That...

* There is no heavenly father.
Humankind must protect the orphans and foundlings, or they will
not be protected.
* There is no god to answer prayer.
Man must hear and help man.

Man must hear and help man.
* There is no hell.
We have no vindictive god or devil to fear or imitate.
* There is no atonement or salvation by faith.
We must face the consequences of our acts.
* There is no beneficent or malevolent intent in nature.
Life is a struggle against preventable and unpreventable evils.
The cooperation of humankind is the only hope of the world.
* There is no chance after death to "do our bit."
We must do it now or never.
* There is no divine guardian of truth, goodness, beauty, and
liberty.
These are attributes of humankind. We must defend them or they
will perish from the earth.

Ae: I have not aded a Letter this is right off the site.

Why do I care? I try to understand all lines of thought. Right, wrong, or just plain screwy.

I've got to admit you all have given me some interesting reading the last couple of days.

Hi Zero,

I do know this site doesn't represent you all and I am thankful and respectful to that. Actually I really like many of the Athiest Answerser here and hold many of the same values as many of you. It's just the more I read from the various Athist organizations I get the impression that many of them are victim based groups rather than free thinkers trying to promote good as most of the answers here perport to be.

Answer 1

You mean I have to believe all that???

No wonder its so hard to be an atheist! It takes 1000 times more faith to be an atheist than just simply believeing in God!!

Answer 2

That very well could apply to some atheists... there are NO universal atheist beliefs, however, so these probably only apply to certain individuals. Yes, this group may suggest that it represents all atheists.... REGARDLESS, that's not possible. Atheists are not so because they have cohered under a preferred worldview or philosophy. Atheists are so ONLY because they all share the same lack of belief. Everything else is left up to each individual atheist. If some choose to identify with a certain banner or mission statement or community or whatever, that still doesn't make atheism anything other than what it is.

Look... we both know that atheism isn't a religion, but for the sake of analogy... We know the Catholics don't represent all Christians and we know that the Zen don't represent all Buddhists... So you must surely know that not all atheists are represented by the people who run this website?

Answer 3

That sounds about right. It is irritating, though, that the writer assumes that all people who believe in a deity believe in the Christian version. The Christians don't hold a copyright on god.

I also take issue with the idea that the ancient peoples were "ignorant." Compared to what? We too, who consider ourselves "modern," could well still be exceedingly ignorant.

It is the arrogance of some atheists that really annoys me. Damn it, no matter how much rhetoric and "logic" you spout, you have EXACTLY as much evidence against god as theists have FOR god. Accept that you don't "know," and move on!

Answer 4

An Atheist does not believe that a god exists. We do have anyone teaching us this or anything else. We have minds of our own. We do not have "leaders" telling us what to believe and what not to believe. What you read on the The American Atheists Org. site are simple explainations to help others understand the views of most Atheist.

Answer 5

Good Grief.

This hardly represents a statement of belief. It's a rant. It branches off more convolutedly than kudzu in a Georgia woodlot.

HOWEVER, they are not, in general, wrong. Most atheists just wouldn't go to all the trouble to weaken the arguments for God by posting all those statements that discount God's omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence and omnipresence. For most, it's enough to say there's not enough evidence to believe.

Answer 6

Atheists.org does not speak for all atheists. It appeals to those atheists who agree with what the site says, and those who do not agree don't bother with it. You are speaking of the beliefs and "creed" of the authors of a web site, not atheists as a group.

The only thing that all atheists share is the lack of belief in god(s), which is "weak atheism", or the belief that god(s) do not exist, which is "strong atheism". Neither is to be confused with antitheism, which is actively anti-religion. There are weak atheists, strong atheists, antitheists, antitheistic deists, agnostics, agnostic atheists, agnostic deists...these are all different labels that describe a person's attitude toward religion. It is not a religion in itself. Theism is not a religion - nor is atheism. I hope that I'm clarifying things somewhat.

Answer 7

some atheists reason these beliefs out but there is no creed or mandatory belief just the lack of a belief in god . Although anyone can omit god and determine what they think of things that logically follow to themselves.

Answer 8

You really aren't trying to get it. You're just trying to fit it into the box of thoughts you have so you can understand it in your terms. You can't understand unless you think outside that box.

Answer 9

To put it simply,to be an atheist means one thing and one thing only-there is no God.There is no theology or dogma attached to this belief.

Answer 10

a little hyperbole, but yes...I agree with the general gist of their post.
The difference is that when I find bits that I disagree with, I can simply show why I disagree with anyone and move on.
Religions don't have that freedom....well, they do, but they don't understand that they do, and they don't use it.