Are you a Atheist's?

Question

What do you believe in, if not God? What are your feelings about believing in God and or people who believe in God?

I find that most people get believing in God and being religious confused. Religion is the system in which you choose to serve God. Believing in God means that you honor him, love him, receive his grace and take heed to his word, among other things. So, is it that Atheist don’t like order and authority, or is it that they are confused?

I am in no way trying to offened anybody, just trying to get clarification. Thanks.

Sun, part of your answer was: A personal or institutionalized SYSTEM grounded in such belief and worship.

Just looking at the answers I see so much confusion. Most of the Atheists seem angry. Atheists who think that Christians don’t have a mind of there own, or take responsibility. The Bible clearly states FREE WILL and consequence for actions. Some of the things that people named; being educated, being nice, having morals, etc. these are all the things named in the Bible as well as being humble enough to understand somebody died for your sins. So, what is it that Atheist really thinks the Bible is saying? This is still a mystery to me.

I hear the “the Bible has contradictions” so many times. Is there an Atheist who can clearly point out a contradiction?

Answer 1

no i am not an athiest iam christian!

Answer 2

I'll answer your questions in the order you've asked them:

1) Yes, I'm an atheist.

2) I think the verb "to believe" is used too loosely, especially on this forum. I prefer to be more precise:

I don't actually "believe in" anything. I will _accept_ certain things as true or likely to be true, on the basis of sound empirical evidence; but that has nothing to do with belief. And I _hope_ for certain things which I consider beneficial to me or to others, and I do what I can to achieve those things; but again, that has nothing to do with belief.

3) I have mixed feelings about believers. If I thought they were mostly harmless, then I wouldn't trouble myself about them. But since 9/11, that assumption is impossible to make. Besides, I've always worried about anyone whose grip on reality seems less than secure; and these days, believers seem determined to push reality aside with both hands. They're scaring the hell out of me.

4) "Order and authority"? Uh, whatever happened to "god is love?" -- Whatever. In general terms, I think it's safe to say that most atheists appreciate at least a measure of order in society, because it allows for peace, prosperity, and progress. Atheists also appreciate individual effort and they insist on thinking for themselves, so they tend to be sceptical -- if not outright hostile -- to authority.

Authorities -- especially religious authorities -- find this annoying.

5) Nope. No confusion. I had twenty years (give or take) of religious instruction, and in the twenty-five years since I've found no evidence that even hints at the existence of any god or gods.

Answer 3

Metaphysics:
-The world exists as it is, and it doesn't care what people think or wish.
Epistemology:
- Through the use of reason (and reason's tools: sense-perception and logic), people can understand this world and make decisions based on this understanding.
Ethics:
- Everybody has things that they value; i.e., things that they will take actions to achieve and maintain.
- To value something else, you must value (and thus strive to maintain and improve) your own rationality and your sense of self-efficacy. Thus, the grounds of all actions are inherently based on rational self-interest (I know this isn't very good reasoning; shoot me an e-mail, and I'll be happy to formulate this principal with better reasoning).
- To successfully protect and attain the things you desire is to find happiness.
- Virtues are the principles you follow to achieve your values and thus find long-term happiness. Neither sacrificing yourself to others, nor sacrificing others to yourself, are necessary to be virtuous.
- Thus, the purpose of morality is to guide your actions to improve yourlife, not tie you down by telling you what you can't do. The goal of morality is the improvement of your own life and the foundations of your own happiness.

I could go on, but I'll leave it at that for this forum.

What do I think of people who believe in a divine being of any sort or flavor?

I spoke above of the use of reason. The virtue that corresponds to this would be "rationality;" the use of reason in all aspects of life. Despite centuries of trying, a divine being has not successfully been proven logically, nor has it been proven by sense-perception. There's no more reason to believe in a god than to believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

If people want to believe in such a being, they are welcome to do so. This particular belief may be inherently irrational, but irrationality is not a crime, nor should it be. People have the right to be wrong. It's the foundation of a free society. As long as that person is not promoting or causing harm or restriction, that's fine with me.

Religion isn't about how you choose to serve a god. It's about:
1 - What you believe; this usually contains a supernatural element.
2 - Why you believe it; this usually contains, at some level, something other than reason (or its tools)
3 - How you act as a result of what you believe; this usually is a dictation of morality

It has nothing to do with control and authority, nor does it have anything to do with confusion. It's a matter of accepting that the world is the way it is, and the best way to live your life is to understand that world and make your choices accordingly.

Answer 4

I am an Atheist which obviously means I believe in no "god". There is no scientific evidence to back up this fairy tale and even if there was, I wouldn't subscribe to such hateful, bigotted, mysoginistic, homophobic, hypocritical, prejudiced cults that call themselves religions.

Atheists are often intelligent, freethinking, educated, tolerant, open-minded people who are able to make their own decisions in life, without the need for guidance from a hateful book.

I don't actually care of this has offended you because I know this as the truth.

Answer 5

First of all your grammar is off...but anyway.

I think religion in general is a cult. I do not believe in a higher power of any kind. I am atheist b/c after living my whole life with the damn bible shoved down my throat I decided to think on my own.

I got tired of people telling me I have to live that way. Which makes no sense anyway. The bible contradicts itself over and over. And I think people pick what they want out of the bible so it's suits their life. If they did exactly as the bible says they would be running in circles.

Why do I need some invisible power to tell me what to do? I'm smart, I'm nice, I have morals. I just know how to think on my own.

Thanks :)

Answer 6

I am an atheist. I do not believe in anything or have faith in anything -- either I have evidence of something or I don't claim to know about something. I don't think there is a deity or a creator or a designer to the universe.

I think believing in a deity is somewhat silly. However, I know it gives some people a sense of purpose, so I don't mind or make an issue of it, unless they make an issue first.

---------------

What do I think of the Bible? I think it's wrong about a lot of things, especially the New Testament. I think it's nothing more than a bunch of stories ranging from 3000 years to about 1700 years ago made up by people who knew virtually nothing of the world around them.

Answer 7

I'm a pagan Taoist (atheist). I believe in the Tao... everything else is just details, and Taoists aren't overly concerned with that. We go with the flow.

I've come to the conclusion that deities are metaphors for something far greater and more abstract than a deity could be. To me, they are symbols for something our minds can't quite grasp. You can define that as 'God' if it pleases you, but I can't think of it as a deity.

It doesn't bother me that people believe in deities - symbols are very useful sometimes. I only get annoyed when they claim their point of view is the only one that could possibly have any merit. Or when they gloat in the idea of the suffering and/or humiliation of their fellow men. I find that morally reprehensible.

Atheists I think tend to not be willing to accept someone else's authority, we prefer to rely on our own selves. We trust our own judgment. We see the order of things as being different than what many religions claim and we trust our own experience and insight over other people's words. We think it's more important to be the best person we can be than to perform certain rituals or speak certain words. And in many cases, such as myself, we simply can't believe deities are real.

Answer 8

Sorry but religion is indeed:

a Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.

Answer 9

I don't think I count as an atheist because every now and then i believe in the possibility of god. However, i do think that if there is a god that he wouldn't really care about being worshiped all the time.

Answer 10

I'm a very happy Atheist, and I don't believe there's a God. I won't waste my time and yours pointing out the contradictions in the bible. Stay in here long enough and they'll be pointed out.

Answer 11

are you a native speaker of English?

"An" is used before a noun beginning with a vowel, not "a"
"atheists" is a plural
there is no apostrophe in a plural.



just a few of the things I believe in:
I believe in education.
I believe in fairness.
I believe in kindness.
I believe in the human potential for greatness.
Speaking of authority, I believe that in many instances it's not deserving of anything other than wary scrutiny.