Are atheists also being dogmatic?

Question

i'm a Buddhist and therefore an atheist myself..thought it'd be interesting to see the responses.consider the following:

an angel appears(halo and all)in front of a theist when he's alone in his room.obviously he'd believe that it was a sign from God.

same thing happens to an atheist and most probably he'd think he was hallucinating and go to a psychiatrist to check if
if i faced that situation i'd definitely think i was hallucinating.but lets say this angel appeared in a busy street and hundreds of people witnessed the scenario of course i'd believe.

BUT let's say 50 years afterwards,a scientific explanation was found for this apparition and it this explanation really sounded logical and made sense,i'd change my mind again...e.g.in ancient times rainbows were considered to be magical roads and later when there was a sensible explanation in science people learnt that and changed their minds....
dogma in EITHER way retards education doesn't it?
what are your views on this?

oh and if science couldn't (atleast during YOUR life) disprove the phenomenon,then obviously from the time u saw that angel in the street u'd believe that God existed right?

even if u believed in his existence,would u serve him and love him? if yes,why? and if no,why not?

of course i can't stop anyone from answering but since i know that u believers think atheists are ridiculous anyway :P your answers aren't going to be informative..i'd like to get the atheists' responses please

Answer 1

I'm disturbed by the growing number of calls from atheists to get organised. I'm all for people getting together to discuss their ideas, but in atheism there's nothing to organise. There is no dogma, and anyone who claims otherwise is distorting what the simple word 'atheist' means.

Having a truly open mind means being ready to change your views given new evidentiary reasons to do so. That doesn't mean you don't have opinions - sometimes strong opinions - but there's no weakness in changing those opinions when appropriate.

I think the real issue is that we have an emerging group of 'anti-theists' who really are out to attack at every opportunity. Sure I might take the occasional pot-shot, but I do it at everybody and everything, including myself.

Then I'm lucky to live in Australia where atheism isn't seen as a dirty word. From what I've seen and heard, if I lived in America I don't think I'd find it so easy to not become an anti-theist myself. When a group is discriminated against, it's very difficult for the members of that group not to become militant in opposition.

I dunno, the whole thing makes me queasy. I'd never really encountered fundies of any stripe before I came to R&S, which is in large part why I am still here, held in a state of appalled fascination.

I've never seen atheism as being anti anything, but the longer I stay here, the more I get attacked for it, the harder it is to keep that perspective.

Answer 2

as a EX-atheist ... well kinda lol.

Atheists on yahoo at least are getting as bad if not worse then the theists.

It seemed that once upon a time atheist were actually open minded. Now they are all so SURE, without the slightest doubt that there MIGHT be a god-type entity in the universe.

To be that sure makes them JUST as rediculous as the theists.

All of these people claim to know the unknowable.

Whats wrong with saying "i dunno"?

Do i DOUBT there is a god? Yuppers.. a LOT.

Do i KNOW there is no god? Impossible to be certain.

Answer 3

a million) oh, so that you imagine you comprehend what i believe eh? 2) bzzzt. incorrect and incorrect. 3) obtrusive "layout" does not *require* a clothier. you're merely anthropomorphizing. 4) No, i do not. 5) they are summary concepts. i do not remember claiming they were truly entities. 6) Bullocks. in case you may want to provide info that gods existed, then all atheists who're skeptics/severe thinkers (who you're fairly addressing this to, you merely are so ignorant you're conflating that with atheism) might want to settle for that gods existed. i do not ought to shield the strawman you imagined up on your head. "So even as they call Christians dogmatic, is this not a hypocrisy?" No, that is precise. Religions are inherently dogmatic. Skepticism is the antithesis of dogmatism. perchance you ought to crack a dictionary really of copying an pasting the stereotypes you get out of your preachers.

Answer 4

I think the answer to your questions lies within your line of reasoning! What in ancient times unexplained phenomenon were taken as a magical or spiritual or a manifestation of god events, eventually trough scientific empirical observation they became better known and accepted as natural phenomenons! So all changes have always been from the supernatural to natural/materialism!

Answer 5

It's about consistency of observation. If *everyone else* observed the same thing, that would be one thing. But if I'm the only one who sees something, then something is wrong with me.

Same way computers do sanity checks. ;)

Oh, your Additional Details. Suppose if I found God was real: it wouldn't necessarily follow that God would want worshipers or servants. The idea that an all-powerful God requires servitude is one of the most ridiculous notions religious people have, IMHO.

Answer 6

The Principal dogma of atheism, is; look for errors in the religious text. If that doesn't work, look for different religious text to search for errors. When that inevitably fails, go to a shrink, to be deprogrammed because they've obviously been mislead by the religion that just has to be false.

Christian leadership loves it. It allows them to perform (evangelize) the oldest trick in the book (Bible). Get their interest, wait till they taste the bait (errors), and set the hook (keep them interested). It works best, on highly intelligent people who demand perfection (God).

Dogma, attracts dogma.

Answer 7

Being dogmatic, in my opinion, means being firmly stubborn in your belief, having not concrete and valid backup for your explanation, and closed minded (meaning they will not listen to any views that are not theirs). In this way, I think that many atheists are dogmatic, as many Christians are dogmatic, and many other religions are dogmatic.

People are getting more and more irrational by just firmly sticking to their belief and not even understanding fully why they do so. They are ignorant of every other viewpoint, so they have no right to argue and make false accusations yet still they do so.

It's hard not to be dogmatic. I do it myself, and I try hard not to by looking at all sides of things. People, atheists, agnostics, Christians, etc should just shut up sometimes and just listen. I think they'll gain a lot more insight that way.

Answer 8

An Open Mind, Science and a bit of religion open the world of knowledge .....

Namely, Science was there trying to proof religion is right, but by doing so, they can confirm or contest the dogma on religion.

Answer 9

I think many are.

People just need to chill out, if you believe in God thats fine, if you don't thats fine too. Don't try to push anyone around.

Answer 10

i would not believe , i still would think that there is an understandable explanation