Why is it atheists without a guiding book or doctrine agree on almost everything yet Christianity has a?

Question

guidebook that tells everyone what to do etc and they all argue endlessly?
Catholics vs protestants
7th day adventists vs baptists
etc

Johnathan good point but the significant difference is in string theory there is a process for determining what is right and wrong. Catholics vs protestants no such thing exists. The debate is key to improving thinking not a mechanism to initiate blood shed vis a vis Ireland (catholic vs. protestant).

Answer 1

Lack of dogma means people apply a more rigorous standard when evaluating a hypothesis.

For a religious hypothesis, one merely needs to convince enough people that it's true before it can become a doctrine.

For a scientific hypothesis, however, one must find evidence for it being correct, and all the time other people are looking to prove you wrong. Science is far better than religion at throwing out bad ideas.

This is why atheists can be more confident when agreeing about evolution than theists can be about... anything.



john_d_ayer is, by the way, wrong. Scientists have put *lots* of effort into determining the cause of baryogenesis during the Big Bang. Just beause he doesn't want to read up on it (which is fine, really--it's not the most interesting topic in the world) doesn't mean it's not there.

He is also wrong when he says there are many views on what atheism is. An atheist is someone who does not believe in god or gods. That atheist *could* hold some religious beliefs (as not all religions have gods to them), but most atheists don't, so it sort of makes sense to generalize atheists as lacking religious beliefs.

Where he gets the idea that this makes atheism a religion is beyond me. I'm guessing he just pulled that idea out of his butt.

Answer 2

Is it necessary to make "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" fill a whole book in order to "guide" people? You'd have to use awfully big fonts.

I must correct the Christian person who said that Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Paul did most of it. Jesus did not think of himself as a "Christian" or even as the founder of a new faith. He was a JEW. He never regarded himself as anything else, nor wanted to. It would probably horrify him that Paul made his life into a separate religion, apart from his real religion. Paul, trying to be accepted as a convert, went forth to preach, and knew he had to lionize Jesus in order to convert people. Christianity is based on his "superhero" stories about him.

Contemporary writings of Jesus' day give every indication that he was a militant, a zealot, bent on forcing out the Romans violently, rather than being that "turn-the-other-cheek" guy. He couldn't have been both. He was a "Messiah," which, to those people, did not mean "savior." Jesus was a descendant of David, and had the perfect combination to enable him to lead his people as BOTH a secular ruler and a religious one - a "Messiah" meant a living religious ruler with an ancestry that gave him the right to do so. Nothing more than that.

It's not very swift when a non-believer has to tell a believer about the history of his/her own religion...

The problem, of course, is that people will always prefer to have their opinions - and beliefs - spoon fed to them. It's easier than doing their own homework. So it's easy to wazoo them, and religious leaders line up for the opportunity to do the wazooing. To the victors go the political power, the wealth, the chicks, and the Rolex watches.

That doesn't mean people should really follow what these guys say.

Answer 3

Atheist have to base their judgment on sound observation, rational thinking, and critical evaluation of facts.
Those who maintain that their holy book is the truth have a hard time because each holy book in existence contradicts itself at some point. So, some would believe that A is true and B has to be interpreted as some allegory, while other will argue about B being the truth and A being the allegory.
That is how protestantism started (as a splinter group from Catholics, protesting the interpretation of the holy book) and how Sunnite and Shiite started that feud that is still going on centuries later.

Secular humanism is a heaven of peace compared with the turmoil of all those people who would kill for their faith.

Answer 4

People who earnestly search for truth generally reach similar conclusions. This is because there actually is one and only one objective reality where truth can be found. By definition, belief means accepting an assertion as true, without supporting evidence. Such careless thinking cannot discover factual truth and believers are inevitably reduced to an emotional guess, choosing blindly from myriad unsubstantiated opinions, which generally have nothing to do with objective reality. Just because a person has a brain, does not mean they know how to use it properly.

Answer 5

Interestingly, in our modern world where the secular humanists and aetheists insist that all people are equal, regardless of skin colour, ethnic background, height, weight, et cetera, it is the Bible which says that "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek" and goes on to mention "barbarians", "Scythians" and others.

In other words, Christians do believe that all people should be treated equally, if they actually read and accept what the Bible says. Sadly some don't, which answers one of your points.

And, yes, the concept of some members of the human race being better than others came from Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species" and was succesfully developed in parts of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s under the banner of the "Aryan Race" being top dog. A similar concept has been promoted by various other dictators as well as Herr Hitler.

So let's get it straight that aetheists (who do not accept the Bible) are actually attempting to incorporate biblical teaching as opposed to the "Origin of the Species" in their insistance on all people being equal, (and to plagiarise and distort George Orwell) none or some more equal than others.

This has been well known for years in Christian circles. I wonder why it isn't known to the person who asked the question.

Answer 6

That is absolutely not true.

On these boards I have heard everything ranging from Atheism means no beliefs to just not having religious beliefs does not mean you are an atheist.

It is incredible how many different views there are on what an atheist is.

The dictionary definition is a person without religious beliefs, but, many of those who present themselves as atheists have specific religious beliefs about Christianity.

As you do.

If you have a religious belief then you can't be an atheist, or, you are redefining atheism to be a particular set of religious beliefs which would then make it a religion.

PS: Atheists often attempt to use the scientific method in an attempt to "prove" a theory. The reality, and any "scientist" can tell you this, is that no experiment proves a theory. Experiments can only prove a theory is false.

Science in no way has developed the "theory of everything".

For example, both the big bang AND creationism begin with the miracle of the creation of matter. Something Atheism prefers to ignore.

Answer 7

Well it is easy to agree on not believing anything. But when you do believe something as big as God its complicated. It takes a lot of payer and thought to discover things about God. The Catholic Church, really the only Church that was founded by Jesus, has not really changed anything doctrine wise since its beginnings. The only time we seem to change something is when in looking at the Truth and what we believe we determine if something is true or not.
Examples:
Miracles
Contraception (allowed or not)
Things to do with science (evolution)
Etc.

God Bless,
Elisha

Answer 8

I don't believe your assessment on the harmony of atheists is accurate. They may agree on the basic tenant of their assumption that there is no god. The harmony ends there. Some atheists think humanity is in debt to society while others believe man should live as he pleases and "drink and be merry." The list goes on from there. In the same way, Christians believe on the basic tenants of their faith but have different convictions on certain doctrines that can officially be left to personal interpretation without hurting the basic principles of Christianity.

Answer 9

Atheists do not agree on almost everything. I have heard very heated arguments among atheists about string theory, relativity, the "structure" of time (or the space-time continuum), gun control, levels of human rights, levels of animal rights, historical viewpoints, and the list goes on. Pretty much the only thing that Atheists universally agree on is that there is no god.

Added 19 June:

There has been much bloodshed on the continent of Asia between differing atheist camps, mainly in the name of different forms of Communism. To a smaller degree, there have been violent riots in Europe that erupted among factions disagreeing on the application of atheistic anarchy. In America today, there are passionate conflicts among atheists (thankfully they have not led to bloodshed). The Humanists are the "old school" atheists who say that because there is no God, we must develop and enforce strict morality in order to keep order, while the "Neo-Atheists" say that we should not be hindered by the pseudo-religious encumbrances of complex and constraining moral codes. The Neo-Atheists encourage the destruction of religion, while the Humanists find attacking the moral systems of the religious to be counter-productive. As far as this armchair historian knows, this is the first major "schism" in the still-young Atheist movement (outside of the Communist movement mentioned above). Given time, further divisions could very well result in bloodshed. Such is human nature; our divisions turn to hate and hate turns to murder.

Answer 10

Because if you are referring to the Bible, It was written by several people. Some opinions are different which is why there is some contradictions. Christians use this as a guide, yet it has caused many different beliefs and opinions. That's why it seem to me all of these different religions (who believe in the same "god") argue about how the Bible says to live your life. Doesn't make much sense to some people. (athiest)