Questions for atheists

Number -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTvx_QA6gIc

^^^ This is a link for an audio "Letting Go Of God" by Julia Sweeney. If you google, the (visual) show itself can be found, too. It's Sweeney on a stage with a desk and a comfy chair, so the visuals aren't necessary, IMO.

While this is one recovering Catholic's story, Sweeney's journey of soul-searching and questioning may resonate with many. :) Her experience is quite different from those who were never indoctrinated, at all. I still feel she is worthy of attention because many atheists also began as believers, before critical thinking skills and an adult perspective could be formed.

If you are sincerely exploring this topic, and possess an open mind, then I recommend that you give her views some consideration.

1. Why are you an atheist? I am curious why you would close your mind to the possibility of something more then just us and that there is any existence after death.

You equate atheism with close-mindedness. This is an example of irony. Or, if you prefer "Christian-speak," and I paraphrase... Take care to remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from another's.

And, that is why I offered the Sweeney audio. Because until you remove your proverbial plank, any response here is not going to be clearly understood by you.

Even so, here's my answer... The whole god/gods thing kills, harms and vilifies women, girls and female sexuality. The only value a female has in a patriarchal mindset, is measured in terms of how much value she adds to the life of a male. Religions, are notoriously, woman-hating philosophies. I couldn't get behind that if I tried and I question what it takes to support such positions/structures/organizations.

I believe that we are all connected, as one, and throughout time. I believe in change, metamorphosis and evolution. Death, to me, is simply a shift in physical matter involving an energy exchange. Human bodies become daffodils... The "we are one" philosophy resonates with me in terms of what I see in humans, other animals and the natural environment. It appears to me that this view, supports basic goodness.

Evil, is the opposite concept. Here's an excerpt which reflects my perspective well, followed by a link to the source:

On Othering

Another important idea of Foucault's is his notion of what he called othering. This is something people have always done, and it is something that people will continue to do as part of human nature. Othering means simply making note and being aware of different people, whether they be racially, politically, socially, sexually, or in any other way different from you. For the most part, the person doing the othering considers themselves normal and the other person to be abnormal. But always be aware that someone else is over there othering you.

http://www.netplaces.com/philosophy-book/modern-and-postmodern-philoso phers/michel-foucault.htm

Believing that we are connected supports my effort to use my life as a force of goodness.

Believing in god/gods interferes with my effort to use my life as a force of goodness.

That, is why I am an atheist.

I see that others who identify as believers, who are also ethical and moral people, must choose to reject their religions if they are to treat others with love, equanimity and respect.

2. Why do some atheists put so much energy into something they don't believe in? By this I mean I know and have met some atheists that have their beliefs and don't care about my beliefs and are happy to do their thing and let me do my thing belief wise. Then there are atheists I have met that feel that it is their life mission to bash God and bash peoples belief in God and I just don't understand why you would put so much energy into something you don't believe in. I'm not talking about defending your beliefs as an atheist. I am talking about atheists that go out of there why to bash God or someone's belief in God. When no one is putting down their beliefs.

There is no inherent right to be respected for holding passionately to any delusion. One major problem with the indoctrination of helpless children to the fantasy that is god, is that along with the delusion, they are also taught a sense of entitlement. Who tells their child that Santa and god are not worthy of respect, tax breaks and political sway? You must understand, as an adult, that we all don't just agree on these things. Your question reeks of entitlement. You refer to atheists who are politically active and vocal.

Which brings me back to "othering." Other people view your practice as mentally unhealthy, economically corrupt and morally bankrupt. Just because you think it's good to believe, does not mean that it actually is. KKK types also think that their beliefs are good. Would the Holocaust have happened if those who were aware of the insanity hadn't stood by silently? It is this sense of seeing the threat and the violence and the death, that compels many atheists to speak of the horrors. And, you question, "Why?"

3. If some of our greatest scientists have been catholic or catholic priests and they believe in a universal creator why don't you?

Or,
"If some of our greatest scientists have NOT been catholic or catholic priests and they believe in a universal creator why would you?

Because I'm an independent thinker using critical analysis of verifiable facts, using a variety of sources.

4. Why don't atheists believe that a man named Jesus lived?

Truly, I haven't heard that one. I've heard questions about the veracity of the whole story, which then brought into question the public relations and marketing of the guy. I'm unaware that his existence was also under debate, but I'm open to evidence, either way.

5. Lastly I would like to address some terms I have heard atheists use that make no sense to me so please explain. 1. "They believe in a talking dead guy" God is a spiritual being who has never lived a physical life so therefore he has never died. And if they mean Jesus Yes, we do believe in a ‘guy’ that died. No, in the 3 days he was dead, his body did not produce any speech however after he rose from the dead, he spoke. So who is the talking dead guy that we believe in? 2. "Magical sky daddy" those of us who believe in a universal creator don't believe God has any magical powers or that God lives in the sky. We believe that the spiritual plane that God exists in is in a whole other dimension.

This also reeks of entitlement. Delusions are not respectable! They make for great humor and that includes mockery.

What's to mock? Well, just on the face of it, what you've written under #5, makes it appear as if theists share a view. I've yet to see it. Individuals make up their own cut and paste versions of core myths. What is plain to me, and seems to elude you, is that you speak only for yourself. You are taking an intellectual approach to refuting the views of others, which is an exercise if futility - because theists are the ones with the delusions.

As an atheist, my take on "magical sky daddy" is to flip the question... does it matter if we call Santa, "Kris Kringle," "Father Christmas" or "Santa Claus" or what we say his magical powers are?

Bottom line. Some drank the kool-aid. Some never have and never will. Some drank the kool-aid and spit it up because it's toxic. Some are toxic from the kool-aid and they need to be watched, and stopped before they perpetrate more harm, no matter how loudly they proclaim their works to be good.














The EYES see only what the HEART can comprehend. 

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1. Why you would close your mind to the possibility of something more then just us and that there is any existence after death.

For the same sane reason that virtually all people question the existence of Thor, Zeus, Vishnu, Baal, Huitzilopochtli, the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus. If you think about it, we're only one god apart. Atheists only question the existence of one more god than most Christians, Jews, or Muslims. We're all comfortable dismissing the possibility of Thor and Zeus, etc. Atheists just go one god further and remain open to questioning the existence of the Judeo-Christian god. At the core of atheism isn't a denial of the possibility of belief but an openness to question what we believe. We'd all agree that we should be open to question belief in Thor, Zeus, Vishnu, Baal, and the Tooth Fairy. Atheists take this openess to question belief one degree further in being comfortable questioning all gods, not just the gods of others.

2. Why do some atheists put so much energy into something they don't believe in?

If you lived in a world where mostly everyone spoke about believing in Thor, printed money that said "In Thor We Trust," and people used their belief in Thor as a rationale for not letting women work or drive, not letting non-Thor believers hold office, or not letting non-Thor believers people vote, then wouldn't you put some energy into changing things?

You see, it's not about what we don't believe in, it's about what we do believe in. Of course I can't speak for all atheists, so I don't really mean "we" here but generally "we" believe all people are equal--not just people who share in our beliefs. We believe there are no men or women born of immortal gods, no kings, queens, no blue blood, no chosen people, no lost tribes, and there is no reason to view a woman as inferior to a man.

We believe that cultural and belief systems that perpetuate such views are unsupportable by rational thought or any meaningful evidence and it's spending energy trying to create change.

3. I have herd a lot of atheists say that they don't believe in a universal creator or God because they believe in evolution. My question here is why can't you believe in a universal creator and evolution.

You seem to be confusing origin narratives (creation or big bang) with evolution. These are different things. You can believe in a universal creator and evolution, but you can't very easily believe that the universe/ world evolved from nothing to where man and woman existed in 6 days. That's not evolution, that's fantasy that's unsupportable by any scientific evidence.


4. Why don't atheists believe that a man named Jesus lived? What I am getting at is that the bible was all written as separate books before is was all put together as one book so why would four different people. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John write four separate books about their lives with Jesus if he never lived.

You may want to look into the the history of editing the bible, particularly the New Testament, and all of the gospels that didn't make the cut. You may be surprised to learn that in the first few generations of Christianity there were a lot of gospels that promised to tell the story of Jesus, but the folks that put the bible together decided that there were only four that we needed to really concentrate on. Other gospels suggested that he had brothers, some said that he got married, and one is called the Gospel of Judas. Historical Jesus is pretty much a complete fiction.

5. Lastly I would like to address some terms I have heard atheists use that make no sense to me so please explain. 1. "They believe in a talking dead guy" God is a spiritual being who has never lived a physical life so therefore he has never died.

He's a "dead guy" because he never talks back. Consider the old saw: sane people talk to god, but only crazy people hear god talk back. Nobody hears god talk back, nobody. And that's the funny thing: you'd think he'd have something to say at sometime that he'd want folks to hear clear and unambiguously. But no: he keeps his mouth shut, very much like a dead guy. He wrote one popular book, the Bible, but since then . . . what's he done? Where's the sequel? (just kidding).

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1. There is no evidence of a god or creator figure. I would not want an omnipresent figure who watches my every action, convicted me of thought crime (thou shalt not covet?!), why is the classical God figure from the bible so insecure, thou shalt not worship other gods etc. Really? Isn't he meant to be the all powerful one true God? Also the bible based god promotes slavery and genocide - the religions spawned from it have led to misery, corruption and wars. I see no good reason to want to believe in a god figure? Apart from the base human desire of fearing death and wanting some form of immortality.

2. The reason some atheists probably are so energetic is they have religion forced upon them under some country's legislation, which directly effect human rights issues. Would you be happy for example living in a muslim country and having your societys rules dictated by a religion you didn't believe in? Atheists would not be so energetic if religion was something that was practised privately by the religious but unfortunately they usually feel the need to convert or preach long established morals and claim them as their own (golden rule - confuscious/Socrates...before Christ - do onto others as you would have done onto yourself). The story of the good Samaritan which Jesus told was about a man who had morals, yet was before Christianity obviously, where did his morals come from? Religion/God is not the source of morals, we are.

3.. Evolution has been proved and the entire chain of evolution is available. I mean come on we have mapped the genome now, all you need to do is some research to find your answers, I am happy to help if required.

4. I believe a man named Jesus lived, in fact I believe many men named Jesus lived. I believe he was educated to at least a minor extent with the moral teachings of the world at the time and he was seen as a revolutionary figure. Remember the first gospel from the new testament was written 30 years after the death of Christ...Ever play Chinese whispers. Seems to be an ignorant desert people's stories of miraculous deeds were written down and became accepted.... Although the bible has been so heavily revised over time it is hard to know when these entries were added. I do believe there may have been a hippie sort of figure around the time (not meant in a derogatory way), but the only account of him was that a guy with a name similar died around that time, there is no other evidence.

5. I am an atheist, so couldn't care less about your explanations of what I consider fantasy, I am happy for you to believe these things, it may even be healthy for you to do so. I just do not want these things forced upon me or my society. If you want to believe in these things do so in private or amongst friends/family.

No offence taken and I also hope no offence was caused! I abhor all religions and believe they are a real source of evil in the world today.

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Quite simply for 2 major reasons.

1.) There simply isn't credible evidence for biblical claims
2.) What evidence there *IS* out there is in stark contrast to biblical claims

And me as an atheist now, was a former bible believing Christian for 21 years. Until I started actually looking into what the book actually said vs. reality. And what an abhorrent book it is, as it supports slavery, genocide, rape, murder, all at the behest of it's "god" Yahweh. Jesus wasn't much better as within the mythology, he had the perfect opportunity to denounce such things, but yet endorses them instead.

So not only is it a book that spouts demonstrably false premises, it's morally bankrupt to boot. Then you have apologists resorting to intellectual dishonesty to shoehorn this book not fit for toilet paper, into some kind of moral guideline. No thanks. I am infinitely more moral than the god as portrayed by this "book", and arguably, so are you.

We believe that which we are convinced of. I am no longer convinced the words which that book contains are even remotely true. So here I am, atheist, and leading a satisfied and happy life, ever more so than when I had to worry about things like hell and other nonsense superstitions.

I've heard pretty much every argument for the existence of a god, Ontological, Kalam, Pascal's Wager, appeals to faith, appeals to incredulity, false equivocation, the list goes on and on. All of them rooted in logically fallacious reasoning, none supported by evidence, and 100% lacking in any sort of intelligent or consistent thinking. I guess I'm just to honest to be a christian anymore. That and I'm just not gullible enough.

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because there is NO god, and there is no heaven and hell, thats why i dont believe in man's worst lie,,,religion is the root of all evil. if you dont know that by know, youre plain stupid,,

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because there is NO god, and there is no heaven and hell, thats why i dont believe in man's worst lie,,,religion is the root of all evil. if you dont know that by now, youre plain stupid.

stupid movie, one of the worst ever... especially because its taken itself very serious, not like the asylum movies that are just makin fun of makin movies

im givin it a 1 on imdb, just because 0 is no option on imdb!

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[deleted]

I don't believe in God because he wouldn't let Nick Cage (or any human being) make such poor decisions. Even free will has a limit.

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