What does it mean to be an atheist?

Nutes and Nugs said:

Atheists have a closed mind or have a hard time using certain parts of their brain.
If it cant be scientifically proven, it's all just a bunch of shit to them.

A Non-atheist has the ability to "cross over". Their minds are open to a certain religion and faith in that religion and or other religions.
It works for me. Dreams, ghosts, premonitions, the voice of logic. Being in a church has a very 'Royal' type feeling to me.
To believe and pray has rewarded me with these senses.

Sorry I can't explain that to certain people who never crossed over.

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Special pleading is arrogance typical to the theist.

Moldy said:

People fucked up the god thing for me. Never trust someone that has to get forgiven once a week.

I've never met a religious person that ain't trying to change my life or someone elses.

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With all due respect, I think we all need to be forgiven daily. You don't often make mistakes that you'd like or expect peers, family, work mates, and loved ones to forgive and forget? If your claim is true then no one can be trusted.

And how can you be so sure you've never met a religious person who's just kept quiet and didn't try to change you. You'd be surprised how many "religious people" do actually practice humility and respect.

*BUDS said:

Tell me something Wonka, do you believe that the earth is only 30,000 years old? Also why are religious people so whacky?

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hi buds.I know im not who the question is directed at but maybe you wont mind if i throw my two pennies in the pot. Ive given it a lot of consideration over the years and really have to say i believe its because people think their god is talking to them through an ancient and archaic tome, trying to take what is written for a specific group of people in a specific point in time in ancient history, for a specific issue and without any research, trying to take it literally and somehow apply it to and make it work for them in some utterly unrelated modern situation, in modern times and the effort has made some of em totally fuckin nuts. sorry if I stepped in where i didnt belong. no offense intended to anyone (seriously) just how ive come to see it. peace all.

Knowing someone is atheist can only tell you what they don't believe, not what they do believe. If you think someone who doesn't believe in god goes the extra step to say they believe there is no god, you are making an assumption. If you want to know an atheists thoughts, beliefs and ideologies, you have to ask them.

Believing there is no god requires a leap of faith, but you do not have to make this leap to be an atheist. All that is required is to observe that the god of Abraham enjoys the same empirical status as Poseidon and Zeus, and that the books attesting to his existence bear no signs of divinity and instead bear all the earmarks of being cobbled together by ignorant mortals. This is all that's needed for the church to brand someone as atheist.

This works both ways. One can not assume that atheists are logical and concerned with evidence. The Raelians are technically atheists who believe in intelligent design set in motion by aliens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raëlism

kpmarine said:

Would a hardline theist not have this same issue? Surely, you would acknowledge that anyone that claims to held the key to universal salvation is only grasping at straws that reflect what we know?

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...'sorry' to take this out on a crazy limb, but you have to get somewhat of an understanding of kabbalah to dig into scripture. Those texts are seriously veiled. It means to study the Hebrew alphabet, alchemy, study whatever you can get your hands on. Things change once you know what a word really says. Considering letters and their meaning, words become more like sentences.

eye exaggerate said:

Things change once you know what a word really says. Considering letters and their meaning, words become more like sentences.

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Posted this link on a similar thread. Case and point.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1090.html (and who knows, this article could be complete bullshit)

JayDiggz said:

Posted this link on a similar thread. Case and point.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1090.html (and who knows, this article could be complete bullshit)

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...nice, I enjoyed that. "the Old Testament Prophets were none other than ancient shamans"

...smoke in the tent, in gnostic terms, is more like vapor and it is the result of transmutation. That's why there is such an emphasis on being chaste in scriptures worldwide. Either way, I can appreciate both descriptions



^ hehe!

Thanks for the participation folks, this cleared things up a bit for me.

JayDiggz said:

Posted this link on a similar thread. Case and point.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1090.html (and who knows, this article could be complete bullshit)

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Hell yeah, I want a T-Shirt that says: YOU HAVE NOT BROUGHT ANY KANEH FOR ME

[video=youtube;zBUcgybB5AY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBUcgybB5AY[/video]

I hate threads like this, partially because it becomes tiresome and partly because it becomes a chance for people to fight about their
faith or ideals (My god is better than yours, you're wrong and so on) yet I just have to chime in.... I cant resist lol.

Im an "atheist" as I would be labeled by those who follow religion.

Here is my take:

God, or the idea of such is man made. Religion, IMO is nothing more than an organized legal cult. Religions have been used as a way to control
the masses and collect wealth.

Sure some humanitarian work is done based upon religion, but to me it is a way to pave a foundation for a greater following. An example would be developing nations
where people from the church go to dig wells for clean water. While providing clean water is a great thing to do, I take exception that there are numerous cases
where they are also there building churches for their religions and there really only seems to be enough wells produced to allow the perception that they are there for the greater good when in reality they are there to get a foot in the door to start a new base of followers. If they really wanted to help, they would do so without the desire or need of a return.

Most teachings in any religion have changed over time, the books rewritten to reflect the current age.

When I am approached by a traveling salesperson of faith, I am always nice in saying Im not interested, if they persist I ask them a very
direct question, "If I wrote a book about a gopher having sex with a squirrel and having babies would you believe it? Would you go door to door looking for followers
and asking for "donations". If you would believe my book and live your life based upon my teachings I will start a draft and have it ready for you next week."

I have never had anyone take me up on my offer.

Im sorry, call me what you may but I just dont believe in some of the absolutely insane stories in these books. I most certainly will not live my live based on "faith".
The idea that I should live my life based on a story that has not be proven and has changed over time because someone tells me to just doesn't sit well with me. Having people try to scare me into said beliefs by saying such things as "you will burn in hell", "I fear for your soul" etc just infuriates me.

If I dont believe in your god, I also dont believe in your hell. They go hand in hand.

[video=youtube;1pwwvBygoFA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwwvBygoFA[/video]

Nutes and Nugs said:

Atheists have a closed mind or have a hard time using certain parts of their brain.
If it cant be scientifically proven, it's all just a bunch of shit to them.

A Non-atheist has the ability to "cross over". Their minds are open to a certain religion and faith in that religion and or other religions.
It works for me. Dreams, ghosts, premonitions, the voice of logic. Being in a church has a very 'Royal' type feeling to me.
To believe and pray has rewarded me with these senses.

Sorry I can't explain that to certain people who never crossed over.

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Imo this is a judgment driven by a fundamental misapperception.

As for the "crossing over", I wasn't always an atheist; in fact there was a time when I was quite observant of a faith/religion. Even so, any "crossing-over" experience eluded me. I fear you're being too categorical with your claims. Real life isn't so simply divisible. Jmo. cn

kpmarine said:

So Agnostic theist= "I believe in god, but can't prove it."
an then Agnostic atheist= "I don't believe in god, but can't prove no god exists."

To me, the one that claims a negative should be discarded by a reasonable person (As a negative is inherently un-provable.). When taken as a whole; both Agnostic concepts end with 'God is unprovable'. So I am left with the question: What's the real difference here? It seems to be a division based on your ideals, rather than facts; therefore, a response that only serves your pride. There is no point in didviding in which way you cannot prove god's existence, unless you wish to create division. What is gained?

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I believe I don't fit any of Pad's four classes. I refuse the positivity of the hard-atheist claim that there is no god.
As for agnosticism, I don't know whether or not God is knowable. So I classify myself as a Recursive Agnostic. cn

sunni said:

holy shit i have a religion!

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<edit> kpmarine pretty much covered it. cn

As an atheist living in a very hardcore fundamentalist Baptist area, I am constantly hearing some version of this comment: "Why do you choose to believe there is no God?" They will use every fortunate event in your life as "proof" that God exists. Apparently everything good that happens is a blessing directly from God; who is responsible for the bad stuff? Satan? I thought God had my back. Anyway, when I begin to explain my beliefs or get fed up with their arguments, I occasionally fire back with logic and they get agry at me, tell me I'm a bad influence on them, say they will pray for me, and then suddenly aren't my friends anymore. It's funny to me how many "good friends" I've lost when they found out I didn't believe the same thing as them.

plantaseedwatchitgrow said:

I dont have enough faith to be an athiest,

Theres too many crazy things that have happened to me, where I know there was divine intervention. I'm not saying I believe in heaven, hell, or anything else. I just believe that is all lines up somewhere you know?? Theres something that created all this, whether it be "God" or a giant floating triangle.

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so something happens to you out of the ordinary , and you imediatley call it divine intervention with no evidence what so ever lol

I swear to god that I'm an atheist. Even as a young kid I thought it was all make believe and felt embarrassed when I was forced to pray. Now, personal beliefs are just that and don't hold my attention until they're trying to influence my beliefs. Like the nice kids that like to come to my door to tell me I'm a dumb fuck for not loving Jebus. That's when I get pissed. You don't see fucking atheist going door to door trying to sell someone on a no god state. Until those cocksuckers learn to stay away from my front door I'll always have contempt for religion.

Nutes and Nugs said:

Most theist's have a narrow viewpoint as does the general atheist.
It's not about science, it's about faith.

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And faith...Like art, pornography, beauty, good or evil is in the eye of the beholder...FWIW

Cool thing about this world, you can believe what you want. Seriously. No seriously.

Someone mentioned early on that god is a concept of society, cept it's pretty much every society, not just a select few. Sure the gods are different, but the stories are eerily similar. Now this isn't a point to pick a correct or winning religion in my opinion, but a chance to study all of them. Ive read to some extent everyone's good book. I also love astrology and science. To me its all connected.

I could attack atheism with facts (pretty much a modern concept, the only atheist society on record are the Atlantians of Atlantis) but man would I get attacked. Then all the atheist would believe Im some fundamental Christian (Im not) and then theyll go into all the errors of the bible (which are tons).

I could attack Christians, I could attack Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, etc. etc. Ive studied and currently study them all. It's a non winning proposition. For instance, Buddhist could technically be consider atheist, if you study them. However Buddhism is classified as a religion.

Why most people attack others beliefs Ill never know....