Atheism.

[WhackyWill]

[Grundy]

This week We have a religious thread and people saying Religion is the reason of anything Evil

 

Who said that?

+1

 

Steve, you're in critical danger of doing a Dblock on us here mate.

Wait if he's Dblock then you are Whacky'Ekona'

[Flex]

Some people are born evil, I had an ex that was born evil

[WhackyWill]

+ 1

[Flex]

More than one scary face required for her

[mrt]

With millions of other " Earth like planets " in the known universe,it would be good to find out whether other humanoids exist and if so whether they have any proof of God !

Also , what might happen if one day we all discovered proof that we were not the product of some superior being.

Maybe chaos would result when humans have no hope of an afterlife.

Personally,I believe that we return to the same darkness as that before we were born. I also fully respect other peoples views whatever they may be.

[StevoD]

[mrt]

I once read "evil is the absence of goodness " Makes sense to me.

[sipar69]

Nobody who thinks it's wrong to criticise religion willing to address the point about women? Islam is too easy a target so here's an example from Judaism:

 

According to the Bible [aka the word of God], a woman is impure for seven days from the beginning of her menstrual flow (Lev. 12:2; 15:19). Anyone who touches a menstruous woman becomes unclean until evening (Lev. 15:19). Whoever touches her bed or anything she sits on during the week is unclean until evening and must wash his clothes and bathe with water (vss. 20-23).

 

Funny how all these sorts of rules and restrictions seem to apply to women.....cover yourself, don't wear make up, serve your husband.....I wonder if that's because they were written by men. How convenient that the will of God seems to be so favourable to men.....

Edited November 12, 2014 by sipar69

[Will370z]

Just going to say to staff No the below isnt trying to wind anyone up its just a observation.

 

1-2 weeks ago a Person burnt a poppy seller and comments were made on this forum about it being a case off Religion ie islam/muslim and a large proportion correctly stood up and said you cant say that you don't know what the motivation was

 

This week We have a religious thread and people saying Religion is the reason of anything Evil and it seems this week there is no issue with accusing religion of the cause of bad doings

 

You do seem to like putting words into other peoples mouths Steve. This was always going to be a sensitive discussion thread Steve but please let up on constantly trying to provoke.

[Ekona]

Agreed. No-one has said that all religion is evil. Nowhere. Not even that quote, and I know you're not daft enough to read it incorrectly.

 

If you want to take an opposite POV for the sake of a good argument, and are prepared to back it up with evidence, then fill your boots mate: I've done that before, and it can help to open minds. To constantly harp on about the same non-point isn't doing this thread not yourself any favours. I'm not having a pop at you fella, just a bit of friendly guidance.

 

 

What I know about Islam and the Koran can be written down on a grain of rice, but there's more than enough truly evil things throughout the Bible to make me realise that if you ultimately take any religion seriously enough, then you need your head examined. If you're not prepared to take the literal meaning (and good for you if that's the case), then what's the point of having faith in the first place?

[HEADPHONES]

In my 43 yrs of existence my only formal religious practice consisted solely of prayers and hymns at primary school assembly.

My brother has married a practicing catholic who has sparked more of an interest in religion in me.

Furthermore I have a few few close friends who are practicing Muslims.

Having talked at length with many people I am torn between 2 basic religious concepts.

On the one hand I find it amazing how that in the whole universe as we know it our planet is the only one that supports life.....and not just pond life (amoebas and twocas alike ) but us humans.

Part of me truly finds it hard to believe this is purely by CHANCE and "creation" was an "accident" or random event that resulted in billions of stars and rocks and ONE planet supporting us people.

 

On the other hand I find it hard to believe that such a creator as god would take such an interest in each individuals lives and entrust his message to such a relative few prophets to be spread to all.

 

As a medical professional I find how the body works and heals amazing.

From a microscopic level to the fine balance of our ecosystem its kind of mind blowing.

 

So I suppose I'm kinda on the fence at the moment.

Do I believe in creation by chance........maybe not.

Do I believe in a possible higher power beyond my comprehension behind our existence here rather than a random big bang that resulted in our tiny spec in the universe being just right for life to be created.......quite possibly.

Am I convinced that any one of the prophets were truly gifted with revelations from god......not with my limited knowledge and logical/scientific head on.

I should really study all of the holy scriptures at some point to make a more educated comment/decision.

 

SO AM I AN ATHEIST?

[ATTAK Z]

In my 43 yrs of existence my only formal religious practice ..... stuff .......

 

SO AM I AN ATHEIST?

 

I'm not sure

[DoogyRev]

So Jesus lived in Nazareth . . . which is just up the road from Jerusalem. How come in 1BC or when ever it was there were so many people hanging about with english names . . Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary & Joseph . . to name but a few.

 

Seems like the bible is a tall story to me . . bit like Spot Goes Fishing

Edited November 12, 2014 by DoogyRev

[ATTAK Z]

So Jesus lived in Nazareth . . . which is just up the road from Jerusalem. How come in 1BC or when ever it was there were so many people hanging about with english names . . Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary & Joseph . . to name but a few.

 

Seems like the bible is a tall story to me . . bit like Spot Goes Fishing

 

Good point - well made !

[KyleR]

So Jesus lived in Nazareth . . . which is just up the road from Jerusalem. How come in 1BC or when ever it was there were so many people hanging about with english names . . Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary & Joseph . . to name but a few.

 

Seems like the bible is a tall story to me . . bit like Spot Goes Fishing

 

Those are all Hebrew names

[DoogyRev]

So Jesus lived in Nazareth . . . which is just up the road from Jerusalem. How come in 1BC or when ever it was there were so many people hanging about with english names . . Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary & Joseph . . to name but a few.

 

Seems like the bible is a tall story to me . . bit like Spot Goes Fishing

 

Those are all Hebrew names

 

Thanks for that . . not that I was being at all facetious

 

Any way all this religious talk has stirred a memory of great hilarity . . my RE teacher at school had a beard just like this . . .

 

 

is it any wonder that I only just scraped a pass . . not that I give two monkeys. its not as though RE has been the most useful subject I have ever used in my adult life

 

Also on every form that I have filled out since left school I have put "jedi" as religion

[sipar69]

 

 

SO AM I AN ATHEIST?

 

 

No.

 

- Atheism is an absence of belief in god.

 

- Anti-theism is a bit like turbo charged atheism - you don't believe in god and argue that religion is a negative force - responsible for more bad than good - wars, controlling women, preserving the interests of some over others (The rich man in his castle,the poor man at his gate, god made them high and lowly, and ordered their estate.....)

 

- What you've described is closer to Agnosticism - unsure, on the fence etc.

[spursmaddave]

When I did my Religious Education exams (compulsory) I just made origami animals for an hour...

 

Religion means zero to me, I don't believe in an afterlife but when I married a strict Roman Catholic I had my 2 children baptised and confirmed because that was the beliefs of their Mother's family. They also both went to RC schools and seem to have turned out ok so far, although neither are in any way religious now either.

 

Do any of the Atheists on here refuse to take their religious bank holidays off at Easter & Christmas?

[JB-)]

In my 43 yrs of existence my only formal religious practice consisted solely of prayers and hymns at primary school assembly.

My brother has married a practicing catholic who has sparked more of an interest in religion in me.

Furthermore I have a few few close friends who are practicing Muslims.

Having talked at length with many people I am torn between 2 basic religious concepts.

On the one hand I find it amazing how that in the whole universe as we know it our planet is the only one that supports life.....and not just pond life (amoebas and twocas alike ) but us humans.

Part of me truly finds it hard to believe this is purely by CHANCE and "creation" was an "accident" or random event that resulted in billions of stars and rocks and ONE planet supporting us people.

 

On the other hand I find it hard to believe that such a creator as god would take such an interest in each individuals lives and entrust his message to such a relative few prophets to be spread to all.

 

As a medical professional I find how the body works and heals amazing.

From a microscopic level to the fine balance of our ecosystem its kind of mind blowing.

 

So I suppose I'm kinda on the fence at the moment.

Do I believe in creation by chance........maybe not.

Do I believe in a possible higher power beyond my comprehension behind our existence here rather than a random big bang that resulted in our tiny spec in the universe being just right for life to be created.......quite possibly.

Am I convinced that any one of the prophets were truly gifted with revelations from god......not with my limited knowledge and logical/scientific head on.

I should really study all of the holy scriptures at some point to make a more educated comment/decision.

 

SO AM I AN ATHEIST?

 

As has been said, because you don't reject the existence of any god, then no you are not an atheist.

 

As for your dilemma, how any intelligent logical thinking person can read a holy book and believe it to be true is incomprehensible to me. The simple fact that there are so many, and even different versions of the same one, should ring alarm bells without even picking it up. Religion is man made. It is so obvious I don't know how it's even up for question. Holy books are full of contradictions and fantastic stories. They are also supposed to be the word of the one true god. What, all of them? They can't all be the true. There are also almost 3000 deities. If you're going to choose one, choose wisely!

 

As for their being a creator of some kind, well this I can see why people may perhaps struggle with a bit more. I get that there is an infinitely small chance of life coming in to being, but obviously it's not impossible since we're all here. The beginnings of life has been explained. Evolution is proven and can be observed. We know how we got here.

 

We have to accept that we don't know everything. That's not a reason to fill in the gaps with god. It's perfectly acceptable to say we don't know - yet. You'll often hear the religious say that everything can't come from nothing and that the universe MUST have been made by god. They can never explain where god came from however, or why their particular god is the real one.

[Zeezeebaba]

I'm quite heartened by the responses to this thread overall. Either most on here are common sense thinkers or the religious types are steering clear. Whether or not we were seeded by another race of beings or not the fact remains that religion is man made. Those thinking otherwise are indeed missing a piece of the puzzle. Any decent historian can tell you that religion or deity worship has evolved through time. Archaeology tells us that life has been evolving and adapting over millions of years and as we know evolution is still happening now.

 

The argument whether the one god theory is true is a non starter if the religion is man made. Is there a god, the answer of course is no. We're we created by another intelligence or the planet seeded by water bearing comets or maybe life just started against all the odds etc etc. That's the unknown and ultimate question, science will strive to find the answers unless we annihilate ourselves beforehand.

The key is not to be ignorant of the facts but embrace them, enhance humanities empathy towards their fellow earth dwellers and move forward.

[sipar69]

When I did my Religious Education exams (compulsory) I just made origami animals for an hour...

 

Religion means zero to me, I don't believe in an afterlife but when I married a strict Roman Catholic I had my 2 children baptised and confirmed because that was the beliefs of their Mother's family. They also both went to RC schools and seem to have turned out ok so far, although neither are in any way religious now either.

 

Do any of the Atheists on here refuse to take their religious bank holidays off at Easter & Christmas?

 

Nope. The fact that I don't believe in the existence of god doesn't mean it's wrong to take holidays to which everyone is entitled to, not just people of certain religions. Similarly, I can't imagine going to work tomorrow and telling my Muslim team member that she has to work over Christmas and that she can't come to the office party

 

I've heard people in the past having a jab at atheists for having time off at Christmas and joining in the festivities, but it's an incredibly simplistic and naive argument. Every single person in the world could be accused of hypocrisy in many different ways e.g. care about the environment? - Don't have kids or drive a nice car then; feel bad for the poor in Africa - give away all your money and possessions to help them then.....etc ad infinitum.

 

When I take time off at Christmas, eat nice food, drink too much and spend time with people I care about I'm not celebrating the birth of Jesus, I'm just choosing to have a good time that coincides with a lot of other people doing the same thing, some of whom are religious and some of whom aren't. What I certainly wouldn't do is slag off people who were choosing to celebrate the religious aspects of it - my problem is with religion in general, not people of faith.

Edited November 13, 2014 by sipar69

[brillomaster]

I celebrate Christmas and easter as the government chose to give me those days off as holiday! if they chose to make divali and Chinese new year national holidays as well, i'd celebrate them as well. i'm not picky - I like holidays!

[spursmaddave]

When I did my Religious Education exams (compulsory) I just made origami animals for an hour...

 

Religion means zero to me, I don't believe in an afterlife but when I married a strict Roman Catholic I had my 2 children baptised and confirmed because that was the beliefs of their Mother's family. They also both went to RC schools and seem to have turned out ok so far, although neither are in any way religious now either.

 

Do any of the Atheists on here refuse to take their religious bank holidays off at Easter & Christmas?

 

Nope. The fact that I don't believe in the existence of god doesn't mean it's wrong to take holidays to which everyone is entitled to, not just people of certain religions. Similarly, I can't imagine going to work tomorrow and telling my Muslim team member that she has to work over Christmas and that she can't come to the office party

 

I've heard people in the past having a jab at atheists for having time off at Christmas and joining in the festivities, but it's an incredibly simplistic and naive argument. Every single person in the world could be accused of hypocrisy in many different ways e.g. care about the environment? - Don't have kids or drive a nice car then; feel bad for the poor in Africa - give away all your money and possessions to help them then.....etc ad infinitum.

 

When I take time off at Christmas, eat nice food, drink too much and spend time with people I care about I'm not celebrating the birth of Jesus, I'm just choosing to have a good time that coincides with a lot of other people doing the same thing, some of whom are religious and some of whom aren't. What I certainly wouldn't do is slag off people who were choosing to celebrate the religious aspects of it - my problem is with religion in general, not people of faith.

 

I asked the question that's all, I personally despise the commercialism of Christmas, it is about as far away from a religious celebration as you can get

 

I treat people as people not on colour, race, religion or anything else, there are bigots of all types around, doesn't matter if you believe in an afterlife, life is too short for hatred

 

[spursmaddave]

Just to raise some 'argument' when Mary worked at the prison she had to do all sorts of extra work to accommodate prisoners different beliefs and customs etc which was fair enough, but when she asked to be allowed to go to midnight mass when working Xmas eve she was told no chance...

 

When my daughter was due to go to secondary school we applied for the local RC school very close by. So in catchment area, daughter baptised, confirmed and a very regular church goer with her mother & grandparents. She didn't get in, so I went for a meeting with the local priest & nuns, they told me it was because I wasn't a regular church goer!!! I went biblical at them (sic) what did it matter what my religion was they were teaching my daughter not me! All the other parents had gone to church together for a few weeks so the priest got to know them, but I wasn't a hypocrite, they did let her in eventually after a fight