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To all the atheists that have taken the time to respond, thank you. Also, if you will indulge me a little further, I wondered about your family life. As a Christian, my circle seems to revolve around other Christians (or at least that's what I think) My husband and I worship in the same church and we will raise our children in the same faith. I will never condemn my children if they should consider other truths. I wondered about your significant other and if you have children. How do you deal with that. Also, does your circle of friends seem to be atheist or does that not even come into play.
No significant others or children here. I have a range of friends... several right-to-moderate Christians, a couple Agnostics, my two best friends are liberal Catholic and Jehovah's Witness. I don't really have much religious discussion with any of them (especially the rightest of my Christian friends) regarding religion, except when "hot-button" issues come up like the stem-cell bills, gay marriage & adoption or whatnot.
Has anyone seen the info about some people just being hardwired for atheism? I saw it on the tv briefly but haven't found the information yet.
Yes! I read an article about this some time ago. Apparently it's something to do with the amount of a certain chemical that is present in the brain. The higher the levels you have the more religious you will be. What's scary is that the levels can change virtually 'overnight'. That's why some people go to bed as strong atheists and wake up as raving fundamentalist religious zealots who throw open their bedroom windows and scream 'Repent' at passers by. It also works the other way of course with religious zealots waking up as atheists. Can't remember the name of this chemical....but it's a bit scary!!
Last edited by pladecalvo; 06-24-2007 at 11:55 PM..
I think that some of the christians here may finally be getting it.
Atheists are just like you, except we don't go to church or believe in god. We have spouses, kids and friends. We are concerned about crime, human welfare, and our neighbor's lawn.
Responding to weather's follow up post.
I do not socialize with a church obviously. Instead, I know people through work, as neighbors, as people with common hobbies, friends of friends. I meet for drinks after work, have dinner parties, go to movies, concerts and plays.
I know a few atheists, although not through any sort of atheist group.
I think that most christians do not know any atheists, and we are such a mystery, for a few reasons.
1. Christians often tend to socialize within a church group. This necessarily limits the number of atheists that they meet.
2. Many people are atheist, but do not admit it, even to themselves. The word has a stigma, so many people simply refer to themselves as agnostic, or say that they do not think about religion.
3. Atheists tend not to be vocal about their beliefs, Dawkins, Hitchens and Myers being some notable exceptions.
I think that some of the christians here may finally be getting it.
Atheists are just like you, except we don't go to church or believe in god. We have spouses, kids and friends. We are concerned about crime, human welfare, and our neighbor's lawn.
Responding to weather's follow up post.
I do not socialize with a church obviously. Instead, I know people through work, as neighbors, as people with common hobbies, friends of friends. I meet for drinks after work, have dinner parties, go to movies, concerts and plays.
I know a few atheists, although not through any sort of atheist group.
I think that most christians do not know any atheists, and we are such a mystery, for a few reasons.
1. Christians often tend to socialize within a church group. This necessarily limits the number of atheists that they meet.
2. Many people are atheist, but do not admit it, even to themselves. The word has a stigma, so many people simply refer to themselves as agnostic, or say that they do not think about religion.
3. Atheists tend not to be vocal about their beliefs, Dawkins, Hitchens and Myers being some notable exceptions.
I agree...living in NC, I feel that I have to be "in the closet" about my beliefs.
An excellent method of freeing oneself of religious foolishness is to try reading the christian bible. The old testament is more fun in it's gruesome tales of a 'jealous' god. Eating flesh and drinking blood is a good eye-opener (communion). In Freud's 'Totem and Taboo' the ritual of cracking open the skull of the recently deceased 'wise man' of the tribe and eating the brain to salvage the wisdom is described ad nauseum. Religion? no thanks.
2. Many people are atheist, but do not admit it, even to themselves. The word has a stigma, so many people simply refer to themselves as agnostic, or say that they do not think about religion.
This may be true, but not necessarily due to not admitting it to themselves. I refer to myself as an agnostic rather than as atheist, not because I won't admit my atheism, but because I basically go by the Skeptics' definition of agnosticism--the belief that the existence of God can never be proven, period.
I really think "agnostic" has almost as much stigma as "atheist". I, like most agnostics lean heavily in the direction of non-belief, and most definitely non-belief in any personal or Judeo-Christian concept of a deity. I'm willing to concede that "God" may be defined as the One that is the Universe, or the Laws of the universe.
I came by my views by being raised in an open-minded family (Mom believer, Dad not--not regular church-goers), having friends of many different religions (probably more believers than non-), and a lot of education and thinking over the years.
Like a few others that've already posted, I was raised in a semi-religious household. My parents were believers, but going to church wasn't something that happened regularly. When I was 14, my father passed away from a heartattack, and it was then that I found myself looking for hope in God. I became friends with a girl who's grandfather was the head of a church and she encouraged me to attend with her weekly. I made wonderful friends, and eventually came to be saved and baptised.
When I was 17, my mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She spiraled downhill fast, and I spent alot of time crying and praying. But as I was knelt down with my hands together, I found that I didn't "feel" anything. I didn't feel anybody was with me, nobody was listening to me.. it was just me doing what I had been told was right to do. My mother passed away just a few months after receiving her diagnosis.
In college (I went to a private Christian college on a full scholarship) I began to look more in depth at various religions. The more I studied, the harder I found it to believe in any of them. Eventually, I just shrugged off religion all together.
I do have a family.. my husband is also an atheist and has his own story as to how he came to that. We have two daughters, a four year old and a one year old. We're just like everybody else. My oldest likes my little ponies and care bears, the youngest likes shoes and hair brushes (and I just plain old don't know why.) My husband works a regular, labor intensive job and volunteers as a firefighter for the local station. I run a website for moms. Most people have absolutely no idea that we're atheists.
We do live in rural eastern kentucky, so it's not particularly safe for us to announce our lackof belief here. In our town of 250 people there's approximately 12 churches I can think of off the top of my head. Most of our friends and family are religious to some extent or another.
I was wondering if the atheists in the forum would do me the privilege of hearing your views/story/whatever. I have become very perplexed since I joined this forum. Prior to now, I don't know that I have ever given atheism much thought. I truly think that I believe/d that every person that I met was a Christian or a person with some religious faith. OK, call me naive. I just always believed in God (sometimes my faith was up and sometimes is was down) and silly me, although I knew there were other faiths, I never thought that I personally knew anyone who did not believe in a creator. (I know that you are all saying, "come on, can she really be that dumb?") What I am trying to say is, I know that there are atheists out there, I just don't think that I personally have met them. Much less, been friends with any. Now please don't take this as an insult, actually it is meant to be quite the opposite. I feel that I have gotten to know some of you through your posts and MOST of you seem like very genuine, nice, loyal, upstanding people. My question to you is, how did you become atheist? Were you once a believer and through your study of logic/science/whatever, decided that the whole idea of a creator was a bunch of phooey. Or was there something else that turned you away from faith? Or, were you never a believer?
Again, this is a question for the atheists. I would highly appreciate it if the Christians in the forum could refrain from trying to use this thread as a place to convert the atheist. Absolutely no Bible quotes! I just want to get to know the atheists on the forum a little better and hopefully learn an appreciation for their beliefs.
Thank you in advance.
With respect,
Weather...
To be honest, I am just not satisfied with the answers that Christianity (and most other religions) offer. I don't mean to offend anyone here, but I just don't like the 'god did it' idea, it seems like a cop-out to me. That and the things that are done in the name of religion.... I think religion has become pretty corrupt.
But it also doesn't make sense to me because of this reason: Religion needs society to function, kind of like a parasite (I really don't mean that in a bad way, I mean it very literally - a parasite needs a host to survive, likewise so does religion, again, not trying to be a jerk about anything). But society changes leaving religion against an issue. It can A) change with society and become something very different that it started (read, what it was intended to be) or B) it can not change and become obsolete.
I think this is a primary reason that religion has become so diversified. When it comes to christians, there are mormons, catholics, baptists, calvinists, 7th day adventists etc... (the list is near endless) and none of them can agree with each other. Put one of each in a locked room and one will die... To me looks like people have done with religion what they please to suit their own ends, otherwise there wouldn't be so many sects, if it was the real deal, there should only be one. So to me this leaves religion to have one large flaw, why should I buy into a religion in which the people thereof cannot even agree with one another on issues of the same god. When looked at this way, religion isn't some message of some higher power, it's man made nature is blatant and obvious.
When looked at this way, religion isn't some message of some higher power, it's man made nature is blatant and obvious.
The thing is that to understand God you have to understand man and to understand man you have to understand God.
A scientist (like a historian for example) will not understand history if he doesn't also understand humanity (basic sociology). Human history is humanity in relation to time and not just time (history) alone.
So a scientist cannot understand a meme unless he has a basic understanding of human sociology, psychology and even some neurology. The exact same way a priest cannot help his parish with only having a degree in his religion.
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) My husband and I worship in the same church and we will raise our children in the same faith. I will never condemn my children if they should consider other truths. I wondered about your significant other and if you have children. How do you deal with that. Also, does your circle of friends seem to be atheist or does that not even come into play.
The thing is that to understand God you have to understand man and to understand man you have to understand God.
The exact same way a priest cannot help his parish with only having a degree in his religion.
