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# Why can't you just believe in God, but don't attend any religious service?
# If someone tells you "God bless you", "Have a blessed day" etc. what would you respond & your reaction?
# Why can't you as an atheist just call yourself agnostic?
# When you die, how do you want your family and friends perform for you? What about prayers?
# What do you think when you see religious symbols surrounding you everywhere?
# Would you get married to a religious person?
# What would you do if your children wants to go to a religious service, and want to believe in God?
1) My being Atheist has nothing to do with attending Church or Religious service. I do not believe in a God and thus cannot be anythign other than an Atheist. Anything else would be hypocritical and pretending to myself and others. Not my style
2) Say Thanks and tell them I am an Atheist so not the most appropriate for me. People praying for me does not bother me as long as the prayer is not for me to convert and "find the truth". That to me is patronising and I would object to most strongly.
3) I call myself a strong Atheist simply because the teeny, tiny percentage in which I believe I might be mistaken regarding my Atheism is so low it barely registers. I would say I am 99.99 percent Atheist. Anything else would be arrogant IMO as I cannot claim to be 100% sure. Most Atheists I know fit in this category. To me an Agnostic is someone far more uncertain about either side.
4) When I die I do not want a religious service, will donate my body to science and will thus be cremated. I want no mention of God or Heaven . No prayers. Ideally I want my ashes scattered over the ocean . Hubby is Atheist so he knows what to do. If someone wants to pray for me that is their business but they can do this in private. Not at my Funeral thank you. I would not dream of trying to impose my Atheism at a religious funeral , I would appreciate a reciprocal courtesy.
5) I think mankind has for millions of years tried to the best of its ability to explain issues to the best of its current knowledge and religion fitted the bill until science became prominent . I think societal pressure has made humanity into followers of the herd and that religious symbols are simply an outward sign of great inward insecurity and unwillingness to accept the facts, reason and rational thought.
They don't really bother me, as long as neither religion holds a monopoly on any of them , are not imposed upon non believers and do not come with evangelism. What people believe is up to them. We should all have the right to worship or not as we please as long as it does not harm anyone. I love Religious Buildings and Art for example. it means nothing to me but I can appreciate the Esthetics and sheer breathtaking beauty of them nonetheless. If Religious symbols make people feel more secure and stronger then , I don't care. HOWEVER not in public spaces, nor in our system of governance or our legal system. Separation of Church and State is something I strongly think is the only fair system of government. Mix those two and you end up ostracising or penalising one group. Anyone who genuinely believes in God should have a one on one relationship to their Deity and be strong enough in their beliefs not to impose it on other. Surely if there is a God he does not need you. It is between you and him.
6) very unlikely. I am not quite sure how either side could truly reconcile such huge differences in philosophies . A successful relationship in my experience requires compatibility, shared ideals and life goals. It can work with disparate people but is in my experience way too much like hard work and with a higher risk of failure. Relationships are hard enough without having to put obstacles in their ways.
7) If I had kids I would give them as wide a knowledge about ALL religions , explain my Atheism and let them decide. If they want to believe it is their choice, I am not their conscience and kids deserve the respect to be treated like their own persons , making ther own choices in life. If I am honest I would be disappointed if they chose to believe in a supernatural deity not based on any credible or proven facts but none of my business. I would encourage them to be intellectually curious as much as possible. Knowing about Theology to me is simply another part of a well rounded education. I was taken to services from many world religions , given the space to make an educated opinion by my Father, read many world scriptures and I am still an Atheist. I think the more you know the less you are to fall for just anything IMO. A narrow education is not good for anyone.
# Why can't you just believe in God, but don't attend any religious service?
# If someone tells you "God bless you", "Have a blessed day" etc. what would you respond & your reaction?
# Why can't you as an atheist just call yourself agnostic?
# When you die, how do you want your family and friends perform for you? What about prayers?
# What do you think when you see religious symbols surrounding you everywhere?
# Would you get married to a religious person?
# What would you do if your children wants to go to a religious service, and want to believe in God?
I do go to religious services even though I am atheist because my husband enjoys it. The church we go to is populated by nice, fairly sane people, the pastor is hilarious and his services usually have messages I can relate to (just not the deity part). I would never set foot in most churches around these parts. They make me uncomfortable.
Although I am agnostic (there's no way to know if there is in fact a god...quite possibly I am wrong), in practice I am an atheist (since I don't actively believe in or worship a deity).
If people want to bless me, say prayers for me, have a religious funeral for me, I couldn't care less, although I would prefer not to be soaked in embalming fluid and prevented for rotting as nature intended. Religious symbols are equally meaningless to me...I'll wear 'em from time to time if I find a cute piece of jewelry.
I married a Christian guy, but we just agree to disagree, and he's not pushy, extreme, or obnoxious about his beliefs. I see nothing wrong taking future kids to church with us (although I am very picky about what churches are acceptable to me)...we don't intend to brainwash future kiddies; they'll know mom and dad have different ideas and that they can make up their own minds.
If anyone bothered to pay attention they would see that this troll joined, posted two drive by's in the R&P, trolled the atheist section, made a couple more posts and was gone in 15 minutes from his first post and has never been back to C-D.
If anyone bothered to pay attention they would see that this troll joined, posted two drive by's in the R&P, trolled the atheist section, made a couple more posts and was gone in 15 minutes from his first post and has never been back to C-D.
That's just it.
Without looking at his posting history, there's no reason to think this is a troll thread because aside from that, there nothing to distinguish the mindless, inane thread-starting post from the usual "oh, this zinger'll really stump those atheists!" fodder.
# Why can't you just believe in God, but don't attend any religious service?
That question doesn't make any sense. If you believe you are not an atheist, therefore if we did believe the question does not apply to us.
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# If someone tells you "God bless you", "Have a blessed day" etc. what would you respond & your reaction?
"Thanks" and move on.
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# Why can't you as an atheist just call yourself agnostic?
I am an agnostic atheist. Somehow I think you do not know what the terms mean.
"A" meaning without "gnos" means knowledge. So an agnostic has no knowledge of god. It says nothing about belief. "theism" is beleif, so atheists are those without belief in god. I not only do not have a belief in god I also believe that it is impossible to "know" one way or the other. Therefore I am an agnostic atheist. I know agnostic theists, who believe in god but admit it is based on faith not knowledge.
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# When you die, how do you want your family and friends perform for you? What about prayers?
Whatever makes THEM feel better. I will be dead and will not care.
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# What do you think when you see religious symbols surrounding you everywhere?
Surrounding me everywhere how? There are none in my house. Or at my job. I have no idea what you are referring to.
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# Would you get married to a religious person?
Probably not.
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# What would you do if your children wants to go to a religious service, and want to believe in God?
Depends on their age. My child was not allowed to go to services until she was old enough for abstract reasoning, I think she was 12 or so. If she chooses to follow a religion that is her business and not mine.
# Why can't you just believe in God, but don't attend any religious service?
I can't fool myself into believing something I find utterly unbelievable.
# If someone tells you "God bless you", "Have a blessed day" etc. what would you respond & your reaction?
My response would be, "Thanks" and my internal reaction would be...probably nothing. I grew up in the South so I heard this all the time.
# Why can't you as an atheist just call yourself agnostic?
I do. I'm both.
# When you die, how do you want your family and friends perform for you? What about prayers?
I'll be dead so I won't care.
# What do you think when you see religious symbols surrounding you everywhere?
People can put up whatever symbol they want on private property. I don't care.
# Would you get married to a religious person?
She'd have to be pretty unusual. I suppose it's possible, but probably not likely.
# What would you do if your children wants to go to a religious service, and want to believe in God?
First off, I don't foresee myself ever having children. But for the sake of amusement, if I were to have children they can believe whatever they want, as long as they're not harming anyone and no one's harming them. As long as they don't expect me to come to church with them.
"For children, it's quite easy. Tell them to pray to god for a quarter. The child of course, never gets a quarter. Then tell them to ask you for a quarter, then give them a quarter, and that will put an end to that stupidity."
Love it! I'll for sure be using this one regularly with the kids I get to teach and philosophize with. Any objections, Christians?
As to this thread's author, "Be gone thou trollish monster! Lest we slay thee with truth!"
"For children, it's quite easy. Tell them to pray to god for a quarter. The child of course, never gets a quarter. Then tell them to ask you for a quarter, then give them a quarter, and that will put an end to that stupidity."
Love it! I'll for sure be using this one regularly with the kids I get to teach and philosophize with. Any objections, Christians?
Not fair . . . "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" . . . God has nothing to with money . . . that's religions' gambit.
# Why can't you just believe in God, but don't attend any religious service?
cause i would be bsing my self more than i would if i went to church
# If someone tells you "God bless you", "Have a blessed day" etc. what would you respond & your reaction?
thank you and i tell them joy to them
# Why can't you as an atheist just call yourself agnostic?
because to do not believe in god or gods i am not in doubt
# When you die, how do you want your family and friends perform for you? What about prayers?
all that stuff is for the survivors to comfort themselves
# What do you think when you see religious symbols surrounding you everywhere?
it dose not bother me in the least
# Would you get married to a religious person?
yes if i loved them and them me
# What would you do if your children wants to go to a religious service, and want to believe in God?
let them
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Ah! Good one!
