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Nope. Never. I have continually re-examined my atheism as the years have past and have never found any convincing evidence or argument to make me doubt it. Every argument against atheism is full of offensive stereotypes, misrepresentations of our positions, logical fallacies, appeals to emotion, and none of that holds any weight with me. Pascal's wager is the height of silliness and I find it unconvincing to the say the least. I am quite sure that every religion on earth, every diety ever conceived, is a product of the imagination of humanity. No other explanation makes any sense.
I thought this was a bumped post as I'm sure exactly the same question was asked before.
Let's take a slightly different tack.
What doubts? Doubts about atheism. Well, yes and no. Because atheism comes in two sizes (though it's just the same product - lack of belief in God - claims) depending on which or what god (the Rule is lower case ) we are talking about.
When Mystic, Boxcar and KD8 talk about a possible cosmic mind, then yes, of course, I have to give a certain amount of credit to the possibility. That could be called 'doubt'. Should that be related to various Supernatural claims about NED's miracle healings and the like, then, yes, it would be closed - minded to not accept that there could be something in it. That could be called 'doubt'. Mind you, I think there is equal if not stronger doubt about the claim that it's all 'god' doing it, let alone a particular god.
And that's where I have little or no doubt. For, as regards the claims related to the Bible, I have examined them and yes, there are sometimes doubts about individual points. There have to be, but the overall conviction is that the claims fail to stack up so badly that such doubts are about the odd details.
The far greater doubt is to be aimed at the claims of religion. Don't you ever doubt those?
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 12-21-2011 at 05:41 AM..
Those of the atheistic bent with room for doubts...
tend to use the other word "agnostic".
Quote:
Originally Posted by AREQUIPA
Because atheism comes in two sizes (though it's just the same product - lack of belief in God - claims) depending on which or what god (the Rule is lower case ) we are talking about.
For most people, their entire relationship with these questions is rooted in what the specific dogma and doctrine of their RELIGION says and describes as the "reality" they must believe.
But these religious beliefs and questions are an entirely different (social, cultural, political) matter from the questions about the existence of what is commonly described as "god". Theists really don't seem to appreciate this distinction.
The questions limited to the broad stroke aspect of whether or how there could there be that "god" entity which (subject to various qualifiers) are the limit of the agnostic and often atheistic perspective vs the fine print policy statements and usually quite absurd fine print specific superstitions held and filtered and adjusted by the various religions over the centuries.
I am a nontheist in that I do not have a belief in god. I am an epistemological agnostic in that I do not believe we can either prove or disprove the existence of god. I am an atheist in that I estimate the probability of the existence of any type of god existing as extremely low. I am atheist not only because I believe that there is no convincing evidence of god's existence, but because I believe there is evidence that discredits many of the things typically cited as evidence for god's existence, such as the Bible, Quran, fulfilled prophecies, answered prayers, spiritual promptings, near-death experiences, visions, etc.
My atheism came about through intense study of both apologetic and critical information mainly about the Bible, Christianity, and Judaism, but then about god in general as a Creator or beneficent power, and near-death-experiences, and the psychology of religion, etc. And that is why I think my atheism sticks. I don't second guess myself because I can point at the exact evidence and arguments that convince me that the probability of a god existing is extremely low, and the probability of specific gods existing such as the Jewish god is even lower than that.
I do not make the claim that there is no god, because such a thing cannot be known for certain. But, I do believe that the probability of the existence of any type of god (including a cosmic mind god, or creator god) is extremely low. Why? I studied both physics and psychology in college, and I see no indication that there might have been a creator and nothing that suggests to me there is some cosmic mind. The evidence to me suggests that this whole concept of god is a figment of man's imagination and in all likelihood has no real "world" correlate.
No, this doesn't mean that I am close minded. I constantly seek out and read things that are critical of my current beliefs and that offer different perspectives and alternatives, because if I am wrong, the only way I'll ever find out is by reading materials that can show me I'm wrong. So, I am open to the possibility I could be wrong, but I have no doubts at the present time.
I am a nontheist in that I do not have a belief in god. I am an epistemological agnostic in that I do not believe we can either prove or disprove the existence of god. I am an atheist in that I estimate the probability of the existence of any type of god existing as extremely low. I am atheist not only because I believe that there is no convincing evidence of god's existence, but because I believe there is evidence that discredits many of the things typically cited as evidence for god's existence, such as the Bible, Quran, fulfilled prophecies, answered prayers, spiritual promptings, near-death experiences, visions, etc.
My atheism came about through intense study of both apologetic and critical information mainly about the Bible, Christianity, and Judaism, but then about god in general as a Creator or beneficent power, and near-death-experiences, and the psychology of religion, etc. And that is why I think my atheism sticks. I don't second guess myself because I can point at the exact evidence and arguments that convince me that the probability of a god existing is extremely low, and the probability of specific gods existing such as the Jewish god is even lower than that.
I do not make the claim that there is no god, because such a thing cannot be known for certain. But, I do believe that the probability of the existence of any type of god (including a cosmic mind god, or creator god) is extremely low. Why? I studied both physics and psychology in college, and I see no indication that there might have been a creator and nothing that suggests to me there is some cosmic mind. The evidence to me suggests that this whole concept of god is a figment of man's imagination and in all likelihood has no real "world" correlate.
No, this doesn't mean that I am close minded. I constantly seek out and read things that are critical of my current beliefs and that offer different perspectives and alternatives, because if I am wrong, the only way I'll ever find out is by reading materials that can show me I'm wrong. So, I am open to the possibility I could be wrong, but I have no doubts at the present time.
I don't think you will ever have any. Your dogmatic atheism won't let you.
When Mystic, Boxcar and KD8 talk about a possible cosmic mind, then yes, of course, I have to give a certain amount of credit to the possibility. That could be called 'doubt'. Should that be related to various Supernatural claims about NED's miracle healings and the like, then, yes, it would be closed - minded to not accept that there could be something in it. That could be called 'doubt'. Mind you, I think there is equal if not stronger doubt about the claim that it's all 'god' doing it, let alone a particular god.
Like the other gods, although I can not prove that they do not exist, I have no real doubts about "sortagod" either - if it is communicating with humans inside their head then I am sure that too is mere imagination, wishful thinking. Wanting to believe that somehow you are special and can directly commune with some cosmic entity in your head = pure fantasy fueled by self-deception. As for the idea of some sort of disconnected generic diest-type god who makes the universe and then stands back and watches, but is not omniscient or omnipotent - I see no reason why that could not be possible and thus am agnostic on that particular type of diety, but I also see no reason to think it is so, so I don't believe it, nor doubt my reasoning. I see no reason why such a diety would even care about us at all, just some cocky primates on an insignificant water planet in the outskirts of a galactic arm - surely such a diety would have more interesting stuff to play with out there? Surely such a diety would care nothing for the worship of humans any more than we would the worship of ants. Such a diety might not even be aware that we exist at all if it hasn't checked up on our little backwater of the universe lately.
Last edited by tilli; 12-21-2011 at 07:04 AM..
Reason: typos
I don't think you will ever have any. Your dogmatic atheism won't let you.
It is telling that one who has explained his reasoning and open - mindedness and in the past that same reasoning and open - mindedness that required him to question what he was expected to believe without question is dismissed as dogmatic by one who would never admit to having any real doubt, ever, on any account, no matter what evidence was presented.
Not at all. I used to, but that was when I was more agnostic/atheist. Although I am not saying I know 100% there is no god, I don't think "Well, maybe there is some entity that did blah blah blah...." I'm just way past that.
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) we are talking about. 
