Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In my experience (only) “Atheist” is a term other people call me, but I rarely ever use to describe myself unless I am looking for a term of convenience.
What I do describe myself as is a person who… if an idea comes before me that is entirely devoid of any supporting evidence, argument, data or reasons to lend it credence… I simply dismiss that idea entirely… and resist it’s use and/or application in our halls of power, education and science.
That is it, no more no less.
However GIVEN that there is no arguments, evidence, data or reasons on offer (despite 18+ years of asking for it) to lend ANY credence to the notion that there is a god entity… I also dismiss that idea and resist it’s use and application in our halls of power.
Upon hearing this it is other people, not I, that call me “atheist”. If they have a need to label me thusly then so be it… but I have never understood the need to label people by what they are not… rather than what they are. If they have to label me, calling me “secular” would be many times more accurate.
However I must point out I do not reject the term entirely, nor do I take offense or issue at it being applied to me. I just do not do it myself is all.
So far every atheist I have met has been a human being and like all humans no 2 were alike. Some I like, some I dislike, some I just tolerate and some I wish would migrate to another planet. Hopefully I will never allow any one of them to become my opinion of all atheists. I disagree with atheism as a way of belief/non-belief but I defend their right to choose to be so. My only concern would be that it is an informed free choice on their part.
I was just talking to someone about people who are religious or not yesterday and she said that religious/bible beating people are narrowminded in every which way you can think of... I have to say I agree, although I haven't met everyone on earth yet... meaning, there may be exceptions to that rule. I do think that the fact that catholics get told they have to blindly accept the bible and not question any of it, stifles them in exploring and questioning other subjects too...I see here in Europe that people who are not religious, are much more accepting of others and their differences. All the more reason to be an atheist....
Don't you get tired of being labled, shoe-horned, pigeonholed and otherwise labeled and generally pointed at purely because of your unbelief?
Do religous folks really base so much of their personal identity in their religion that they cannot conceptualize an existence without religion?
Are they truly so unaware of the wider world?
Or does being in an atheist forum where people are thinking about it too much just make it seem that way?
YO, Chango!!! I suspect logic and common sense play scant part in their thought process (religious folks) they believe because they have this need to believe in fairy tales and have difficulty imagining that someone (like me for example and several of my friends) could have no belief at all. To them this is an incomprehensible position, kinda like the way I view their beliefs, to me, religion, any religion, just does not make any sense.
My only concern would be that it [atheism ] is an informed free choice on their part.
Agreed, although I'm not heard of anyone being forced to become an atheist or being kept from studying the belief of his choice, although I suppose it happens. I would only hope that believers of every religion could be so because of an "informed free choice on their part" (emphasis mine), and I am quite certain the group which violates that principle is larger by orders of magnitude.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I do think that the fact that catholics get told they have to blindly accept the bible and not question any of it, stifles them in exploring and questioning other subjects too...I see here in Europe that people who are not religious, are much more accepting of others and their differences. All the more reason to be an atheist....
