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I have always been an atheist. I railed very hard against religion when I was younger. Now I am more accepting of it in general as I have opened myself up philosophically, which I think any rational person must. Skepticism can be just as irrational as blind faith. Personally, I hold atypical views for an atheist these days. For instance, I believe in non-spiritual, non-theistic reincarnation.
Personally, I hold atypical views for an atheist these days. For instance, I believe in non-spiritual, non-theistic reincarnation.
Naturalist reincarnation? Why do you think this happens, and how do you propose it works?
EDIT: Read your explanation in another thread. Not sure by what mechanism the pattern would be reconstituted?
For myself, I'll go with the ignorance one. I was raised in Quebec (a society that widely rejected the Catholic Church as institution in the 60's but did not become Atheist per se) by a lapsed Catholic mother and lapsed Hindu father. I was raised with the bare bones traditions of both cultures in a more or less irreligious school and social environment and was told I could make my own decisions about religion. Fascinated by scientist (I eventually grew up into a scientist), and examining the various religions of my family and the wider world, I quickly decided that it was superstition and no religion had greater proof than any other. Thus the Atheism, although I do my best to educate myself on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and the other faiths. I respect the cultural role of these religions and am not hostile to many of the traditions involved with them, respecting the need for human beings to experience transcendent states of mind, to have ritual and 'spiritual' experiences. But I am very strongly against ignorance, superstition, belief in supernatural phenomena of any sort, and the intellectual dishonesty of believing something just because you want to.
I can't say, however, that I know what Christian would say to questions about where Cain's wife came from or what the theological basis for hell and the devil are (I haven't had time to read all of the bible and didn't grow up in an area where Christian dogma was commonly discussed).
Naturalist reincarnation? Why do you think this happens, and how do you propose it works?
Here is a quote from another post of mine addressing this very topic:
"I do not think we possess a spirit or any other form of immaterial being; however, that does not prevent future incarnations of your consciousness. Your consciousness is the result of the arrangement of matter into a shifting pattern. It is already in a constant state of flux so that one could say it is being reconstituted all of the time. With that said, this pattern can be reconstituted after you perish. Immortality would then be in the form of a stream of consciousness that persists, although your personhood (memories, identity, etc) would be lost in such a transmigration. For anyone that isn't you, you might as well be a new being."
The next piece of the puzzle is the continued endurance of the universe, which I addressed in another post.
"Thus far, most scientists expect for this universe to end in a form of heat death where there is no potential energy for work to be done. Essentially, maximal entropy will be reached. This, of course, is still up for debate because there is so much we do not yet know about the mechanics of the universe. We only know what we have observed thus far, which would corroborate such a claim. Even the heat death scenario could be a precursor for another Big Bang as space-time breaks down or we may never achieve maximal entropy because the value of it changes with the expansion of space. At that point, we actually retreat further and further away from a heat death and undergo a sort of reverse Big Bang. There are quite a few other theories, like a Big Crunch, Big Rip, etc. Anyway, the Big Bang represented the beginning of this universe. Either there was something that preceded it or it was the first cause. Regardless, a Big Bang scenario is a non-zero probability even if this universe itself is infinite in scope. A Big Bang cannot be past eternal. Another universe will arise and it will do whatever it does. Eventually, your consciousness will come to be again. Personally, I am an adherent of the many-worlds theory and of eternal inflation. I think the expansion of space-time that occurred with the Big Bang was a result of inflation that occurs across an eternal, endless, infinite in all aspects multiverse. This inflation results in an infinite amount of universes being created with all permutations possible."
edit: I just saw your edit, heh. It would just take enough time for the matter to form the same arrangement as before. It is just a chance arrangement of matter just as you are now a chance arrangement of matter. When you have forever, time really ceases to mean anything.
An atheist might just be a person who never passed through church doors or did, but it was never anything really serious so they are not well versed in what the Bible says
Recent reports indicate that atheists actually know the Bible better than many theists. So I am not sure your sentence above follows at all.
In fact I have known people who have "passed through church doors" as theists many 100s of times and still are not "well versed in what the Bible says". The people I have converted to atheism in my life I have done so not by arguing data and science with them.... but actually getting them to sit down and read the Bible they claim to believe in. They tend to come away from the experience saying "I was meant to believe THAT????".
Some theists in fact are so badly versed in the Bible that not only have they not read it or not owned one.... that are actually shocked at the sheer size of it when I give them one. They have heard the same few cherry picked passages from it over and over again in their churches that they thought they knew it all and that it was only a 100 or so pages long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yydanay515
So, what kind of atheist/agnostic are you?
I am just someone who dismisses, and works against in some cases, ideas that are entirely without foundation and substantiation. At this time there is not a shred of argument, evidence, data or reasons on offer to lend even a modicum of credence to the claim that there is a god or an afterlife. I therefore work actively against the idea and it's application.
Recent reports indicate that atheists actually know the Bible better than many theists. So I am not sure your sentence above follows at all.
Studies show that STATISTICALLY Atheists know the bible better, but that doesn't mean that there aren't atheists who don't know it very well because they grew up in areligious households and religion was never a big part of their lives. My knowledge of the bible is fairly recent and the study of it has been casual and I've never been to a regular church service (just a baptism and a couple of weddings and funerals). Just because Atheists are one way statistically doesn't mean all atheists fit that trope. There's also Atheists from religious backgrounds other than Christian ones who might not know the bible for those reasons.
Just because Atheists are one way statistically doesn't mean all atheists fit that trope.
Nor did I claim that they did. All I am pointing out is that the idea that atheists are somehow not well versed in the bible.... because they have not passed through the doors of a church.... simply does not follow. Quite often the opposite is true in that they know the bible very well indeed. The converse is also true in that many theists who pass true the doors of a church many 100s of times hardly know the bible at all.
The point simply was therefore that equating bible knowledge with church attendance is very shaky ground indeed.
I am a well read Atheist, have read that book cover to cover twice, will not read it again, I put the bible on the same par as Greek and/or Roman mythology. I have studied the bible quite extensively, as a Philosophy major from UNC-Greensboro it was a requirement in two differing classes. I became an Atheist around age 15 I noticed too many similarities between the bible and the works of Edith Hamilton. One irony I truly appreciated was a course on the bible as literature, was taught by Jesuits, well......former Jesuits, smart folks them Jesuits, have never met one yet that was a biblethumper.
My ex who is a big Richard Dawkins fan once told me I am a bigger atheist than he is. So there is the answer to the topic's question.
I grew up Catholic and went through all the rituals. Confession was one of the more humiliating experiences of my entire life. I hated going but every Saturday night for years I was forced to go even though I had nothing to talk about. Being forced to do that against my will and attending church services when I was a kid was blatant child abuse. If someone ever asked me what is the one thing I am most ashamed of in my life my answer would be that I once believed in a invisable deity. It never did anything for me and it added to my very unhappy childhood.
No evidence of any god and the promise of an afterlife is a lie.
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Last edited by John13; 07-27-2012 at 05:29 AM..
Reason: typo
Hah. I had a great confession once back when I was in a Catholic School. ALL the kids made stuff up when they went in. Just to have something to do. They knew it. I knew it. The priests knew it. It was a real exercise in futility.
So one day... I must have been 10ish... I did the same as we always did. Expounded on my wholly invented confessions. Then at the end I said "Oh and my last confession.... all that stuff I just said. Lies. The lot of it."
I think he saw the funny side as he gave me the longest number of Hail Marys to recite as my penance through barely concealed laughter.
I am an antitheist. I think the religions and religious of the world have done so much more harm than good perpetuating their ignorant hate.
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