The Good things about being Atheist/Agnostic (attend, Vatican, service)

[Snaefell]

Hi mythunderstood:
Thanks for your printing more of the supposed knowledge in regard to the word Agnostic. I appreciate your doing it. I didn't intend to inject the two meanings you brought to the fore, and didn't want someone to say I got a lower case letter and an uppercase letter mixed up, so I kept the lower case g as in the word Agnostic. Not AGnostic.

I also concur with you bringing to light the change in meanings of words, after the person who defined the word is dead. Quite awhile before his death, Huxley used to have discussions with friends about having the Oxford Monks, remove the word from the dictionary because even in his lifetime so many people were using the word incorrectly. I think the Psychologists and other Neo outfits should have invented their own word(s) rather than changing what Huxley meant. I also appreciate that you may agree, or may not.

I think discussions of these matters should be aired, and I also think they may bring many good writers to the manner of using more apt words in the betterment of their own writing. That goes for me as well.

Thanks for the elucidations. (Ha) Cheers. Snaefell.

[Snaefell]

I find many of the writings about belief systems asinine, but hilarious which tends to make life more jovial, and perhaps more healthy for we non believers. I do feel a certain amount of sadness towards the writers because, I feel their thoughts come not from so much stupidity, but perhaps of when as youngsters, they were taught by foolish or bigoted school teachers, who taught that the word Myth, meant Truthful. As the students grew older the most important things in many of these ex students lives, were raising a family, and getting a sensible job that paid enough to raise the family and hoping the kinder, got more of a better education than they. Free time perhaps had a nagging spouse and other tiring obstacles.


Almost a couple of years ago, a famous USA Newspaper started a blog page, with a title similar to the following, Debate Some Really Big Questions of the Universe. I laughed outright when I read their title, as I had been taught that folk, who worked for the communication organizations, were university graduates usually with degrees in English. So I stopped laughing and wrote a letter to the Newspaper Editors, stating their header would be in English if the last three words were changed to state, ‘about the Universe.’ I mentioned I had not been asked any questions by the universe, and I doubted other persons on the planet being asked. The response was zero. I am self taught since the age of 14.

When I start to read, or to listen to chatter about almost anything, a now automatic act takes place. Hopefully, I will learn something, which makes me become attentive. However, if the heading and the first few paragraphs are messed up, I usually correctly assume that the rest of the article will have a lot of garbage thinking attached. This usually shows up as being stupidity or ignorance of the presenter of the article, and if not of the author, then of editors and reporters. Many times I listen or read long enough that a rare gem is found. A rare gem is a rare happening.


It is quite often that believers of the Rubbish Thoughts in the Myth Bucket actually ask non believers of their rubbish, to prove their beliefs for them. If you suggest that instead, they try to understand the thoughts written or spoken by Atheists, and of other non believer factions, many of those same believers yell and dance about as if you have stuck a red hot poker in their ears. I have to admit that it is usually teenagers who give willingly of their time to listen, and inquire about non believer writings. Perhaps I am lucky, but the word lucky in these days, is often used deliberately to denote that you are a heathen, and that a god or some other Myth is taking care of you. It is perhaps better to use the word luck, as something you did for yourself. I state this because of my friendship for and from a lot of personal friends who have always known or learned quite soon that I am not a believer in Religious or other Myths. I assume that more Atheists and others of no belief in Gods, or Pixies, or Elves, or Tooth Fairies, and male and female Angels, and assorted other Imaginary Hallucinations, are noticing more of the attitudes that I mention.

It seems as if the words ‘Religious Disease’, have become the hot topic over the last few months, however, Atheists and others know the term is not a New Terminology, digging back in history shows it is a phrase used by many non believers with a flash point close to the start of the 20th Century. A few of the names of those who used ideas of mental disease caused by religious ideas are, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Strauss, Charles Bradlaugh, Herbert Spencer, and Thomas Henry Huxley, all are worthy of dipping into. They are like the advertisement for Potato Chips, as you will all want to dip in again.

In this respect two more names are worth the dipping as well. Bertrand Russell, who never said he was an Atheist, yet lived in Russia for awhile, and almost died there. As many readers are aware, Russell was booted out of the USA, as a teacher in NYC because of his former belief in Communism. I am not aware of any University, in England or in the USA that stood up for Russell in this time of Bigotry. A few months later Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize. Later in life in his 90s, the UK government threw Russell in jail because he intended to walk in a Peace Parade. Such is the bigotry shown by men with very minor brains.


Closing the names listed, and worth dipping into, is H. G. Wells. The many books that Wells wrote about Science Fiction, of which some ideas presented, actually came to pass, now deliberately appear to hide his books which are not about fiction, but of social happenings, especially his dipping into the bigotry and worse, of horrid religious happenings in the era of his life. I am not aware that Wells stated he was Atheistic, but he was determined to make public, religious atrocities in his milieu. These books exist, but I found them hard to find.


In the USA there is not a paucity of non believers, and the figures reached by universities reaches to 25,000,000. However, similar to bigotry shown to exist in major Islamic Countries, religious bigotry drips from the Whitehouse via bible swearing in, and religious days a plenty. Then it bubbles and gushes through supposedly Neutral courts and Congress and the Chamber of the Senate. Finally like a putrid slime of nonsense, we find as a Nation, we are drowning in it. This is made clear by the banking system and other actions of making money.

This situation obtains because believers of Myth, belong to a giant herd. They appear to be afraid of thinking in a rational manner, which I have mentioned with the use of lower school teaching of religion. If we ignore the tearing apart of our Constitution by Abraham Lincoln and Judge Taney, and the illegal actions of Eisenhower, and the grunts and groans of nearly every one of today’s Politicians, we find we have less freedom today, than prior to some of the actions enabled and followed by the two aforementioned Presidents; believers of Myth and Bigotry.


Let us be clear, the word Myth means fictitious. Therefore, a Myth cannot be given praise or thanks, or accept prayers. Therefore, a Myth cannot be denigrated. According to non believers of the planet, our Cosmos, a galaxy of galaxies is real, and the realty is proven, or can believers float by ignoring gravity and many other tests they can’t ignore? One of the BIG mysteries remaining is why so many adult humans are apparently silly enough, or ignorant enough, or frightened enough to believe in the acceptance of gods. Perhaps they don’t trust in Dictionaries either. Enough said. Cheers, Snaefell.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by irwin

it seems like everything in the universe deals with time.

Me thinks you stated this backwards, Time deals with the Universe, Time is the constant, the Universe may or may not be.

[Snaefell]

I enjoy the writings in the Atheistic/Agnostic Blog, simply because I get a chance once in awhile, to write one cent or so of my own thoughts on Understanding Time. Many answers can of course come swiftly if one has read of ideas passed down through the centuries of religious ideas of Myth. Like a weight on a scale, acting as a balance against the mental hallucinations of thinking Mythology is really about facts, are the thoughts of opposition against facts being part of a Mythology bucket.

In this respect, into the discussions the word time appears. As I clumsily bumped out of my teens, it happened that I tried to elucidate to myself what I had always subconsciously accepted. Perhaps similar to most humans I had used TIME as a method or machine similar to silent calendars, to adjust certain doings. Time to sleep, time to eat, time to go to work, but you get the idea, because perhaps silently most of us go through this routine of obeying a clock or a calendar.

Using some Time, I ended up knowing a bit about Mayan calendars (Which stop in a few years) and Chinese Astronomy. I was however, never able to elucidate to myself exactly who were the first humans who first thought of time as a passing. I never found out who were the first humans to think of Time as a measuring rod. Who were the first humans to think of the way I thought about time, basically as a CHANGE machine?

Personally I agree with historians that it was Astronomers who first (somewhere unknown) realized with mathematicians that TIME is a useful measuring rod. They actually stuck a stick in the sand of the desert somewhere, and watched the shadow, similar to later Sun Dials, the shadow became a clock, thus calendars were invented, Phases of the Moon and later other astronomical planets could be calculated in size, and our days and years became known. basically that means that Time is a mathematical machine, instead of the shadow being appointed. Time in this sense is a measuring machine.

Time is also a clock which measures periods between one happening and another, or a measurement between many things such as days and years. This machine even measures the future, such as when to start preparing for planting for future grains and other foodstuffs.

Basically, my thought is that a clock or time, measures one thing, and that thing is change. If you use or try to use the word TIME in or with the word ETERNITY, you have an oxymoron. If you debate eternal you cannot use time. How can a thing without a beginning or an end be measured? The shadow of the stick in the desert sand can be quoted as a happening, or as a change. If there is not a shadow, or a stick but perpetual darkness, similar to darkness in a vacuum, and every planet, every star, every galaxy and so on has stopped because of friction, so movement does not exist, will time stop also? Does this mean that time like gravity stops, or that inside the white dwarfs of existence are a few atoms supposed to still move? These are thoughts that one must include if you want to clarify your discussion of Time.

I figure that believers in gods and non believers in gods, such as myself, might finally come upon something to research on a plane (Flat equal thing) and not on a scale with balances. In an Einsteinium Cosmos, flatness can't exist, and the shortest distance between objects, is the direction that uses the least energy to make the trip.

One might say, 'What the hell does this discussion have to do with Atheism/Agnosticism, and Religious thoughts?' I concur in the sense that I am Pondering that non believers, believe in facts, (That time exists) and believers in Mythological Buckets, also believe in time. Does this mean that eternity does not exist? Time can be used to measure change, but it is not the cause of change. For something to change it has to have existence, only then can the period of change be measured, and the extent of change from some other time. I call a period of Change something that can be measured, except as mentioned, in an eternity. Without Humanity or similar intelligent beings, would TIME exist? Do other animals apart from so called humans, have a sense of time? Sense is perhaps the wrong word, The senses of Aromas, of Weight, and of Heat, with other bodily senses can be measured, can time measure TIME? Time does not pass, is it we that pass?

In my young teens my school pals and I would help farmers walk their cattle, and sheep and pigs, to the slaughter house. When about a mile away some of the animals would start to go berserk. The farmers told we kids that those animals smelled the odor of blood. If this were true, did it mean the animals figured out they only had a short TIME to live?

Cheers Snaefell.

[Snaefell]

Hurrah for some politicians?

Hey you all, you know when I write about politics that there will be truth mentioned. Well do I have a good couple of items now. It is late at night February 12. 2011. I figured I would write a few lines instead of reading or watching some dull stuff on my ancient TV. The reason is because of some of the supposedly balanced news coming from demented Politicians and Unsupreme Court quarters this past week. I think that regardless of which side you take in these two affairs, at least you will either agree or not agree. Heck I can’t lose with a proposition such as that.

I guess most of you folk have heard of Weepy John Boehner, the present Republican speaker of Congress elected a few months ago. I also guess you know John's wails over the last month or three or more, about every program in the house and his saving Billions of dollars in a clean sweep this year. Well folks sit up and listen, or read. John has now set up his hidden baby of Politics and given it the name of, OSP. OSP stands for Opportunity Scholarship Program. This baby is also called HR 471. That's just in case some of you want to write to John and your representatives in Congress and the Senate. John's baby is to give away mainly to Private Schools and Parochial Schools, a few million dollars for five years

These subsidies are expected (According to many newspaper reporters) to help get many Pederasty Priests in the class rooms. The program is to operate for 5 years, give away 1,000 grants up to a maximum of $7,500 and only cost tax payers, believers and non believers in Myth, only $500,000,000. I kid you not. Weepy John seemingly speaks out of both sides of his mouth and his mind. They both must be small.

We must remember our President is Roman Catholic, so he might be interested in signing this stealing of taxpayer's money if it passes the House and the Senate. At the moment this so called Voucher Program has a so called Mirror Version, already in the works by Republicans in the Senate.

Now for the second part of this week's happenings in Never Never land. The Never Never, simply means never right. I am not that strong against our Unsupreme Court, although it comes really close at times. This week it seemed as if only one member was in disagreement with his or her colleagues. Your Court, if you can call it that, gave a Christian Church and its disciples, male and female, the right to go to believers and non believers funerals, and spew so called scat and yell epithets, during burial rights of those dead believers and non believers and their family's. The court called the Unsupreme Court, figured they can't encroach upon free speech.

I have known for years, that there are so called tombs in our USA, and the tombs supposedly hold the remains of Christians or other believers in Myth. I know this as a fact, simply because in those tombs there might be the remains of heroes who were non believers. However, the Christian and Jewish Members of the Unsupreme Court don't care a fig. If you want to perhaps insult a dead hero, go to an unknown veteran's Monument, and say your humble Mumbo Jumbo. I say that simply because anything belonging in a Myth bucket, has not been proven. Therefore, gods can not respond to prayers or other scenarios, thus neither can they be denigrated.

The Unsupreme Court can state and enforce so called free speech, and it has passed laws regarding the shouting of the word 'FIRE' in a crowded theater. It's too bad a bit more common sense was not applied these past few days. Perhaps I meant to write these past few Daze. I think that is a more appropriate Anglo Saxon word in regard to our politicians and to so called, Judges. So write to your Politicians and Judges. Be nice to the creeps or raise your fists. I can’t expect you to raise hell, as too many of you might believe in it. In the first amendment to our Constitution, (Not the judges, nor the politicians version) the first ten (10) words are, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' I can't understand why Politicians and Creeps on the Unsupreme Court can't understand the words. By their not understanding the words, I guess it must be an oxymoron, why they are so bigoted, and so damn stupid. Why do the creeps keep advertising their stupidity?

Actually, the first ten (10) words as a sentence or part of, are not written in correct English. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE NO LAW. What the first ten words mean is, Congress shall not make any law respecting an establishment of religion.

Cheers. Snaefell[

[GavinC]

Originally Posted by brikag

I always believed god was genderless. I refered god as IT when I was little. The nuns hated me.

Ask any devoutly religious person about God and they will specify that God is a "He". It even says it in the bible about God being a male. They are so darn sure that God is a male that you would think that God himself had shown up somewhere along the line, dropped his pants and proudly displayed his penis to them so they knew for sure.

The thing is that when I was about 10 years old and a Pastor threw that whole "you will burn in hell you vile sinners" speech that sent me running home to my Mother questioning "Why hadn't I ever heard this critical information before since this guy seemed to be able to describe hell as if he had seen it personally and gotten the guided tour of the place at some point in time?" only to find out this was merely speculations of religious zealots used to scare the sh*t out of people... Your "It" theory held just as much validity as their penis on God theory.

[Snaefell]

When I hit the sack early this morning, when my head hit the pillow a thought hit me, stating I had better check my data regarding the amount of dollars, specifically used by John Boehner's new brain child mentioned in my earlier writing. Sure enough I had been mentally lazy. I have arisen early to check what data was or is available. I had read the data as postd, but now I come up with about $55, million dollars, and not $500 million dollars as written. So I figure I had better write about the extra digits, or actually about the down grading of the digits as shown. I guess some politicians might not mind about a multible of ten in funds, but I am sure that most taxpayers and myself do. I figure I should have stuck to what I usually do, and that is always check the data. Cheers, Snaefell

[SoCalbound12]

Originally Posted by brikag

I'm getting tired of the Christian view. Let me hear about the Atheist/Agnostic point of view. Is there a "diety" called god? Adam and Eve, how did they populate the earth. Has anyone heard of the Gospel of Eshua(hebrew for Jesus). The Vatican Corporation has copies. I'd like to hear the Atheist/Agnostic members from this forum. What are your non-beliefs?

Nothing be Praised!

I don't believe in any higher power, no deities, no gods, nothing. I do not believe in magic, faith healing, or an afterlife. I do not believe in these things but I admit they could possibly exist. I do not believe in any "sacred scripture" I think most of them are bronze age fairy tales made up in order to keep their followers in line.

Is it good to be an atheist? Hell it's great to be an atheist. I don't have to worry about pleasing any sky daddy looking down at me keeping a cosmic score. I don't have to attend boring church services every Sunday. I don't have to waste time praying every night, I've gained 5-10 minutes of extra sleep since "converting." I can think for myself and explore other points of view that I never dared consider while I was a member of the flock.

[Snaefell]

A short while ago I wrote some lines about thinking or understanding time. The words were written and I expected a few other curious writers would respond with their thoughts about understanding time. When I last took a short look to see if any extra words had been written about time, I was gently surprised that no one else had written about such a seemingly curious subject. The reason I thought this, is perhaps because the former lines penned by me, were not the final thoughts I hold about time. One thought that I do hold and which I tend to think is held by a majority, is that Time does exist.

Those few words, Time does exist, are not a final and finished thought. Perhaps the words are believed by the majority of Humans, but where is the proof? Because we can see change does not define proof, our vision defines proof of change. As previously noted a thing has to exist before one can see a proof of change.

I am of the opinion that Time is an invention of Humans. It is a human thought concept. When humans found time to think about changes they observed, the time was ripe for thoughts about the whys and the wherefores of Time being needed, to see objects changing from one scene to another scenario. This does not mean humans stood by a rock and watched moss grow. They could note the burning of a log, and the cooling or the heating of water. They could see the growing and the death of small creatures and of humans and larger creatures. One can note then ripening of food on the ground or on trees and bushes. Males can drag their hands across a freshly scraped jaw, and feel the growth of stubble two days later.

To me, this seems to be that observations were put to use, and applied not only to visual change, but to changes of weight, of hot and cold, and of movement on themselves and the objects in the sky. One could feel pain by the force of being hit by a moving object, and add another few hundred or so other things that can be touched smelled tasted weighed, and so on. In other words the whole shebang of existence changed. Some changed swiftly, some so slowly that change could not be noticed in a human lifespan, but through the talk of prior times, humans could locate or mention how slowly those things that didn’t appear to change, did.

Time reached the point to where it is now, and we know Einstein was not correct when he could not concur that instantaneous happenings existed. In Einstein’s universe or world view, he is correct that the speed of light is the fastest object, but now we live in the universe or Shebang of John Stewart Bell from Northern Ireland. Although Newton, Dirac, Bohr, and countless others believed in instantaneous happenings, it was through the physics of John Bell, that the crack in the door widened and led us to the fulfillment of one of the things believed by god believers and non believers alike. Yes, for many things, Time exists, for others there are instantaneous Facts. What a beautiful thought.

Cheers. Snaefell.

[rifleman]

Originally Posted by Snaefell

I find many of the writings about belief systems asinine, but hilarious which tends to make life more jovial, and perhaps more healthy for we non believers. I do feel a certain amount of sadness towards the writers because, I feel their thoughts come not from so much stupidity, but perhaps of when as youngsters, they were taught by foolish or bigoted school teachers, who taught that the word Myth, meant Truthful.

It is quite often that believers of the Rubbish Thoughts in the Myth Bucket actually ask non believers of their rubbish, to prove their beliefs for them. If you suggest that instead, they try to understand the thoughts written or spoken by Atheists, and of other non believer factions, many of those same believers yell and dance about as if you have stuck a red hot poker in their ears.

I assume that more Atheists and others of no belief in Gods, or Pixies, or Elves, or Tooth Fairies, and male and female Angels, and assorted other Imaginary Hallucinations, are noticing more of the attitudes that I mention.

Closing the names listed, and worth dipping into, is H. G. Wells. The many books that Wells wrote about Science Fiction, of which some ideas presented, actually came to pass, now deliberately appear to hide his books which are not about fiction, but of social happenings, especially his dipping into the bigotry and worse, of horrid religious happenings in the era of his life. I am not aware that Wells stated he was Atheistic, but he was determined to make public, religious atrocities in his milieu. These books exist, but I found them hard to find.

In the USA there is not a paucity of non believers, and the figures reached by universities reaches to 25,000,000. However, similar to bigotry shown to exist in major Islamic Countries, religious bigotry drips from the Whitehouse via bible swearing in, and religious days a plenty. Then it bubbles and gushes through supposedly Neutral courts and Congress and the Chamber of the Senate. Finally like a putrid slime of nonsense, we find as a Nation, we are drowning in it. This is made clear by the banking system and other actions of making money.

This situation obtains because believers of Myth, belong to a giant herd. They appear to be afraid of thinking in a rational manner...

Let us be clear, the word Myth means fictitious. Therefore, a Myth cannot be given praise or thanks, or accept prayers.

One of the BIG mysteries remaining is why so many adult humans are apparently silly enough, or ignorant enough, or frightened enough to believe in the acceptance of gods. Perhaps they don’t trust in Dictionaries either. Enough said. Cheers, Snaefell.

I don't think it's such a big mystery, Snaefell. Perhaps I misunderstand your comment. It's just a reflection of the mentality that requires answers to any and all questions, right now! The abject trembling fear of death is palpable, even though, really now, what is there to be afraid of?

After all, We must know and accept it's inevitability, and if we grasp that, we also must of needs realize there's precious little time to waste in the here and now. There are things to view without mental contamination, things to experience without guilt, and revelations about the things we do not yet know, or may never know.

I, for one, truly enjoy this part of the journey. I'd be ruined if I had to conform to a set of restrictions and strictures, and was threatened with punishments for my mental disobedience.

Originally Posted by Snaefell

A short while ago I wrote some lines about thinking or understanding time. The words were written and I expected a few other curious writers would respond with their thoughts about understanding time. When I last took a short look to see if any extra words had been written about time, I was gently surprised that no one else had written about such a seemingly curious subject.

Time reached the point to where it is now, and we know Einstein was not correct when he could not concur that instantaneous happenings existed. In Einstein’s universe or world view, he is correct that the speed of light is the fastest object, but now we live in the universe or Shebang of John Stewart Bell from Northern Ireland. Although Newton, Dirac, Bohr, and countless others believed in instantaneous happenings, it was through the physics of John Bell, that the crack in the door widened and led us to the fulfillment of one of the things believed by god believers and non believers alike. Yes, for many things, Time exists, for others there are instantaneous Facts. What a beautiful thought.

Cheers. Snaefell.

Well stated, and thoughtful to boot! As to time, tho', it may well be not as constant as we and Dr. E once thought. Along with gravity , that oddly instant interaction, (which stumped him forever and which thus either travels faster than light, or is just a reaction) but one that warps time and space at it's will.

The universe is likely just a wink, a bursting bubble we've alighted upon the skin of, wondering why it wrinkles and shimmers. But then willingly acknowledging a god with these things, and trembling at the more likely but also more magnificent explanations.

Chrz-rflmn™