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This is not a thread for bashing on religion. The forum rules on civility and complaining still apply.

This thread is meant to be a welcoming and inviting place for Atheists, Antitheists, and Agnoists to talk about their beliefs and experiences.

edited 3rd Oct '14 1:27:15 PM by Madrugada

Funnyguts Since: Sep, 2010
#301: May 12th 2011 at 4:04:23 PM

Oh man I miss that show. I didn't know it was on Adult Swim.

Palladium Well. That happened. from North Carolina Since: May, 2011
Well. That happened.
#302: May 31st 2011 at 9:06:51 AM

The best I can say is that I'm agnostic, with a bit of an atheist bent, but not really willing to force it on anyone. I was permitted to decide this for myself, and I think that the same right belongs to others.

That's about it.

This is not a signature.
Qman Since: Dec, 1969
#304: Jun 1st 2011 at 12:05:07 AM

Ive been an atheist for 3 years.

Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#305: Jun 1st 2011 at 12:08:35 AM

Congrats and welcome. :)

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
OrangeSpider Must Keep The Web Intact from Ursalia Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: On the prowl
Must Keep The Web Intact
#307: Jun 11th 2011 at 3:46:10 PM

I am an agnostic, interested in old European faiths and Catholicism.

Militant atheists... have a tendency to annoy me even more than fundies.

Also, I think Prometheus was a pretty rad guy.

The Great Northern Threadkill.
starspawn17 Dimensional tourist from Baton Rouge Since: Sep, 2009
Dimensional tourist
#308: Jun 15th 2011 at 10:01:57 PM

I'm an atheist raised in a Catholic family. As a child I always considered Jesus to be like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. I never could seriously believe he was real, just a story parents made up to tell their kids. I was bullied at my Catholic high school for my atheism, for a long time I was convinced that theists were all horrible people and it turns out I was wrong. I believe that religion is inherently harmful to society and makes otherwise good people do bad things. I have studied countless faiths, and usually know more about religion than the average follower. My philosophy is, you better have evidence to back up what you believe, if you don't your belief is worthless.

edited 15th Jun '11 10:30:58 PM by starspawn17

While you make pretty speeches, I'm being cut to shreds.
Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#309: Jun 15th 2011 at 10:17:42 PM

I mostly agree with you, but I diverge on the "makes good people do bad things" point. The same things that occur under religion occur under atheism, just different trappings. Awful people would be awful things even if they were Buddhists or atheists. They just use their religion to justify doing awful things, and awful people in power will use religion to tell otherwise good people to do awful things. My policy is to hate the sinner, not the religion they misinterpret to be awful.

Jesus was an awesome guy. And its utterly blasphemous that people use him to justify genocide, sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, or worse. In the past, the church believed in science as well as religion, thinking science was just a means to which explore god's creation.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
starspawn17 Dimensional tourist from Baton Rouge Since: Sep, 2009
Dimensional tourist
#310: Jun 15th 2011 at 10:30:31 PM

[up] That is a very good point. I think that the Bible teaches spiritual truth, not scientific fact. I think science and faith should be able to coexist.

edited 15th Jun '11 10:32:44 PM by starspawn17

While you make pretty speeches, I'm being cut to shreds.
Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#311: Jun 15th 2011 at 10:33:36 PM

Exactly. The bible is a collection of stories, not made by one single author nor was it completely divinely inspired, and as such it is best to treat it as allegorical.

Basically, I think that the radicalization of the church and the public perception of it, and its disdain for science, originating in the late 18th/early 19th have done more harm to religion and society in general than religion itself. Afterall, the Renaissance was not a secular affair.

edited 15th Jun '11 10:35:53 PM by Enkufka

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Hooded Crow
#312: Jun 16th 2011 at 2:52:11 AM

[up], [up][up]: Have you even read the Bible? Allegorical to what, exactly? How can horrible things like the Binding of Isaac (Gen. 22) and that story in Deuteronomy 15 32-36 can be allegorical to anything good?

On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.
Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#313: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:47:22 AM

I haven't. But I do know that treating it as literal is much, much more boneheaded than trying to get any sort of spiritual truth from it. People are going to believe it whether they think its literal or not, and the old testament is not a bunch of stories which should be taken at face value.

:/

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Hooded Crow
#314: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:51:23 AM

Well, what I'm saying is the following (I'm taking Deuteronomy 15 32-36 as an example): in the literal sense, those passages tell of someone the Israelites chanced upon in the desert. It was Saturday, and he was collecting trees (which is forbidden to do in Sabbath, because it's work). They bound him and took him to Moses, who told them to stone him. Now, my point is: how can you take this as an allegory to anything good?

On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.
Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#315: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:54:28 AM

I honestly have no clue. But I'm not a biblical scholar, and many of them argue that the Leviticus should not be taken at face value either, this being the advice not to eat seafood or allow homosexuality.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Hooded Crow
#316: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:57:42 AM

How can I say this... damn. Sorry for the cop-out, English isn't my native language and I am unsure how to phrase what I have to say.

On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.
Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#317: Jun 16th 2011 at 10:13:01 AM

Its fine. :)

I realize I'm really not being very smart about this. truth is that I have a lot of theist friends, and I dated an autistic christian girl for a while. Religion can be a good thing, in my mind, but it gets abused.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Funnyguts Since: Sep, 2010
#319: Jun 16th 2011 at 10:19:22 AM

I don't like reading the bible as allegory, except for the parts that are clearly meant to actually be allegories for something. It's far more interesting as a look into a thousand years of history created by a culture incredibly different from the ones we're used to.

Aondeug Oh My from Our Dreams Since: Jun, 2009
Oh My
#320: Jun 16th 2011 at 12:31:58 PM

Leviticus I interpret as the fancy safety rule book. Seeing as we now have more SCIENCE a lot of what is there can be safely tossed out the window unless you want to keep to it.

But I'm not Christian. I am also not Muslim or Jewish.

I am a Theravadan Buddhist of Thai Forest tradition. When it comes to gods...Agnostic polytheist. Said gods aren't all powerful creators and they must abide to the rules of the universe just like us. This includes dying. They just happen to know how to work the universe much better than we do and live longer. I can't really make sense of an ever living being. Even the universe has an expiration date. How could a god live forever unless they existed outside of it?

Though such a being is a possibility.

edited 16th Jun '11 12:33:28 PM by Aondeug

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah
vanthebaron Mystical Monkey Master from Carlyle, Il Since: Sep, 2010
Mystical Monkey Master
#321: Jun 16th 2011 at 5:30:11 PM

[up]x13 almost the same starspawn, except the catholic school thing.

[up]I use something like that in my show, spoilers the Nords were right everyone else is wrong.

edited 16th Jun '11 5:32:18 PM by vanthebaron

Untitled Power Rangers Story
Beholderess from Moscow Since: Jun, 2010
#322: Jun 17th 2011 at 7:47:07 PM

Well, this one is an agnostic deist, and maybe can be counted as misotheist towards certain deities (whether they exist or not, they're not nice). Agnostic part in this one case means not as much being unsure about whether there is a god, but about it being impossible to recognise it.

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common
Aondeug Oh My from Our Dreams Since: Jun, 2009
Oh My
#323: Jun 17th 2011 at 8:21:32 PM

I guess you could say I am sort of deistic in the sense that I don't believe all gods give a damn about humanity. I am certain that most probably have their own more important god crap to do that doesn't have a thing to do with us. Like god orgies.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah
Justice4243 Writer of horse words from Portland, OR, USA Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: Brony
Writer of horse words
#324: Jun 17th 2011 at 9:24:22 PM

maybe can be counted as misotheist towards certain deities

Zeus is the winner of the Values Dissonance award. Although, I’m not sure how down the Greeks REALLY where the constant semi-rapes in various forms plus eating his first wife/consort.

Yes, he tricked the wisest Goddess of all to turn into a fly so he could eat her, and NO that doesn’t make a ton of sense unless wisdom doesn’t count for a whole lot.

Of course this was the same mythology whose golden age “where no laws where needed and everyone did the right thing” involved the eating of delicious babies by the God king

So yeah, Values Dissonance champions those Greeks.

edited 17th Jun '11 9:24:43 PM by Justice4243

Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.Proverbs21:15 FimFiction account.
Beholderess from Moscow Since: Jun, 2010
#325: Jun 17th 2011 at 9:37:30 PM

Heh, so much for wisdom indeed. And Zeus is indeed a mighty jerk, then again, just which Greek deity isn't? Besides, considering Zeus's father, it seems that cannibalism runs in the family.

But at least noone is suggesting that this one should consider Zeus anything but jerk now, so it's less dissonant to her.

edited 17th Jun '11 9:38:01 PM by Beholderess

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

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