[X] My Assistant

[LiteSpeed]

So I was talking to the person next to me in class today, and brought up the topic of Atheism as I often do. I don't often befriend people who believe Atheists are evil and will go to Hell just cause they don't believe in a higher power, blah blah blah. So I figured I'd ask the member base here. What's your view on being Atheist?


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Personally, I don't see a problem with having your own thoughts and beliefs. It's not like either side can be 100% proven, you just usually lean towards the side you think is better argued or supported.

This post has been edited by LiteSpeed: Jan 15 2011, 04:19 AM

[Ivysaur]

Atheist here.

"Atheism isn't real"? Really?

I don't know about other atheists, but I reject the existence of a Deity simply because I don't feel anything when it comes to relating to religion. My mother is agnostic; my father is Jewish. I've been to Church a few times... nothing. I've tried praying... nothing. I'm a big believer in cold, hard facts. I've seen no liable proof firmly planting the possibility of there being a higher being. Key word being firmly.

Think about this:

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?
Then He is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?"
-Epicurus

God is in Himself a paradox; omnipotent means "all-powerful", but He cannot Himself create a wall that He cannot tear down or jump over.

And besides, Greek mythology has been cast aside as simply false and impossible, and yet modern religions haven't? To me that's kind of stupid, because they both make equally as much sense; Greek mythology made sense in Ancient Greece, modern religion makes sense now (to a lot of people, at least; not the entire human race). Who's to say that religions such as Christianity and all the religions that sprouted from it will not be cast aside in the future, like Greek mythology was?

It's late here. This post probably won't make much sense so I'll try to fix it up and add some more in the morning.

[Reyo]

Think about this:

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?
Then He is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?"

I don't like this little snippet either for the exact same reason. It assumes that God HAS to be this magical sky genie that has an obligation to make everyone's life perfect, or else he doesn't exist. What people forget, however, is that if an all knowing, all doing god exists, he doesn't need to ground himself to the human perception of him. I mean hell, most people don't even ground themselves to the perceptions of those who are higher than they are on the social totem poll.

He's God, why should he give a shit what you think of him? If he isn't good, then why should he exist? Because you don't dictate reality. He's probably a mixture of the 2nd and the 3rd one on your list, and I say both because he probably does stop a lot of evil from happening, but you don't notice it, yet evil still exists since he's probably wise enough to realize that some evil is necessary. For example, a death in the family brings the rest of the family closer together. A near death experience brings you closer to your humanity and allows o to live your life more.

Even the holocaust provided some good in that it allowed humanity as a whole to look at an instance of human nature at it's darkest hour. Hell, World War II as a whole provided benefit. I'm an example of that. My grandfather would have stopped with my Dad's older brother had he not fought in the war, came home, and had my Dad, who then had me. It's where the baby boomers came from.

Now, why did I write a near block of text on that? Because I want people you, as well as everyone else, to realize that this perception of God being this wish granting charity machine, or else he doesn't exist, is fucking ridiculous.

Also, someone isn't automatically malevolent just because they're able to help, but don't. I'm willing to bet all of us have embodied the type of person who can help, but doesn't, in at least one point of or lives. It's as simple as seeing a homeless person on the street asking for some money, yet not giving the poor bastard our last dollar. Does that automatically make you an evil person? And no, I'm not asking you to admit to not giving money to the homeless, because I know you'll just say some "I give money to EVERY homeless person I see" bullshit to try and ruin the example. Everyone, for some reason, feels obligated to say that. All I want you to do is think about it.

This post has been edited by Reyo: Nov 21 2010, 03:16 PM