Ask Me Anything About Atheism

[linwood]

That is awful; I am so sorry to hear that.

I`m sorry Michel, I was pretty much being sarcastic in answerering MSWG`s entire post.

My Catholic mother was never hesitant to let me know that she loved me more than her own life.
She was the greatest, most positive influence I`ve had in my life.
Her love for me was the one thing I never questioned growing up.

The flippant answer I gave to the question was an excuse I`ve heard from many Catholics who percieve me as "anti-Catholic".
In re-reading my post I guess maybe a person might have to be an atheist to see the sarcasm in my answers as only an atheist would have heard the theistic rationalizations for atheism they were based on.

 

[BucephalusBB]

So you just decided to ignore my questions?

 

[Engyo]

Linwood -

Two questions:

1) Does atheism denote the absence of belief in god, or the absence of religion, or both?

2) Would you consider Buddhists atheist, or not, and why?

 

[linwood]

-Do you think people who follow religion are less openminded than people who follow their faith?

Yes I do.
I don`t see how an open minded person can accept every single edict, story, and parable found in a book like the Bible or Koran as an absolute cosmic truth without ever questioning or studying why it is there in the first place.

The dogma associated with most religions is centuries old and much of it has no direct bearing on contemporary life.
To follow a religion word for word while you are aware it`s greatest edicts were conceived by a people who were extremely limited in their understanding of the world and entirely ignorant of our world today without allowing for modern life and those founders ignorance leads to a lot of trouble.

You`ll notice my debates in this forum almost never focus on faith or those who have come to understand their own faith through their own introspection whether I agree with them or not.
This is because you can`t argue with faith, and because most who`ve come to their own "truth" have done so taking modern life into consideration so I rarely find intolerance within these people.

-Do you have a favourite religion to talk/think about?

I`d have to say Christianity but that is only because it is the religion I have studied and it is the religion that has the most effect on my life.
Taoism intrigues me but I`m sorry to say I haven`t really made an effort to check it out very deeply as of yet.

-Do you refuse religionthings like going to church when your friend is going to marry or when you're there stand up to pray to God?

I`ve been to many church weddings and Catholic masses.
I won`t let my disbelief keep me from enjoying an event of such magnitude in the lives of my friends and family .
I can`t pray nor do I follow the rituals of standing, sitting, kneeling, using holy water,or any of the other rites associated with churchgoing is it would be hypocritical and even disrespectful of me to do so.

If at a meal in a home where people say grace I will simply remain silent until they finish their prayer.

My daughter wanted to go to church awhile back because her friend goes three or four times a week and she wondered what she was missing out on.
I took her to mass to show her, that time I did go through much of the physical rituals so I could explain to her what they were about .

Her mother has taken her to a couple of Baptist services as well and she did the same there.

 

[linwood]

1) Does atheism denote the absence of belief in god, or the absence of religion, or both?

I believe it merely denotes an absence of a belief in god.
There are religions that don`t have a deity such as Taoism and some forms of Buddhism.

I consider those who follow these religions and others like them to be atheistic.

2) Would you consider Buddhists atheist, or not, and why?

This is a tough one because I have a very limited understanding of Buddhism.
From what I`ve gathered some Buddhists do use the concept of god/gods within their worship while others do not.
(Please correct me if I`m wrong)
I would consider those who have no belief in a god atheists while those who do have a belief in god theists.

 

[linwood]

So you just decided to ignore my questions?

No, I just type slow and I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding with Michel first.

 

[c0da]

How do you celebrate Christmas and Easter, if at all?

 

[linwood]

How do you celebrate Christmas and Easter, if at all?

Pretty secularly.

We have the standard Christmas tree and presents and the works.
There is just no religiosity invoved in the celebration.

Easter is my wifes favorite holiday because it is the source of her best childhood memories.
She invites a bunch of the neighborhood kids to a local park/playground and we cook hot dogs and burgers and have an Easter egg hunt.

She has an interesting twist on an Easter egg hunt,.
She hides waterballons as well as eggs, we`re talking literally dozens and dozens of waterballoons.
So the kids (and some of us more childish adults ) run around bashing each other until we`re soaked and laughing hysterically.

If anyone has an egg hunt every year it`s really worth the extra effort of the balloons as the kids just go nuts and it`s worth the extra clean-up.

We just don`t acknowledge any of the religious aspects of these holidays .

 

[d.]

I have only denied my atheism publicly once

begging the question...

Atheist women are very hard to come by.

I think the stats run somewhere around 2000 to 1 men to women atheist ratio.

move to europe.

 

[linwood]

begging the question...

Sorry Divine I`m missing it, how is my answer begging the question?

move to europe.

No need, I`m pretty happy with the deist wife.

 

[d.]

Honestly I don`t believe in agnostics.

I believe a person can be an agnostic/theist as in they really can`t say for sure if there is a god but they think there is.
Or a person can be an agnostic/atheist and say they really can`t be sure there isn`t a god but don`t think there is.

not to nitpick, but atheism means (roughly) "no-god-ism" - agnosticism means "no-knowledge-ism."

with this in mind, i personally go with agnostic. i do think that the existence of a "god", "deity", "being" is the least likely answer - so i could call myself an atheist - but i choose agnostic because it implies all knowledge of the metaphysical, instead of just the concept of god.

 

[d.]

Sorry Divine I`m missing it, how is my answer begging the question?

WHEN and WHY!

 

[Buttercup]

You may or may not know this answer but I'll ask anyway as I am curious and perhaps if you don't know the answer someone else will.

Do you think most scientists are Atheist? I'm leaving out Agnostic because I am more interested if the majority of scientists firmly believe there is no God. I know of at least one Christian scientist, Hugh Ross who holds a PhD in astronomy along with a degree in physics. I assume he is in the minority but I'm curious about most scientists' beliefs....especially astronomers.

 

[Buttercup]

move to europe.

I have had two Europeans (One from Poland and one from England) tell me that a large number of people in their countries think if you believe in Creationism.....you are 'mentally disabled'. Is that a correct assumption?

 

[d.]

I have had two Europeans (One from Poland and one from England) tell me that a large number of people in their countries think if you believe in Creationism.....you are 'mentally disabled'. Is that a correct assumption?

let me just say that creationism isn't as common an idea...

...and you don't meet as many people who...

ok, yes.

 

[Buttercup]

let me just say that creationism isn't as common an idea...

...and you don't mean as many people who...

ok, yes.

A college educated person would be considered 'mentally disabled' if they believed in Creationism in your country? How about religion in general?

 

[linwood]

WHEN and WHY!

Oh sorry, I was thinking of logical falacies.
My bad

I haven`t ever denied my atheism as in falsely stating "Yes, I am a theist."
I`ve also never hesitated to proclaim my atheism in a conversation but for the one time I mentioned.

I have avoided the topic of my religious beliefs with my neighbor the Baptist preacher.
He has invited me to his church many times and I`ve always just put him off without telling him why.
He sees religious texts ranging from The Koran to the Book of Mormon laying around my house and I can tell he`s itching to directly ask but so far he just fishes for my religious beliefs.

His family and my family are fairly invoved with each other, we watch his kids, his wife watches ours, I`ve helped his daughters with some of their school stuff,I sell stuff online for him and well we help each other out alot basically.

The key to my denial is my daughter, she is best friends with my neighbors son.
He is 6 and she is 5, she has known him and played with him her entire life.

This preacher is a hardcore fundamental fire and brimstone Baptist who goes to church 10 times a week and it is a given from statements he has made and oddities in his actions that he would cut off all contact between our families if it was known that I was an atheist.

My daughter is very intelligent and very inquisitive and she just couldn`t comprehend why she was suddenly not allowed to play with this boy anymore.

My only answer could be that her friends daddy thinks I`m evil, and will burn in hell so he doesn`t want his kids near us.

I think this would be a bad influence on my daughters outlook on theists in general.
It would put intolerence in her little 5 year old heart and I don`t want that so I go to great lengths to deny my beliefs.
My wife tells me I`m not "denying" my beliefs but just avoiding putting them out there.
It feels like denying them to me because it`s not like me to do such a thing.

I just don`t think my daughter could seperate the religion from the person at this early age and I don`t want her to lose a friend because of me.

 

[d.]

A college educated person would be considered 'mentally disabled' if they believed in Creationism in your country? How about religion in general?

ok, i thought there was a wink in your eye. 'mentally disabled' - no. a bit strange - yes.

if we're talking about literal creationism here, i.e. god made the earth in six(?) days, a few thousand years ago. but i don't think you'll find many college-educated people who believe that here.

a person that simply believes in some sort of creator wouldn't be considered strange, no.

we have christians, although most are much more moderate than what's the norm in the US - at least that's my impression.

 

[linwood]

Do you think most scientists are Atheist? I'm leaving out Agnostic because I am more interested if the majority of scientists firmly believe there is no God. I know of at least one Christian scientist, Hugh Ross who holds a PhD in astronomy along with a degree in physics. I assume he is in the minority but I'm curious about most scientists' beliefs....especially astronomers.

Most scientists are atheists.

From memory.. only 7% of scientists in the US are religiously inclined, the rest are atheist/agnostic.

Astronomy is a science that quite a few religuious surveys have been done on concerning astronomers because of the implications of universal creation so I may be able to find decent stats on that category specifically for you.

There are a couple of sites on this I`ll have a look for to give you Buttercup, I couldn`t find them with a quick Google search.

 

[d.]

Oh sorry, I was thinking of logical falacies.
My bad

I haven`t ever denied my atheism as in falsely stating "Yes, I am a theist."
I`ve also never hesitated to proclaim my atheism in a conversation but for the one time I mentioned.

I have avoided the topic of my religious beliefs with my neighbor the Baptist preacher.
He has invited me to his church many times and I`ve always just put him off without telling him why.
He sees religious texts ranging from The Koran to the Book of Mormon laying around my house and I can tell he`s itching to directly ask but so far he just fishes for my religious beliefs.

His family and my family are fairly invoved with each other, we watch his kids, his wife watches ours, I`ve helped his daughters with some of their school stuff,I sell stuff online for him and well we help each other out alot basically.

The key to my denial is my daughter, she is best friends with my neighbors son.
He is 6 and she is 5, she has known him and played with him her entire life.

This preacher is a hardcore fundamental fire and brimstone Baptist who goes to church 10 times a week and it is a given from statements he has made and oddities in his actions that he would cut off all contact between our families if it was known that I was an atheist.

My daughter is very intelligent and very inquisitive and she just couldn`t comprehend why she was suddenly not allowed to play with this boy anymore.

My only answer could be that her friends daddy thinks I`m evil, and will burn in hell so he doesn`t want his kids near us.

I think this would be a bad influence on my daughters outlook on theists in general.
It would put intolerence in her little 5 year old heart and I don`t want that so I go to great lengths to deny my beliefs.
My wife tells me I`m not "denying" my beliefs but just avoiding putting them out there.
It feels like denying them to me because it`s not like me to do such a thing.

I just don`t think my daughter could seperate the religion from the person at this early age and I don`t want her to lose a friend because of me.

good luck, i can't even imagine such a situation...i've never have had to feel that it's somehow strange not to be a christian.
it must be very awkward.

i can't give you any more frubals, sorry.