Atheists have nothing to rely on

[Jumi]

I usually TRY to use the pronoun "it" instead of "he" ... because I don't think gods have human genitals or sex.

I think many ancient gods had them, supposedly they also had children with people like Zeus with Europa.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think many ancient gods had them, supposedly they also had children with people like Zeus with Europa.

Ancient party animal type gods seem like a much more fun crowd than the modern ones.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

It seems to me that unless SoO is willing to admit that all gods and goddesses are real then what he really means is that BELIEF in god helps people deal with troubling times.

And i would not argue with that.

I also would not argue that being a member of a church can help people.

But these are not the only way of dealing with troubling times.

There are family, friends, philosophy, support groups, counselling and psychology, GPs.

I volunteer with a suicide prevention phone line (completely secular).

Plenty of non-religious ways of dealing with life's problems.

 

[Blastcat]

I think many ancient gods had them, supposedly they also had children with people like Zeus with Europa.

Yep, but god jesus maybe not as much.. but there IS a father god.. he has maybe gonads.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

I don't think they rely on sex drugs and beer. They are still people and I know it's just my opinion but I always thought the atheist life sounded depressing. Not believing in a deity or spirits of anything, strictly focusing on science and materialism, not even believing in the afterlife or reincarnation and basically not believing in too many things unless there's total proof of it's existence. What do they look forward to when they pass on? Not even getting a chance to see their families again or the afterlife or reincarnate? Not all atheists are like that but quite a few are. It just seems narrow and depressing to me.

 

[Blastcat]

I don't think they rely on sex drugs and beer. They are still people and I know it's just my opinion but I always thought the atheist life sounded depressing. Not believing in a deity or spirits of anything, strictly focusing on science and materialism, not even believing in the afterlife or reincarnation and basically not believing in too many things unless there's total proof of it's existence. What do they look forward to when they pass on? Not even getting a chance to see their families again or the afterlife or reincarnate? Not all atheists are like that but quite a few are. It just seems narrow and depressing to me.

Yep,dying is a bit depressing. We should not die.. how do we get over that fact?

Make up heaven.. that's one way..

 

[Theweirdtophat]

I think it's important to believe in something. Doesn't matter as long as you have some kind of belief and faith. Not too many people I know are happy without some kind of faith. Not believing in an afterlife means you have nothing to look forward to. Besides what do you think animated your body in the first place? Energy, or a soul, did that. Much like electricity powers up a robot. That energy has to go somewhere once it leaves it's host. Not to mention the tons of stories you hear who have near-death experiences by seeing their families and leaving their body. But I guess they all just made that up for no reason right?

Reincarnation shouldn't even be that implausible even for an atheist. Matter can't be destroyed. Nothing is every really destroyed, but basically recycled into something else.

 

[Yerda]

I think it's important to believe in something. Doesn't matter as long as you have some kind of belief and faith. Not too many people I know are happy without some kind of faith.

What about a faith in kindness or love?

 

[Deathbydefault]

I don't think they rely on sex drugs and beer. They are still people and I know it's just my opinion but I always thought the atheist life sounded depressing. Not believing in a deity or spirits of anything, strictly focusing on science and materialism, not even believing in the afterlife or reincarnation and basically not believing in too many things unless there's total proof of it's existence. What do they look forward to when they pass on? Not even getting a chance to see their families again or the afterlife or reincarnate? Not all atheists are like that but quite a few are. It just seems narrow and depressing to me.

Atheism is a direct response to theism, you can only draw a line from "Atheism" to "lack of a God belief".
So simply because someone is an atheist doesn't mean they rely only on science and materialism.
There are many spiritual atheists, and many more atheists that base their atheism only on logic.
Some atheists believe there is a form of ultimate reality (the afterlife).
Others, like me, believe this is the ultimate reality (no afterlife, you're just dead when you die).

But because we believe those things does not make use atheists.
What makes us atheist is our joint lack of belief in God(s).

You sort of touched on what I've said here in the last couple sentences of your post...
So, take this comment as an elaboration of why not all atheists are like that

 

[Parsimony]

Religious people have their God/gods to rely on. During difficult times they can seek help in mosque church synagogue or whatever, but atheists rely only on sex drugs alcohol for "spiritual comfort".

Some atheists are spiritual, though. One does not have to believe in a god in order to believe in other kinds of spirits or the human soul.

 

[Koldo]

I think it's important to believe in something. Doesn't matter as long as you have some kind of belief and faith. Not too many people I know are happy without some kind of faith. Not believing in an afterlife means you have nothing to look forward to. Besides what do you think animated your body in the first place? Energy, or a soul, did that. Much like electricity powers up a robot. That energy has to go somewhere once it leaves it's host. Not to mention the tons of stories you hear who have near-death experiences by seeing their families and leaving their body. But I guess they all just made that up for no reason right?

Reincarnation shouldn't even be that implausible even for an atheist. Matter can't be destroyed. Nothing is every really destroyed, but basically recycled into something else.

You see, this is the kind of thing that pretty much only theists say. You are unable to see how you would cope with your life without some kind of faith, and then you imagine that everyone else is in the same position. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

You see, this is the kind of thing that pretty much only theists say. You are unable to see how you would cope with your life without some kind of faith, and then you imagine that everyone else is in the same position. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

Yeah it is important to have faith in something. Not to mention in my opinion I think it's rather arrogant to believe that there isn't a power greater than us, whether it's a spirit, God or something else and think that because it's not right in front of their faces, it must not exist. You see germs all around us. Does it mean that they didn't exist until we invented a microscope? No, they always existed, but we needed a lense to see it. Atheists don't seem to put much effort into finding out if spirits exist, despite demanding irrefutable proof, such as maybe doing what believers do, such as rituals, meditations ect. Has it ever occurred to them that the Third Eye, is the "lense" they need to see spirits? Rather most of them say "Nope they don't exist because it doesn't say so in my text book."


I don't feel as if I'm helpless without my faith, it just helps a lot. Having faith in something gives us hope.
Notice how strange it is that when some atheists have problems like when their relatives in the hospital, they start praying? I've seen that happen more times than I can count. So no, you're incorrect to think that's the only thing theists say.

 

[Blastcat]

I think it's important to believe in something. Doesn't matter as long as you have some kind of belief and faith. Not too many people I know are happy without some kind of faith. Not believing in an afterlife means you have nothing to look forward to. Besides what do you think animated your body in the first place? Energy, or a soul, did that. Much like electricity powers up a robot. That energy has to go somewhere once it leaves it's host. Not to mention the tons of stories you hear who have near-death experiences by seeing their families and leaving their body. But I guess they all just made that up for no reason right?

Reincarnation shouldn't even be that implausible even for an atheist. Matter can't be destroyed. Nothing is every really destroyed, but basically recycled into something else.

I don't have "faith" in anything. Life is great. Life is short. Make the best of it. As for speculations about what happens after we die?... to me.. totally useless but maybe entertaining fantasy. The reason why I think reincarnation is implausible is that we have no data whatsoever to establish a probability. That's zero probability in my book. But possible? Almost everything is at LEAST possible. Like Santa Clause.. possible. Not very probable.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

Not to mention many atheists and materialists forget that the greatest scientists such as George Washington Carver, Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton also happened to have religious backgrounds and openly practiced magic and mysticism. There were SCIENTISTS yet even they were open minded enough to accept such things. And no it's not that they were religious because that's what the norm was. There were atheists back then, even before their time, yet these scientists practiced spiritual energy work and these are scientists that our scientists look up to.

But believing helps. If it didn't, people wouldn't do it in the first place. If there wasn't a sliver of truth in religion or magic, you wouldn't see anyone DO that kind of stuff. Disbelieving because the evidence is not there right in front of their face seems narrow-minded to me. Some atheists act like they traveled all over the universe in search of God and couldn't find him. The idea of a higher power really shouldn't sound impossible.

 

[Blastcat]

Not to mention many atheists and materialists forget that the greatest scientists such as George Washington Carver, Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton also happened to have religious backgrounds and openly practiced magic and mysticism. There were SCIENTISTS yet even they were open minded enough to accept such things. And no it's not that they were religious because that's what the norm was. There were atheists back then, even before their time, yet these scientists practiced spiritual energy work and these are scientists that our scientists look up to.

But believing helps. If it didn't, people wouldn't do it in the first place. If there wasn't a sliver of truth in religion or magic, you wouldn't see anyone DO that kind of stuff. Disbelieving because the evidence is not there right in front of their face seems narrow-minded to me. Some atheists act like they traveled all over the universe in search of God and couldn't find him. The idea of a higher power really shouldn't sound impossible.

However, these scientists are remembered for their SCIENCE and not their religious ideas.
Their science endures.. their religious and supernatural beliefs?... meh.. Really, who cares? Doesn't change the world, that's for sure. Who cares what da Vinci prayed to?

Newton wasted most of his life on supernatural pursuits. What a waste.

There doesn't need to be a sliver of truth for people to believe. There are plenty enough irrational reasons to believe nonsense...

And again, just because something is possible does NOT mean it's probable at all in any way shape, or form, as I can make something up on the spot that is possible. And I can do that all day long. It's called "fantasy"... and many people engage in fantasies of all kinds. Those "possibilities" have as much probability as any gods or any supernatural.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

Not to mention many atheists and materialists forget that the greatest scientists such as George Washington Carver, Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton also happened to have religious backgrounds and openly practiced magic and mysticism. There were SCIENTISTS yet even they were open minded enough to accept such things. And no it's not that they were religious because that's what the norm was. There were atheists back then, even before their time, yet these scientists practiced spiritual energy work and these are scientists that our scientists look up to.

The thing is that back in those days, not only was it completely unaccaptable to be openly atheist, but the very notion of studying the Universe was, itself, considered a spiritual or religious endeavour. It was largely unquestionable that the Universe was God's work, and therefore it was natural that the objective study of nature and the laws of our Universe were fundamentally an effort to study and understand "God's design". That's why so many great scientific and mathematical breakthroughs and discoveries in ancient history were made by religious individuals and organizations. Understanding reality was generally regarded as a religious endeavour.

Regardless of that, the fact remains that the only time these individuals ever managed to advance or discover anything was when their discoveries are completely objective and unrelated to what they felt was the spiritual nature of their question. Newton wrote more on alchemy than he did on physics, but where were the breakthroughs and discoveries he made through alchemy?

But believing helps. If it didn't, people wouldn't do it in the first place.

Correction: believing helpED. Back then it was just easier to imagine a world designed by intelligence and pervaded by spirits than a world guided by physical and chemical laws that was purely materialistic. Nowadays, we know enough about the Universe to be able to question that idea, and see the possibility that the Universe is unguided. Science is no longer considered a religious endeavour, and has improved vastly since separating from it. Fact is, belief no longer is a requirement.

If there wasn't a sliver of truth in religion or magic, you wouldn't see anyone DO that kind of stuff.

Sure. And if there wasn't a sliver a truth in what Hitler believed, he wouldn't have enacted the holocaust. People act on misguided ideas and falsities all the time. It doesn't indicate any truth value of anything.

Disbelieving because the evidence is not there right in front of their face seems narrow-minded to me.

That is the very definition of credulity. It is not narrow-minded to disbelieve something when you have no good reason to believe it, and it is not a virtue to believe things that you have no good reason to believe.

Some atheists act like they traveled all over the universe in search of God and couldn't find him. The idea of a higher power really shouldn't sound impossible.

I've rarely, if ever, heard an atheist assert that the existence of a higher power is impossible. That's nothing but a straw man.

 

[RabbiO]

By the way,why do you still spell god the wayconservative euro jews do,as you have almost nothing in common ?

Conservative is not a word usually associated with me and I, in most instances, write "G-d."

 

[Koldo]

Yeah it is important to have faith in something. Not to mention in my opinion I think it's rather arrogant to believe that there isn't a power greater than us, whether it's a spirit, God or something else and think that because it's not right in front of their faces, it must not exist. You see germs all around us. Does it mean that they didn't exist until we invented a microscope? No, they always existed, but we needed a lense to see it. Atheists don't seem to put much effort into finding out if spirits exist, despite demanding irrefutable proof, such as maybe doing what believers do, such as rituals, meditations ect. Has it ever occurred to them that the Third Eye, is the "lense" they need to see spirits? Rather most of them say "Nope they don't exist because it doesn't say so in my text book."

I don't feel as if I'm helpless without my faith, it just helps a lot. Having faith in something gives us hope.
Notice how strange it is that when some atheists have problems like when their relatives in the hospital, they start praying? I've seen that happen more times than I can count. So no, you're incorrect to think that's the only thing theists say.

This feels like a shotgun with bullets going in all directions trying to land a hit somewhere.
This is a rehash of the some of the worst arguments that have been used against atheism.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

This feels like a shotgun with bullets going in all directions trying to land a hit somewhere.
This is a rehash of the some of the worst arguments that have been used against atheism.

And yet you have no retort. If this argument had that many holes, surely even you could have pointed them out but instead you resort to "This is stupid...just because."

 

[Koldo]

And yet you have no retort. If this argument had that many holes, surely even you could have pointed them out but instead you resort to "This is stupid...just because."

The problem is that it is not one argument. There are multiple arguments in there. All of them lame.