Atheists - which God don't you believe in?

[d.]

it's an exploding sausage.

use it in the 'masturbation is not wrong' thread. :sorry1:

 

[d.]

i wasn't raised anything. my parents were very vaguely christian-ish - not that you'd ever notice - by heritage, in a way i think only scandinavian protestants can be. in sweden, you join the church of sweden by default, and most people never bother to leave (there's paperwork involved). my parents never bothered with the supernatural in any way. the attitude was 'i guess there is a god. or whatever.' personally, i early came to the conclusion that i was an agnostic, strongly leaning towards atheism.

however lately i've developed towards labeling myself taoist, and more recently taoist/naturalist. not because my basic beliefs have changed very much, but because these religions have helped me articulate feelings and ideas i've had for a very long time, but haven't been able to express.

come to think of it, i'm still not able to express them very well.

 

[bill]

Reading one of robtex's posts in another thread got me thinking.

To the atheists on the forum, have you always been atheist or have you 'converted' from some form of theism?

If you have 'converted', was it specifically issues with the God(s) of your old religion that you had a problem with?

Have you/did you explore alternative religions such as Buddhism or Taoism before opting for complete atheism? If so, what about these religions did not appeal to you?

I was raised in a family of mixed belief, non of us were strictly Christians though. I always felt some spiritual reality was possible and dabbled in Hinduism , Buddhism and meditation to see if these religions contained answers which I could not see in Christianity. After having travelled in Asia for a couple of years, Christianity seemed like an alien religion. The meditation was good because it did not require people to abandon their faith, just practice the technique and see what it brought them. I never got into reading scriptural texts in any religion because I felt a spiritual inquiry could be truncated by myopic focus on one thing. In truth it would have taken lots of time to examine these things properly. So Buddhism provided some answers in terms of the mechanics of how to lead a good life, meditation tends be self-explanatory in terms of what is good and what is bad, positive or negative etc. I did some philosophy of religion study at uni that focused mainly on examining proofs for God's existence or non-existence. I left that only with the conviction that religion is psychologically real for some people and therefore valid for them. I have become interested in Christianity since having a family. Faced with decisions about what to teach children etc means examining the merits of it. I reckon non-believers may as well try to understand it because it is everywhere and has created the cultural world we live in, in the West. I wouldn't call myself an atheist because I am still convinced of the possibility of spiritual life. But it is meditation that provided the grounds for me, not adherence to monotheim.

 

[Halcyon]

however lately i've developed towards labeling myself taoist, and more recently taoist/naturalist. not because my basic beliefs have changed very much, but because these religions have helped me articulate feelings and ideas i've had for a very long time, but haven't been able to express.

Interesting.

This brings me back to the spirit of my original point. Buddhism can technically be counted as an atheistic religion, when asked who or what created the universe and if there was an afterlife Buddha basically replied "who cares?"

What about Taoism, is it theistic? It recognises a divine force of a sort, but does not anthropomorphosise (is this a word i'm a bit tired?) that force.

Most people so far have said that they either lost faith in Christianity, or have dabbled in Christianity at some point before becoming atheist.
Is it just the Judeo-Christian view of God that people, quite rightly IMO, cannot reconcile with their own innate sense of logic and so become atheist?
Do some people miss out on the benefits of eastern philosophies like Buddhism and Taoism because they simply lump them together with the God they rejected?

p.s. duh Alysssa, of course you can reply! :tuna: .

p.p.s :cigar: <--- i believe it is Mr. Hankey being cremated.

 

[standing_alone]

p.s. duh Alysssa, of course you can reply!

:woohoo:

P.S. You spelled my name wrong.

 

[Halcyon]

:woohoo:

P.S. You spelled my name wrong.

You can never have too many s's Alyssssssa.

 

[Super Universe]

For those of you that this applies: What ever made you think that you were going to find God inside a human made church?

You'll have better luck taking a walk alone in a forrest. Kind of like a meditation field trip.

 

[Halcyon]

For those of you that this applies: What ever made you think that you were going to find God inside a human made church?

You'll have better luck taking a walk alone in a forrest.

Erm...

 

[robtex]

Hey, thanks all for the interesting replies.

To take it further, how many of you practice what is normally considered religious or spiritual exercises like meditation or yoga?

To answer your orignal question : http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7440

To answer you qouted tex. I meditate after learning how to from martial arts when I was a teenager. It has never been a spirtual experience for me though. I dabbled in yoga when I was in my 20's but it was a means of stretching and flexablity as opposed to a spirtual endeavor. I study religion here and with the UU thing but for me the study of religion deepens my conviction that there is no God.

 

[standing_alone]

To the atheists on the forum, have you always been atheist or have you 'converted' from some form of theism?

I was raised WELS Lutheran -> WELS = Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

If you have 'converted', was it specifically issues with the God(s) of your old religion that you had a problem with?

Well, what made me reject Christianity was this:

There were things in the scriptures I disagreed with. The violence in the scriptures was paramount in my rejection of Christianity. I can't worship what I see as a violent, murdurous god - being a believer in nonviolence. I didn't see the Christian god as a loving god, but rather a sadistic god. That a god would send a "good" unbeliever to hell over a "bad" believer seemed absurd to me. That god would send those who never heard of him to hell also seemed absurd to me. I was tired of the hypocrasy of the church I went to. I didn't like the fact that I'd be kicked out of the church I went to just because of one aspect about me. I didn't like the conservative, close-mindedness of the church I went to. And as I developed more critical thinking skills and more knowledge about science, the more and more I believed that a god - and most certainly the Judeo-Christian god - didn't likely exist.

Have you/did you explore alternative religions such as Buddhism or Taoism before opting for complete atheism?

No I didn't. I didn't feel compelled to.

 

[standing_alone]

To take it further, how many of you practice what is normally considered religious or spiritual exercises like meditation or yoga?

I don't practice any such "spiritual" exercises.

 

[Lady Crimson]

I was raised as an Orthodox Christian...I nerve had anything against the religion, I actually like it a lot (I love religions in general)...I think I became an atheist (in my really early teens) because it was cool. Later on, I thought I was against christianity and its teachings, but soon I realised it was the Church that I didn't agree with (which I still don't).

Well, now I'm a deist...but that's a different story.

 

[mr.guy]

You'll have better luck taking a walk alone in a forrest.

If it was a "restored" forest, would that necessesitate any sort of conflict of "man made" meditative interest?

 

[sparc872]

To take it further, how many of you practice what is normally considered religious or spiritual exercises like meditation or yoga?

I have done yoga and meditated in the past. I haven't in a while though. I see those more as mental exercises and physical exercises rather than a form of reflection, coming closer to divinity, or trying to attain a release from the cycle of rebirth.

I don't like the word atheist very much because it seems to imply some degree of confidence that God(s) don't exist. I choose to accept the fact that I don't know and prefer to focus on the human implications associated with religion.

I feel the same way. Atheism, even though it is my belief, does come with some amount of a negative connotation. I guess I would be more of a weak atheist/agnostic. I don't believe in God, but I will can't be sure of my belief unless I die and find out then...which would be one heck of a surprise!

 

[sparc872]

p.p.s :cigar: <--- i believe it is Mr. Hankey being cremated.

HAHA. wow.

 

[retrorich]

I do not believe in any supreme supernatural being alleged to have created and/or to be in control of the universe. I do not believe in the soul, reincarnation or any form of life after death.

 

[Tiberius]

There have been about 2500 gods worshipped throughout Human history.

I don't believe in any of them.

I'm sure that you (by which i am speaking to the religious people who may read this) don't believe in the vast majority of these gods either.

When you understand why you don't believe in all those gods, you'll understand why i don't believe in yours.

 

[bunny1ohio]

Reading one of robtex's posts in another thread got me thinking.

To the atheists on the forum, have you always been atheist or have you 'converted' from some form of theism?

If you have 'converted', was it specifically issues with the God(s) of your old religion that you had a problem with?

Have you/did you explore alternative religions such as Buddhism or Taoism before opting for complete atheism? If so, what about these religions did not appeal to you?

I don't believe in any of them. I was "raised" a Baptist... but that was at an age when children are sponges and basically take everything given to them as fact. Even as a young'un I never felt any "connection" to God. The older I got the more skeptical I became. The more I dug around into other beliefs and religions.... the more skeptical I became. It is all a matter of faith. A bedtime story to give us something to look forward to when we die besides "The End". We have to have started somewhere or we wouldn't be here. But do I believe in some all-powerful being watching over my shoulder all the time? Fat chance. Heck let's start a new religion based on the theory of God was a scientist and we are his petry dish experiment. It would make a lot more sense to assume we may have been created by a "higher being" but not necessarily a "God". Just a more advanced race or more intelligent life-form. We don't know what or who it is or could be so we guess. We "assume".... and I'm sure you all know the old saying about what happens when we assume things I rather gain as much knowledge as I can, and view it in the most logical light that I can draw a conclusion from based on that knowledge. And so far I have found nothing pointing me towards a god/goddess etc... higher life forms maybe... but not "God". Do I think we evolved from monkeys? Nope!.... I think we are a genetic experiment run amok with just enough intelligence to question our own existence and if anything comes after it. The truth is.... nobody knows one way or another and I will not devote my life to pleasing something that I have no idea even exists. It is pointless and a waste of time and energy. I'm intelligent enough to "understand" right and wrong (by human definition)... but I am also intelligent enough to understand that those are both highly debatable terms. Is it "wrong" to kill in defense of your child? Not in my eyes. Is it wrong to lie? Well now I guess it would depend on the subject... denying you know something that could prove fatal to someone isn't wrong if telling the truth would cause harm to someone. Etc etc. Outties... :run:

 

[Islamic-Fighter]

Well, I'm muslim and i believe in God but we must not follow religion strictly we should us common sense as well. It dosen't matter if we are who we are it matters who we are inside, so does it make a difference if a person dosen't in God and one other does?

This is how the world works. Maybe it's God's test if we turn into enemies or friends so it's better to become friends then enemies. :slap:

 

[Super Universe]

There have been about 2500 gods worshipped throughout Human history.

I don't believe in any of them.

I'm sure that you (by which i am speaking to the religious people who may read this) don't believe in the vast majority of these gods either.

When you understand why you don't believe in all those gods, you'll understand why i don't believe in yours.

I don't believe in all of those other gods because none of them touched me.