Is atheism a new fashion>?<

[Don Penguinoini]

Is it? Many people are becoming aethist...

 

[Booko]

Atheism is NOT fashionable in the SE U.S.

Still, people become atheists.

I presume they do so for the same reason anyone becomes anything: because they believe it is true.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

It's like Scientoligy, a new 'belief' to seperate from the educated ones.

 

[Nanda]

Atheism's hardly a new belief. That's like saying homosexuality is a new phenomenon - just because no one felt safe enough to talk about it before doesn't mean it wasn't always there.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Misunderstood me, its always been there i know, but i think its popularity has increased just like vegeterianism.

 

[rasor]

Atheism is not a belief but rather a lack of belief (in a god)

 

[Halcyon]

It's like Scientoligy, a new 'belief' to seperate from the educated ones.

The "educated ones"?

I wouldn't in a million years compare atheism to Scientology. Usually atheism is just a lack of belief, the reason it may be increasing is because we're coming out of an era of superstition and into an age where people can understand the world around them, and they see no need for a God or Gods.

 

[Mathematician]

It's not fashionable down here, either. In fact, quite the opposite. People I know compete to prove who believes/loves God more. :sarcastic

 

[Nanda]

Misunderstood me, its always been there i know, but i think its popularity has increased just like vegeterianism.

Well, (and I don't expect you to agree with me on this) I think a lot of it has to do with progress. People are giving up what they see as outdated superstitions in favor of a more scientific approach to the great questions of life. It's always been the case - as we learn more about the phyiscal world around us, we often have to let go of previously held beliefs; like "the world is flat," for example, or "the universe revolves around the earth."

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I think that some people claim they are atheist because it is "fashionable," as they do any other way of thinking. But, it is certainly not a new paradigm, and certainly not just a fashion. Some take it as a buzzword, but I'm sure most who call themselves atheist se are seriously atheist.

Some things become popular simply because they are not of the mainstream, and in certain parts of the US, atheism is still very much frowned upon.

 

[adthelad]

It's like Scientoligy, a new 'belief' to seperate from the educated ones.

Scientology isn't a belief.

 

[adthelad]

I wouldn't in a million years compare atheism to Scientology. Usually atheism is just a lack of belief,

No atheism isn't a lack of belief - it's a belief that bits of mud stuck together and formed intelligent living beings. And it is just that ridiculous once you start actually looking at the evidence.

Scientology is about observing for yourself in order to decide what's true rather than relying on any authority figure to tell you what's right.

 

[Booko]

No atheism isn't a lack of belief - it's a belief that bits of mud stuck together and formed intelligent living beings. And it is just that ridiculous once you start actually looking at the evidence.

Atheism is a lack of belief in God specifically, and supernatural things generally.

 

[adthelad]

Atheism is a lack of belief in God specifically, and supernatural things generally.

Very true, but that lack of belief in anything that doesn't have a material existence tends to lead one to some "interesting" beliefs about what we are and how creation occurred.

 

[Nanda]

No atheism isn't a lack of belief - it's a belief that bits of mud stuck together and formed intelligent living beings.

No, that's Christianity. Genesis, specifically.

Incidentally, I find it highly amusing that a scientologist is casting aspersions on my beliefs. Or rather, lack thereof.

 

[adthelad]

Incidentally, I find it highly amusing that a scientologist is casting aspersions on my beliefs. Or rather, lack thereof.

Actually I'm probably not. "Belief" isn't the most tightly defined word.

I'm not a believer of taking things on faith or authority. If you don't believe anything you haven't observed for yourself then you can't go far wrong, and I guess we both agree on that.

 

[eudaimonia]

Is it? Many people are becoming aethist...

I think "fashion" is a poor word for this. People become atheists because they find that they are unconvinced that a God or gods exist, not because it is some fad that will make one popular or accepted. Atheism may be part of a broader intellectual trend, a kind of spreading Rational Enlightenment, but there is nothing fad-like about it.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[rasor]

Actually I'm probably not. "Belief" isn't the most tightly defined word.

I'm not a believer of taking things on faith or authority. If you don't believe anything you haven't observed for yourself then you can't go far wrong, and I guess we both agree on that.

Yet you believe that the Earth was "seeded" by Aliens and we are the result of that seeding ? I think youv'e been reading too many of Hubbards sci fi stories

 

[adthelad]

I think you've been reading too much rubbish on the internet.

 

[rasor]

I think you've been reading too much rubbish on the internet.

Really ?
Xenu and Body Thetans


Xenu, as depicted by a cartoon in BBC's Panorama


Main articles: Xenu, Galactic Confederacy, and Body Thetan
Among these advanced teachings, one episode revealed to those who reach OT level III is the story of Xenu and his Galactic Confederacy.
Xenu (sometimes Xemu) is introduced as an alien ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. Scientologists believe the alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. Hubbard called these clustered spirits "Body Thetans", and the advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating them and neutralizing their ill effects.[35]