Any atheists in here?

POSTED BY: BlackCollarBrowncoat
UPDATED: Sunday, March 12, 2006 20:19
VIEWED: 38267
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CHRISTHECYNIC

Saturday, February 25, 2006 2:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by rue:
I have issues with belief. Belief is what exists in the absense of (or even in contradiction to) data.

Belief is also what makes you trust the data, or trust that data is worth considering.

KHYRON

Saturday, February 25, 2006 3:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Hard-core atheist, and pretty anti-religious. While I think that science is the way to knowledge, I'm reasonably certain we will never know everything.

Yep, that sums me up pretty well, except I'm not just reasonably certain we'll never know everything, I'm absolutely, utterly, totally and completely certain we'll never know everything.

RUE

Saturday, February 25, 2006 3:26 AM

Belief is also what makes you trust the data, or trust that data is worth considering.

I used to have issues with that at a quite early age (pre-teen). What is real, what is significant etc. The I realized I wasn't about to test reality by jumping off a roof, and I settled on the pragmatic side.

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

DREAMTROVE

Saturday, February 25, 2006 3:52 AM

I'm strongly in favor of belief. The nonsense that people believe is really just a misguided part of the idea. Most of believe is about believing in a set of rules, not necessarily strict ones, that would make you fundamentalist, but guidelines. Like Jack Sparrow. Sometimes religions have silly rituals and nonsense but that gives them flavor, culture, and helps the outside world brand them as looneys, a factor much sought after by a religion. Any religion is going to want to make life better, but not let in people who don't believe in the rules. Willingness to say "Jesus died for our sins" is not dedication to that misconstued perception of the facts, it's dedication to the set of rules. Most of these people believe as I did that Jesus died for treason, PN just thinks he wasn't guilty, which is fair.

All societies ultimately are a set of rules, even serenity is a set of rules, albeit lose ones. Religion is a society which one can freely enter or leave, and which can exists with or without a govt. or specific territory or financial relationship. It's no more 'good' or 'evil' than a corporation or a government. It's just a different type of organization. IMHO

CHRISMOORHEAD

Saturday, February 25, 2006 4:03 AM

I've been shot, I am Christian. There are no athiests in foxholes.

Have you ever:
Used your teeth as wire strippers?
Given yourself stitches?
Made improvised munitions with no base supplies?
Pissed in a canteen?
Gone a month without bathing?

If so, you MIGHT just be a !HOOAH MOTHERF*CKER!

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Saturday, February 25, 2006 4:11 AM

I’ve been called an atheist by some of my more religious friends. Does that count?

Although technically, I’m not an atheist. I actually have a very ardent belief in god. I just don’t necessarily have the same passion for “religion.” I’m certain god exists, beyond that things start getting really fuzzy.

The Earth is old.
And doesn't care if one small girl wants seeds to grow.

BOVINITY

Saturday, February 25, 2006 6:26 AM

I thoroughly believe that god does not exist. Does that make me a believer or a non-believer? Now I'm confused...

But, then again, not more than 20 minutes ago I was certain that everything in my house was stolen, including my car, which was used to haul all my other stuff away. Then I woke up from a feverish dream, which was strangely ok until the theft part.

ROCKETJOCK

Saturday, February 25, 2006 8:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bovinity:
I thoroughly believe that god does not exist. Does that make me a believer or a non-believer? Now I'm confused...

You've just hit on the primal paradox of atheism. Since it's axiomatic that one cannot prove a negative (you can't prove there's no such thing as a black swan, you can only prove that none has been discovered yet) It becomes logically impossible to prove that God does not exist. Therefore, asserting that God definately does not exist is an act of faith. Which, by my definition, makes atheism a religion...

(Agnotism, by contrast, claims no specific knowledge of God's existence/non-existence, and therefore can be classified as a philosophy.)

Reminds me of an old Hindu tale about an atheist who was so convinced of God's non-existence that he repeated "There is no God!" over and over, at least once every conscious minute, until the day he died--whereupon, since he had spent every waking moment focusing upon God, he was immediately reunited with the Godhead.

Big fans of irony, them there deities.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

ASARIAN

Saturday, February 25, 2006 8:57 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlackCollarBrowncoat:

Like the beloved Cap'n, I'm an atheist, and I was wondering if any of my fellow browncoats are non-believers.

Depends on which direction I look:

If I look at what they did to River, I would say He does not exist, or does not care.
But when I turn my head, and see what Simon did for her, then I know there's a God, after all.

N.B. I'm being serious.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

HOTPOINT

Saturday, February 25, 2006 10:47 AM

I'm what is termed a "Soft" Atheist in that I don't believe in God because there's no evidence but it's not a matter of certainty or faith on my part.

If Atheism is a religion then bald is a hair colour by the way

And for those that think there are no atheists in foxholes what about the millions of Soviet Troops in WWII for a start? (I also have an atheist freind who has seen active service under fire with the British Army for that matter)

As regards any theists looking in remember that we're both atheists in reality to some degree, I just believe in one less God than you do (because I'm betting you don't carry a Sword in case the Norse were right about Odin, Thor and the afterlife in Valhalla).

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

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