Are ATHEISTS alienated in our society?

If agnosticism is a belief that typically requires many years of contemplation to arrive at, then your boss is saying you are wise beyond your years. It is quite a big step in my view to state one is agnostic, as it is admitting that you don't know. How many times I have wished that someone I was chatting with would at least give me the benefit of the doubt and admit that it was possible I could be correct. But I am usually told I am wrong. Not by agnostics though, since they have a fairly similar view as I do. I don't know if there is a God. I know that there is something spiritual going on, in my life that is a certainty to me. Maybe others do not have that same reality, but I accept that different people mean different realities, none of which need be wrong. I like a Zen proverb about doubt, "Where there is great doubt, there will be great awakening: small doubt, small awakening: no doubt, no awakening."

 

Hippygirl

It means your boss knows how long it takes for blind belief to possibly evolve into rational analysis.

Occam

 

Never heard that before, but it is great! I'll have to pass that little bit of enlightenment along when I get the chance!

 

ah, i think i might be closer in saying that she considers rational analysis to be a rather sober, unexciting, and depressed way of thinking: one more suited to old grumps and bores, not healthy 22 year old girls. lol
don't you get that a lot? i tell people "i don't know", and they say, "that's too bad, my dear"... teehee.

well, i'm more fascinated and in love than may appear. .... =)

 

thank you blackguard!

 

christians complain about people being al atheist and christian values aren't around anymore. hahahahahaahha

for fucks sake lets look at tv for example.

they have tbn,faith television network,channel 12(here anyway) like 5 channels on my cable box are fucking religion.

lets look at school, they pray around the flag at least twice a year,one nation under god, fucking fellowship christian athletes.

lets look at society

churches everywhere,christian bookstores(2 in my town).

fucking idiots.

in study hall, this kid said he didn't believe in god, half the class got on him about jesus loving him,going to hell and all kinds of bullshit. it is so dumb christians are everywhere, it sucks. we should start up a club of, fellowship of atheists and agnostics in school. we will come and sit and let the kids have conversations among themeselves, have dbates over issues in america and how to solve shit.

i remember one time me and one of my friends went to the fca club to just hang out and talk. this girl started sayng shit about gods plan, she said she has been really sad because her dad lost her job, and her friend moved away and stuff. and that it was all part of gods plan. hahahahaa.

 

yes, absoulutly, yes. i have lost a number of friends just because of my religious beliefs. i also know a ton of people that still go to church and do not believe in god. i am one of them. i go to church because a) i love history, and even though most is bulshit in church, valuable morals can still be learned. b) my parents give me no chance, as im still 15. c) there are some very narrowminded people that go to church, and trying to show them your way of thinking is very difficult. i intend on, one day, being a psychologist, and by doing this i am helping my own career, just earlier.

 

NMHG

Yes..that IS rational analysis

occam

 

'thank you blackguard!' nitemarehippygirl

Makes it all worthwhile. I wonder if Occam has had the same experience as I, that many of the viewpoints expressed here which I find to be the most profound, wise, and loving, come from lady members who are half my age. I do love it, but occasionally it tends to make me feel old and stupid. Good thing I'm used to that.

 

Libiertine- Dont Worry the day WILL come. and its close, due to technological progress information availabiliy and of course human progression inside and outside. There are more than 20 % of atheists , most fo them just dont tell. and i Think our age is age of change in religious case, in many more also.
Even in the strongest Christian , Muslim, theres a thought that it is all an illusion and that it is not true. The intellegent and curious mind will win.

 

This is so true. This quiz is indicative of the obstacles we atheists, humanists or any non believer in the christian faith encounters on a daily basis. I have been alienated on a number of occassions because I openly acknowledge the fact that I am an atheist.

 

From my own experiences, a young, teenager Christian is always amazed when they find out I am an atheist. In this culture [America], it's almost like "Atheism" or "Atheist" is something taboo and unethical. People will assume that if you are not with God, you are against him along with anyone else who believes in him.

Atheism is a highly misunderstood...lack of belief. It's as though a belief in God is imperative to living a correct way of life.

Common atheist stereotypes:

- Atheists worship the devil.
- Atheists are unethical.
- Atheists hate believers and God himself.
- Atheists are uneducated.

etc...

I encourage everyone to view this video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fdVucvo-kDU

 

One of my favorites is "Why are so against something you don't even believe in?"

Please, people.

We are not against any invisible sky daddy. We are opposed to THE RELIGIOUS DOGMA of the so-called "followers" of "God" and the way they try to legislate religion into our secular government. We have no grudge against "god" considering there is no "god".

 

As a non-denominational mystic who whole-heartedly accepts both natural selection and idealistic humanism, I have a few dumb (but honest) questions . . .

How is your alienation different from all others?
From what, exactly, do you feel alienated?
What conditions would alleviate, or even cure, your alienation?

And, since the subject has been brought up . . .

Why would one believe evolution is atheistic?
How could one believe humanism is atheistic?
Are these beliefs necessary? Are any beliefs necessary?
Are any beliefs more necessary than others?

Which bring me to the next set of questions . . .

How does one "awaken" to Atheism? How does one transcend a belief in God? I just don't understand. "Just Say No" is not a convincing argument.

It is one thing to confuse symbols with their meaning (Yes, of course, many Theists also do this), but then Atheism mistakes the negation of both symbols and meaning as the only solution to the problem. As such, Atheism seems to be an unreasonable hope for the annihilation of reason offered as an unreasonable defense of the primacy of reason.

Atheism's validity, inherent in its name, relies on the presumed negation of its opposite premise, without which it ceases to exist. As such, it seems to be nothing more than a form of intellectual nihilism. It proves nothing, it explains nothing, it creates nothing. And yet, Atheists insist it is the only way to reasonably understand the existence and mystery of all of this.

Please tell me how that could possibly make sense to you.

Peace and Love

 

All other whats? Groups?
From WHAT do I feel alienated? You've never been an atheist, have you?
What would cure my alienation. Hmmm...let's see here, how about our government becoming neutral and secular again like it was meant to be instead of all this religious tripe being hammered in. Did you even read the post?

Evolution scares most theists, but some fairy tale believers acknowledge it.

Humanists can be anything, but humanism was borne from more atheistic philosophies than theistic.

Truth and reality is more necessary. Science is necessary in order to progress to a higher level of life. This IS evolution. No need for gods or devils.

Atheism is not a religion or a belief system although some people think so. Atheism is merely the absence of theism--which is belief in a god or gods. That's it.

Now after that you have different types of atheists who have different world views and philosophies, but the common ground is lack of belief in an unproven, invisible fairy tale sky daddy created in man's image in order to keep certain people in line with fear and guilt.

Atheists laugh at such nonsense and go on about living life.

We believe in action not getting on our knees and talking to an imaginary friend when problems arise.

We believe in accepting people and judging them on the basis of what they do here and now, not hope for some justice in the afterlife.

We believe that life is precious because we only have one and that makes the lives of our loved ones extremely important because we want get to say "I'm sorry, Grandma" in some netherworld--we need to be loving and considerate and deal with our grievances here and now.

We believe that the only god is in each and every person and that true love isn't because some book says so, but because it is human nature.

 

Atheism is, ultimately, a void, self-loathing, self-serving, and immature belief system.

 

And don't bother trying to convince me that it's not a belief system. I'm not an idiot.

 

Atheism is not based on faith.

And how is atheism a void, self-loathing, self-serving and immature belief system? When I was a Christian, after a while, I realized how self-serving and immature I was. I then slowly turned away from it because I was just too fearful of God to flat out reject him.

 

There is a condition of the human psyche, a "place" in the mind, a state of being of the human spirit, where the potential for belief in the existence of God (or anything, for that matter) is perfectly balanced with the potential for disbelief. In this state of mind, belief or disbelief becomes a matter of choice, a matter of preference, of inclination, of temperament. In this mindset, both ways of understanding and relating to reality are equally valid and believable, but unprovable.

Who knows why anyone chooses one way or another? Even more mysteriously, who knows why, despite a constant invitation, very few people ever return to this state of mind once they've chosen their way?

Once one chooses, however, he or she is almost immediately validated by the obvious "evidence" that their choice was the correct one. As any Theist will gladly tell you, the evidence for the existence of God is abundant, overwhelming and obvious. On the other hand, for the Atheist, the evidence for the nonexistence of any deity is also abundant, overwhelming and obvious. Ironically, the exact same evidence is often used by both atheists and theists as "proof" of their beliefs' validity.

It is a simple fact that some outgrow their childhood ideas about the nature of the divine. This is probably a good thing, but, of course, it doesn't prove, or disprove, anything. Did anyone's childhood ideas about girls, music, drugs, school, work, play, etc. ever match the reality? Why then would one insist on believing that if God is not the "invisible sky daddy" of one's childhood faith, then he simply cannot exist at all?

To what do others refer when they speak of God? Why would you insist that their understanding, or at least their belief, resembles in any significant way your abandoned faith? What if "God" (whatever the name means) is not what you think?

I am simply playing with the idea that transcending one's pre-school notions may actually be a step closer to that undefinable, un-namable being that some call the Buddha mind, or the ultimate reality, or the great ground of being, or . . . God.

Peace and Love

 

Where'd you get your facts? TBN?