If a sense of spirituality helps you in day to day life then thats great. Personally I would also tend to see the story of Jesus as the story of a philosopher and a radical confronting issues of the time. Agnostics are those that are undecided. Atheists have made up there mind. Thats basically the differance, and given that we live in an uncertain world perhaps the agnostic position is best, then again perhaps religion is based on myth and fantasy, and atheists are correct. Personally, I just see myself as somebody who is unreligious, when I filled in the last census form im pretty sure I put atheist, or no religion.
Ya thats sad, and its that kind of ridiculous behaviour that I despise. I guess some parts of the U.S can be like that...fortunately in Australia that kind of discrimination is rare I would say.
half my family are atheist/agnostic with an empahasis on lack of caring about spirtual matters, its actualy a joke when I visit my family to ask how has church was, my girlffriend and some of my friends are rabid atheists, and hate religion, be it muslim, jewish or chirstian. Way above and beyond me. As much as I may talk about crazy the pope is and BS the bible is, I have it grained in me to hope and fear there is something beyond life, although I can find no logical reason to think that.
Don't suppress your rational thoughts just because there are others who don't agree with you! Speak out whenever you can against the absurdity of God, atleast you'll make those who are under the delusion start thinking. There are several boards online with a significant atheist population. Here are some: http://www.infidelguy.com/forums.html no-god.com forums (temporarily offline) Alien Hub & in particular the religion discussion.
Trust me, I don't suppress my thoughts on religion with my long-time boyfriend. There has been many a night where he has left my house at 3am because we get to arguing about who he (his religion) believes has the right to go to heaven(i.e atheists, homosexuals, etc.), I just don't express it at work because I need my job. I have a coworker that sits right next to me that, once he knew what I was, is constantly running to his wife (who is the owner's secretary) to tell lies about me and try to get my fired! Way to be a good Christian!
That is unfortunate & I agree with you, atheists are wrongly discriminated against. I'll quote Isaac Asimov again here: - Canadian atheists newsletter 1994.
That comes back to theologians in Europe, in the various European theocracies pushing fear of God as a method of control back in the day. Were still living with that ingrained fear to this very day...If God exists would he/she want you living your life in fear?
Almost all my friends in my youth were athiests,...san fran is a bit mixed on that perspective. I'd say there's a lot of 'undecided' views here. I'm not quite how sure relgious they are in NM. I'm thinking quite a bit since they have an extremely high latin population which tends to be catholic.
That is fairly rare, but then again many people such as myself started of libertarianish and moved to conservative views. There's many libertarians that are avowed athiest e.g Ayn Rand objectivism; which I sort of splitered off from ie she influenced me a bit.
objectivism, and libertarianism to some extent, suffers from a problem that each country is not a bubble. things inside each country can affect other countries. Rand forgot that sometimes, I think.
I find that map strange, especially since parts of Oregon should be red. Drive through a town with 3 or 4 churches on a street and some rather large churches and many new churches in the area. Near hear they even built a mormon temple where they do the special rituals for those who are deep in the mormon cult - ie. weddings to their future planitary wives (yes plural, they marry a few, I think it is 12) I understand why college towns would be so light colored, that goes without saying. Young kids who know everything that there professors tell is true.
Good point. It offends me that people are allowed to pontificate about religion as if they are talking about something that is as true as the sun shining during the day. I for one will always question a persons beliefs and get them to explain to me how and why they follow a religion. The fact is that most people are only religious because they were brainwashed by their parents when they were young. The only person that speaks frankly and unapologetically about the non-existence of god on mainstream media in the UK is Richard Dawkins. His next book should be a very refreshing read for anybody who is disheartened by the fiasco religion continues to create. Religion should be a private issue that does not impose itself on society. If you want to pray then buy a holy book and pray at home.
I agree completely. And later on in life they try to defend & protect their beliefs wildly (wishful thinking at it's best) instead of critically analyzing them from a rationalistic perspective. It is very unfortunate. The believers are the people who're saying God exists so it is them that should be proving it to us the non-believers, the burden of proof is on them, untill then they are to be scoffed at and considered mentally unstable. No amount of belief makes anything true unless it can be proven.
People already are rising up against religion. Some posters here are proof on the attack mode and hate they have (usually quite misguided hate) Ferrett hates christians with a passion, yet he never can explain what a Christian ever did too him. Maybe it was a touchy priest he had that makes him think that all Christians are like a pediphile catholic priest- Now someone blows up buildings and a religion's belief is too kill everyone who doesn't believe the same - people here will try to make it a Christians fault too. SO much for giving credit to where credit is due - poor terrorists get no credit.....
debunked, IMO the anger that atheists sometime feel is out of frustration & disgust at believers' stupidity, gullibility & "faith".