Why are you an atheist?

Sonics2k

That's another one of the stories that enraged me as a child actually.

It basically taught children and/or the bafflingly ignorant to simply believe whatever you were told and never question 'leaders'.

MagicMarker

PBroderick wrote: »

Answer me this....who's the f*cking clown here?

I think we all know the answer to this.

413Valerie

My mother was an atheist and her father was an atheist (my grand mother was raised catholic but was excommunicated / expulsed from the Roman Catholic church). I think it is unlikely that there is a higher being who would intervene in our lifes and I can't really see why anyone would believe that there could be one....

fitz0

Welcome to boards 413Valerie. If it's not too personal, why was your granny excommunicated?

Jimoslimos

I'm somewhat amazed at most of your early revelations about religion/God/etc. Certainly it wasn't a primary concern for me growing up.

I probably did believe in God at some stage in my childhood, but in the same way I also used to imagine the darkened shapes in my bedroom moving when the lights were switched off.
As a child, Christmas, Easter, communion, etc were fun times - presents, chocolate, money, clothes all gladly (and greedily) accepted. The stories too, were fascinating, one year after a minor supporting role as the second innkeeper I made a meteoric rise to fame - lead male, Joseph in the school nativity play. Alas, at the pinnacle of my acting career I began on a downward spiral of sex, drugs and general debauchery (well one can dream!).

Seriously though, that was probably the pinnacle of my religious belief - the next year the same stories, birth of Jesus, crucifixion, resurrection were re-hashed, and again the following year. Nothing new or exciting to a kid eager to read and learn new things. I buried myself in books, I paid less and less attention to religion, grew bored of the whole mass ritual every Sunday - still, never actually questioned it. Think the closest I came was wondering why Pontius Pilate got such a bad rap, I mean he tried to stop the crucifixion but the mob wanted blood and he'd be mighty stupid to step in their way!

As has been mentioned for a teenage boy, hormones dictated that pursuit of the opposite sex took precedence over pursuit of eternal life - even if the former was far less likely than the latter!

So over the course of my late teens and early twenties was when I truly stopped believing. There was no 'eureka' moment, no sudden realisation - just a gradual progression from juvenile fantasies to adult reality.

TL;DR: Naiive (stupid) kid believed in Santa/elves/God - teenage boy is preoccupied with other thoughts - slightly less stupid adult gradually realises that religion has as much basis as his other childish beliefs/fantasies.

Daniel S wrote: »

I'm not anti-religion or anything, but as a student engineer I think logically and personally I don't think religion makes logical sense. Also, one of the biggest issues I had was I was effectively forced into Catholicism. When you're 8/12, you'll say you're whatever they tell you to be for hundreds of euro.

Perfect example of logic I'd say!
Recite off some empty words/prayers = profit.

Delirium

Malari wrote: »

I don't understand what the problem is with Doubting Thomas? Only admirable character in the bible I would think. He was presented with a unbelievable claim and he said 'oh yeah? Prove it!' that's all atheists do. But most of the time they just quietly get on with things without assuming a supernatural god exists.

He's there so that the gullible can be exalted above the skeptic. "Thomas, you said 'prove it' and you believe now you have proof. But I say blessed are those who eat any crap they're given.":rolleyes:

As Mr.Zappa said:

"The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden story. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your f*cking mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions...'Get smart and I'll f*ck you over,' sayeth the Lord. Is this not an absolutely anti-intellectual religion?" - Frank Zappa.

PBroderick

koth wrote: »

He's there so that the gullible can be exalted above the skeptic. "Thomas, you said 'prove it' and you believe now you have proof. But I say blessed are those who eat any crap they're given.":rolleyes:

As Mr.Zappa said:

"The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden story. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your f*cking mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions...'Get smart and I'll f*ck you over,' sayeth the Lord. Is this not an absolutely anti-intellectual religion?" - Frank Zappa.

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa.

You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

Turtwig

His/her grammar and general prose is too good to be troll . . .?

Delirium

PBroderick wrote: »

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa.

You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

and yet you offer no alternative interpretation to the story of Doubting Thomas.

He was told by the apostles that Jesus had resurrected, but chose not to believe due to lack of evidence. He then subsequently believes when Jesus reappears. Jesus says that those who believe without evidence are blessed.

The parable makes perfect sense within the context of an early cult trying to gather followers. Inject a story that essentially says that you will be looked on in a better light if you suppress any doubts about the story. It puts the idea in peoples heads to keep quiet if they have any reservations about the resurrection story.

Now if you want to abandon your condescending tone and offer an alternative interpretation, then we might get somewhere.

fitz0

PBroderick wrote: »

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa.

You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

How about you explain why people are wrong rather than just saying it?

Sarky

Blessed are those who have not demanded evidence or more than a snotty embittered opinion and just take PBroderick at face value :pac:

Corkfeen

PBroderick wrote: »

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa.

You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

It's rare that we get a poster that is as condescending as you are. Yet you aren't particularly able to refute a point at the very same time. The story was clearly used to get the masses to keep their mouths shut in terms of questioning Christianity...

Kivaro

Jernal wrote: »

His/her grammar and general prose is too good to be troll . . .?

The best thing to do is to ignore obvious troll comments/questions. If you don't, the hand bags eventually start swinging and then the thread gets derailed and possibly closed, and the mission is accomplished for them.

Any pseudo-intelligent comments should be addressed, but:
“Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people.”

Rasheed

Kivaro wrote: »

The best thing to do is to ignore obvious troll comments/questions. If you don't, the hand bags eventually start swinging and then the thread gets derailed and possibly closed, and the mission is accomplished for them.

Any pseudo-intelligent comments should be addressed, but:
“Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people.”

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

Improbable

Rasheed wrote: »

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

Don't worry, we're not.

Bannasidhe

Rasheed wrote: »

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

You have nothing to worry about on that score.

Turtwig

Rasheed wrote: »

Kivaro wrote: »

The best thing to do is to ignore obvious troll comments/questions. If you don't, the hand bags eventually start swinging and then the thread gets derailed and possibly closed, and the mission is accomplished for them.

Any pseudo-intelligent comments should be addressed, but:
“Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people.”

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

Don't worry we only host our Catholic hunger games in August and as you're already a crowd favorite the odds are very much in your favor. Sponsor wise anyway.

Sarky

Rasheed wrote: »

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

That there is no lower limit to human stupidity?

old hippy

PBroderick wrote: »

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa.

You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

Zappa made acres more sense than ancient fairy tales.

Bannasidhe

old hippy wrote: »

Zappa made acres more sense than ancient fairy tales.

That quote certainly did - and that from someone who is so allergic to Zappa she gets a rash just reading his name.

PickledLime

Why am i an atheist?

Well i had a good read of the auld Bible, figured it didn't make much sense, also figured i'd be better off taking responsibility for my own actions and that my own success and failures would be in my name only. I'm a also a student of science, and it has presented the most plausible explanation for a lot of stuff (i'm not stating that science is a belief system, i'm just stating that it has provided the most plausible explanations for a lot of things (eg. evolution) and i operate on the mantra of 'proof or it didn't happen').

I'm also comfortable about this because i've been told that God created man - if so why allow him to doubt his master's existence? So if i ever stand before him, i'm gonna pull him for defective design!

I've also been told he's all forgiving, so if he does exist i'll just ask for forgiveness!

endacl

Rasheed wrote: »

Kivaro wrote: »

The best thing to do is to ignore obvious troll comments/questions. If you don't, the hand bags eventually start swinging and then the thread gets derailed and possibly closed, and the mission is accomplished for them.

Any pseudo-intelligent comments should be addressed, but:
“Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people.”

Please don't lump me in with PBroderick! Actually don't know what point he's trying to prove here.

No danger if you being lumped. You've been a breath of fresh air...

robindch

Dades wrote: »

Seriously, fun's over. It's clear you've nothing to offer except rudeness and horrible factual inaccuracies. Post something useful - or at least civil - or I'm chucking you out.

PBroderick wrote: »

You embarrass yourself with your lack of comprehension of Doubting Thomas, and compound your embarrassment by quoting Frank Zappa. You are out of your depth in this forum big style.

PB - see you in one week's time.

Rasheed

endacl wrote: »

No danger if you being lumped. You've been a breath of fresh air...

Ah thanks! Well I've enjoyed this no end and thanks everyone for being so honest. And I hope I answered any question ye had to the best of my ability!

On a completely different matter, England were in hard luck tonight.

old hippy

Rasheed wrote: »

Ah thanks! Well I've enjoyed this no end and thanks everyone for being so honest. And I hope I answered any question ye had to the best of my ability!

On a completely different matter, England were in hard luck tonight.

Well, we may not be able to prove that god exists but I think we can safely say he's not an Englishman

Dades

Rasheed wrote: »

On a completely different matter, England were in hard luck tonight.

Can't agree... they played for penalties so can't cry when it bit them in the ass. And I wanted them to play better and go through.

Jimoslimos

old hippy wrote: »

Well, we may not be able to prove that god exists but I think we can safely say he's not an Englishman

Mustn't have prayed hard enough!

Rasheed

Me too. Just waiting for après match now!

Kivaro

Rasheed wrote: »

On a completely different matter, England were in hard luck tonight.

That's it. We're taking back everything nice we said about you.
(Only kidding)

Rasheed

Right one last question.

Has anything ever made you question your atheism? Have you ever come across anything that made you think, you know, maybe there is a God?
I'm just thinking from my side, I've questioned my faith at times.