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How do you view atheists?

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Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i think many of them are anti-religion
many are actively opposed to all religion and want to use secular power (govt.) to remove all religion from society

Yes, many atheist activist types are like this. Thankfully they are a very tiny minority.

Others, like myself, see the hypocrisy in that and know that true religious freedom is the ONLY reason why I am allowed to not believe in a religion.

And true religious freedom is only possible under a government that remains 100% neutral on matters of religion.


A 100% neutral government would be a secular one, neither denying or endorsing religion. And others, like myself, believe as you do that freedom of religion is important. But we also believe that religion is a negative on society, and that eduacation on the subject is the way to rid ourselves of this negative.

Religion isn't always a negative. For some people it's just the crutch they need to function.

If you push anti-religious education down other's throats, you're no better than religious evangelists who do the same. And push comes to shove, THEY will win. So why even start the war?
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i think many of them are anti-religion
many are actively opposed to all religion and want to use secular power (govt.) to remove all religion from society

Yes, many atheist activist types are like this. Thankfully they are a very tiny minority.

Others, like myself, see the hypocrisy in that and know that true religious freedom is the ONLY reason why I am allowed to not believe in a religion.

And true religious freedom is only possible under a government that remains 100% neutral on matters of religion.


A 100% neutral government would be a secular one, neither denying or endorsing religion. And others, like myself, believe as you do that freedom of religion is important. But we also believe that religion is a negative on society, and that eduacation on the subject is the way to rid ourselves of this negative.

Religion isn't always a negative. For some people it's just the crutch they need to function.

If you push anti-religious education down other's throats, you're no better than religious evangelists who do the same. And push comes to shove, THEY will win. So why even start the war?


I don't mean education in a "I'm right, you're wrong" sort of way. Rather from a scientific and scholarly perspective. Teaching children the facts about evolution, disseminating scientific information through news outlets and national magazines (rather than political diatribes and celebrity gossip). It needs to be a fundamental change in the way society is run.

And to answer your question. The war needs to be started, and fought, for the advancement of the human race. Religion holds us all back socially, economically, and scientifically.

 
Asking atheists *and* non-atheists how they view atheists is obviously going to be skewed. Best to start over and direct the poll only to atheists.
 
Originally posted by: homercles337

Youre a nit wit. Atheism has nothing to do with belief. Do you "believe" the sun will rise tomorrow?

Sure do, unless you can prove to me that nothing in the solar system can go wrong and cause an explosion. We don't believe there is anything like that that will happen, but we're not confident. To believe that you know the sun will rise tomorrow is folly. You would have to have not only certain knowledge of every individual atom within the solar system (and possibly beyond), but you would have to have a perfect understanding of the chemical reactions within the sun. As I'm fairly certain you have neither, I see no intelligence in you claim to "know" the sun will rise tomorrow. All you can say is, "if conditions continue in their current state, the sun should rise tomorrow.."

Do you "believe" that you will fall to the earth if you step off the roof of a VERY tall building?

See answer above.

I dont have to "believe" that the sun will rise, i know it will. Do you even understand the difference between belief and knowledge? Our best knowledge says the sun will rise for thousands of billions of years to come, thus we dont believe it will we know it will. Do you believe the sun will NOT rise tomorrow. Care to wager a bet?

Yes, your best knowledge would be correct. Yet your pride would prohibit you from acknowledging that you best knowledge if still pathetically small.

Don't get me wrong. I love science. I use it every day. But science is nothing more than laws and rule based upon the current state of objects. Nothing we can do, say, or prove will ever show that these object can not at some point in time change their state. Consider the Big Bang. Are these objects today in the same state they were in prior to the Big Bang?

 
I don't want to get into an epistemological debate or anything, so I will use weasel words to qualify. Some people, including myself, believe that knowledge only exists if the item is question is not only true, but a person actually has rational reason to believe it to be true.

Therefore, according to my definition of KNOW, one cannot KNOW that god does not exist, because it is rationally unsound to deny the existence of something everywhere in the universe, unless you yourself are omnipresent and omniscient and have observed the lack of a thing. In which case you are god, and you therefore cannot know that you do not exist.
 
Of course, many atheists believe that they know that god exists, so I should have voted for that anyway, but didn't see the "claim to know"
 
Originally posted by: engineereeyore
Originally posted by: homercles337

Youre a nit wit. Atheism has nothing to do with belief. Do you "believe" the sun will rise tomorrow?

Sure do, unless you can prove to me that nothing in the solar system can go wrong and cause an explosion. We don't believe there is anything like that that will happen, but we're not confident. To believe that you know the sun will rise tomorrow is folly. You would have to have not only certain knowledge of every individual atom within the solar system (and possibly beyond), but you would have to have a perfect understanding of the chemical reactions within the sun. As I'm fairly certain you have neither, I see no intelligence in you claim to "know" the sun will rise tomorrow. All you can say is, "if conditions continue in their current state, the sun should rise tomorrow.."

Do you "believe" that you will fall to the earth if you step off the roof of a VERY tall building?

See answer above.

I dont have to "believe" that the sun will rise, i know it will. Do you even understand the difference between belief and knowledge? Our best knowledge says the sun will rise for thousands of billions of years to come, thus we dont believe it will we know it will. Do you believe the sun will NOT rise tomorrow. Care to wager a bet?

Yes, your best knowledge would be correct. Yet your pride would prohibit you from acknowledging that you best knowledge if still pathetically small.

Don't get me wrong. I love science. I use it every day. But science is nothing more than laws and rule based upon the current state of objects. Nothing we can do, say, or prove will ever show that these object can not at some point in time change their state. Consider the Big Bang. Are these objects today in the same state they were in prior to the Big Bang?
Which is what I said a few replys up. I didn't want to go into the whole inductive logic aspect of it but pretty much said the same thing with far fewer paragraphs 🙂
 
I don't believe in atheists. I am an a-atheist-ist. When I hear that someone is an atheist I assume that he does not exist. Just as atheists would do with God if they existed.
 
Originally posted by: CSMR
I don't believe in atheists. I am an a-atheist-ist. When I hear that someone is an atheist I assume that he does not exist. Just as atheists would do with God if they existed.

Unlike god, an athiest can punch you in the face though. Then you just look stupid trying to pretend you got hit by the air.
 
How do I view Atheists? As a group that is so disoranized in their beliefs that I often hesitate to call them a group. More like a bunch of indivdiualists classified as a group so the Theists can make stereotypical generalizations about them.
 
Originally posted by: Warthog912
Originally posted by: jagec

Strive for intelligence, open-mindedness, and humility, no matter your creed, and you'll go much further in life than most people.


Quoted for sig.

Nah, this is going to be a better sig, because of the many levels:

"How do I view atheists? Down the barrel of my shotgun."

p.s. I don't care about what people believe in, as long as they don't bother me with it.

 
i'm athiest meaning i have no belief..it is not a religion
i dont care what anyone elses beliefs are and they shouldnt care about my lack of one

thoughts on religion are opinions and no one should force their opinion on others, especially childeren..thats brainwashing, let them form their own beliefs as they get older
 
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