What are your thoughts on Atheism?

[The Smith Protectorate]

The skeptical view is absolutely insane and illogical. You would need proof that Zimbabwe exists! Or some other country. All of the maps could be lying you know

Skepticism is not an automatic "No that's bullshit!" switch.

Skepticism is when you want to find out what is true and what is not. So you observe and study the evidence and come To a conclusion from that. The proof that Zombabwe exists is that there are people from there, pictures of Zimbabwe, it's on the map, there are likely people who study the culture of Zimbabwe. Another proof of Zombabwe is that you can actually GO there

Why do you believe Christians 'of old' thought the world as flat?

[Crysuko]

Skepticism is not an automatic "No that's bullshit!" switch.

Skepticism is when you want to find out what is true and what is not. So you observe and study the evidence and come To a conclusion from that. The proof that Zombabwe exists is that there are people from there, pictures of Zimbabwe, it's on the map, there are likely people who study the culture of Zimbabwe. Another proof of Zombabwe is that you can actually GO there

Why do you believe Christians 'of old' thought the world as flat?

because they did?

[The Rich Port]

... Of disorganized, multiple conspiracies?

Here's a list of 4 televangelists caught and imprisoned for fraud. Popoff, in particular, has been apprehended more than twice for defrauding his followers.

I see. So shall i assume that, given the similar "liberties" governing officials have taken with tax payer money, government too represents a vile conspiracy against the masses?

Or football officials? Is America n football a conspiracy?

Or school teachers? Is education a conspiracy?

How are any of those things comparable to knowingly selling people lies for money? How the hell is the government misusing tax payer money comparable to education, to paying to watch a football game? What the FUCK are you on and about?

[Creepoc Infinite]

Skepticism is not an automatic "No that's bullshit!" switch.

Skepticism is when you want to find out what is true and what is not. So you observe and study the evidence and come To a conclusion from that. The proof that Zombabwe exists is that there are people from there, pictures of Zimbabwe, it's on the map, there are likely people who study the culture of Zimbabwe. Another proof of Zombabwe is that you can actually GO there

Why do you believe Christians 'of old' thought the world as flat?

The bible implies it and everyone thought the world was flat at that point in time when the Old Testament was written.

[Dyakovo]

this raises an interesting question, ignorance with bliss or knowledge with despair.

that is utter bullshit, as it assumes G-d doesn't exist.

Which is a safe and logical assumption.

[Megali Helles]

.... what? Thats non sequitur. I didnt suggest that. I specifically pointed out that logical deductions about God exist because theology is the discipline in which such deductions are made.

i'm emulating such the logic you used, knowingly or not.

No. You made the mental leap to reinforce the notion you assumed existed. This isnt a thread in which my own particular bent for or against the existence of God is relevant. In fact, not a single post of mine has suggested a position thereof. There was no logic, knowingly or unknowingly, used by me in this regard as i have intentionally avoided the topic you invented.

[ESTU]

So, to everyone, religious and otherwise.
What are your thoughts on atheism, and why?

Also, if you're not an atheist, what would convince you to be one?
If you are one, what convinced you to be atheist?

My reasoning behind knowing Christians and likely all other religions are wrong is this:

The reasons why we cannot prove or disprove the existence of a god is because of this:
God is only a word. If you wrote on a piece of paper the word "GOD" other people would look at it and see different things, interpret the word as meaning something different. If you wrote a word like "GUN" everyone knows what it is.
God is a word with no clear definition, that's why we can't prove or disprove it. We don't know anything about this god to take any definitive stance on the issue of whether or not he exists.
That's why I am an Agnostic Atheist in that regard.
I don't know if there is a god, because we have no information on what the hell a god is.
However, the problem arises when you take away the mystery and ambiguity surrounding the very basic and abstract concept of god.
If you define god in a way that we could test the definition, we wouldn't really disprove the existence of a god, we would just disprove the existence of that particular definition of a god.
Religions go as far to describe how god thinks, what he wants, what he looks like, how he operates, his personality, his involvement in human affairs.
These thing are described in the holy book or scriptures of this god.
Now we have something testable!
The Christians' problem is that they make positive assertions about what their god is like! If you can prove that god doesn't fit into just one of the Christian criteria, he becomes null and void no longer applicable for consideration.
They call god all powerful, this is impossible because can god create a boulder so massive even he himself cannot lift it?
They say he's omniscient, yet if he is all knowing, can he know that he doesn't know something? And if he did, he still would not know something.
They say he's omnibenevolent, yet he has caused so much suffering and death and evil to transpire. You may argue that what he says is good, is good by definition, but when we say something is benevolent, we are applying it to the standards of today's morals, not the bible's
They say he's omnipresent, but he isn't because that means we would be him by definition and would have to both worship and not worship ourselves and him, he also Is described as not being omnipresent in the bible.
They say he makes miracle happen, yet there are more reasonable and more likely explanations for "miracles" occurring then the idea of a god intervening, and even so, there is no evidence of him actually committing these miracles.
Top this off with disproven ideas contained within the bible, stories with parallels with other, older mythologies that denotes some degree of plagiarism, the unreliability of the bibles's information, archaic rituals, magic, etc.
They thought the earth is flat, diseases could be cured with spitting in the wound, dragons, sea monsters, unicorns, zombies
It is clearly false. The god of the bible cannot exist by definition because of the paradoxical nature of the Christian definition of god, as well as the unreliability, and clear plagiarism found in the bible.
That's why the Christian definition of god is not the right one, it is false because the definition makes no logical sense and the dogma and stories are clearly ripped from older religions.

It's a depressing philosophy that offers no value to my life, nor any reason to continue living. For me to convert from comfortable deism would take evidence that directly contradicts the existence of god.

[Crysuko]

i'm emulating such the logic you used, knowingly or not.

No. You made the mental leap to reinforce the notion you assumed existed. This isnt a thread in which my own particular bent for or against the existence of God is relevant. In fact, not a single post of mine has suggested a position thereof. There was no logic, knowingly or unknowingly, used by me in this regard as i have intentionally avoided the topic you invented.

you've misunderstood me.

X exists, Y is tangentinally related, so X must be connected to Y.

[The Rich Port]

does the government make it a business of feeding such gross misinformation and lies to those who follow it?

I wonder. Obviously Rich believes it so. Since 4 televangelists are indicative of a centuries long multifaceted conspiracy.

Yeah, I never said that. Ever. I clearly stated that it's unlikely to be a conspiracy of that scope.

[The Smith Protectorate]

Why do you believe Christians 'of old' thought the world as flat?

The bible implies it and everyone thought the world was flat at that point in time when the Old Testament was written.

Google globus cruciger, then edit the OP.

[Creepoc Infinite]

i'm emulating such the logic you used, knowingly or not.

No. You made the mental leap to reinforce the notion you assumed existed.This isnt a thread in which my own particular bent for or against the existence of God is relevant. In fact, not a single post of mine has suggested a position thereof. There was no logic, knowingly or unknowingly, used by me in this regard as i have intentionally avoided the topic you invented.

Exactly! That's what you did

[Megali Helles]

Has the modern evangelist?

no, but they accuse and lie fit to burst so I wouldn't be surprised if at least one was tied to a murder

... so... conspiracies and conspirators are everywhere then?

[Megali Helles]

.... what? Thats non sequitur. I didnt suggest that. I specifically pointed out that logical deductions about God exist because theology is the discipline in which such deductions are made.

Regardless, the reason theologians don't have reliable evidence that god exists is because they start off with "God Exists" and then pick and choose what pieces of information support their confirmations bias and then publish those as evidence.

Thats nice and all, but irrelevant.

[Dyakovo]

ha ha ha no. if atheism is a religion, then off is a TV channel. Atheism is a lack of religion, to call it one goes against the definition of the term.

Look, technically it may be a 'lack' of religion, but it is still considered a religion

Wrong on both counts.

[Infected Mushroom]

its not a rational position...

God COULD exist. It can't be disproved.

[The Rich Port]

the modern government hasn't executed people (publically, anyway) for showing the least bit of dissent.

Has the modern evangelist?

Uh, actually, yeah, a few have.

They're called abortion clinic bombers, as one example.

[Crysuko]

no, but they accuse and lie fit to burst so I wouldn't be surprised if at least one was tied to a murder

... so... conspiracies and conspirators are everywhere then?

and now it's your turn to come up with a non-sequitur

[Creepoc Infinite]

So, to everyone, religious and otherwise.
What are your thoughts on atheism, and why?

Also, if you're not an atheist, what would convince you to be one?
If you are one, what convinced you to be atheist?

My reasoning behind knowing Christians and likely all other religions are wrong is this:

The reasons why we cannot prove or disprove the existence of a god is because of this:
God is only a word. If you wrote on a piece of paper the word "GOD" other people would look at it and see different things, interpret the word as meaning something different. If you wrote a word like "GUN" everyone knows what it is.
God is a word with no clear definition, that's why we can't prove or disprove it. We don't know anything about this god to take any definitive stance on the issue of whether or not he exists.
That's why I am an Agnostic Atheist in that regard.
I don't know if there is a god, because we have no information on what the hell a god is.
However, the problem arises when you take away the mystery and ambiguity surrounding the very basic and abstract concept of god.
If you define god in a way that we could test the definition, we wouldn't really disprove the existence of a god, we would just disprove the existence of that particular definition of a god.
Religions go as far to describe how god thinks, what he wants, what he looks like, how he operates, his personality, his involvement in human affairs.
These thing are described in the holy book or scriptures of this god.
Now we have something testable!
The Christians' problem is that they make positive assertions about what their god is like! If you can prove that god doesn't fit into just one of the Christian criteria, he becomes null and void no longer applicable for consideration.
They call god all powerful, this is impossible because can god create a boulder so massive even he himself cannot lift it?
They say he's omniscient, yet if he is all knowing, can he know that he doesn't know something? And if he did, he still would not know something.
They say he's omnibenevolent, yet he has caused so much suffering and death and evil to transpire. You may argue that what he says is good, is good by definition, but when we say something is benevolent, we are applying it to the standards of today's morals, not the bible's
They say he's omnipresent, but he isn't because that means we would be him by definition and would have to both worship and not worship ourselves and him, he also Is described as not being omnipresent in the bible.
They say he makes miracle happen, yet there are more reasonable and more likely explanations for "miracles" occurring then the idea of a god intervening, and even so, there is no evidence of him actually committing these miracles.
Top this off with disproven ideas contained within the bible, stories with parallels with other, older mythologies that denotes some degree of plagiarism, the unreliability of the bibles's information, archaic rituals, magic, etc.
They thought the earth is flat, diseases could be cured with spitting in the wound, dragons, sea monsters, unicorns, zombies
It is clearly false. The god of the bible cannot exist by definition because of the paradoxical nature of the Christian definition of god, as well as the unreliability, and clear plagiarism found in the bible.
That's why the Christian definition of god is not the right one, it is false because the definition makes no logical sense and the dogma and stories are clearly ripped from older religions.

It's a depressing philosophy that offers no value to my life, nor any reason to continue living. For me to convert from comfortable deism would take evidence that directly contradicts the existence of god.

It doesn't have to offer you value because atheism doesn't offer anything but a more open mind.
(In regards to science and evidence)
There is no evidence that directly contradicts a deist god. May I ask why you waste your time believing in something if there's no reason for you to? And that's not supported by science?

[Crysuko]

Regardless, the reason theologians don't have reliable evidence that god exists is because they start off with "God Exists" and then pick and choose what pieces of information support their confirmations bias and then publish those as evidence.

Thats nice and all, but irrelevant.

it's relevent, you just don't want to address it.

[Megali Helles]

I see. So shall i assume that, given the similar "liberties" governing officials have taken with tax payer money, government too represents a vile conspiracy against the masses?

Or football officials? Is America n football a conspiracy?

Or school teachers? Is education a conspiracy?

How are any of those things comparable to knowingly selling people lies for money? How the hell is the government misusing tax payer money comparable to education, to paying to watch a football game? What the FUCK are you on and about?

Governing officials have been indicted for misuse of public funds. Ergo, according to your logic, government, like religion, a conspiracy because a random example of a criminal is a justifiable articulation of the entire institution. Amirite?

[Creepoc Infinite]

its not a rational position...

God COULD exist. It can't be disproved.

A deist god has the possibility to exist, whereas personal gods of religions can be disproven.

[Infected Mushroom]

It's a depressing philosophy that offers no value to my life, nor any reason to continue living. For me to convert from comfortable deism would take evidence that directly contradicts the existence of god.

It doesn't have to offer you value because atheism doesn't offer anything but a more open mind.
(In regards to science and evidence)
There is no evidence that directly contradicts a deist god. May I ask why you waste your time believing in something if there's no reason for you to? And that's not supported by science?

its not more open-minded. It does one of two things.

1) it just assumes a default position of their being no God

2) it demonstrates a lack of faith

Neither of the above two options necessarily demonstrates a more open mind

[The Smith Protectorate]

It's a depressing philosophy that offers no value to my life, nor any reason to continue living. For me to convert from comfortable deism would take evidence that directly contradicts the existence of god.

It doesn't have to offer you value because atheism doesn't offer anything but a more open mind.
(In regards to science and evidence)
There is no evidence that directly contradicts a deist god. May I ask why you waste your time believing in something if there's no reason for you to? And that's not supported by science?

A flat world doesn't flood, also Greeks are accurate to within 1% of earth's circumference.

[Infected Mushroom]

its not a rational position...

God COULD exist. It can't be disproved.

A deist god has the possibility to exist, whereas personal gods of religions can be disproven.

the existence of gods, cannot be disproven

they are above the tools of science

science is a man-made method. Gods/God > Man

[Crysuko]

It doesn't have to offer you value because atheism doesn't offer anything but a more open mind.
(In regards to science and evidence)
There is no evidence that directly contradicts a deist god. May I ask why you waste your time believing in something if there's no reason for you to? And that's not supported by science?

its not more open-minded. It does one of two things.

1) it just assumes a default position of their being no God

2) it demonstrates a lack of faith

Neither of the above two options necessarily demonstrates a more open mind

1. conclusion based on evidence
2. a nessecity of the above
but they don't demonstrate a closed mind, either.