Anyone non-religious here? Please be nice!

[dirtdoctor]

Quote:
That is what I was trying to say in a earlier post, Those Bigoted Religious people are missing the boat. A follower of Christ is a liberator, Christ held women in such high fashion and respect, he went to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles, The "CHURCH" of RELIGIOUS people of that day had such different ideas LAWS, bondage, not freedom and peace. He came to a prostitute at the well, not in judgment, but in compassion. The blind he healed on the "JEW's Sabbath", The Religious of that day thought that was so bad they chocked it up to another reason to kill him. So, when you see "christians" behaiving with out compassion, being legalistic, and unforgiving or judgmental, well, they are Nominal Christians, in name only, Not immitating Christ's actions, Living without a relationship with Christ. True Christianity is all about a relationship not a religion. Just sayin...

 

[phaethona]

obviously jumping in waaay late into the convo, but couldn't resist

to answer the post title ?, yes, and of course!

I pondered the existence of god for many years never being able to find answers that made sense. when I got to college I stumbled across some wonderful schools of thought in various philosophy and religion courses, and along with my own ongoing reading and reasoning, realized that what made sense to me was no god at all, ever. my dismissal of god has been by far the most intellectually and emotionally liberating experience of my life. but like just about everything else in the world(especially in my life), there's something paradoxical about atheism, I've never met another atheist who wasn't happy, at peace, thoughtful, caring, however we are among the most discriminated against solely based on the views we've arrived at. I'm not talking about the pledge of allegiance or "in god we trust" on US currency, the knife runs much deeper than that.

which brings me to my point in posting this, I'm happy to see an open discussion without things getting ugly because that just doesn't happen very often. we've always been taught to never talk about religion or politics, but I think that's silly. true, there is a time and place for everything, but it is just as important to thoughtfully disagree as it is to agree. it's a great way to build understanding, compassion and tolerance. so thank you to those of you who are open to respectfully discuss thoughts and ideas regardless of whether you accept them or not.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Quote:
Alot of times I find it easier to say I am of a religion that they at least recognize. Not to lie, I am very spiritual! But I don;t believe in organized religion and I don't believe in the god other people do. So I choose to pick my battles. The problem is my daughter, who during her teens years I expect to rebel by becoming a fundamentalist evangelical christian, does not hesitate to tell people she does not believe in god and is still upset by people's reactions. Now she has a new friend who is Mormon, so I spent a good deal of time explaining the religion to her as openly and non-judgmentally as I can, but it is still an issue between her and this girl. (We all made a breakthrough this past week when ehr parents relented and let her spend the night after mom and I talked.

How do you convince some one that atheists are not evil??

We just talked about how we respect their religion and hold many of the same values we just show them differently. It must have worked.

 

[gogoalie]

IHWIMY, becareful...them Mormons'll convert yer daughter...

 

[phaethona]

How do you convince some one that atheists are not evil??

We just talked about how we respect their religion and hold many of the same values we just show them differently. It must have worked.

sometimes you can't

there is a common fallacy that god provides morals and without god one is also without morals. nothing could be further from the truth. true, we don't have someone to ask forgiveness from when we have "sinned" but rather than seeing it as a free-for-all, we see it as more of a reason not to make bad decisions in the first place. we don't think "there's no god so we do what we want", but rather "it's up to us right now to make things right because god's not gonna save us from our mistakes". we reap what we sow. there are no second chances, afterlife redemption, or ultimate judgement to even the score. there's a lot of talk about moral compasses, but there's absolutely no substance to state that atheists are any less moral than anyone else, that's just hooey.


redux: I don't suppose you are/used to be on cafemom? I used to get on there in the AP group and there was a "redux" there who talked about being spiritual but not religious. just curious​

 

[deb1]

As a lover of Family Guy, I have always thought it was interesting that the creator is an atheist. I know that Family Guy is one of those shows that not everyone likes but I enjoy it.

 

[deb1]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Quote:
Alot of times I find it easier to say I am of a religion that they at least recognize. Not to lie, I am very spiritual! But I don;t believe in organized religion and I don't believe in the god other people do. So I choose to pick my battles. The problem is my daughter, who during her teens years I expect to rebel by becoming a fundamentalist evangelical christian, does not hesitate to tell people she does not believe in god and is still upset by people's reactions. Now she has a new friend who is Mormon, so I spent a good deal of time explaining the religion to her as openly and non-judgmentally as I can, but it is still an issue between her and this girl. (We all made a breakthrough this past week when ehr parents relented and let her spend the night after mom and I talked.

How do you convince some one that atheists are not evil??

We just talked about how we respect their religion and hold many of the same values we just show them differently. It must have worked.

I think that some religious people feel that the existence of God is so obvious that they can't understand how someone could deny his existence. To them, the atheist seems to be purposefully blind to his existence.

Most of the time, people just assume that I am of their faith and I don't argue. Yes, that is cowardly but I don't want the debate or conversion attempts. One of my aunts sent me an invitation to pray for a month for our hubbies. I agreed because, heck, I send good thought toward my husband all the time. Isn't that what prayer is? I suppose that I could have argued with her but it would have hurt her feelings. She simply wouldn't have understood.​

 

[phaethona]

we're by far a minority, but there are a lot of famous atheists out there, Einstein, Lance Armstrong, Eddie Vedder(my personal fav)
here's a list:
http://www.celebatheists.com/edit/index.php?title=Category:Atheist&until=Kinsella,+W.P.

 

[phaethona]

I think that some religious people feel that the existence of God is so obvious that they can't understand how someone could deny his existence. To them, the atheist seems to be purposefully blind to his existence.

I can see that, usually people seem to have "how could you not believe in god?" mentality. and I've seen a lot of people who seem to think that atheists arrive at their state of non-belief out of hatred for god, like a traumatizing experience at church or something, like we've been scared, angry or unfortunate to not see god. that's certainly not the case for me, in the end if I'm wrong and there is a god, I take comfort in knowing that I've never presumed on our friendship. and if the devout religious are right and you have to maintain a relationship with god in life in order to be accepted after death, then I'll not endear him with the name of God, he'll be "that dude" (for giving me the gift of free thought and blaming me for using)​

 

[SillyChicken]

Quote:
I can see that, usually people seem to have "how could you not believe in god?" mentality. and I've seen a lot of people who seem to think that atheists arrive at their state of non-belief out of hatred for god, like a traumatizing experience at church or something, like we've been scared, angry or unfortunate to not see god. that's certainly not the case for me, in the end if I'm wrong and there is a god, I take comfort in knowing that I've never presumed on our friendship. and if the devout religious are right and you have to maintain a relationship with god in life in order to be accepted after death, then I'll not endear him with the name of God, he'll be "that dude" (for giving me the gift of free thought and blaming me for using)

"That Dude" will have to remember that!

Most of my experience growing up had some church involvement... Some of my experiences were great.... most of them however, especially through family, were not that great. Even at a very young age, I was so turned off by the way "christians" acted or treated me and other people, from the boy in youth group that singled me out and made me feel bad in front of the whole group because I was flat chested, to my mother acting holyier than all get up only on Sunday, and was a total B***** the rest of the week..

. I was judged severely by my aunt, (the preachers wife) to the point, where I don't even like her to this day...(Although, I love my Uncle, the Reverand, cause he really is a good guy and is what I picture what a christian person should be like). She's more worried about appearance and is very controlling and judgemental... go figure!

I decided I can be a good person and not pretend to be something I'm not by claiming to be religious..., so this was decided when I was like 12! I don't think I'm bitter about religion because of my experiences. I just could never see it fitting in my life and the way I felt it should be lived.

IF there is a god, let me be judged by my actions, by "the dude" at that time and by no one else. In the mean time, I don't do what I want if I feel it's moraly wrong, with the idea that if I ask for forgiveness or confess.... that everything should be honky dorry!

So now I'm 44 and I still don't feel compelled to change my beliefs.