I quit being a Christian back when I was 15, and every since then I have been looking for the religion that fit me. I never found one, the closest was Unitarian, but it wasn't that close. I've been reading God, No! By Penn Jillette and I really like his point of view on why he is an atheist. It has gotten me to think and i feel like i relate more a lot to atheist than anyone else. I still believe in a god, but my idea of god is different from anyone else's. So being an atheist isn't a 100% match, but it's much closer than anything else i have found. Just wanted to share this everyone on here. Once i finish this stack of books im working on now i plan on picking up so Dawkins and Hitchens to read.

an atheist aligns with them not believing in ANY god, NO higher power, etc.


So being an atheist is a 100% match,

did you mean isn't?

I still believe in a god, but my idea of god is different from anyone else's.

wouldnt that make you an agnostic?

I am rather curious, what is your idea of god?

Posted by .Kyle I am rather curious, what is your idea of god?

Church Of General Motors

Chevrolet Sect

what's funny, is that I have no concept of god. In my opinion, there is none. Now, here's where it gets interesting, so pay attention. I am a big believer in karma and a communal mind. I also believe that if fucking all these idiotic 'gods' weren't in the way, us humans could go so much further.

Posted by MonkeyPunchBaby I quit being a Christian back when I was 15, and every since then I have been looking for the religion that fit me. I never found one, the closest was Unitarian, but it wasn't that close. I've been reading God, No! By Penn Jillette and I really like his point of view on why he is an atheist. It has gotten me to think and i feel like i relate more a lot to atheist than anyone else. I still believe in a god, but my idea of god is different from anyone else's. So being an atheist isn't a 100% match, but it's much closer than anything else i have found. Just wanted to share this everyone on here. Once i finish this stack of books im working on now i plan on picking up so Dawkins and Hitchens to read.

You sound more agnostic than atheist.

Like the term "Urban Exploration," trying to put a name on something often taints it. You don't need to define it to yourself in simple terms that other people want to hear.

atheists cant believe in karma or a collective mind. Anything which can't be proven by science is faith, and atheism rejects faith of any kind. There either is something supernatural, or there is not.

Monkey, you sound like an agnostic to me as well. Don't worry though, many "atheists" are actually agnostics, it's just cooler to tell people you're an atheist these days.

Sigh

Posted by MrGreenJeans atheists cant believe in karma or a collective mind. Anything which can't be proven by science is faith, and atheism rejects faith of any kind. There either is something supernatural, or there is not.

Posted by MrGreenJeans atheists cant believe in karma or a collective mind. Anything which can't be proven by science is faith, and atheism rejects faith of any kind.

Ummm, no. Thanks for playing, we have lovely parting gifts for you. But you have no idea what you are talking about.

Atheism-rejection of the belief in deities.
Theism-the belief in one (or more) deities.
Monotheism-belief in a single deity.
Polytheism-belief in more than one deity.

You see the pattern here right? All these words come from Greek. All have the same base, because all deal with the same issue.

Gods.

Not karma or collective unconscious or ghosts or ESP or Or any other supernatural foolishness. Just gods. You can believe anything else you want and be an atheist. You simply don't do gods. Period.

I recall having to lecture you on the scientific and social contributions of ancient Greece before. Now we are on Greek word derivation. Do you need a reading list?

Posted by underdark Not karma or collective unconscious or ghosts or ESP or Or any other supernatural foolishness. Just gods. You can believe anything else you want and be an atheist. You simply don't do gods. Period.

Oh course, it does make you a huge hypocrite to believe in the supernatural and then belittle others beliefs in the "supernatural".

Posted by underdark Not karma or collective unconscious or ghosts or ESP or Or any other supernatural foolishness. Just gods. You can believe anything else you want and be an atheist. You simply don't do gods. Period.

In fairness, most atheists reject all belief in the supernatural, including karma. An atheist who believed in ghosts would get ridiculed, or at least challenged in their belief.

Also, most atheists, including Richard Dawkins, are technically agnostic, in that they allow for the possibility that a god might exist, but those who self-identify as atheists believe the chances for that are incredibly unlikely.

Words are woefully inadequate for describing beliefs, but if someone were to claim to be an atheist, they should believe that there are no gods. Technically, it is a rejection of a belief in gods, but Bob's your uncle.

I rather firmly believe that there are no gods, at least in the sense that most people define gods. At the very least, I am quite comfortable saying that there are no conscious gods. I don't believe in Karma or ghosts or any of the other standard spiritual supernatural tropes, but I have some suspicion that things are connected in ways in which we have absolutely no comprehension; maybe all matter, maybe all living things, who knows....

If so, than those connections/interactions/etc are probably partly responsible for some of the commonality of archetypes and themes throughout cultures and religions, although I see no reason why all of that cannot be explained through a natural function of meme evolution dependent upon patterns of consciousness that were developed themselves as a result of natural selection.

TL;DR - Why do you feel pressured into aligning yourself with a particular faith/opinion right now?


My question is why do people struggle so much to align themselves with a belief? Why does it matter? (Note: I'm not saying it does or does not matter) I feel like figuring out your personal view of these things isn't something you can really find in a book. It certainly doesn't seem right that it should be something that someone assigns to you either. Society seems to jam it down our throats that if you don't accept some kind of faith or opinion on the whole matter, whether that be Christian or Athiest you damn well better find one asap. There seems to be a lot of prejudice against "agnostics" for that reason. I think that's rather silly.

I suppose one response to this would be something along the lines of, "Well if you don't believe and god and he exists then you will go to hell" (ohai Pascal's wager!), but that in itself seems to be more of a social control thing. After all, that bit is coming from a HUMAN, not a spiritual entity.

Me? I have no idea if there is a god and I really don't care either way. While I greatly enjoy reading about various faiths and schools of though, I don't feel any pressure to pick one to align myself with.

Does the ant have any comprehension that a human can come along and take a magnifying glass to it? Does the cell have any comprehension that it creates an organ, or that that organ is a part of a human/animal? Before people start babbling, "OMG DONT COMPARE US TO ANTS WERE LIEK SUPER AWESOME AND SHIT" I'm trying to illustrate the point that things seem to be small pieces of a greater whole. The closest I have come to defining my idea of "god" is that we are pieces of a whole. So if we are, would there be any way for us to recognize that? And would it be of any consequence to our existence?

And what a pathetic god it would be if it actually cared what we thought of it.

Well I suppose we really wouldn't be able to comprehend a god if we didn't keep sticking human characteristics to it.

Posted by splumer In fairness, most atheists reject all belief in the supernatural, including karma. An atheist who believed in ghosts would get ridiculed, or at least challenged in their belief. Also, most atheists, including Richard Dawkins, are technically agnostic, in that they allow for the possibility that a god might exist, but those who self-identify as atheists believe the chances for that are incredibly unlikely.

Dawkins and others use the term "weak" atheism to describe the concept of allowing for the possibility of a god, while not finding any reason to believe in a god. This is compatible with the concept of not being able to prove a negative.

"Strong" atheism on the other hand is the absolute denial of the existence of god. This is slightly less honest intellectually, but in practice, given our collective wisdom and the sheer number of possibilities, it is probably pretty safe to assert, for all intents and purposes, that there is no god.

Posted by MonkeyPunchBaby I've been reading God, No! By Penn Jillette and I really like his point of view on why he is an atheist. It has gotten me to think and i feel like i relate more a lot to atheist than anyone else.

The best quote so far from God, No!:

Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.