Why did you pick atheism?

[Arlette]

I must be a pretty good debater if most of the atheists are deflecting because they are struggling. Please reread the OP.

The only one struggling here is you. I know exactly what I don't believe and why I don't believe it

 

[Roger Duke]

Atheist. There is no evidence that any god exists or has ever existed.

So, you have no doubt that God doesn't exist?

 

[Arlette]

So, you have no doubt that God doesn't exist?

None. Whatsoever

 

[Roger Duke]

None. Whatsoever

Hmmm, asking Lisa. Just wondered if she is an atheist or agnostic.

 

[Schism]

Atheism is the default state at birth. Indoctrination takes place later.

Hardly. Which remote jungle or island was discovered who's primitive inhabitants weren't worshiping something or someone?

Where does a tribe of atheists exist?

 

[Roger Duke]

You don't understand the words. Atheism is quite literally a lack of theism.

Agnostics lack theism, and are therefore athiests.

LOL They are two different words for a reason.
Heading to bed. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far.

 

[Lursa]

Hardly. Which remote jungle or island was discovered who's primitive inhabitants weren't worshiping something or someone?

Where does a tribe of atheists exist?

Since the beginning of human prehistory, tribes have used shamans, mystics, myths, etc to control the group's morals and behavior. Religion was invented to do that and because of human's inherent hierarchical social structure, it was one of the things, along with language, that enabled people to live together and protect themselves and resources from outsiders.

Where does any of that prove there's a "god" somewhere?

 

[Schism]

Since the beginning of human prehistory, tribes have used shamans, mystics, myths, etc to control the group's morals and behavior. Religion was invented to do that and because of human's inherent hierarchical social structure, it was one of the things, along with language, that enabled people to live together and protect themselves and resources from outsiders.

Where does any of that prove there's a "god" somewhere?

Surely there's one people group somewhere who didn't automatically start controlling their people with spiritism or religion?

There must be an atheist tribe or two who considered their existence to be completely random act of nature and nothing exists beyond?

Certainly you can point to at least one, or explain how no atheist tribe has ever existed.

 

[Lisa]

So, you have no doubt that God doesn't exist?

There is no objective evidence of any god, now or ever. All claims of god rely on faith or belief, which are subjective. The bible is not evidence of god.

 

[weaver2]

And yet there is no commandment against slavery, rape, child abuse...etc.

Well he was busy just trying to get slaves who never knew "family" to respect their fathers and mothers. You can't have a cohesive tribe without family. He was going to get to that other later.

 

[weaver2]

Are you proposing a religion forum where we shouldn't talk about religion?

The less said about everybody's religions, the better... probably

 

[Fabiusbile]

I stopped putting myself in any framework regarding faith a long time ago.
I was baptized, and I did it consciously, at the age of 18 (or I was 19, I don't remember), but it wasn't an act of faith, I went to war against Muslims, it was more a gesture.
Have I ever believed in God? I don't even know. I have never felt his love or presence, and I have found no reason to love him back.
However, I have seen believers, worthy people, people who suffered and died. And as you can see, I'm sitting and writing here.
Am I a good person? No, I did a lot of evil, a lot of disgusting things, and I was never tormented by conscience, I did not have nightmares, neither I nor my relatives were punished by His will, nor diseases, nor misfortunes.
Does God exist? I don't know, it may well be. However, he definitely does not love his children.

 

[Loulit01]

When true believers ask why you picked atheism, they have no interest in knowing why you picked atheism. They're merely looking for an opportunity to proselytize; thus my posts are ignored. But I'll try a third time just to prove it:

If there is a God, He allows little girls to get raped. He allows priests to molest little boys, famine, fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, genocides, war after war after war after war. God has destroyed the world by flood, cities by fire, there's the book of Job. If there is a God He's an evil, childish, sadistic failure.

So I choose to believe there's no God. I'm an atheist.

Show me where my logic is lacking.

 

[Loulit01]

Hardly. Which remote jungle or island was discovered who's primitive inhabitants weren't worshiping something or someone?

Where does a tribe of atheists exist?

I'm sorry I can't provide a remote island, but Japan is an island of atheists. Shinto and Buddhism are not God worshipping religions.


Some researchers have dismissed the idea as a non-useful tool in explaining Japanese society. Spirituality and worship are highly eclectic and personalized, and religious affiliation is an alien notion. While the vast majority of Japanese citizens follow Shinto, only some 3% identify as such in surveys, because the term is understood to imply membership of Shinto sects.[6][7] Some people identify as "without religion" (無宗教, mushūkyō), yet this does not signify irreligion. The mushūkyō is a specified identity which is used mostly to affirm regular, "normal" religiosity while rejecting affiliation with distinct movements perceived as foreign or extreme.[8][9] The rhetoric of nonreligiousness (mushūkyō) and its associations with Japanese identity have roots in the early modern Tokugawa state policy against Christianity and the modern Japanese imperial regime's effort to preserve its privileges over Japanese subjects through a discourse of "not religion" (hishūkyō).[10] Today, the term translated as 'religion' (shūkyō) has negative connotations for many Japanese, as it is associated with exclusivist groups which aggressively proselytise, or are perceived to be strange and/or foreign.[11]

 

[HonestJoe]

You could be a theist and have hope that something is out there besides a cold dark eternal death.

Atheism (like theism) isn't a choice, it is an involuntary belief. While you can influence your experience and knowledge to some extent, you can't control what your brain does based on the information you have or the conclusions it reaches.

You could be an agnostic and admit the truth; that neither theism nor atheism can be shown to be correct with our current knowledge.

Atheism (and theism to an extent) is compatible with agnosticism. Indeed, I would suggest that deep down, most people aren't truly 100% certain of their beliefs in this area. Certainly most atheists I've been aware of don't definitively state that there are no gods but operate on the basis, that given we can't know if there are any gods and, if so, the nature or intent of those gods, it makes no sense to act as if any specific defined god or gods definitely exist (and by extension, all of the others definitely don't). That is certainly my conclusion.

But you made the bold choice of atheism and used the evidence (and lack of evidence) available to you, to Iive out the rest of your days, confident that when your life is over it's over, and it didn't matter that you didn't matter.....and it didn't matter that the Universe itself didn't matter. Why is that more appealing to you than the other two choices?

Atheism/theism is literally just about whether some form of god or gods exists. Regardless of the answer to that binary question, the other questions you raise here remain open. There could be some form of afterlife and/or meaning to the universe without the existence of any gods (certainly any of the type of gods humans have believed in) and it is equally possible for some kind of gods existing without there being an afterlife or meaning to the universe.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

Probably much more accurate to state many scientists 'question' religious 'claims.'

That is even less accurate than the post you responded to. If someone has religious beliefs, they are not claims. A claim would be, "Jesus came to me in my dreams." That is totally different from saying, "I believe Jesus is both man and God."

 

[AJG]

It is a good point though and a tough question. Yet, you could ask that about every bad thing that has ever happened. Why didn't God prevent Covid-19 from happening? Why didn't God stop the Holocaust? Why didn't God prevent my bicycle from getting a flat tire last month? Why didn't God stop that sabre tooth tiger from eating that caveman?
Let me ask you this. Should I become an atheist because my bicycle got a flat tire?
Should I become one because somewhere in the world a child drowned today?

I see these things as an argument against the idea that everything happens for a reason and are part of some big plan rather than an argument against the existence of God.

 

[Lursa]

Surely there's one people group somewhere who didn't automatically start controlling their people with spiritism or religion?

There must be an atheist tribe or two who considered their existence to be completely random act of nature and nothing exists beyond?

Certainly you can point to at least one, or explain how no atheist tribe has ever existed.

How would those speculative (on your part) exceptions matter? How are they significant, even as you hope they existed?

You're asserting they existed, you prove it.

 

[Dragonfly]

You could be a theist and have hope that something is out there besides a cold dark eternal death.
You could be an agnostic and admit the truth; that neither theism nor atheism can be shown to be correct with our current knowledge.
But you made the bold choice of atheism and used the evidence (and lack of evidence) available to you, to Iive out the rest of your days, confident that when your life is over it's over, and it didn't matter that you didn't matter.....and it didn't matter that the Universe itself didn't matter. Why is that more appealing to you than the other two choices?

Atheists are using it as a distraction because they are struggling in the debate

most of the atheists are deflecting because they are struggling.

Struggling in what debate?

Deflecting from what?

Struggling with what?

 

[Gordy327]

Atheism is a religion. The god is self.

False and false.

Nope. Atheism is a decision and a choice.

It never was for me. It was my default. I'm simply incapable of believing in god/s without empirical evidence of their existence.

Baldness is not

People can shave their heads.

 

[Logician Man]

False and false.

It never was for me. It was my default. I'm simply incapable of believing in god/s without empirical evidence of their existence.

People can shave their heads.

Four claims summarily debunked in just three sentences. Well played.

 

[Noodlegawd]

So why are you an atheist and not an agnostic? What makes you so certain God doesn't exist?

False dichotomy. Atheism is not a belief that god doesn't exist.

 

[Questerr]

You could be a theist and have hope that something is out there besides a cold dark eternal death.
You could be an agnostic and admit the truth; that neither theism nor atheism can be shown to be correct with our current knowledge.
But you made the bold choice of atheism and used the evidence (and lack of evidence) available to you, to Iive out the rest of your days, confident that when your life is over it's over, and it didn't matter that you didn't matter.....and it didn't matter that the Universe itself didn't matter. Why is that more appealing to you than the other two choices?

Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive.

I am an agnostic atheist: I don’t claim to know if any god exists, but I also don’t believe in any gods.

Why does a god have to exist for subjective meaning to exist?

 

[Questerr]

Nope. Atheism is a decision and a choice.

Baldness is not.

Beliefs aren’t a choice. You are either convinced by evidence or you aren’t.

 

[beefheart]

That is not true...free will allows even a perfect being to make choices...Jesus chose to be obedient...

Free will is a dodge. Your god is just irrationally mean and cruel. Hardly perfect.