Why did you pick atheism?

[Roger Duke]

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

Why are you even participating in a religious forum then? Just to tell everybody else they shouldn't be participating in a religious forum?

 

[devildavid]

Ultimately, both science and law miss the mark. But both the law and science have processes that help with the concepts that we're attempting to term.

Science does not miss the mark when it comes to verifiable evidence.

 

[trouble13]

There's a name for such types...hypocrites...there's plenty of them running around, unfortunately...

Imo the question being asked "why do you choose atheism" is a defective question. We don't choose what we are. We are what we believe.

 

[Roger Duke]

Show me where my logic is lacking.

You ignore all the posts that do that so I'm not wasting my time on you anymore.

 

[Mulefoot]

Science does not miss the mark when it comes to verifiable evidence.

Unfortunately, science is limited knowledge in areas that by definition, won't help us.

Is that why atheists continue to beat that drum? That would be judgmental on my part.

 

[Daisy]

Imo the question being asked "why do you choose atheism" is a defective question. We don't choose what we are. We are what we believe.

I think there can be those who fake it, no matter what beliefs or lack there of, they claim to have...for numerous reasons...but you're right, a person believes what they believe if they're being honest with themselves, until/unless something comes along to change it...

 

[Roger Duke]

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.

I've heard this old song and dance. There is no free will. Everything we do and everything we are, is a result of everything that happened to us and everything that influenced us, before we make any involuntary "decision". Good luck selling that.

 

[Loulit01]

You ignore all the posts that do that so I'm not wasting my time on you anymore.

But... But... Oh, now I'm hurt. I can't play with you in fantasy land anymore. Coward.

 

[Roger Duke]

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

Wouldn't atheists be theists if they thought God existed?

 

[Roger Duke]

But... But... Oh, now I'm hurt. I can't play with you in fantasy land anymore. Coward.

Coward? I'm not the one who avoids posts and deflects from the few that are not avoided.

 

[Loulit01]

Coward? I'm not the one who avoids posts and deflects from the few that are not avoided.

What are you talking about? I repeated my post 3 times and you never addressed it. You still haven't.

 

[devildavid]

Wouldn't atheists be theists if they thought God existed?

No, they would be theists if they believed in god(s). Theism is a belief in god. Atheism is not believing in god(s). Gods can only be believed in or not; they cannot be known.

 

[Roger Duke]

I don’t know why you think a man-made calendar would prove god isn’t man-made.

I don't know why you think a man-made calander would prove God doesn't exist.

 

[Roger Duke]

I didn't choose atheism... it found me. I got there using common sense and logic.

Same path I took to theism.

 

[devildavid]

Unfortunately, science is limited knowledge in areas that by definition, won't help us.

Is that why atheists continue to beat that drum? That would be judgmental on my part.

Science deals with what is real and physical. What other areas are there? Many theists use the scientific method to understand physical reality so I guess they are beating the same drum too.

 

[Roger Duke]

So which primitive god is the right one from the thousands?

Good question but an atheist who believes in no God or no gods wouldn't waste their time with it. I understood that when I wrote the OP since there are many other threads that deal with which religion is best. People here are deflecting to your question though.

 

[Roger Duke]

What is funny is how theists here pick on certain things in science to attack and then try to claim that science backs their beliefs or stuff from the bible. You are kind of doing the same thing.

Go back through the 440 posts and find one place where I used the Bible. I have gone out of my way to avoid it because the debate is theism vs atheism, not Christianity vs atheism.
(Oh yeah, I mentioned agnostics in the OP also.)

 

[Questerr]

I don't know why you think a man-made calander would prove God doesn't exist.

I don’t claim god doesn’t exist. I reject theist claims because of a lack of verifiable objective evidence.

 

[Roger Duke]

I’m an atheist. I see no need to be wishy-washy about that. Be humble is you wish. I would rather be logical. No evidence, no god. Period.

So, do you think that a theoretical scientist should not speculate about something if there is no evidence the thing could exist?

 

[Bodi]

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?

So you are admitting that people choose religion out of fear of the unknown. A good first step to realizing the truth.

 

[Roger Duke]

What I claim is that there is not an iota of evidence for a “god” and therefore the logical conclusion is that none exist. Do you “know” that there are not wood fairies?

We looked for wood fairies and did not find any so we have concluded that no wood fairies exist. It is possible wood fairies exist on other planets though.
The problem that you are encountering is that our search for God is not over. If it was, this thread would not be so popular. A thread about wood fairies wouldn't go anywhere.

 

[Lursa]

So you are admitting that people choose religion out of fear of the unknown. A good first step to realizing the truth.

Yeah I've asked him about that, but he 'hasnt gotten to my post yet'...it had too many questions. But that's exactly what a couple of them addressed.

 

[Roger Duke]

So you are admitting that people choose religion out of fear of the unknown. A good first step to realizing the truth.

That would depend on the individual. Fascination seems to be a better word than fear but you are correct that fear would apply to some people.
A lot of atheists on their death bed become theists. Party because of fear but partly because they have nothing to lose if they start believing in God and end up being wrong.
Nobody knows who is right in the theist vs atheist debate. If the theist is wrong they'll never know it though. They end up winning either way.

 

[Bodi]

That would depend on the individual. Fascination seems to be a better word than fear but you are correct that fear would apply to some people.
A lot of atheists on their death bed become theists. Party because of fear but partly because they have nothing to lose if they start believing in God and end up being wrong.
Nobody knows who is right in the theist vs atheist debate. If the theist is wrong they'll never know it though. They end up winning either way.

Seems like a pretty needy god... accepting anybody that decides to join on a whim, just in case.

 

[The Baron]

So what was the evidence of god prior to literacy and the mass printing and distribution of printed bibles?

Couldn't tell you how long literacy has been around nor do I suppose could anyone else. But the Scriptures are thousands of years old with the New Testament being written only about 20 years after the the death of Christ.