Do you go to church if you dont believe in God?

Nitefly said:
They have the belief that there is no greater being / power that commands the universe.
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Not entirely true.

Atheism is the lack of a belief, not the belief (pendant on which definition you use) - to word it as I understand it.

"Atheism is a stance rejecting the assertion that there is a greater being / or a power that commands the universe - usually due to the lack of evidence provided on the subject matter."

I don't "believe a god does not exist", I simply don't believe a god exists.

One is a position on the matter, one is a rejection of an unfounded assertion.

I don't believe anything either way, as the entire concept is absurd & unknowable.

I don't "believe" that unicorns don't exist, I simply "don't believe in unicorns".

It's worth pointing out that a rejection of a belief is not a belief at all, because I don't have to believe anything to reject an idea - but to get specific,

I'm a negative/explicit atheist.

Explicitly due to the concious rejection of the idea & negative because I reject the idea of a god concept without asserting there to be none (due to lack of evidence).
 
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elmarko1234 said:
Not entirely true.

Atheism is the lack of a belief, not the belief (pendant on which definition you use)

I don't "believe a god does not exist", I simply don't believe a god exists.

One is a position on the matter, one is a rejection of an unfounded assertion.

I don't believe anything either way, as the entire concept is absurd & unknowable.

I don't "believe" that unicorns don't exist, I simply "don't believe in unicorns".

It's worth pointing out that a rejection of a belief is not a belief at all, because I don't have to believe anything to reject an idea.
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Sorry, but I think that's a totally redundant and meaningless distinction.
 
No good Christian girl would be in a relationship with a non-Christian. There's no reason for them unless they can see marriage, and they wouldn't marry a non Christian because their loved one not finding God would break their heart. Also, If she's putting out then she isn't a good Christian girl.

If she isn't a good christian girl, then why is she subjecting you to her religion? If she is then it isn't going to last long when you fail the "can I convert him" test.
 
Nitefly said:
Sorry, but I think that's a totally redundant and meaningless distinction.
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I respectfully disagree.

One stance is asserting there is no god, one is rejecting another's assertion there is - they are actually very difference things.

As the main reason people reject the idea of a god is because of evidence, it's pretty hypocritical to then assert that there is definitely no god (without evidence also, or even has a positive belief either way).
 
To the person who said it was as hypocritical as sitting in a pub being sober, in my own opinion (and only mine), where I was asked to go it wouldn't have felt sociable in the least.
I would have sat there looking bored and a bit rude not singing/praying, then afterwards felt the people there were judging me and by extension my family. You may say they wouldn't but I heard the gossip they said about other members to my then gf. If they can say that about thier friends behind their back I have no doubt who I am/what I believe would not have gone down well.
I have no doubt that they were equally judging the fact my gf and I lived together as well to others.
If they weren't trying to be morally superiour as a group I'm sure they could be very nice but as I was never invited to anything outside I couldn't comment. This posibley could be more to do with the state of our relationship than anything else mind you.
 
I don't really see the issue to be honest. You're in a relationship, where give and take is expected. There might be times when you want her to go to something that you wish to do for solidarity or whatever.

Obviously if she starts trying to convert you, make you go when she snaps her fingers etc, then it's a different kettle of fish, but if it's just going to mass every so often, it's really not that big a deal!
 
It's really funny how everyone suggests that if you want to support her you should go. It's not about supporting her is it? It's not about joining her in a social context either.

It's all about her feeling embarassed to explain to her family and friends why you are not attending. Simply because they will see you as a leper.

Supporting her would be to join the church in a funeral/wedding, that's support. Going every sunday to listen to surmons and prayers, no, that's not support.
 
kgi said:
It's really funny how everyone suggests that if you want to support her you should go. It's not about supporting her is it? It's not about joining her in a social context either.

It's all about her feeling embarassed to explain to her family and friends why you are not attending. Simply because they will see you as a leper.

Supporting her would be to join the church in a funeral/wedding, that's support. Going every sunday to listen to surmons and prayers, no, that's not support.
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It's about making sacrifices to your partner and doing something that they enjoy doing which is important to them. I imagine the OP's girlfriend does stuff she really doesn't want to do - such as watching the football, being dragged around conventions, or whatever. Often in relationships you need to sacrifice things, I don't see that the girlfriend is asking a big thing here.
 
Some good thoughtful answers thx i appre iate it.

Ive decided to go every once in a while to support her. if i feel pressured into praying or singing/praising God then i wont go again. ill go maybe once a month. Hopefully she will be happy with that and wont use that to try to get me more involved or try to convert me.


other facts uhhmm. im leaving the country in 4 or 5 months (long term goals pursuing dream etc).
Also we have only been going out a month so tbh i cant say tthe L word as i dont feel it yet.
yes she knows im leaving as ive told her a few times about it....though i get the impression she will try to get me to change or forget about moving abroad.
 
I go because my wife enjoys me being there, her well being is paramount to me.

I don't pray as such but I do reflect on my life and my wrongs and rights...
 
Surfer said:
Some good thoughtful answers thx i appre iate it.

Ive decided to go every once in a while to support her. if i feel pressured into praying or singing/praising God then i wont go again. ill go maybe once a month. Hopefully she will be happy with that and wont use that to try to get me more involved or try to convert me.


other facts uhhmm. im leaving the country in 4 or 5 months (long term goals pursuing dream etc).
Also we have only been going out a month so tbh i cant say tthe L word as i dont feel it yet.
yes she knows im leaving as ive told her a few times about it....though i get the impression she will try to get me to change or forget about moving abroad.
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Woah woah woah....you've only been seeing her a month and she's trying to pressure you into attending church with her already?

Run for the hills my good man. As fast as your legs will carry you.
 
I actually quite like visiting Churches, The architecture is usually awesome & the history is fascinating & wandering the graveyard can tell you a lot about the area & how it came about.
 
Wait, your leaving the county in 3 or 4 months ? If so I assume that's the end of the relationship anyway. What was the question again ?
 
elmarko1234 said:
One stance is asserting there is no god, one is rejecting another's assertion there is - they are actually very difference things.
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Aren't both of those necessarily underpinned by the belief that there is no god?

I don't know how you could reject an assertion that there is a god without believing there isn't, unless you are an agnostic, which isn't an athiest and you wouldn't really be rejecting it anyway.
 
Nitefly said:
Aren't both of those necessarily underpinned by the belief that there is no god?

I don't know how you could reject an assertion that there is a god without believing there isn't, unless you are an agnostic, which isn't an athiest and you wouldn't really be rejecting it anyway.
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Atheism/theism concerns belief, agnosticism concerns knowledge.

You can believe in god & still be agnostic, agnosticism is often mistaken as a "middle ground" when in reality they concern different things (belief & knowledge).
 
Ahleckz said:
It's about making sacrifices to your partner and doing something that they enjoy doing which is important to them. I imagine the OP's girlfriend does stuff she really doesn't want to do - such as watching the football, being dragged around conventions, or whatever. Often in relationships you need to sacrifice things, I don't see that the girlfriend is asking a big thing here.
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I agree - I fail to see the difference for an atheist between doing this or going shoe shopping.
 
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