What is Atheism?

manoz said:
I curious to know what atheists interpretations are of how the universe began etc? Also do they all "believe" in what they see.
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I don't know.

But I'm not narcissistic enough to think it was created for me...


Psyk said:
No because atheist implies no belief in any god at all. Not believing in any specific god does not make you atheist at all if you believe in another one.

The way I see it, "theist = believes in a god of some sort" therefore "atheist = does not believe in any gods". Lack of belief comes under the umbrella of not believing in my opinion. I think there is some overlap between agnosticism and atheism.
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That's getting close to semantics again... if you want to define what atheist means, can I recommend the SD thread about it? It took about 18 pages to get to some sort of consensus. And that's just the definition for that thread, so we could get on with discussing whether or not atheism was a religion or not... ;)
 
Mr.Clark said:
That's getting close to semantics again... if you want to define what atheist means, can I recommend the SD thread about it? It took about 18 pages to get to some sort of consensus. And that's just the definition for that thread, so we could get on with discussing whether or not atheism was a religion or not... ;)
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Oh it's completely semantics. That's just my opinion of what the word should mean.
 
Theist = Believes in a god
Atheist = Does not believe in god (Is certain that there is no god)

Agnostic = Believes that there are not enough facts to say whether god exists.
 
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LordSplodge said:
Don't make a random choice as one should know what path is right for them, after all I didn't pick my Pagan beliefs at random and I did go to Sunday School when I was younger.
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While I don't actively believe in any sort of deity, I don't take any position on the existence of one. I live by the assumption that there isn't one just because it makes things a hell of a lot simpler, but I don't have any beliefs regarding any gods.

There isn't any particular 'path' that's right for me, unless you count agnosticism to be one :)
 
semi-pro waster said:
So following this to it's logical conclusion, the right path for me is to say that I don't have enough information to form a decision on the existence of god(s) and therefore agnostic is what I am. Being agnostic isn't necessarily an absence of any thought on the matter at all so when I call it the fence sitters position it is somewhat tongue in cheek.
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Well at least you have a reason for being Agnostic.

Burnsy said:
Give me some proof either way and I'll happily get off the fence.

Burnsy
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There is always a flaw in every plan. The flaw in religion is it is impossible to prove. :(
 
It's kinda like the existence of aliens; in all probability I think they are out there, just like I in all probabilities I don't think there is a god. But I just don't have any proof to say anything more concrete then that and to go onto one side of the fence would deviate away from the open mind I want to keep :)

Burnsy
 
V3g3tto said:
As to my opinion on the creation of the Universe:

I find the big bang theory flawed at base because my mind can't comprehend how "A bang started, then expanded forming the universe". From what? What put that atom, item, point in existence in the first place? What made it explode? Also the religous point of view, who created God? What made him appear? Why did he create the universe?

Therefore, i concede my mind cannot comprehend these points, from my knowledge they offer no explanations both from science and religion, just half assumptions. As such, i accept it "happened".
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If you take the meaning of God as omnipresent being etc and having all the traits outlined in main monotheists religion then you don't need an explanation of who created God and all the other questions you have regarding God. I realise it may be hard to comprehend the idea but maybe we're not meant to or ever will, far too much for our puny brains perhaps.
The stuff we don't see is what I'm interested in most of all, mainly dark matter and energy.

Psyk said:
I don't believe any specific idea of how the universe, in it's entirety, began. Maybe it just exists? After all most religious people believe that god simply exists. They don't believe that god somehow came into existance at some point in time, god is something that always was and always will be. If theists believe that, then believing the universe simply exists is no more or less sensible.
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Not really more or less sensible when you take God as not being made of the same stuff as the universe and religious interpretations. Afterall we can't detect everything with our humanly scientific equipment. If you say it always existed, the idea would have flyed(sp?) until Edwin Hubble discovered the universe is expanding. It must have originated from somewhere cos if it was always there then there would be an infinite amount of spacetime between galaxies.

Big Bang is the best explanation we have so far afaik and that theory was presented by a Christian Priest

Personally I don't think it would ever happen, finding proof whether God exists or not, that would defeat the point
 
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manoz said:
Not really more or less sensible when you take God as not being made of the same stuff as the universe and religious interpretations. Afterall we can't detect everything with our humanly scientific equipment. If you say it always existed, the idea would have flyed(sp?) until Edwin Hubble discovered the universe is expanding. It must have originated from somewhere cos if it was always there then there would be an infinite amount of spacetime between galaxies.
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I think you may mean the idea would have flown (as the past tense of flying).

It still seems to me to be as logical or illogical to say "the universe exists and came from a singularity" as it does to say "God exists and he created the universe, he has always existed". Just because the universe is expanding doesn't rule out that it simply came into being without any divine intervention, it does render it unlikely that it has always existed in this form but that is about as far as it goes.
 
semi-pro waster said:
I think you may mean the idea would have flown (as the past tense of flying).
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oops, lol

It still seems to me to be as logical or illogical to say "the universe exists and came from a singularity" as it does to say "God exists and he created the universe, he has always existed". Just because the universe is expanding doesn't rule out that it simply came into being without any divine intervention, it does render it unlikely that it has always existed in this form but that is about as far as it goes.
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It's not illogical when you take our interpretation of God, is the point I'm trying to make. Then again our interpretation could be wrong are you saying? Probs why we'll never know
 
Quite a lot of replies!

I think from my standpoint as an atheist myself, i see it as no belief in a divine entity or higher being, afterlife etc.

Rich
 
manoz said:
It's not illogical when you take our interpretation of God, is the point I'm trying to make. Then again our interpretation could be wrong are you saying? Probs why we'll never know
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Pretty much, if you take the starting point that (a) god is not illogical then what they can do is also not illogical as such but since there is no way to prove that one way or the other (not presently and quite probably not ever) you pick a position of faith and go with it. Unless you are agnostic and then you don't make any decision at all. :D
 
manoz said:
Not really more or less sensible when you take God as not being made of the same stuff as the universe and religious interpretations. Afterall we can't detect everything with our humanly scientific equipment. If you say it always existed, the idea would have flyed(sp?) until Edwin Hubble discovered the universe is expanding. It must have originated from somewhere cos if it was always there then there would be an infinite amount of spacetime between galaxies.

Big Bang is the best explanation we have so far afaik and that theory was presented by a Christian Priest
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I was trying to avoid specific theories in my post. I'm not disputing that the part of the universe we can observe had a definite starting point (the big bang). I was saying that there is probably some as yet unknown physical system that caused the big bang, that may have been caused by another unknown physical system, etc. However, at some point there is a "theory of everything" that explains everything in the universe. I'm saying that believing "that's just how the universe works" is just as sensible as saying "god made the universe work that way".

manoz said:
Personally I don't think it would ever happen, finding proof whether God exists or not, that would defeat the point
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I'm not sure it's possible for such a proof to exist.
 
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Psyk said:
I was trying to avoid specific theories in my post. I'm not disputing that the part of the universe we can observe had a definite starting point (the big bang). I was saying that there is probably some as yet unknown physical system that caused the big bang, that may have been caused by another unknown physical system, etc. However, at some point there is a "theory of everything" that explains everything in the universe. I'm saying that believing "that's just how the universe works" is just as sensible as saying "god made the universe work that way".
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Ahh, gotcha

I'm not sure it's possible for such a proof to exist.
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Was trying to say that too
 
What i don't agree with is when people say "you gotta follow some religion". At its base, religion is meant to be thanking the creator for your existence,yet i get the sneeky suspicion a lot of people do it out of fear or wanting an afterlife. Humans look after number one.

Tell me, would many religious people goto church, pray,etc if a) they knew for a fact afterlife didn't exist, b) the deity wasn't listening, c) their actions would have no impact on their or others lives. Prayer is surely selfless thanks, praise to the lord right? I'm betting it would change those who do.
 
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