Comments on: Atheists Come Out! Stop Tip-Toeing Around as Agnostics

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:44:26 +0000

I acknowledge Mystery. I know there’s a lot I don’t know and maybe even can’t know. Mystery exists. I’m not a non-believer when it comes to Mystery. But, again, when it comes to a moral active individual God Being, as described by western religious people, I am an outright rational atheist. Perhaps you, staminga9, are a deist.
One can be an atheist and also acknowledge there might be a larger Consciousness all life forms tap into (Brahman) or perhaps a larger Consciousness which is actively organizing itself right now on our planet with the help of technology (Gaia). I don’t know of course. It’s an awesome thing to contemplate but really just an exercise in fantasy.
Again, one can declare oneself and an atheist while also maintaining a completely rational logical openness to Mystery and while contemplating the awesome possibilities of greater consciousness.
In fact, if one wants to use the word God instead of Mystery, then I could happily say I’m an atheist who believes in God.

By: staminga9

staminga9 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:16:23 +0000

The first problem is that you can not say that their is no god unless you understand what god is. Many atheists say that their is no god, but have the ridiculous christian image of god as being a man. Once and while you hear some ignorant female try to argue that god is a female. To genderize or anthropromorphize god is idiotic it would suggest that their are two gods which could be possible, but would contradict the so called monotheistic religions. Which by the way believe in two gods because they believe in a devil that god can not destroy and needs. We can not even be sure what god is or if the human brain is even capable of understanding what god is? Where did the universe come from? No human can comprehend the answer to that question. God may have no ability to think or unintentionally created the universe, god may be a life force or an energy force, we may all be part of god, or god could even be the universe. The main point of the agnostic is that is doesn’t matter if god exists. It should not affect a person’s morality.
As far as the ignorant clowns on this site suggesting that atheists or agnostics are immoral they are completely backwards in their thinking. Actually, religiousness decreases morality. Anyone of religion believes in a reward for doing the right thing and punishment for doing wrong things: heaven and hell. Therefore a religious person can never experience true altruism. Altruism is when you doing something for someone else expecting nothing in return. As long as a religious reward system is in place a religious person reverts to the morality of a small child who does the right thing because their parents are rewarding them or not punishing them. An atheist or agnostic does the right thing only because it is the right thing to do. Perhaps this is why the world would have been better off without religion and all the billions of deaths it has called not only in wars, but in the dictating of so called “morality”

By: Danielle Lynn

Danielle Lynn — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:04:17 +0000

How do you know we are really here?

By: Waseem

Waseem — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:28:35 +0000

Hello everyone, i am a Mulsim,you still there? If so i’ll continue, well as far as disbelievers in Gid are concerned; Muslims can’t force any belief on them, they just have to invite them to Islam.
See islam-guide.com and please tell me what you make of it.

By: abbyladybug

abbyladybug — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:28:14 +0000

Didn’t read it all because I’m SO TIRED right now, but…
I’m out! I’m out! I’m an atheist! Out and proud!

By: Lenoxus

Lenoxus — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:09:37 +0000

Another related point is this: to say that there can be absolutely no morality without religion is to do a disservice to morality, in effect, making it a petty system of pluses and minuses, rather than something people ought to follow for its own sake, regardless of whether this or that supernatural being is telling them to.
The argument that people happen to be *incapable* of morality without religion may have some interesting psychological weight to it, even if it’s kind of condescending to “the masses.” But to say that morality truly vanishes whenever God does is just plain empty. That’s like saying you can’t be a good person unless you believe Mahondas Gandhi is your nation’s president. I know he was an awesome guy and all, but does denying such power to him actually deny the goodness of his work, or the possibility of reproducing it?
As far as I’m concerned, the only thing morality’s existence depends on is that of multiple sentient beings, generally people. Where there are people, there are good and evil actions, regardless of their rulers’ commands, deities or no.
What disheartens me is when I see so many people lump together ethics and religion (particularly Christianity) that as soon as they reject the latter (based on various inconsistencies and moral problems), they discard the former and become full-blown nihilists. So maybe what the atheist community really needs is some more cooperation without giving in to notions of overlap in the belief structure — in other words, to say “You feel this way, I feel that way, we’re never, ever going to agree on how the universe works; let’s be friends anyway.”

By: Wouter

Wouter — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:40:26 +0000

Morality came first. Religion came later.
As long as people and their ancestors have been living in herds, they followed imprinted moral codes (eat the four-legged furry hoofed thing or a cabbage, but not your wife). Morality is a set coded survival rules for the group and / or the invidual. Most of the biblical 10 commandments can be read as an instruction set for a stable society, no divine instructions needed.
If morality was the result of religion of a god, of which one? Why do all societies, irrespective of the dominant religion, basically have the same set of moral vaules (no killing of your fellow man (unless of another relgion), no stealing (idem), etc.)? Hence, it seems likely that morality is not just given by one particular god. It appears to be a general human trait.
Atheist are not necessarily amoral. I am the living proof. I do not eat my children, donate to charities, wait for red traffic lights and even say hello to christians. Assume that respect for fellow humans is of a higher moral stature than disrespect. Then, the fact that the christian above claims to be morally superior and dismisses all atheists as close minded and amoral (= disrespect) is proof that this particular christian is morally less weel developed than this particular atheist.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 03:20:56 +0000

“So who created the creator then, smartass? Before you open your big mouth and call all atheists ignorant look at what you are asserting yourself.”
Once again you are only proving your ignorance. If you recall 6th grade science you will remember the phrase “Matter cannot be created or taken completely out of existence.” so in essence you cant create a material from nothing or remove a material from existence. Thats a fundamental and basic law of nature. Not a theory, a law. So if you believe this than nobody or nothing can create ANYTHING and no matter what you say about the big bang the matter could not have been present to create such an explosion by itself. This is where faith comes in. God created this entire universe and created all the laws in them. Think of it as a programmer creating an extremely complex computer game. You have to code the physics, the materials, the objects, etc. Think of God as the best programmer ever Programmers can create and break the rules of their own game, God of course can do the same. Like i said this is all based on faith, you have faith that the universe was just always here or created from a big explosion, i have faith that God created the laws of the universe as well as the universe itself.

By: Seamus

Seamus — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 03:03:45 +0000

Oh confused Sheldon. LOL.
Unless you claim to be a god being yourself – omniscient – you have no idea whatsoever about the actions of atheists in foxholes, now do you? Come on Sheldon, you know about that certain thing called honesty now don’t you? Be honest… you’re not a god being, right?
You do realize you’re not a god being, right? LOL.
In fact, you don’t speak on behalf of a god being, you don’t know the mind of a god being and you don’t have a relationship with a god being. You do realize that, right? LOL.
Oh confused Sheldon you make me laugh. Thank you.

By: Sheldon

Sheldon — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 16:42:03 +0000

There’s so much confusion here it’s difficult to reply.
Firstly, to Andrew above: atheism is not the same as and does not imply amorality. You are confused or misinformed and should google on the subjects a bit before airing an opinion that reveals your ignorance and embarrasses you publicly.
Belief in a God or lack thereof is a choice. And people make choices to suit their own paradigms. Until someone dies and comes back with irrefutable proof of an afterlife, a black void, heaven or hell, this debate is merely a pointless exercise in verbal masturbation.
There is a saying “There are no atheists in foxholes”, which is very true. Even the most ardent, verbose atheist or agnostic faced with great personal tragedy or loss is likely to offer up a prayer to God in the hope of alleviating his anguish. Does this mean all atheists are hypocritical cowards? Makes you think…