The Athiest Thread

[Ramus]

It's not luck. We are only here to observe our surroundings because our environment allowed us to exist in the first place. In a universe with trillions of stars at least one planet had all the conditions perfect which allowed consciousness to form. Luck is the wrong way to look at it. Intention is also the wrong way to look at it.

There no meaning behide discussin this if you point of view is so , lets just agree in disagree =)

 

[MONEYMUFFINS]

I AM THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

LOL, COMING.

 

[SeraphimJester]

And you see that I too quoted John 3:16. There are some things that are open to interpretation. However, the real point of my post was to get you to see that you shouldn't have been so quick to flip out on Cortez.

And yes, there are a lot of conflicts over, mostly, trivial stuff. However, we are all very similar on the core principles. Mere Christianity, like the title suggests, outlines what those are. Aside from some sexist philosophies that were prevalent in the 40's, what's in there is pretty much what most Christians believe. If you guys want to get mad at me for posting a "hippy article" that supposedly doesn't grasp what atheists believe, a similar explanation of what you believe (with respect to morals and purpose in life, etc.) would be appreciated. Because all I seem to be getting from this thread is that you hate Christianity. (That's why Suphy originally closed it until someone cried real hard about it.)

Flip out? I was not angry in any way at all. Compare my posts to a few others here. I've been civil to the person. And secondly you seem to be jumping to conclusions, because I never stated I hated Christianity, I merely said that I don't want to be a part of it, because from my perspective religion is fake. That's my stance on this topic.

 

[JDub]

Lot's of things that took effort and at least enough patience and passion for others to try to have a conversation.

First of all, thanks for the article you posted previously. I'd say overall all it's just stating common sense. I won't nit-pick it though because it seems to be an honest effort on your part to seek common ground. And there's some common ground.

I feel I should say some things positives about religion. I like the fellowship that occurs in religion when it's about being festive and social. The Catholic Church near me is Croatian. They have awesome parties! It was kind of neat helping a Priest (yes, all black, white collar thingy) carry kegs onto the church grounds. I love it when the Priest rewards me by doing a couple shots of slivovitz with me. They have a live band playing traditional crow music. (I hope crow isn't an epithet for Croatian). I like it when people come together and have a good time. I wish Atheists could gather for fellowship and fun. I wish we could get together and do more positive things for the community as a group. But if we did, we wouldn't get tax exempt status so a lot of our fund raising would go to taxes. I guess we could set up a 501-C3 or something...

One issue is compartmentalization. You have acquired, knowingly or unknowingly, a psychological trick. The trick is that you can drop all the reason that you apply in everything else when it comes to religion. You see Criss Angel and you know he's not performing miracles. You see a plane in the sky and you know it's not flying because of pixie dust. But you read there's a magic entity that created everything including people which he uses in a proxy war against another one of his creations (satan), and somehow all your understanding of logic and reason gets tossed to the wayside. Then, I see a lot of religious folks trying to reverse engineer the logical side of their nature in order for it to better coexist with their faith.

"Believe or suffer for an eternity". Hey, Ghandi wasn't Christian either so I guess I'll have good company.
"God (as Jesus) died for you sins". No one asked him to for one. Two, he made us as sinners. Not only because of free will, but he created a Universe where free will has damnable consequences. Why was that necessary?
"Religion is truth". If it's so true why does it have to reinterpret itself when it ceases to align culturally with the society it's trying to prosper from? Basically, Religion is steadfast in it's views until those views start to cost the church warm bodies.

Anyone here ever read "The Apocrypha"? Kind of interesting that a book "inspired" by God had so many hidden/rejected texts.

 

[JDub]

You fell off the mark.

Disclaimer: I am not a christian nor religious. I am theist.
I said that atheists are content with the universe. While theists pursue beyond the universe.

Wow, I'm not a very good atheist then. I should let you theist's tell me what I'm content with. And since I'm an Atheist, I'll stop my pursuit of knowledge at the edge of the Universe. Thanks for letting me know my boundaries!