Celebrate your atheism! - Page 2

JoshJ · 05-17-2007

What "defines" atheism is a lack of religious belief in a 'higher being' of some sort; often on logical premises (i.e.: there is no evidence for the existence of such a being and plenty of evidence against). Atheism is not a religion, but a definition of a type of lack of religion.

To say "belief in nothing" implies nihilism, which generally isn't the case.

seisen · 05-17-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by theicepelican

If I'm not being too forward (which I dont think I am given the thread)... Why atheism? What thinking is behind that... I am by NO means getting up on a soap box here, and I'll refrain from stating any religious/spiritual affiliation... But what is it that makes a person think there is no higher power.. or does one believe that there is a higher power, but just not a God (capital G)... or am I way off the point here... My question basically is this... What do athiests believe in (and yes an answer of "Nothing" is just fine)

Athiests don't believe in a supreme being such as God, I practice Buddhism but I am also an Atheist because I don't personally believe in God or any other higher power.

hairy_Palms · 05-17-2007

i think a rather well worded way of describing atheism can be found on a poem i recently discovered on deviant art,
Declaration of Atheism by ~nitemaregargoyle on deviantART

theicepelican · 05-17-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairy_Palms

i think a rather well worded way of describing atheism can be found on a poem i recently discovered on deviant art,
Declaration of Atheism by ~nitemaregargoyle on deviantART

First off, thank you JoshJ for the nihilism comment. To be honest that was always what I first thought of when I would think Atheism.

I was thinking of the question that I had asked earlier and I think that my wording should have maybe been worded differently. However what came in off of that post has been very insightful to me. It actually makes a fair amount of sense though.

hairy_Palms that was really an excellent poem and both directly and inderectly explained it very well.

Thank you all!

Rasczak · 05-18-2007

I wasn't going to read through latecomers entire post. I'm sure I've read the same thing on some other forum by some other enthusiastic young atheist. I will respond to the subject-question.

I don't believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, but I don't celebrate that fact, much less really feel anything about it. If believing in God is like believing in the Tooth Fairy, why would you need to celebrate beliving there is no God?

-Eric

Moniker42 · 05-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasczak

I wasn't going to read through latecomers entire post. I'm sure I've read the same thing on some other forum by some other enthusiastic young atheist. I will respond to the subject-question.

I don't believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, but I don't celebrate that fact, much less really feel anything about it. If believing in God is like believing in the Tooth Fairy, why would you need to celebrate beliving there is no God?

-Eric

I'm being lazy, so I've only read your post there, so if this isn't in context with the rest of the thread in general... well.. tough

I would say because if nearly everyone went around shouting about the truth--typo

... Tooth Fairy and went on about how wonderful the tooth fairy was all of the time and you went "hang on a minute... what tooth fairy?" you'd feel happy, about being sane by comparison to everyone else

latecomer · 05-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasczak

I wasn't going to read through latecomers entire post. I'm sure I've read the same thing on some other forum by some other enthusiastic young atheist. I will respond to the subject-question.

I don't believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, but I don't celebrate that fact, much less really feel anything about it. If believing in God is like believing in the Tooth Fairy, why would you need to celebrate beliving there is no God?

-Eric

Whimsy?

But, of course, I entirely agree with your point that the reason for celebration among believers in the easter bunny/ tooth fairy/ santa claus/ (your preferred fictional entity here) is more valid, i.e. mutual reinforcement of held beliefs, than it is for non-believers. But hey, sometimes you've just gotta let your hair down.
And thanks for the age compliment, if only it were so

Rasczak · 05-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by latecomer

Whimsy?

But, of course, I entirely agree with your point that the reason for celebration among believers in the easter bunny/ tooth fairy/ santa claus/ (your preferred fictional entity here) is more valid, i.e. mutual reinforcement of held beliefs, than it is for non-believers. But hey, sometimes you've just gotta let your hair down.
And thanks for the age compliment, if only it were so

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but you missed my point entirely. My point was about your feeling the need to celebrate your atheism. I made no comparisons to believers. It is irrational to celebrate not believing in something. Do you also feel the need to celebrate the fact you don't believe in unicorns, elves, and mermaids? It's kind of like bragging about being able to do simple arithmetic, except that if you've learned to perform simple arithmetic, you have actually accomplished something.

viergeame · 05-20-2007

Quote:

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but you missed my point entirely. My point was about your feeling the need to celebrate your atheism. I made no comparisons to believers. It is irrational to celebrate not believing in something. Do you also feel the need to celebrate the fact you don't believe in unicorns, elves, and mermaids? It's kind of like bragging about being able to do simple arithmetic, except that if you've learned to perform simple arithmetic, you have actually accomplished something.

I don't see what is wrong with celebrating your atheism. Christians celebrate their belief in God, so why shouldn't atheists celebrate their beliefs as well?

JoshJ · 05-20-2007

Because atheists don't "believe" in anything. If anything it'd be a celebration of rationality or reason, but really now, the main thing to celebrate for most atheists is success in breaking out from attempted brainwashing.

viergeame · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Because atheists don't "believe" in anything. If anything it'd be a celebration of rationality or reason, but really now, the main thing to celebrate for most atheists is success in breaking out from attempted brainwashing.

Atheists believe there are no divine beings. Maybe I am taking this the wrong directions, but bear with me. No one, not even atheists know there are no divine beings. Science has shown over and over again that it is impossible to really know anything. Everything in the world we call a fact is just a well proven belief. Yes, I know this arguement could be used against me easily, but it is how I see things.

latecomer · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by viergeame

Atheists believe there are no divine beings. Maybe I am taking this the wrong directions, but bear with me. No one, not even atheists know there are no divine beings. Science has shown over and over again that it is impossible to really know anything. Everything in the world we call a fact is just a well proven belief. Yes, I know this arguement could be used against me easily, but it is how I see things.

I would say that atheists don't believe there are divine beings.
But yes, one could say that, in a sense, atheists just have stricter criteria for what it is reasonable to believe.

Rasczak · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by viergeame

I don't see what is wrong with celebrating your atheism. Christians celebrate their belief in God, so why shouldn't atheists celebrate their beliefs as well?

Do you celebrate not believing in the Tooth Fairy? I don't. Why would I?

bvc · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoshJ

Because atheists don't "believe" in anything. If anything it'd be a celebration of rationality or reason, but really now, the main thing to celebrate for most atheists is success in breaking out from attempted brainwashing.

so if someone that was taken to church at holidays til they were 10 years old, searches for God at 22 years, looking at other religions and beliefs first before christianity, gets saved while alone 2AM on the side of the road w/o any previous witnessing or influence of 'christians', studies the bible and over a few years find the 'church' is full of it, but continues his relationship with his creator and stays away from the apostate church, is he brainwashed? Hardly!

Learning From The Atheists (copy and paste url)

Code:

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/index.php?id=84&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=277&tx_ttnews[backPID]=7

JoshJ · 05-20-2007

bvc, that is a rare exception- you should know that 90% of people in the US continue the religion of their parents.

bvc · 05-20-2007

yes, I know....sad....
just wanted to point out that not all people of any religion are cookie cut from that particular religion, and that includes atheism. Everyones opinion should be heard, given serious consideration, and respected. I rarely get that, despite the fact my beliefs are far from the norm.

viergeame · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Do you celebrate not believing in the Tooth Fairy? I don't. Why would I?

I'm pretty psyched that I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy. I guess that probably doesn't count as celebrating it but, really I don't see why we shouldn't celebrate all the things we believe. Our beliefs are what make us who we are, and I think that is reason to celebrate. Or maybe I'm just looking for reasons to celebrate, that is possible too....

ButteBlues · 05-20-2007

Rasczak has made a valid point.

By celebrating your lack of belief in X, you're only furthering the claim to existence of X.

MRiGnS · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by ButteBlues

Rasczak has made a valid point.

By celebrating your lack of belief in X, you're only furthering the claim to existence of X.

by celebrating atheism the difference between it and theistic religions shrinks.

buddhists do celebrate their atheistic believings.

ButteBlues · 05-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRiGnS

by celebrating atheism the difference between it and theistic religions shrinks.

buddhists do celebrate their atheistic believings.

Of course.

Logically speaking, by adding importance to stating the disbelief of something, one inherently adds importance to that something.

05-17-2007	#21 (permalink)
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	Re: Celebrate your atheism! What "defines" atheism is a lack of religious belief in a 'higher being' of some sort; often on logical premises (i.e.: there is no evidence for the existence of such a being and plenty of evidence against). Atheism is not a religion, but a definition of a type of lack of religion. To say "belief in nothing" implies nihilism, which generally isn't the case.
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	“There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.”- Robert Green Ingersoll

05-17-2007	#23 (permalink)
hairy_Palms Chuck Norris Join Date: May 2007 Location: London, England Posts: 330	Re: Celebrate your atheism! i think a rather well worded way of describing atheism can be found on a poem i recently discovered on deviant art, Declaration of Atheism by ~nitemaregargoyle on deviantART
	http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/ "Creationism is not a scientific alternative to natural selection any more than the stork theory is an alternative to sexual reproduction." — Hayes, 1996.

05-18-2007	#25 (permalink)
Rasczak Stirrer Of Shit Join Date: May 2007 Location: Oahu Posts: 3,955	Re: Celebrate your atheism! I wasn't going to read through latecomers entire post. I'm sure I've read the same thing on some other forum by some other enthusiastic young atheist. I will respond to the subject-question. I don't believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, but I don't celebrate that fact, much less really feel anything about it. If believing in God is like believing in the Tooth Fairy, why would you need to celebrate beliving there is no God? -Eric
	Eric "For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought." -Sir Basil H. Liddel-Hart "How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."—Ronald Reagan http://self-composed.com

05-20-2007	#30 (permalink)
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	Re: Celebrate your atheism! Because atheists don't "believe" in anything. If anything it'd be a celebration of rationality or reason, but really now, the main thing to celebrate for most atheists is success in breaking out from attempted brainwashing.
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	“There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.”- Robert Green Ingersoll

05-20-2007	#35 (permalink)
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	Re: Celebrate your atheism! bvc, that is a rare exception- you should know that 90% of people in the US continue the religion of their parents.
JoshJ ∀dministrator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 465	“There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.”- Robert Green Ingersoll

05-20-2007	#36 (permalink)
bvc Eligible for a custom title Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 113	Re: Celebrate your atheism! yes, I know....sad.... just wanted to point out that not all people of any religion are cookie cut from that particular religion, and that includes atheism. Everyones opinion should be heard, given serious consideration, and respected. I rarely get that, despite the fact my beliefs are far from the norm.