If Athiests Don't Believe In God...

then, do they believe in Satan? Do they believe in good/evil? Right/wrong? Help me understand this....

reply to post by scrubsnstuffkim


Some 'atheists' do believe in 'Satan' but it's not what we actually think, in terms of typical atheism and the Christian Satan. The 'fundamental' type of atheist does not acknowledge Satan's existence. Not sure if they believe in good and evil in the sense religious people do but they certainly believe in right and wrong. However, this then usually turns into the debate regarding whether or not morals are relative or absolute.

Originally posted by scrubsnstuffkim
then, do they believe in Satan? Do they believe in good/evil? Right/wrong? Help me understand this....

No god, no satan. No Santa or Easter Bunny, either. No heaven or hell. All stories made up to keep the masses in line.

Good, right, wrong, and evil are relative terms. Society defines what is acceptable as good or right, and what is unacceptable as wrong or evil. I thought this was pretty obvious.

Originally posted by AshleyD
reply to post by scrubsnstuffkim

 

Some 'atheists' do believe in 'Satan'

As an atheist, I can assure you that any athiest worth their salt does NOT believe in Satan, as satan was created by the religious.

Athiests, don't believe in heaven and hell, god or the devil.

I'll bite...

I simply don't believe 1 all powerful being created all that is. I mean really, religions can't even get the story straight. How does any religous person know they are worshipping the right "version" of God?

That was a rehtorical question, I know the answer....Faith!!

Faith doesn't work for me, I had faith my son did his homework because he said he did....Faith wasn't enough to not let him get 2 F's.

What if in the end, as a Christian you meet the Muslim God or vice versa? OOOPS

I like the idea we have to believe in ourselves before we start worshipping these all powerful "Gods" from these different religions, who really are asking for nothing but our obiedience and loalty (isn't that usually earned?)

How many wars in history have been fought over religion?

/.02

reply to post by mr-lizard


You snipped my quote. I specifically stated, 'but it's not what we actually think, in terms of typical atheism and the Christian Satan,' along with what you quoted.

I have two atheist acquaintances in real life who believe the world's religions were inspired by aliens. Since they do not believe gods actually exist, that makes them atheists. They do, however, revere 'Enki,' who they believe is the inspiration for the Satan of Christianity. So, atheists who believe in 'Satan.'

It's just not the technical Satan of Christianity.

Atheists don't believe in God. That's the only "belief" they all have in common. After that, they are unique in their beliefs. No one can speak for Atheists as a whole, except to say that they don't believe in God.

I don't happen to believe in Satan either (or Santa or the Easter Bunny).

Good/evil - right/wrong - I have my own personal opinion and sense about what is good and evil, right and wrong, but I tend to agree with keeb. These are generally defined by the society in which we live.

For example, in some societies, 12-year-old girls are taken as wives by the adult men. In our society, that's "wrong", and illegal. But in their society, it's a good thing, "right", normal and legal.

reply to post by ATruGod


As crazy as it may sound, I have pondered this question myself (which God is the "right" God). Maybe that's why I refer to Him as the Heavenly Father. I do not believe in religion, as I feel religion is "man-made" and yes, has done more harm than good. It should be more of a spiritual thing, a personal relationship. I have wondered if the bibles that we read today are even true translations of the original, as all things can be lost in translation...

Here is a simple example of why some people do not believe in god.

The day comes that god judges all man, from the clouds comes a roar of thunder. Down comes god on a glowing chariot. He steps out and says he is here to pass judgment on man kind. He then says all the stories of god are true, but the one thing they failed to recognize was god is his name not what he is. He then tells everyone on earth he is an alien that belongs to a race of beings who have the technology to extend their own lives for millions of years. They used to be like us and only live for 100 years, but they used science to become immortal, and they can only be killed if the brain is destroyed. If that happens however they have a new brain with a daily computer back up ready to go into a cloned body.

The world then realizes the god they worshiped was just a highly advanced alien, who used his science to lead humans into a false worship.



In this situation what would the god worshipers do? Would they ignore the alien or would they then be angry and give up god worship?

People who are not worshipers of god, and don't believe in things from the bible tend to be proof seekers rather than faith seekers. Show me god, not just some unexplained story or so called miracle. I can make a quarter vanish, does that make me a god?

Originally posted by scrubsnstuffkim
then, do they believe in Satan? Do they believe in good/evil? Right/wrong? Help me understand this....

No. God and Satan are just anthropomorphized concepts developed from earlier Zoroastrian mythology.

As for good and evil and right and wrong, those are moral concepts that exist within human society that are separate from any particular religious or philosophical framework. For instance, Buddhists have no god, but they still have well-defined concepts of good and evil (or as well-developed as any social system).

As I've said elsewhere, "good" is generally agreed to be anything that is associated with or allows the members of a society to peacefully procreate. Not because any particular deity wants it to happen, but because people want it to happen to fulfill their biological drives. And laws are set up and enforced to help make this happen.

Following that, even those in a society who are not actively procreating, or who don't believe in god, recognize that it makes no sense to ignore and break the laws, since doing so makes it more difficult to benefit from living in a society. Just because a person doesn't believe in a god doesn't mean they can't be good people. Not believing in god doesn't give people a license to rape, steal, and murder or do anything they want to do without consequences. That's insanity, not atheism.

In fact, it's been reasonably argued that over the course of history, a lot more rape, theft and murder has been committed by people who justify it as "God's will," than the other way around.

If you define "not believing in God" as inherently evil, however, then there's no rational argument to be had. If you believe the Bible is always right (because the Bible says it's always right), then your logic is nice and tight and circular, and there's no room for debate.

However, if that's what you truly believe, then it's likely very easy to find passages in the Bible that show you not doing what it says, either. When it comes to the Bible, even the most religious people are "pickers and choosers," who select rules they can easily follow and ignore or rationalize away those they can't. And they make themselves evil sinners in the process. So it becomes a vicious circle. One that atheists opt out of.

Anyway, I think that in general you have more to fear from those who feel their actions are justified by their irrational belief in powerful supernatural forces than those who have no particular belief.

I still think that they have an understanding of what good and evil is. They just don't translate these attributes to a source. They understand that a room is better environment with the light switch turned on, they just don't want to ponder the source of the energy that lights the room.

I don't believe in the written word created by man or interpreted by man.

So satan or god I would consider man made.

But ask me if I am spiritual or a law abiding citizen then I will stand tall and say yes. I have taught my children to be the same.

Originally posted by scrubsnstuffkim
then, do they believe in Satan? Do they believe in good/evil? Right/wrong? Help me understand this....

Umm why would an Atheist believe in the existence of Satan if they don't believe in the existence of god ?
Speaking only for my self as an Atheist I tend to think that there are more shades of grey then some would say .
Of course I have a sense of right and wrong I'm not a psychopath(SP?) .

Just my opinions

then, do they believe in Satan?

Personally? No. Because Satan is a Religious entity - therefore since I don't believe in God, I don't believe in Satan.

Do they believe in good/evil?

Personally, Good & Evil again, are religious concepts - therefore I don't believe in Good and Evil.

Right/wrong?

Personally? Yes. I believe in Right and Wrong. Which are terms that I don't base on Religion, or God. But on my own consciousness and having the knowledge and the ability to know the difference..

Just some thoughts.

- Carrot

[edit on 11/12/2008 by CA_Orot]

I am trying to go back to my OP and edit out "right/wrong", but can't seem to find the edit button, so I hope people read down this far to see that I have retracted it....didn't mean to come across that way, as I see it is offensive and I just wanted opinions/input from people instead of making assumptions of my own.....thanks for all of the input, by the way...

[edit on 12-11-2008 by scrubsnstuffkim]

reply to post by dbates


no we just feel that the light bulb lights up when we turn on the light switch we made in the house we made via electricity that that is generated by power plants that we made, using science that we learned over generations of experimentation and research

No Gods, no masters... including Satan.

I doubt the majority of those holding an Abrahamic belief system believe in Satan either, from speaking with those I know. The threat of hell looming over head turned out to be too much of a downer on modern life, go figure.

Originally posted by dbates
I still think that they have an understanding of what good and evil is. They just don't translate these attributes to a source. They understand that a room is better environment with the light switch turned on, they just don't want to ponder the source of the energy that lights the room.

...or they may have arrived at the conclusion that man has never worshipped anything but himself and moral integrity is a human attribute and not a religious one.

reply to post by scrubsnstuffkim

then, do they believe in Satan? Do they believe in good/evil? Right/wrong? Help me understand this....

Why? What does it matter? Are you asking the audience to hear you or are you asking for the audience to HELP you?

The question itself is so silly, to me.

It is like asking "why does Donald Trump wear brown shoes".

2 Tim. 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

I don't believe in the christian God. Nor do I believe in the christian concept of Satan. My believes are somewhat neo paganistic in that I believe that there are many gods/spirits that exist and that there are other planes of existence besides the one we are here in now. I do believe that most things in all planes of existence are basically good in nature, although evil certainly exists as well. I believe that the life you live will leave an imprint whereever you go, whether you have lived a positive life or a negative one. What you put into life is exactly what you get out of life.