Riddle me this, Atheists..

reply to post by Thoreau1



Sorry that was the wrong choice of words. But religion is a control tool. Plain and simple.

And it gets abused in the nastiest of ways. Look at the news just now regarding all those paedophile priests. Any other off the street paedophile would be thrown in jail and castrated by the other inmates.

But not the priests. Because they are the servants of God!!!!

Originally posted by Portugoal
reply to post by Gordi The Drummer

 

So there is a common belief? Smells like religion

There is a common belief in parts of the UK that Manchester United are the greatest football team in the land. It doesn't make it a religion

reply to post by Thoreau1


I think there a different levels of christianity,
Someone who likes to believe in cristianity for whatever reason they use is cool, i'm personally an athiest but each to their own, some of the best people in history have been keen christians,
It's just when people take it too far, strict, disciplinarians who take the bible the total wrong way, or even worse totally disillusioned people who well i wont even say take the bible the wrong way, because the stuff they preach is definatley not in there (westboro baptist church spring to mind)

Anyway i believe this is a common ground that i share with my christian friends that always seems to settle our arguments and i hope you all agree.

I believe we are all spiritually connected through Earth and the higher consciousness of the Universe, but I see no problem with Atheists uniting.

1. I have never heard of an Atheist committing murder because they don't believe there is a God to judge them and send them to Hell for doing so. I have heard of people killing in the name of God though. It seems that if someone believes in God and believes God wants them to kill someone, then the consequences on Earth don't matter because God will save them in Heaven. Perhaps if they were Atheists, their consequences on Earth might matter to them.

2. History has shown that organized religions have no problem with wiping out those who oppose their beliefs. It's only logical for those who oppose religion to unite so that they won't be crushed individually.

3. People think Atheists are wild and ready for action because "if they don't believe in our religious laws and values, then they wouldn't have a problem committing sins like murder and adultery." Atheists think that people who put religion as their top priorty would rather spend this life "saving people" so that they can have a better afterlife. Whereas Atheists would rather "save" these people so they can just have a great life now because if there ends up being no God/Afterlife, it might be the only chance we have to be together. It seems like Atheists hope for the good of mankind no matter what people believe in, while we have those who only hope for the good of those who follow their beliefs.

What boggles my mind is how Atheists can meet, unite, and spread their disbelief without the obscene amounts of cash or violence that organized religion requires.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by AliBruh]

[edit on 28-3-2010 by AliBruh]

[edit on 28-3-2010 by AliBruh]

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
There is a common belief in parts of the UK that Manchester United are the greatest football team in the land. It doesn't make it a religion

BEST analogy I've ever heard! THANK YOU! There are many people who share a common belief. That doesn't mean they belong to a religion.

Peer Applause!

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Whaaaat?
Man U isn't a religion????

Just Kidding!

G

For some it is their deep hatred of organized religion and its hypocrisy. Imagine if you were one of the "deaf boys" raped repeatedly by Catholic Priests and the Church knew and did nothing. One would lose their faith in mans version of a God pretty quick.

It has been my experience that myself and my friends, who are all atheists don't waste our time on long conversations about hippie-dippy spirituality. We are all very practical people who get along fine with other people as long as they don't try to preach at us, and we aren't the way we are because of some deeply buried traumatic religious incident in our pasts.

This thread has skewed far away from the original question:

What unites Atheists?

Atheists are united by their common rejection of the belief in a deity or deities. I myself have been demonized for my lack of belief, and I know many others who have been as well. This social repression also unites us. We all share different values, different opinions on government, economy, etc. We may disagree on a lot of things, but in the end we're fighting for things like social equality. Some of you may find that funny, but it's a problem I've have had to deal with before.

As for Atheism being a religion, that's just absurd. There are atheist religions such as Buddhism, but atheism itself is not a religion.



[edit on 28-3-2010 by PieKeeper]

we unite to tell people santa clause is not real and make them cry like children. we, the people of united church of atheism of the most holiest trinity. we feed off your tears.

Riddle me this:

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

Who/what am I?

As far as I'm concerned, everything else is nothing short of troll fodder.

EDIT: I am under the firm belief that "Their Truth" is an oxymoron. Their values, their morals or their beliefs I can understand, but their truth undermines the very meaning of the truth.

Although many aspects of it can be seen as divided or separated, there is only one singular Truth. And the wonderful thing about it, is that once you find it, the capacity to shape it is neutralized. It becomes impenetrable and immune to damage or structural manipulation (no matter how hard we try).

By far, the hardest and meanest substance known (or unknown) to man. Not that I'm 'in-the-know', mind you.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by lagnar]

One thing I've noticed is that many people confuse faith and belief often times.

There's an interesting episode of South Park about how the world ended up if religion was abolished and people were all atheist. The short answer was no real difference, people still fought over belief in the absence faith. Over something silly mind you, but that's South Park, subtle and stupid all at once. Episodes Go God Go parts 1 and XII.

Human nature. People come together by nature, whether they have faith or belief or both; or in this case a lack thereof. Social creatures as we are, some tend to find solace in the presence of like-minded fellows. Simple psychology.

Personally, I don't find any reason to seek out and congregate with like minded individuals who are atheist or at the least agnostic. My only peeve being that I'd like a conversation without someone pulling heavy zeal and refusing to continue because of some reason related to their belief being infallible.

Other than that, I find people make stereotypes too easily, and because of a few people who resort to zeal because of their beliefs or lack thereof, that they are labelled some sort of religion.
If that is the case, then isn't it hypocrisy to not show tolerance and expect to get it?

Food for thought.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by Mr. jack]

reply to post by itchy_tartan_blanket


Simple. Elaborate on these 'common beliefs' that unite you?

Sure the disbelief joins your believers ( ) but what unites you? *word play* I honestly can't see a purpose for those who don't believe to come together.

Tell me otherwise.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by Ghost in the Machine]

Your main issue is that you understand incorrectly that Atheism is a "thing" when actually Atheism is the lack of a "thing".

Here's an example, if I'm eating an apple my status is "Unmode is eating an apple". However, if I'm eating a banana my status is not "Unmode is not eating an apple".

Atheism is a label given to the lack of something, which many we might describe as Atheist do not subscribe to, at which point grouping those who do not believe fails.

I and many people shop at my local supermarket, but many people don't. It does not mean that all those in the world who do not shop at my local supermarket should be labeled Alocalsupermarketists and the assumption be made that they are grouped by that label.




[edit on 28-3-2010 by unmode]

[edit on 28-3-2010 by unmode]

reply to post by Ghost in the Machine




I think it's that we all just find images of the Virgin Mary so damn hot!!!


She's a hottie right?

reply to post by blupblup


All that walking!!!!

She had to be in shape....



OT

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine


I've heard it many times on ATS. "Atheism is not a religion!". Why unite then? What is your purpose of coming together? To share in your disbelief?

United with whom?

I'm quite happy being alone with my belief / disbelief.

I really don't like the label of 'athiest' either. It's not something I call myself. I just say, "I'm not religious." Why do I have to lumped into a group?

Someone said, "What's the point if you can't unite?" Are you kidding?? My life is about DOING things not sitting around and talking about doing things for hours or praying that things will change. I think a lot of time is wasted by people spending so much time sitting around worrying about what the bible says etc. So much more good in the world could be done with that time...just get out there and DO things.

I am good, honest caring person and don't need a religion to help me be this way. There is no bribe of an afterlife to make me do good things and no fear of a hell to keep me in line. We are just normal, decent people who have values regardless.

[edit on 28-3-2010 by swinggal]

The pretense of this thread is that non-atheists, believers in a supreme being, actually unite. In my view, there is no such unity among believers. If there is, it's somewhat baseless.

All the uniting, rather all the splitting into factions and starting wars and such, is done at layers beneath the top level; interpretation of what a supreme being(s) is, what prophets exist/existed, and what people think the supreme being deems acceptable behavior.

Yes, a lot of people "agree" there is a supreme being, but they "unite" based on their interpretation of that being.

Now athiests, on the other hand, have a concrete concept on which to unite if they so choose.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
Simple. Elaborate on these 'common beliefs' that unite you?

It depends on the organization. Some atheist organizations are political groups fighting against teaching creationism alongside science, some are simply social groups, and others are even humanitarian charities. The one common thing between them is their lack of belief in a deity, but each organization has other common beliefs that unite them.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
Sure the disbelief joins your believers (

) but what unites you?

They are united by their rejection in the belief of deities.

Originally posted by Ghost in the Machine
I honestly can't see a purpose for those who don't believe to come together.

There are many reasons for Atheists to come together; to support equal rights, separation of Church and State, etc. There are thousands of organizations that have nothing to do with religion.

Another problem is the use of the word belief. A belief isn't necessarily religious, for instance, someone can believe that Sasquatch exists. This doesn't mean that the person has founded a new religion called Sasquatchism.