A questions for atheists.

Good evening.
I consider myself to be a pantheist.
I am a self aware being. I am aware of my own divinity, and the divinity of others. I am aware of that every source of life possesses a sacredness of it's own.
This comes after I've seen the piece from NBC in which they removed God from the pledge.
I'm completely against it.
I know that some atheist support the 'separation of church from state.' But spiritually speaking what kind of moral and spiritual authority will we have if our rights would come down from politicians?


Now my question is, without screwing everyone else, how does an atheist exercise his right to be an atheist?

I know this isn't what you're asking for, but I would *really* love an explanation for how you came to the conclusion you (and everyone else) is divine. Asking seriously.

Do you feel the same way about animals? Or only humans? Are you vegan, if you do feel this way about animals?

I've heard of pantheism before but never talked to someone with this belief system.

reply to post by _SilentAssassin_


How to excercise your own rights and opinions.

Simple., if someone says something that you don't agree with just let it slide, the more tension that is built up the more likely arguments will follow which in turn will do nothing but expend energy because either way what you are building your arguments on cannot be proven either way,

reply to post by _SilentAssassin_


I am an athiest.

I personally think many people go far overboard trying to secure a world which they consider "fair" toward themselves. Often they don't take into consideration what is "fair" to others. As an atheist myself, I feel no worse for seeing or hearing about the God that so many others believe in. I'm even willing and eager to discuss with open minded and respectful individuals our differences in opinion/belief, without getting my proverbial panties in a twist.

I am an atheist, and I believe removing the "under God" part of the Pledge of Allegiance is ridiculous. I think the atheist billboards that spring up all over are disrespectful and hurtful to people. My lack of belief in a god is no reason for me to force that belief on others. I see religion has served both "good" and "evil", but if you take away the institutional part of religion, and focus mostly on the individual levels, I believe you would find that religion has done more good than bad in people's lives. I see no reason to destroy tradition to further my beliefs - I only ask that I am continued to be allowed to believe them.

reply to post by _SilentAssassin_


The same way anyone else would exercise their right to be themselves. You could say that an Atheist may believe that morality come form within not without.

Well i think the difference is that its America, you shouldnt be forced to say want you dont want to say.

A real American has the right to say hes not American....it that makes sense

Originally posted by _SilentAssassin_
This comes after I've seen the piece from NBC in which they removed God from the pledge.
I'm completely against it.

Are you aware that the original Pledge did not include "under God"? It was added in 1954 for religio-political reasons. I am not bothered by it as I don't recite the pledge anyway. If I did, I'd just leave it out. It's not an important issue to me. I don't care what other people recite.

I know that some atheist support the 'separation of church from state.' But spiritually speaking what kind of moral and spiritual authority will we have if our rights would come down from politicians?

What? I don't need a moral and spiritual authority. My morals and my spirituality are no one else's business. They do not come from religion OR politicians. Those are the LAST places I would look for morality or spirituality.

Now my question is, without screwing everyone else, how does an atheist exercise his right to be an atheist?

The same way everyone else exercises their rights.

Originally posted by _SilentAssassin_
But spiritually speaking what kind of moral and spiritual authority will we have if our rights would come down from politicians?

edit on 27-6-2011 by _SilentAssassin_ because: (no reason given)

The false belief in authority is an enemy of truth. (Albert Einstein)

Don't worry about what others are doing...worry about what you are doing.
I don't care what the rest of the world is doing...I care what i am doing and i don't let others tell me what to believe or how to believe it.

reply to post by _SilentAssassin_


i am my own moral / spiritual authority

I'd like to see 'God' replaced by/interchangeable with 'Sky Fairy', 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' or my personal favourite, 'Trevor The Giant Celestial Squid' in the pledge. God is a 'personal thing' right!

IRM

reply to post by _SilentAssassin_

But spiritually speaking what kind of moral and spiritual authority will we have if our rights would come down from politicians?

Democracy.

Now my question is, without screwing everyone else, how does an atheist exercise his right to be an atheist?

You don't need a "right" for a lack of belief. Your constitution provides separation of church and state; and that has benefits for everyone;

it means preachers don't get paid for prosthelitization; atheists can be free FROM religion; and if you wish to practice a religion; you are free to practice whichever religion you like; in your own time. It also means that ancient ethical and moral teaching isn't taught as a matter of state business; what's to lose?

Some atheists are not against religion and find this kind of secularism to be great while atheists against religion also consider also it to be very important in regards to freedom.

Now, this is actually an interesting question. Most "Question for athiests" threads lack any thought provoking points.

To put it simply, who decided that god gives us certain rights? It was, to put it short, a politician. God doesn't give us any rights, I can't even think of a religion that gives people rights. Just a bunch of ones giving different restrictions on different things. Clear example, christian god doesn't have anything against slavery(and neither did a lot of the founding fathers who wrote about god-given rights, by the way).

If government can go 'we decide that god gives you these certain rights', that's not much different from "we decide that you can certain rights". If you agree that life is sacred, I don't see why basing rights off what people deserve just from being alive. Even non-humans have some rights, maybe not like some of the PETA level stuff I hear of, but more than is expressed in the "God gave man these 3 rights" statement.

Really though, man deciding what "God" gives as rights, after making up(as an atheist would see it) what this "God" was. It provides no more room for holding rights than any rational non-religious alternative would.