For Atheists, and Agnostics - Page 3

[Daffodil]

Logic makes me recognize that almost anything could be true. The only thing I can know for certain is that I myself exist. It's possible that God exists, or that some of the trees in my yard are really aliens disguising themselves as trees, or that I created the universe but don't remember it. But I don't see any particular reason to believe any of those things, so it makes more sense to me to describe myself as someone who doesn't believe in those things than as someone who doesn't know whether they're true or not. Of course I don't know, but the possibility that they could be true isn't an important force in my life.

[MommyofHero]

Great to see this thread!!!

Labels can be restrictive, and i generally try to avoid them, but in regards to my religious views, i think i would label myself as a Taoist/ Non-theist/ Freethinker.

Taoist because i naturally live by that philosophy and way of thinking and it's beautiful to me.

Non-theist because i don't buy into the whole monotheistic personal god thing, but i do believe that we are all "gods" of our own realities. (Yes, I am god. So are you.)

Freethinker because the freakin possibilities in this life are absolutely infinite and i love using my imagination!

For the first 20 years of my life, I was controlled, abused, oppressed, and manipulated under the Christian religion. I was a frightened, mistreated, and misinformed robot for Jesus. At 21 I left my Christian husband and was basically reborn, living free from the confines of religion for the first time in my life.

10 years have past and only recently (since I have become a parent for the first time myself have I been able to speak openly about the damage and trauma that Christian extremism had on my life. My life is overwhelmingly beautiful now, and I am excited to raise my children to be freethinkers and well-educated in all spiritual paths.

Freedom of the mind is a beautiful thing !

[Poddi]

I was raised in an atheist environment. Almost everybody I knew was atheist. You can say I was "brainwashed" by atheism. You hear things like "there's never any proof that gods and deities can save you, you've got to work hard for your own happiness in this life." as early as I could remember.

I do always respect other people's beliefs and agree their gods can be real, real enough to the believers anyway. I do think faith has a lot of positive qualities and when one deeply believes it, it can affect their lives greatly. To me there's really no right or wrong when it comes to beliefs. (Mind you that I also don't care who's more right or wrong.)

[orangebird]

I was never a believer. I was raised Jewish. But more like "remember you're a JEW!!!!" but no one spoke of god. My parents were atheists. And a god never made sense. I tried in jr high to believe cuz I was jealous of my friends, but I could never wrap my mind around it.

Originally Posted by EFmom

I'm a believer in science and data. Over time, it just became obvious to me that there is exactly zero evidence that there is a god. Nothing that holds water at all. It is something that mankind invents largely to keep from accepting the finality of death. So, I started being honest with myself for a change. I would describe myself as agnostic, because if there ever were any data to support the supernatural, I'd be open to examining it.

Just like you , EF, and I respect you for evar. I am not agnostic any more than I am agnostic about the FSM or china teapot, or garden gnomes. I am atheist about them all. But I would totally 100% be up for listening to data that shows possibly otherwise. Doesn't make me a unicorn agnostic. I am still aunicornist. The point is any data about any "thing" is worth more investigation. I am not agnostic about all things. I just don't believe it, or even pretend to withhold judgement until I KNOW it. I mean, why pretend? I don't see any evidence at all, so why claim agnosticism? hmm.

Originally Posted by Valkyrie9

I like the way you say that--it makes sense to me. But for the sake of argument, how do you believe religion came to be a nearly universal condition of mankind?

Well, early man with these incredible minds, we had/have questions, people like to create answers. A human trait.

It's natural to wonder why, how??? And in the years think about how many of these questions science has answered. Thunder, lightening, floods, death, etc, etc. Of course we made an answer up til we found a better one, if that makes sense.

[siobhang]

Originally Posted by orangebird

I mean, why pretend? I don't see any evidence at all, so why claim agnosticism? hmm.

This is where I am too. And for me it was a realization that in order for intellectual and spiritual honesty, I had to stop hedging my bets, ya know, by holding onto agnosticism. Your mileage may vary.

Well, early man with these incredible minds, we had/have questions, people like to create answers. A human trait.

It's natural to wonder why, how??? And in the years think about how many of these questions science has answered. Thunder, lightening, floods, death, etc, etc. Of course we made an answer up til we found a better one, if that makes sense.

We also are astonishingly good pattern recognizers - it is part of our big brains that make us so adaptable and created 7+billion of us. We are also good at communicating those observed patterns amongst ourselves and turning those patterns into stories that both mark the pattern and then explain them - which naturally turns into mythos.

Religion is what you get when you mix "how things happen" with "why things happen" and "what things SHOULD happen".

Michael Shermer has a great book called How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science (2001). Also, his classic Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time is always worth reading.

[MusicianDad]

I am a hard core agnostic.

About 14 years ago I got really interested in religion in general that lead to a serious amount of study on any system of belief I could find info on. At the time I self identified as Christian and was fine with it, but the more I learned the less sure I was. I over the next 10 years I self idenified as a wide range of religions. In the end they all seemed to make sense while at the same time I was not really able to have any real faith in any of them because while the moral values they taught were ones I mostly identified with, the part that makes it a religion and a true belief was never something I could say for sure. I had never bothered to consider Agnostisim as a possible religious belief before because there was no deity. I finally decided to look it up and when I saw the actual definition of a hard core agnostic (or strict agnostic) I knew instantly that was likely to be the only real belief that I would likely ever have. The belief that God(s) may or may not exist.

For me it wasn't just the lack of evidence for God(s), it was also the lack of evidence for no God(s).

ETA: What evidence I did find was all two way. If you believe in a God or Gods then it can be used as evidence, if you believe in no God or Gods then it can be used as evidence.

[jordanjanine]

beautiful I don't buy it either oxo best of luck

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Oops - just realized this is an OLD thread.