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I don't care much for your fascist paper dictionary, and its not just about needlessly reviving the old roots of the term. i just feel like people shouldn't be uncomfortable saying that they aren't theists - i guess honestly i just feel like the only reason somebody would use the term agnostic instead is because they are afraid that if they say flat out that they don't believe, people will think that there must be some explanation - such as the belief that there is no god.
i think it is more old fashioned, and denies our present culture more to think that one would only venture to not believe if they knew for sure that there was no god.
also, nihilism doesn't nessisarly exclude religion.
Two year old article, but if the people I've encountered are any indication, it's still relevant.
Anecdotal evidence, because that shit is always fun: I just finished an "American History after 1945" course a couple weeks ago, and one the things that stood out for me was the discussion when we got to the problems JFK ran into while running to become the first Catholic president. Asking the class whether they'd vote for a Catholic, a woman, a black man, yada yada... When the topic whether or not anyone would vote for an atheist, the answer from the class was a resounding "no".
but then i go play a video game or something
Yeah that's fucked up. I think that George Bush senior said something to the effect of "atheists aren't really people."
Lie awake and think about it until it doesn't bother you any more.
this is why i plan to try and live forever
or at least a couple ten thousand years
every single one without exception
does so not out of fear, but out of a need for clarity
they want to be clear that they don't outright disbelieve in the possible existence of any god, they simply aren't really sure on the entire subject and, given what they know and have in front of them, don't feel comfortable really making a concrete decision on the subject.
i think that's extremely honest, and far more honest than just saying "I don't necessarily believe in a god therefore I am an atheist."
I try not to rag on people for what they believe in, but the constant "How can you just not believe in God? How does that even work?" gets old.
It really, really does.
See, I try and do this every once and a while and it works for a little bit but
he firmly believes that there's nothing for him after death: this is all he's got. Ergo, he's going to be the least interested in getting other people killed for stupid reasons, as that's just wasting a whole lot of perfectly good life.
If anyone is going to want to keep this world the best, it's the guy who knows it's the only one we've got, and the one who believes there's no bearded old guy in the sky telling him to hate gays.
Try it for longer. Try it until you really are not afraid of it. (This is not a quick process.)
this is pretty much my mom's approach too. she's really hardcore into angel reverence and hagiography too, which is aberrant in it's own little way.
it is unfortunate that some of the stuff she chooses to believe in though.
like genesis creationism and that homosexuality is a sin against god.
i mean if you are going to be choosey why choose those things, dang.
The unsettling part for me is the lack of any connection to those passed on.
Which is weird, because I barely know anyone my age that would call themselves religious. Most class discussions are dominated by atheists, and admitting to believing in something spiritual seems more awkward to me.
Invites a lot of "why would you believe in God?" type questions.
Secret Satan
yeah, thats a little off. the pick and choosing thing is usually for the more liberal catholics. but hey, whatever works for her. religion should be a personal thing anyway.
Stop being a stupid fuckhead. It does not matter how the word started out. The people using the language often decide how it is used, and as such, agnostic means exactly what everybody seems to think it means. Nobody is afraid of anything (okay well maybe some people are) But it is perfectly fucking valid to just take the stance of "oh hey I'm not sure" as opposed to "There is definitely no god"
okie doke
question: will this make me the biggest badass
That seems like a good argument, but then at the same time a religious person would view the killing of all those people as a sin that would be big enough to send them to hell, or at least force them to spend a while in purgatory. Speaking of purgatory, anyone besides me see that movie Wristcutters? It was pretty good.
That would make you a theist, not agnostic.
Theists believe in God, a deity, or what have you. Agnostics acknowledge that there might be one, but there's not enough evidence either way to be sure, which amounts to "I really don't know."
Which is why it's really stupid that any organization counts agnostics and atheists as part of the same group.
well, thats a far cry from saying that atheists believe in the non-existence of god.
also, i don't mean that they are afrade in such a dramatic sense - need for clarity is a kind of fear of being misunderstood. i don't think its necessary, though, to cater to people who would misunderstand on the misguided assumption atheism requires some kind of explanation.
i am opposed to that especially because it is antithetical to my belief that theism requires some kind of explanation
steam
You have to cut your hair and start eating meat first, faggot.
my cousin, years back, became a baptist to marry this girl he loved. he converted because he loved her and wanted to marry her, however when he converted he also found himself believing in it and loved the way he was embraced by the community and all that.
it turned his life around and made him a better man, i think.
but my mom's family were such dicks to him and his wife.
the one time he's talking to me and he's like "dude this is totally unfair. you're a completely different, non-christian religion and everyone is nice and respectful towards you and nobody gives you any heck about it. i'm still a christian, just a slightly different kind, and they don't like me because of it."
i explained to him the concept of how "familiarity breeds contempt", where the family is nice to me because they basically just don't care what i think because it's completely different from what they believe and i never talk to them about it.
whereas, he would talk about his faith and how great it was and how people should come with him to check out his church and stuff and it's like
dude
you're basically telling them how to upgrade their christianity
you're like the linux fag of religion
I've seen the same study, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to correlate that with the responses in this thread - the majority of the people in this thread seem to either agnostic, atheist or have lapsed from their faith in some way. Is it that the average SE++ poster is that different from the average American? Or maybe that our current generation's religious views have changed dramatically since that poll was conducted?
oh
I believe that the existence of a God is probable, but not as any kind of benevolent being. That's not excuse for ignoring the spiritual aspect of life though.
We are posting on a videogame webcomic forum
we are not the average american
Same as my mother really, my father is devout in his own way, believes in god but doesn't follow any particular branch. School in South Africa had religious education as a mandatory class (at least in the area I went to school in) that had to be taken though you didn't have to pass it.
Did you calm down or something? Girlfriend hugged you out of it? Got your chakras locked up?
I think its just a stigma that Atheists have no "moral compass". I think people feel that a muslim might be more likely to be a suicide bomber, but probably less likely to steal your wallet or just walk up to you and knife you in a park. As far as the boards go, I think the forums are just more representative of the subset of the population that is non religious in one way or another.
she wasn't really raised with any sort of religious faith, but at the same time, she's had personal experiences a person could classify as religious or spiritual.
so she's on the less skeptical and more hopeful side of agnostic, i suppose.
which is cool.
she's very considerate towards me about my religious faith. it's an important part of my life, as are my practices and whatnot, and she never bothers or criticizes me about them. sometimes she's even curious from an anthropological perspective (she's an anthropology major) and asks questions about it.
my mom was like "are you going to do a religious wedding for your faith or what?" and i am like, no way, justice of the peace and all that.
my faith is mine. it's a big part of my life, i'd say it's the core of what makes me the person i am, but she's marrying me, not my religion.
I dont consider myself agnostic, but i guess i'd fall into some atheist/apatheist type thing. I just dont really care for religious beliefs unless someone gets confrontational about it with me.
Yes, the term "non-representative sample" applies very well here.
Man, he can keep his hair.
The meat is a must, though. We evolved our thumbs for a reason.
Wristcutters was a fantastic movie.
Also CJTheran. I really hope you are joking about the "bearded old guy in the sky telling him to hate gays".. well. I am pretty sure you are. It is just one thing that bugs me about a lot of fundies.
I honestly have no idea how they manage to believe they are better than anyone when they are so full of hate and violence for people who they believe are not following God's will. The Bible quite explicitly states that you are supposed to love your enemy and a bunch of other stuff along those lines. (if The Gays are so evil then I guess They qualify as enemies?) There is no fucking way you can be so full of hate and vitriol and still be following God's will. Hate the sin, not the sinner, etc.