I'm coming to terms with the possibility that I'm an atheist....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I consider myself an apatheist. I don't know if there is a God, and I don't care. I think many people think that atheists are actively rejecting God and trying to get other people to do the same. I think many people think that agnostics are people that don't want to come out to the harsher interpretation of atheist.

I find that many believers are people that would rather rely on tradition than think for themselves. They like the community of their organized religion, and don't care to take it any further. For me, there is room for everyone until they try to legislate their belief systems, then I do have to get up off the couch.

I think there are many apatheists out there -- some too apathetic to even know there's a name for themselves or too apathetic to post on a blog about atheism-- so I'm glad you did.

May there be more apatheists in the future!

[Anonymous]

Apatheists are just lazy.

Someone posed a question to Christopher H that if he didn't believe in God, why didn't he just stay home. His answer was that religion wouldn't let him.

Think about it, when otherwise rational people invoke God to justify decisions with far reaching impact - such as the electability of someone to political office, it then affects me directly as an atheist and therefore is in my interest to actively participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apatheists are just lazy.

Someone posed a question to Christopher H that if he didn't believe in God, why didn't he just stay home. His answer was that religion wouldn't let him.

Think about it, when otherwise rational people invoke God to justify decisions with far reaching impact - such as the electability of someone to political office, it then affects me directly as an atheist and therefore is in my interest to actively participate.

I'm glad there are people like you -- but not everyone is the same and being an apatheist is preferable to being a theist, IMO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apatheists are just lazy.

Someone posed a question to Christopher H that if he didn't believe in God, why didn't he just stay home. His answer was that religion wouldn't let him.

Think about it, when otherwise rational people invoke God to justify decisions with far reaching impact - such as the electability of someone to political office, it then affects me directly as an atheist and therefore is in my interest to actively participate.

I'm glad there are people like you -- but not everyone is the same and being an apatheist is preferable to being a theist, IMO

I'm the original apatheist poster, and yes I am lazy, but as I said in my post, I have to get off the couch when someone starts trying to legislate their belief systems. That includes electing people who base their legislative decisions on what their religion says instead of on whether something is healthy and sustainable for all people. Don't tell me that gay people shouldn't be married just because your religion doesn't like it - that's not a reason for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apatheists are just lazy.

Someone posed a question to Christopher H that if he didn't believe in God, why didn't he just stay home. His answer was that religion wouldn't let him.

Think about it, when otherwise rational people invoke God to justify decisions with far reaching impact - such as the electability of someone to political office, it then affects me directly as an atheist and therefore is in my interest to actively participate.

I'm glad there are people like you -- but not everyone is the same and being an apatheist is preferable to being a theist, IMO

I'm the original apatheist poster, and yes I am lazy, but as I said in my post, I have to get off the couch when someone starts trying to legislate their belief systems. That includes electing people who base their legislative decisions on what their religion says instead of on whether something is healthy and sustainable for all people. Don't tell me that gay people shouldn't be married just because your religion doesn't like it - that's not a reason for anything.

Although religion of candidate isn't my guide, I do vote for the candidate I believe will support my views (political, economic, social). Isn 't that we all do?

[Anonymous]

I'm not pp, BTW ^ Just adding my .02.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We're more efficient at treating each other more compassionately too -- consider the end of slavery, the advent of minority rights, advances in medical science. We humans are a strange species, but overall, we are getting better, not worse

You are making your claims based upon a very small sample. Not a good approach.

No, it's based on a book by cognitive psychologist, Steven pinker. The better angels of our nature

Interesting, I wonder how he squares this with his previous book "The Blank Slate" where he argues that in the nature versus nurture contest, nature wins. The nature part of the equation is in our DNA, which changes very slowly. Our DNA is essentially what it was 100,000 years ago.

If he is arguing that changing social, and governmental structure, and the increased flow of information due to technology is forcing not to act on their base instincts, I can buy that. People haven't really changed they are just being forced by circumstances to behave better.

How about we look at some real data? I highly recommend the Ted Talk by Hans Rosling called "How not to be ignorant about the world" He shows how the world is really getting much better, but that we assume its getting worse. That is not to say that where its bad it isn't really bad, just that the trend it toward improvement around the wordl.

[Anonymous]

A lot of atheists seem to have spent a lot more time studying and trying out religion than the devout. Atheists seem a heck of a lot more informed about religion than most believers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of atheists seem to have spent a lot more time studying and trying out religion than the devout. Atheists seem a heck of a lot more informed about religion than most believers!

that is a fact -- on the whole, atheists know more about the religion than religious people -- because they studied it before deciding to give it up. for instance, more atheists know the names of the four gospels and the order in which they were written. I knew the names of the gospels just by going to church, but didn't know that Mark was written first (even though it's the second in order in the bible) until I personally studied how the bible was written. Also didn't know the last verse in Mark about Jesus arising from the tomb wasn't added until much later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I became an atheist, there was a period where I felt very empty, too -- mostly because you have to shift your thinking from a worldview where there is a god to one where there is not. At first it feels like there's a hole, something missing.

After a while, though, it no longer feels that way. Now, as the pieces of my worldview are in place without religion, it feels solid and steady and whole to me in a way that it never did when I was religious (I should add, I went to church every Sunday, I was not casually religious). The way things fit together for me make sense and feel "real" now. I don't really know how to explain it other than that, but I hope that gives you some solace that your troubled feelings are normal and transient.

I agree with this.

When you're accustomed to going to church and other religious traditions it's a bit of an adjustment. Feeling "empty" has nothing to do with not being religious, it has to do with stopping something that you're accustomed to doing.

After a while when you realize that you can still socialize, have friends, be moral, do good, live a complete life even without the religious piece you no longer feel "empty".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I became an atheist, there was a period where I felt very empty, too -- mostly because you have to shift your thinking from a worldview where there is a god to one where there is not. At first it feels like there's a hole, something missing.

After a while, though, it no longer feels that way. Now, as the pieces of my worldview are in place without religion, it feels solid and steady and whole to me in a way that it never did when I was religious (I should add, I went to church every Sunday, I was not casually religious). The way things fit together for me make sense and feel "real" now. I don't really know how to explain it other than that, but I hope that gives you some solace that your troubled feelings are normal and transient.

I agree with this.

When you're accustomed to going to church and other religious traditions it's a bit of an adjustment. Feeling "empty" has nothing to do with not being religious, it has to do with stopping something that you're accustomed to doing.

After a while when you realize that you can still socialize, have friends, be moral, do good, live a complete life even without the religious piece you no longer feel "empty".

and you often feel better - free to understand and explore without trying to fit your growing knowledge into what you think you're supposed to believe