I don't get Atheism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's honestly frightening to me that for [some] religious people, the only thing stopping them from killing or raping their fellow humankind, stealing from them, or causing any other harm towards another, is a very old book compiled from some loose stories about men thousands of years ago. If a book is all that stands between you and committing violence or grief towards another, that's fucking terrifying.

You have no internal moral compass? Do you only do things for a selfish reward when you die? Do you really have that little compassion for your fellow humanity?

Well said.

Are you implying atheists are automatically equipped with a moral compass? Who's to say the only thing that stops you is not the fear of punishment? Stop this nonsense.

It's saying that most human beings are equipped with an internal moral compass. It's the fact that some people religious have what appears to be just a book standing between them and doing harmful/dangerous things - which is really pretty damn flimsy.

And narcissistic, to only be decent because you fear being punished by Dad.

Do you seriously have nothing in you that makes you want to be a compassionate, decent human being, for its own merit? You only do good to avoid punishment or because a book says so? That's pretty scary.

Did you ignore my question on purpose, or did you fail to comprehend it?

BTW, no, people are not born equipped with morality. It's instilled in new human beings by older human beings according to their custom.

Are you always a hypocrite and ignoring questions, but demanding people answer yours? Geez.

But yikes -- you're admitting that you don't have innate ethics. I don't think that's true for most human beings. Yes, a lot is cultural, but there are some ethical universals that have been replicated in societies in far corners of the earth (before technology made our world smaller).

And before modern science conducted experiments on human babies and other primates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's honestly frightening to me that for [some] religious people, the only thing stopping them from killing or raping their fellow humankind, stealing from them, or causing any other harm towards another, is a very old book compiled from some loose stories about men thousands of years ago. If a book is all that stands between you and committing violence or grief towards another, that's fucking terrifying.

You have no internal moral compass? Do you only do things for a selfish reward when you die? Do you really have that little compassion for your fellow humanity?

Well said.

Are you implying atheists are automatically equipped with a moral compass? Who's to say the only thing that stops you is not the fear of punishment? Stop this nonsense.

It's saying that most human beings are equipped with an internal moral compass. It's the fact that some people religious have what appears to be just a book standing between them and doing harmful/dangerous things - which is really pretty damn flimsy.

And narcissistic, to only be decent because you fear being punished by Dad.

Do you seriously have nothing in you that makes you want to be a compassionate, decent human being, for its own merit? You only do good to avoid punishment or because a book says so? That's pretty scary.

Did you ignore my question on purpose, or did you fail to comprehend it?

BTW, no, people are not born equipped with morality. It's instilled in new human beings by older human beings according to their custom.

Are you always a hypocrite and ignoring questions, but demanding people answer yours? Geez.

But yikes -- you're admitting that you don't have innate ethics. I don't think that's true for most human beings. Yes, a lot is cultural, but there are some ethical universals that have been replicated in societies in far corners of the earth (before technology made our world smaller).

Examples?

[Anonymous]

OP! Listen to me. First of all, belief is not a choice! You cannot choose to believe or not to believe in something. You are either convinced of something or you are not. Nobody who is an atheist ever thought "lalala I think I'll stop believing in God today". I've read through the whole thread and I am sorry to tell you, you are a closeted atheist. And that's ok! You would be SHOCKED at how many closeted atheists there are in the world, and especially at church. You don't have to stop going to church, you don't have to stop the rituals, you can continue to go to confession and all of that if it makes you feel better. There is no "acting on atheism" that you seem to be so worried about. Atheism is the lack of a belief in a deity. Period.

Second, agnostism and atheism are not mutually exclusive. Gnostism is about knowledge, theism is about belief. So technically, everybody in the world is an agnostic, because nobody "knows". So, you can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist. And most importantly, saying you are an atheist does not mean you are proclaiming that there is no god, that is a very common misconception. Atheism means you reject the claim that there is a god, NOT accepting the claim that there is no god. See the difference?

From reading your posts, you lack a belief in god. That makes you, at the very least, "atheist-curious".

I recommend checking out a show called The Atheist Experience on youtube, it will answer a lot of questions you might have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's honestly frightening to me that for [some] religious people, the only thing stopping them from killing or raping their fellow humankind, stealing from them, or causing any other harm towards another, is a very old book compiled from some loose stories about men thousands of years ago. If a book is all that stands between you and committing violence or grief towards another, that's fucking terrifying.

You have no internal moral compass? Do you only do things for a selfish reward when you die? Do you really have that little compassion for your fellow humanity?

Well said.

Are you implying atheists are automatically equipped with a moral compass? Who's to say the only thing that stops you is not the fear of punishment? Stop this nonsense.

It's saying that most human beings are equipped with an internal moral compass. It's the fact that some people religious have what appears to be just a book standing between them and doing harmful/dangerous things - which is really pretty damn flimsy.

And narcissistic, to only be decent because you fear being punished by Dad.

Do you seriously have nothing in you that makes you want to be a compassionate, decent human being, for its own merit? You only do good to avoid punishment or because a book says so? That's pretty scary.

Did you ignore my question on purpose, or did you fail to comprehend it?

BTW, no, people are not born equipped with morality. It's instilled in new human beings by older human beings according to their custom.

Are you always a hypocrite and ignoring questions, but demanding people answer yours? Geez.

But yikes -- you're admitting that you don't have innate ethics. I don't think that's true for most human beings. Yes, a lot is cultural, but there are some ethical universals that have been replicated in societies in far corners of the earth (before technology made our world smaller).

Examples?

Incest taboo. Disdain for random murder. Mourning the dead, and/or some kind of ritual concerning death/dying. Childcare & extra regard for little humans. Humans do have an innate sense of "care." It may be further shaped by culture and teachings, but we all universally care. It's replicated everywhere, across time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's honestly frightening to me that for [some] religious people, the only thing stopping them from killing or raping their fellow humankind, stealing from them, or causing any other harm towards another, is a very old book compiled from some loose stories about men thousands of years ago. If a book is all that stands between you and committing violence or grief towards another, that's fucking terrifying.

You have no internal moral compass? Do you only do things for a selfish reward when you die? Do you really have that little compassion for your fellow humanity?

Well said.

Are you implying atheists are automatically equipped with a moral compass? Who's to say the only thing that stops you is not the fear of punishment? Stop this nonsense.

It's saying that most human beings are equipped with an internal moral compass. It's the fact that some people religious have what appears to be just a book standing between them and doing harmful/dangerous things - which is really pretty damn flimsy.

And narcissistic, to only be decent because you fear being punished by Dad.

Do you seriously have nothing in you that makes you want to be a compassionate, decent human being, for its own merit? You only do good to avoid punishment or because a book says so? That's pretty scary.

Did you ignore my question on purpose, or did you fail to comprehend it?

BTW, no, people are not born equipped with morality. It's instilled in new human beings by older human beings according to their custom.

So not true. Humans are born with the capacity for goodness. Other troop primates have similar ideas about fairness and empathy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's honestly frightening to me that for [some] religious people, the only thing stopping them from killing or raping their fellow humankind, stealing from them, or causing any other harm towards another, is a very old book compiled from some loose stories about men thousands of years ago. If a book is all that stands between you and committing violence or grief towards another, that's fucking terrifying.

You have no internal moral compass? Do you only do things for a selfish reward when you die? Do you really have that little compassion for your fellow humanity?

Well said.

Are you implying atheists are automatically equipped with a moral compass? Who's to say the only thing that stops you is not the fear of punishment? Stop this nonsense.

It's saying that most human beings are equipped with an internal moral compass. It's the fact that some people religious have what appears to be just a book standing between them and doing harmful/dangerous things - which is really pretty damn flimsy.

And narcissistic, to only be decent because you fear being punished by Dad.

Do you seriously have nothing in you that makes you want to be a compassionate, decent human being, for its own merit? You only do good to avoid punishment or because a book says so? That's pretty scary.

Did you ignore my question on purpose, or did you fail to comprehend it?

BTW, no, people are not born equipped with morality. It's instilled in new human beings by older human beings according to their custom.

Are you always a hypocrite and ignoring questions, but demanding people answer yours? Geez.

But yikes -- you're admitting that you don't have innate ethics. I don't think that's true for most human beings. Yes, a lot is cultural, but there are some ethical universals that have been replicated in societies in far corners of the earth (before technology made our world smaller).

Examples?

Incest taboo. Disdain for random murder. Mourning the dead, and/or some kind of ritual concerning death/dying. Childcare & extra regard for little humans. Humans do have an innate sense of "care." It may be further shaped by culture and teachings, but we all universally care. It's replicated everywhere, across time.

None of these are universal, and some of these have nothing to do with morality. Morality is rather arbitrary, although some ideas are based in biology (caring for the young etc).

[Anonymous]

Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

Seriously. Why do you think there is a creator behind everything? Why do you think those that do not agree are lost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

You assume we are creations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

Behind every pronouncement is a pronouncer! Whether or not what they are pronouncing is true is another story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

True, but that's a tautology that assumes the universe is a creation.

The universe could just be one of those natural phenomena that happens from time to time, and, just like the primitives who believed lightning was the creation of a deity, sooner or later we may figure out what natural effect cause our universe to happen.

[Anonymous]

I don't get religion

--signed an atheist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get religion

--signed an atheist

You don't have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Behind every creation is a creator. Anyone that doesn't see that is truly lost.

And the creator is the father, son and holy ghost? how do they fit in? And the creator sent his son, born of a virgin to save his creation, 6,000 (at least) year after creating his creation? What was he thinking?

[Anonymous]

We're spending a lot of time discussing undefined terms, although a few posters have addressed the issue of definition.

OP seems to use "Atheist" (never "atheist") to mean someone who is outspokenly, or aggressively, a denier of God. There are such atheists, and there are many who believe there is no God, but don't feel they need to spread that belief, and there are many who simply have no belief in God without any particular opinion about non-existence. Worst of all, to my admittedly nit-picking mind, are those who think atheists are "athiests",

As to agnostics, some use the term in its technical sense of denying the possibility of proving either the existence or on-existence of God. Others use it For people who have not made up their minds one way or the other. Some use it because they don't believe, but don't like the term "atheist". OP seems to think an agnostic is someone who vacillates between belief and non-belief.

OP, I think you should think of yourself as a Christian agnostic (In the not sure sense), and accept that your views may possibly change and/or may not fit any precise terminology. And please drop the A that implies that we atheists are some kind of godless Church.