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I go through periods...usually when I am depressed over how bad life is going.....when I cannot believe in much really.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can agree with that. One of the most interesting things I've ever heard though is that people's belief in something greater started when we began walking upright and we could see the horizon for the first time. When I look off into the horizon and feel how small I am and how immense the world and universe are, I get overwhelmed by the feeling that there must be something greater. It's a great reminder. But I have no problems with atheists. At least you're questioning.

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I think the search for higher powers etc. came into being when people started asking "why" and did not have science to answer it for them... so they started making things up that sounded reasonable to them... then science came along and they needed faith to shore up belief that does not hold up to fact/science.

Now its not about faith or answering questions or even science... its about money and the best way to make a lot and not have to work or pay taxes on it.

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I think the search for higher powers etc. came into being when people started asking "why" and did not have science to answer it for them... so they started making things up that sounded reasonable to them... then science came along and they needed faith to shore up belief that does not hold up to fact/science.

Now its not about faith or answering questions or even science... its about money and the best way to make a lot and not have to work or pay taxes on it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hahaha. Good point. I don't know if anyone watched South Park last night but it did a pretty funny spoof on Scientology... Talk about a money-making religion right there. Custom built for profit.... As are most religions. Then again, there's always the distinction between dogma/church and genuine belief in something. There's no connection between belief and money. Churches/mosques/synagogues/"magick" cults just do a good job of making people believe there is... :wink

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Some time ago, a link was provided to this flag, but the link is now dead. I don't really recall if this was a one-person proposal or something else, more serious, that was actually flown. The symbolism is pretty obvious - it has that quality: The "A" for atheism breaks the black chains of ignorance and superstition, thus releasing the planet.

Jorge Candeias, 8 April 2001

Dont know if you all scrolled down but this is why I like it.

This is the reason people war. They all think they are right about religeon and kick each others ass to make a stupid point.

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I beleive in God - one absolute God with Triune characteristics.

I beleive in absolutes - which makes me angry at times, because its terribly inconvenient.

I beleive in Good.

I beleive in Evil.

I beleive that neither are relative.

I beleive in a dimension that we neither see nor hear - and yet from time it intertwines with our own.

I do not know why or how - I just beieve I've experienced it many times, as have millions of others.

I beleive Mankind wishes to be worship self as God - and yet is incapable of true self sufficiency and is on a never ending quest to box all things in and place blame on what cannot be controlled.

I beleive in predestiny and free will - although to many that seems like a contradiction.

I beleive science reveals certain attributes of the Divine as opposed to refuting it.

I beleive in an actual advasary named Satan (there are many names) - but I beleive in him /it in literal terms - not a personification of the mindset of evil but as literal intelligent entitiy.

I beleive he has a very quasi militaristic organization beneath him measured in territorial and regional influence and range of power.

I beleive there is a literal Heaven - and a war in heaven thousands of years old and that it is still going on now as we speak.

I beleive in the Nephilim. And that many so called spirits or demons are in fact the focused energy of deceased Nephilim who have lost their bodily vehicles but who's essence remains focused and angry.

I beleive in the need for mediation between God and Man although I also admit that there is much I fail to grasp at - simply because I am fallible and not God. And I beleive it is difficult to have a relationship with God, and not because of the inexhaustible sources of mocking voices, but because a relationship with God ultimately points to the death of self will.

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My name is Shade Everdark, and I am an Atheist.

I'm going to go anal retentive here on you folks for a moment, and further specify by saying that I am what is termed a weak Atheist. That is to say, I do not deny the existence of a deity, I merely choose not to believe in any, and yes, before you point it out, there is a difference, and a fairly significant one. Weak Atheism is also not Agnosticism. Agnosticism concerns itself generally with knowledge about god (or the lack thereof), while Atheism deals with the existence of a deity.

To sum things up, I ran out of faith years ago. I haven't found any way to refill my spiritual gas tank, and at this point, am pretty content not to. I choose to adopt the closest analog I have found to the scientific method--adopt the negative hypothesis as my stance, and wait for someone to come along with a counterexample that refutes my hypothesis. (Generally, this is easier than adopting the positive hypothesis, i. e. that god does exist, and waiting for someone to come along with a refutation, because in refuting a positive hypothesis, you must prove that for all infinite instances of that positive, it does not or cannot exist. When refuting a negative hypothesis, you only need to prove one positive to refute it entirely.)

Jarod, you may bring your ire to bear. I stand ready.

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My name is Shade Everdark, and I am an Atheist.

I'm going to go anal retentive here on you folks for a moment, and further specify by saying that I am what is termed a weak Atheist.  That is to say, I do not deny the existence of a deity, I merely choose not to believe in any, and yes, before you point it out, there is a difference, and a fairly significant one.  Weak Atheism is also not Agnosticism.  Agnosticism concerns itself generally with knowledge about god (or the lack thereof), while Atheism deals with the existence of a deity.

To sum things up, I ran out of faith years ago.  I haven't found any way to refill my spiritual gas tank, and at this point, am pretty content not to.  I choose to adopt the closest analog I have found to the scientific method--adopt the negative hypothesis as my stance, and wait for someone to come along with a counterexample that refutes my hypothesis.  (Generally, this is easier than adopting the positive hypothesis, i. e. that god does exist, and waiting for someone to come along with a refutation, because in refuting a positive hypothesis, you must prove that for all infinite instances of that positive, it does not or cannot exist.  When refuting a negative hypothesis, you only need to prove one positive to refute it entirely.)

Jarod, you may bring your ire to bear.  I stand ready.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can understand your stance. One of the most interesting arguments against literal Christianity goes as follows:

1. The Christian God is either omniscient or he is not

A. He is

1) Then he knew when he created the universe that Adam and Eve would commit the "original sin" thus damning all of humanity to eternal darkness unless they found salvation through the many rituals of Judaism and Christianity.

a) It follows that God created the earth knowing that he would condemn the vast majority of his creation to everlasting damnation and hell, because the vast majority of humanity would not accept Jesus Christ as their lord and eternal savior.

i) On this line of reasoning, God is an asshole. Creating something just to destroy the vast majority of it.

B. He isn't

1) This disproves literal Christianity and the "black and white" interpretation of the bible, leaving open every single aspect of the bible to interpretation and the dreaded "gray" areas.

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I'm with Shade and Hipster. First, I believe things which I am given reason to believe. Until there's a compelling reason to believe in god other than "my parents told me god exists, and their parents told them" I'm going to continue with my belief that god does not exist.

And I'm with you on the omniscient sort of proof. You pretty much just need two qualities - knowledge of the future and existence of hell - to prove that god is kind of a dick. (Or, more eloquently, the god does not satisfy the beneficence characterstic often assigned to her/him.) God knows before creating some people that they are going to end up suffering in hell for all eternity, but chooses to create them anyway? Not cool, man.

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God knows before creating some people that they are going to end up suffering in hell for all eternity, but chooses to create them anyway?  Not cool, man.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Precisely my feelings.

All the various free will arguments running through my head are not interested in coming out right now.

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