How do you become an Atheist?

GekiDan said:

Atheists are people who don't believe in God or any other gods. In short, they are the one who don't have a religion.

Since I have read many posts contradicting(that's what I thought) other religions here, especially Christianism. I really do believe that these people are Atheist. What is your religion when you were born? Where do you really believe? Science? And, when and how did you became an Atheist?

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I was born into a family that was totally devoted to a Christian cult. Of course at the time my parents didn't know that this was leading. They were young Christians and just wanted to do what they believed was right. So my sister and I were raised in this fashion. Everything we read, watched, wrote, drew had to deal with the Bible. There wasn't anything else. We could read fiction books sometimes, but they had to be Christian fiction. We could only watch TBN (Yay for Super Book and Gospel Bill). At first we went to christian private schools, but after 3rd grade we were homeschooled, be cause the church said the school we went too was too secular. We couldn't shop at stores that had rated R movies or sold things that the church deemed evil.

My daddy was the drummer of the church praise and worship band and my mom taught sunday school. We went to both Sunday sermons, and ones on Wednesday and Bible groups. So after a while my folk started to realize that this kind of life was crazy. I mean there is loving God, then there is making Him your obsession. It's not healthy. So when I was 13 my family packed up and moved from California to North Carolina to escape all that drama. Next thing you know my sister and I were shoved in Public School and kinda were told to adapt. We knew NOTHING of the real world, and Middle School kids aren't the best source of knowledge.

It took until 10th grade for me to finally have some views of my own and see the world without being told what it was. And College helped me explore more of the world too. With that being said, I think you can understand why I don't like Organized religion. For me I think they've strayed from the core beliefs and are mostly out for power and money.

I do believe in God, but I'm also a realist. I think the Bible is a wonderful book, but I think the majority of the magnificent stories are based on truth but elaborated. In my opinion there are no talking animals, no giants, no angels. I think all the stories in the Bible can be explained rationally, and some are just Mythical literature like Gilgamesh and the Iliad.

This thing is this. While I think the plagues of Egypt were a result from the Minoan volcano eruption, I still think God exist. I think Jesus was a great man of peace, and while I don't know if he was the son of God, I like to think he was. So my believes in Christianity are not really 100% this is this and that is that.

To me, the core of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all boils down to two simple rules. Love God and Love others. That's it. That's all. Everything else is either connected to that or just added on through the centuries by men who wanted more rules. Sad truth is that religion can't just keep it simple... and you always have someone who will use it to try to gain more power.

Anyway, that's what I think...

GekiDan said:

Super Book and the Flying House was one of my favorite cartoons in my early childhood. They really thought little kids about God and Jesus, mainly what happened in the Gospels. I see that you don't mention Flying House. Haven't you seen it?

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I did see Flying House, lol. I just didn't want to push my luck naming Christian shows no one has seen. I figured Super Book and Gospel Bill were probably the most popular

Glee said:

I did see Flying House, lol. I just didn't want to push my luck naming Christian shows no one has seen. I figured Super Book and Gospel Bill were probably the most popular

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Heck I am so old I never saw any of those. At home we had a BW TV that got 2 channels. And our church at the time had no "fancy projector".

Glee said:

I do believe in God, but I'm also a realist. I think the Bible is a wonderful book, but I think the majority of the magnificent stories are based on truth but elaborated. In my opinion there are no talking animals, no giants, no angels. I think all the stories in the Bible can be explained rationally, and some are just Mythical literature like Gilgamesh and the Iliad.

This thing is this. While I think the plagues of Egypt were a result from the Minoan volcano eruption, I still think God exist. I think Jesus was a great man of peace, and while I don't know if he was the son of God, I like to think he was. So my believes in Christianity are not really 100% this is this and that is that.

To me, the core of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all boils down to two simple rules. Love God and Love others. That's it. That's all. Everything else is either connected to that or just added on through the centuries by men who wanted more rules. Sad truth is that religion can't just keep it simple... and you always have someone who will use it to try to gain more power.

Anyway, that's what I think...

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Very well put for me too. Think in addition that the part that I cannot sort out for me is the doctrine of being predestined whether we are going to go to heaven or hell. But then I wonder whether this anomaly has been created by humans who like to interpret the Bible literally instead of giving it lots of lattitude for having been translated hundreds of times, additions made, etc. etc. I am also not good with people of religion when they do missionary work on others trying to put fear into them along the lines of if they did not believe according to a specific recipe, they will go to hell ... that type of judgment blinds me completely.

Growing up I was agnostic and never had a clear idea of what I believed in, cause I din't really have anything to believe in. I grew up in a Christian family, however, found no reason to believe in anything.
However, as I grew older and understood life better I begun to see a bigger picture, where i fit in the world . This picture cannot be complete without God, in fact there is no picture without God.

GekiDan said:

Since I have read many posts contradicting(that's what I thought) other religions here, especially Christianism. I really do believe that these people are Atheist.

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I, for one, am an atheist, yes.

What is your religion when you were born?

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When I was born, I cared about my bottle of milk, and where the next meal was coming from, not the nature of the universe. Haha!

I presume you mean to ask which religion I was socialised into. That is Judaism.

Where do you really believe? Science?

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You cannot say you believe "science", because science is the technique for uncovering empirical fact.

I believe in many things, they are merely not supernatural. I believe in love, I believe in morality, etc.

And, when and how did you became an Atheist?

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Three years ago. I didn't like certain aspects of orthodox Jewish belief. I questioned my own beliefs, and I found that they lacked justification. Since then, I've developed my views as a secular atheist.

My Mom was Christian whilst my Dad was atheist, this never really had an effect on their relationship, when I was young, my Mom tried to raise me as a Christian, whilst my Dad told me to questions those beliefs and seek justification. Eventually, I could not justify my beliefs and I declared myself as an Atheist.

I don't have a certain idea but I guess people find Atheism rational because of the positivist nature of science. People have to accept scienes natural rules during to their life in any case except praying and this leads to a 'materialist' tendency.

et al,

Principle Question: How do you become an Atheist?

(DISCUSSION)

Atheist is a religious description invented by those that believe. It presupposes that the normal condition is to believe in a Supreme Being. The believers then develop a term to describe what they assume is the abnormal condition: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a Supreme Being.

But religion is an acquired taste. It is not an inherited belief or genetically encoded into the human. It is something taught to the human after birth.

Thus, the principle question (supra) is a false dilemma. It really asks:

• How do you become unknowledgeable (not know the Supreme Being)?

It, like most religious arguments by fundamentalist, is a trick question. It is like asking how do you have zero of something?

Humans are not born with a particular belief instinctively instilled upon them. They are "taught" a religion and a belief structure commensurate with their upbringing and environment. And just as they can be taught something (Islam, Jewish, Christian, Buddism, etc) that has no empirical evidence to support it (spiritual in nature), so is it that they can unlearn something.

Following a religious culture is like smoking. It is a learned habit. And even though addictive, just like smoking, the habit can be broken. The human recognition of outrageous fundamentalism is like the discovery of disease. And just as religion can be detected as the root cause of outrageous fundamentalism, so it is analogous to smoking as a cause an array of disease. A human can learn this and continue or quit either.

Most Respectfully,
R

RoccoR said:

et al,

Principle Question: How do you become an Atheist?

(DISCUSSION)

Atheist is a religious description invented by those that believe. It presupposes that the normal condition is to believe in a Supreme Being. The believers then develop a term to describe what they assume is the abnormal condition: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a Supreme Being.

But religion is an acquired taste. It is not an inherited belief or genetically encoded into the human. It is something taught to the human after birth.

Thus, the principle question (supra) is a false dilemma. It really asks:

• How do you become unknowledgeable (not know the Supreme Being)?

It, like most religious arguments by fundamentalist, is a trick question. It is like asking how do you have zero of something?

Humans are not born with a particular belief instinctively instilled upon them. They are "taught" a religion and a belief structure commensurate with their upbringing and environment. And just as they can be taught something (Islam, Jewish, Christian, Buddism, etc) that has no empirical evidence to support it (spiritual in nature), so is it that they can unlearn something.

Following a religious culture is like smoking. It is a learned habit. And even though addictive, just like smoking, the habit can be broken. The human recognition of outrageous fundamentalism is like the discovery of disease. And just as religion can be detected as the root cause of outrageous fundamentalism, so it is analogous to smoking as a cause an array of disease. A human can learn this and continue or quit either.

Most Respectfully,
R

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Rocco, neurological science disagrees with your basic assertion that a person's religious beliefs are "entirely learned". The theory is, we ARE genetically predisposed to believe in more than our 5 known senses tell us...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16687-humans-may-be-primed-to-believe-in-creation.html

food for thought~

RoccoR said:

Humans are not born with a particular belief instinctively instilled upon them. They are "taught" a religion and a belief structure commensurate with their upbringing and environment.

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Atheism is learned (through much brainwashing). Theism is innate. Rocco, you're only right regarding details of a particular religion.

Hammer said:

Atheism is learned (through much brainwashing). Theism is innate. Rocco, you're only right regarding details of a particular religion.

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If religion were innate then why do so many kids end up the same religion as their parents? Why do atheists kids end up atheists? And don't say it is a gene unless you have the proof.

myp said:

If religion were innate then why do so many kids end up the same religion as their parents? Why do atheists kids end up atheists? And don't say it is a gene unless you have the proof.

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Kids end up the same religion as their parents because they learn the details of religion from their parents. As for Atheists, if they didn't teach their kids to be atheists, the kids would grow up as theists by nature. And, the first Jehovah Witness to knock on the door would gain a new church member as the kid eagerly gives details to his innate theism.

Hammer said:

As for Atheists, if they didn't teach their kids to be atheists, the kids would grow up as theists by nature. And, the first Jehovah Witness to knock on the door would gain a new church member as the kid eagerly gives details to his innate theism.

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What proof or evidence do you have of this?

myp said:

What proof or evidence do you have of this?

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Theism is standard in all societies in the world, and down through history. The only place Atheism is found in significant quantity is where theism is oppressed by the government. And, it often requires extensive anti-theism "education."

Even in the US, which has become very hostile to theism, not even 2% of the population claims to be agnostic or Atheist.

Hammer said:

Theism is standard in all societies in the world, and down through history. The only place Atheism is found in significant quantity is where theism is oppressed by the government. And, it often requires extensive anti-theism "education."

Even in the US, which has become very hostile to theism, not even 2% of the population claims to be agnostic or Atheist.

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Do you have proof or just your intuitive fairy tales?

A lot religion there are rejecting the holiness of each other. The term of theism s being used in a bit misleading way here. An innate thing-belief-, wouldn't have been like this.

GekiDan said:

Atheists are people who don't believe in God or any other gods. In short, they are the one who don't have a religion.

Since I have read many posts contradicting(that's what I thought) other religions here, especially Christianism. I really do believe that these people are Atheist. What is your religion when you were born? Where do you really believe? Science? And, when and how did you became an Atheist?

Click to expand...

To be atheist is simple, as the name implies it is without theisum. Meaning you don't believe in, and or worship a god of any kind.

I am generally Christian, I don't see any conflict between science and my belief, however the others who are in my general religious belief do, I think it us based in fear, and obeying a particular set of rules to feel like ethey are part of something.