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Forums - Politics Discussion - Why Are You An Atheist?

ReimTime on 09 May 2015
JWeinCom said:
ReimTime said:


I suppose it is all in the definition of the word. To me spiritual means a deep-running connection to something; perhaps the land and the people around you. A sense of place and your link to that. Ancestors, traditions and beliefs that do not center upon anything religious.

Ok I get you.  Not sure I would choose to use the word spiritual for it, but I can't really think of a better one.

Yeah you see my plight. I needed a word that separated religion from, well spirituality, in my original post and as you can see now I still can't think of a better word.



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JWeinCom on 09 May 2015
ReimTime said:
JWeinCom said:
ReimTime said:


I suppose it is all in the definition of the word. To me spiritual means a deep-running connection to something; perhaps the land and the people around you. A sense of place and your link to that. Ancestors, traditions and beliefs that do not center upon anything religious.

Ok I get you.  Not sure I would choose to use the word spiritual for it, but I can't really think of a better one.

Yeah you see my plight. I needed a word that separated religion from, well spirituality, in my original post and as you can see now I still can't think of a better word.


Yeah.  Not all beliefs can be squeezed into one word I guess.



akhmenhawk on 09 May 2015

I became an atheist simply because I don't think any religion has any realistic level of credibility or plausibility. And I certainly don't think religion has a moral high ground.



Teeqoz on 09 May 2015
sc94597 said:

Just want to correct a few people in here. Agnostic and athiest are not mutually exclusive. Claiming "agnostic" answers the question of knowing while atheism answers the question of believing. I am for example an agnostic athiest. I don't believe we can  know there is or isn't a diety, using an empirical method, due to that, I can't believe in a deity. Some people are agnostic theists. They don't know there is a deity, but they have faith there is one and believe there is one. Some people are gnostic atheists, they claim they know there is not a deity, and we have sufficiently falsified its existence. Some people are gnostic thiests. They claim  they know there is a deity and we have empricial evidence for its existence. Obviously since these people claim knowledge, they also claim belief or disbelief.

 

Yup. Most atheists are really agnostics once they think abit more about. You can by 'definition' not disprove a supernatural deity, but just because you can't disprove something doesn't mean you have to believe it's true.



JWeinCom on 09 May 2015
Teeqoz said:
sc94597 said:

Just want to correct a few people in here. Agnostic and athiest are not mutually exclusive. Claiming "agnostic" answers the question of knowing while atheism answers the question of believing. I am for example an agnostic athiest. I don't believe we can  know there is or isn't a diety, using an empirical method, due to that, I can't believe in a deity. Some people are agnostic theists. They don't know there is a deity, but they have faith there is one and believe there is one. Some people are gnostic atheists, they claim they know there is not a deity, and we have sufficiently falsified its existence. Some people are gnostic thiests. They claim  they know there is a deity and we have empricial evidence for its existence. Obviously since these people claim knowledge, they also claim belief or disbelief.

 

Yup. Most atheists are really agnostics once they think abit more about. You can by 'definition' not disprove a supernatural deity, but just because you can't disprove something doesn't mean you have to believe it's true.


Well, is anything less than 100% agnostic.  In regards to God (Yahweh, Jehova, Hashem, or whatever you call the Judeo Christian god) I am 99.9999999999 % or whatever sure that he does not exist.  In regards to that specific god, would you still say that's agnostic?



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Teeqoz on 09 May 2015
JWeinCom said:
Teeqoz said:
sc94597 said:

Just want to correct a few people in here. Agnostic and athiest are not mutually exclusive. Claiming "agnostic" answers the question of knowing while atheism answers the question of believing. I am for example an agnostic athiest. I don't believe we can  know there is or isn't a diety, using an empirical method, due to that, I can't believe in a deity. Some people are agnostic theists. They don't know there is a deity, but they have faith there is one and believe there is one. Some people are gnostic atheists, they claim they know there is not a deity, and we have sufficiently falsified its existence. Some people are gnostic thiests. They claim  they know there is a deity and we have empricial evidence for its existence. Obviously since these people claim knowledge, they also claim belief or disbelief.

 

Yup. Most atheists are really agnostics once they think abit more about. You can by 'definition' not disprove a supernatural deity, but just because you can't disprove something doesn't mean you have to believe it's true.


Well, is anything less than 100% agnostic.  In regards to God (Yahweh, Jehova, Hashem, or whatever you call the Judeo Christian god) I am 99.9999999999 % or whatever sure that he does not exist.  In regards to that specific god, would you still say that's agnostic?


Yes. (FYI I'm an agnostic atheist myself). I see where you're coming from, but you and I agree that regardless of how sure we are, we can't, by definition, be 100% sure.



StuOhQ on 09 May 2015
Teeqoz said:
 if you find the concept of a continuos search for the truth more appealing than to presume you have already found it, I'd say you're an agnostic atheist.


It seems that, for some, atheism stems more out of disinterest in that search than a passion for learning the truth. It's interesting how you find people of both types (in search/disinterested) in both atheism and spritualism. 

A question for the crowd: how many of the atheists on the board are daily meditators/maintain a mindfulness practice?



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JWeinCom on 09 May 2015
Teeqoz said:
JWeinCom said:


Well, is anything less than 100% agnostic.  In regards to God (Yahweh, Jehova, Hashem, or whatever you call the Judeo Christian god) I am 99.9999999999 % or whatever sure that he does not exist.  In regards to that specific god, would you still say that's agnostic?


Yes. (FYI I'm an agnostic atheist myself). I see where you're coming from, but you and I agree that regardless of how sure we are, we can't, by definition, be 100% sure.


I get that, but I kind of think if you treat it like that, the term kind of losing its meaning.  I am as sure as the fact that the Judeochristian god does not exist as I am that Bowser does not exist.  That's why I don't like the term agnostic.  Most people think of it as having some significant doubt.



JWeinCom on 09 May 2015
StuOhQ said:
Teeqoz said:
 if you find the concept of a continuos search for the truth more appealing than to presume you have already found it, I'd say you're an agnostic atheist.


It seems that, for some, atheism stems more out of disinterest in that search than a passion for learning the truth. It's interesting how you find people of both types (in search/disinterested) in both atheism and spritualism. 

A question for the crowd: how many of the atheists on the board are daily meditators/maintain a mindfulness practice?

It is something I'd like to do, and have tried to do, but not something I do all the time.  I've read a lot about mindfulness, and learned some techniques to praticeit, but I ummmm haven't been very mindful in my mindfulness.



sc94597 on 09 May 2015
JWeinCom said:
Teeqoz said:


Yes. (FYI I'm an agnostic atheist myself). I see where you're coming from, but you and I agree that regardless of how sure we are, we can't, by definition, be 100% sure.


I get that, but I kind of think if you treat it like that, the term kind of losing its meaning.  I am as sure as the fact that the Judeochristian god does not exist as I am that Bowser does not exist.  That's why I don't like the term agnostic.  Most people think of it as having some significant doubt.

Believe it or not there are athiests who believe they've falsified the existence of any deity, logically. The question is more of an epistemological one of philosophy vs. science. In science you are always an agnostic with how you address knowledge. There is always the possibility that something doesn't explain the full picture. In philosophy/logic you are dealing with absolute truths. 

So the distinction between a gnostic athiest and an agnostic athiest is a real one. 

The terms "agnostic" vs. "gnostic" are most useful when we ask the questions with regards to deities in general (not any specific one.)