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The Making of an Atheist

Started by Jagella, March 27, 2020, 10:37:02 PM

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Jagella

Quote from: aitm on March 29, 2020, 09:24:59 AM
Frankly, I think the world has far more atheists than we are aware of. Being an atheist, reaching that conclusion, I think, is easier than we admit. The real issue is the “freedom” to say you are. We have always had the “freedom” to say we are an atheist, but we had the sensibility not to, simply because the social ramifications were at the least, ostracized from said society, or more easily with the added bell of future deterrence, death.

I've often wondered if almost all of us are atheists--the only true theists being the most deluded. We act like atheists not really relying on religion or faith or prayer but on our own efforts to solve problems. If we really believed that gods exist, then it seems reasonable to me that we would rely on them to solve problems.

Baruch

#16
Quote from: Jagella on March 29, 2020, 09:48:17 PM
I've often wondered if almost all of us are atheists--the only true theists being the most deluded. We act like atheists not really relying on religion or faith or prayer but on our own efforts to solve problems. If we really believed that gods exist, then it seems reasonable to me that we would rely on them to solve problems.

Old Christian saying ... God helps those who help themselves.

“Pray as though everything depended on you, and act as if everything depended on God.” - St Ignatius of Loyola

"So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”" - John 4:48

Behind the curtain?  When I was a boy, I caught my dad putting things under the Christmas tree.  But I still loved him.  Later I played Santa Claus myself at an old folks home.  This wasn't an epistemology problem, or even a trust problem, but an act of love.

Atheists have a very clear, Pharisaical idea as to what a miracle is.  I say, everything, even my hand typing this, is a miracle.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Jagella

Quote from: Baruch on March 29, 2020, 10:15:32 PM
Atheists have a very clear, Pharisaical idea as to what a miracle is.  I say, everything, even my hand typing this, is a miracle.

Maybe Jesus never forked over a miracle for the Pharisees because he knew that without gullibility, it couldn't work.

In any event, I do not recall any typing hands presented in the Bible as miraculous. It's just not very impressive, I suppose. I'd prefer to see a flying zombie. That would get me thinking.


Baruch

Quote from: Jagella on March 29, 2020, 11:09:30 PM
Maybe Jesus never forked over a miracle for the Pharisees because he knew that without gullibility, it couldn't work.

In any event, I do not recall any typing hands presented in the Bible as miraculous. It's just not very impressive, I suppose. I'd prefer to see a flying zombie. That would get me thinking.



Psychosomatic cures work with psychosomatic disease.  Faith in high tech medicine may have been what released the current pandemic "our containment is secure" at Wuhan virology lab.  By all means ignore nosocomial infection.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Gawdzilla Sama

Making of an atheist? Sperm + egg.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

aitm

A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Jagella

Quote from: aitm on March 31, 2020, 04:58:40 PM
Good title for a lousy movie

I'd love to see Hollywood make a major motion picture about a Christian's journey to atheism. I'd gladly write the script based on my own experiences.

aitm

Quote from: Jagella on March 31, 2020, 08:09:04 PM
I'd love to see Hollywood make a major motion picture about a Christian's journey to atheism. I'd gladly write the script based on my own experiences.
Nah, hell the plots already titled, no mystery, and frankly nobody would  watch it. What for?
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

SGOS

The Ledge is an interesting atheist movie, but it's not about waking up from the fog of religion.  It's just the about a compassionate atheist, with a Christian protagonist caught up in his own self righteousness, and vile morality.

GSOgymrat

Quote from: Jagella on March 27, 2020, 10:37:02 PM
What would you say made you an atheist, or were you always an atheist?

I was raised Methodist and went to church every week but never believed in God. I attribute my atheism to not being neurologically predisposed to spirituality, being very introverted, and not being strictly indoctrinated as a child.

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on April 01, 2020, 07:58:52 AM
The Ledge is an interesting atheist movie, but it's not about waking up from the fog of religion.  It's just the about a compassionate atheist, with a Christian protagonist caught up in his own self righteousness, and vile morality.

All stories are stereotypes.  Can't be anything else.  So we watch the ones that validate us.  Americans are well acquainted with the moralizing egotistical American Christian.  In fact, that stereotype applies to any American. SJWs are just secular Puritans.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Jagella

Quote from: aitm on March 31, 2020, 10:03:02 PM
Nah, hell the plots already titled, no mystery, and frankly nobody would  watch it. What for?

I can't speak for others, but I'd love to see a good flick about a person's loss of religious faith. I think such a film would be would be very timely considering the growing numbers of "nones" (those who have no religious affiliation). It would let a lot of people know that they're not alone.

Jagella

Quote from: GSOgymrat on April 01, 2020, 11:33:29 AMI was raised Methodist and went to church every week but never believed in God. I attribute my atheism to not being neurologically predisposed to spirituality, being very introverted, and not being strictly indoctrinated as a child.

I think your story is not unique. I remember seeing kids in a Pentecostal church I used to attend. Some of them really seemed turned off by the insanity around them. Like you and other people, they simply endured the religion that was forced on them although their indoctrination may have been stricter than yours. As a kid I believed what I was taught, but it was very obvious to me that those who taught me were not nice people. I could not square a good God who was followed by such terrible people.

And I still can't!


GSOgymrat

Quote from: Jagella on April 01, 2020, 07:21:54 PM
As a kid I believed what I was taught, but it was very obvious to me that those who taught me were not nice people. I could not square a good God who was followed by such terrible people.

And I still can't!

The people I went to church with were nice people. I really felt what I was learning in church was like Aesop's Fables, it was an allegory. Jesus didn't actually come back to life, God didn't really speak to people-- that wasn't real life. I believed early as a child that people had a public persona that didn't always reflect who they really were because I very deliberately created a persona. As a child, I thought most people said they believed in God and the Bible because they were trying to appear like a good person and not because they truly believed it was real because that is what I was doing.

SGOS

#29
 ^ This

For much of my so called Christian life, I believed most everyone took the Bible with a grain of salt, and certainly EVERYONE took at least parts of the Bible with a grain of salt.  I believed everyone was pretty much like me in that regard (a classic psychological projection on my part).  I was well out of my teens when I realized my perceptions about the skepticism of others was totally wrong.  Many people actually did believe religious myth completely.  This knocked me off balance when I realized it.  The end effect was that the depth of belief of others, turned me farther away from religion.  I didn't mind being part of the crowd of people who signaled their goodness by pretending to believe the world was created in 7 days, or that Noah somehow got polar bears and arctic foxes on the ark, or that Jesus actually came back to life.  I could go along with it assuming others were just pretending to be that devout, but I couldn't go along with it when I realized that most were actually gullible Looney tunes.  I didn't want to be part of that.  Still,that was only the beginning of my journey.  I worked at personalizing Christianity in such a way that the square pegs might actually fit in the round holes, until many years down the road, I gave up on that too.