Are there any Athiest here?

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
To the athiest, my question is why did you come to the conclusion that God(s) don't exist? You see, I was born Catholic. I only went to church on Christmas. Religion wasn't really a thing in my family. A few years ago I traveled to Thailand, and that is when I became interested in Buddhism. Since then, I've been a practicing Buddhist who doesn't really believe in an afterlife or a God. I've been trying to overcome the dreaded feeling of hell that is so ingrained in our culture. How did you overcome this fear? I've been watching athiest shows on YouTube like "The Athiest Experience" to help me answer questions in regard to Athiesm. Also, how do your loved ones deal with your non belief in an afterlife? I think the reason most of us believe in a Heaven is the fear of death. For many, it's very jarring to think about the fact that life might not exist after this.

Thanks...
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,653
7,882
126
Because religion is a bunch of contradictory nonsense. If you can read through the bible and think every word makes perfect sense when taken as a whole, you have issues with logical thought processes. Without evidence of some kind of god, the only sensible conclusion is there isn't one.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Pretty much the more educated one is equals the more likely they are to be atheist. Notice the map of a clear correlation of the most developed countries tending to correlate with least religious:




And really - it's just an overall weakness of the human brain if you feel the need to always think there is an answer to something that we can't currently answer. "Where did rain come from? I guess god did it." was basically the answer to things in life once upon a time.

It's also hilarious how folks think that THEY have the right answer for gods. NO NO NO! My fairy tale book is right, yours is wrong!

But overall, whatever, I won't shit on religion too much - if it makes people happy to be stupidly giving away 10% of their paycheck to support an organization of touching young boys, I guess more power to ya? If going to church and wasting time reading nonsense is good for you because you're meeting other people in life, then I guess thats overall good for you.






 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,833
8,302
136
To the athiest, my question is why did you come to the conclusion that God(s) don't exist? You see, I was born Catholic. I only went to church on Christmas. Religion wasn't really a thing in my family. A few years ago I traveled to Thailand, and that is when I became interested in Buddhism. Since then, I've been a practicing Buddhist who doesn't really believe in an afterlife or a God. I've been trying to overcome the dreaded feeling of hell that is so ingrained in our culture. How did you overcome this fear? I've been watching athiest shows on YouTube like "The Athiest Experience" to help me answer questions in regard to Athiesm. Also, how do your loved ones deal with your non belief in an afterlife? I think the reason most of us believe in a Heaven is the fear of death. For many, it's very jarring to think about the fact that life might not exist after this.

Thanks...
I recommend the videos of Alan Watts, they will help you immensely in dealing with this whole afterlife thing you speak of. Many many, seemingly endless videos on Youtube:

Regarding your practicing Buddhism, I must say, so do I, and I offer one of my favorite quotations, often erroneously attributed to Albert Einstein:

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." - Frequently attributed to Albert Einstein, evidently erroneously
 
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IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
69,505
27,801
136
I’ve been thinking about what I have been missing by being an atheist. Every religion affords to their holy men the right to wear funny hats. I think atheists need to develop funny hats.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,152
15,772
126
I’ve been thinking about what I have been missing by being an atheist. Every religion affords to their holy men the right to wear funny hats. I think atheists need to develop funny hats.

Why? You already look funny.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,152
15,772
126
To the athiest, my question is why did you come to the conclusion that God(s) don't exist? You see, I was born Catholic. I only went to church on Christmas. Religion wasn't really a thing in my family. A few years ago I traveled to Thailand, and that is when I became interested in Buddhism. Since then, I've been a practicing Buddhist who doesn't really believe in an afterlife or a God. I've been trying to overcome the dreaded feeling of hell that is so ingrained in our culture. How did you overcome this fear? I've been watching athiest shows on YouTube like "The Athiest Experience" to help me answer questions in regard to Athiesm. Also, how do your loved ones deal with your non belief in an afterlife? I think the reason most of us believe in a Heaven is the fear of death. For many, it's very jarring to think about the fact that life might not exist after this.

Thanks...


What the hell is a Buddhist that doesn't have a god nor afterlife?
 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
I recommend the videos of Alan Watts, they will help you immensely in dealing with this whole afterlife thing you speak of. Many many, seemingly endless videos on Youtube:

Regarding your practicing Buddhism, I must say, so do I, and I offer one of my favorite quotations by one of the most quotable people ever:

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." - Albert Einstein

Thanks. I'll check that out. I love Alan Watts work. I've been a fan of his for some time. The Einsteen quote is great, and so true. Wasn't Einsteen an Athiest? If you haven't, you should check out The Athiest Experience with Matt Delaney as host. He cuses quite a bit, and the people that call into his show are insane.

This is a good video on how to overcome the fear of hell:

 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
What the hell is a Buddhist that doesn't have a god nor afterlife?

Buddhist don't believe in hell. Or do they? I know that they believe in ending the cycle of suffering. That's not hell though. At least not the Christain version.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,152
15,772
126
Buddhist don't believe in hell. Or do they? I know that they believe in ending the cycle of suffering. That's not hell though. At least not the Christain version.


Chinese variant has 18 levels.

Buddhists believe in reincarnation, but you reincarnate if your karma is not good in your current life. Once you reach enlightenment, you ascend to Nirvana, leaving behind the cycle of suffering.
The despicables go to hell.
 
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local

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2011
1,851
512
136
I did not grow up in a very religious family. When I first remember hearing about the typical god stories like Noah's Ark, Adam & Eve and Moses they were being told alongside stories I knew to be false like Star Wars and The Neverending Story. Logically it was easy to apply the same filter to both sets of stories. From there is was a simple jump to atheism but even in a very low level religious family I had to pass through a phase where I would have been considered agnostic. As to losing the fear of hell, that was easy. I firmly believe when I die I will have the exact same experience as I had before I was born, nothing.
 
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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,305
10,804
136

Chinese variant has 18 levels.

Buddhists believe in reincarnation, but you reincarnate if your karma is not good in your current life. Once you reach enlightenment, you ascend to Nirvana, leaving behind the cycle of suffering.
The despicables go to hell.


Isn't it also true (supposedly) that when a Buddhist screws up bad in a "life" you come back in an ... erm... LESS DESIRABLE position on the old food-chain?


That sounds like it has potential as a great open-world RPG!
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,152
15,772
126
Isn't it also true (supposedly) that when a Buddhist screws up in a "life" you come back as an ... erm... LESS DESIRABLE position on the old food-chain?


That sounds like it has potential as a great open-world RPG!

Yeah so when you die you are judged on your behaviour in life, if the bad outweight the good, you reincarnate to lower lifeform. And if you are really bad, you go to hell.

You only break out of the cycle if you obtain enlightenment and ascend to Nirvana.


My home city of Tainan has 1600 officially recognised Buddhist / Taoist temples. I have read my share of their books.
 
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MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
8,819
7,974
136
I consider myself a feral atheist. I was born an atheist, just like every other person that has ever been born, and remain so 70+ years later.


I was fortunate that I was never indoctrinated (brain washed) by ignorant but well-meaning parents. What a cruel thing to do to a child. How obscene is it to make a child pray every night "if I should die before .... blah blah..." when in fact a child does not have a concept of death at that point in their life, but they are taught to fear it. How many children suffer the threat of a wrathful god, and they will burn in hell forever an ever if they don’t eat their peas or do their chores. That’s child abuse.

My parents sent me to a parochial school, catholic, because it was so much better than the public schools here. Students were a mix, about one third each, of Catholics, Jews, and us 'gentiles'. Religion was a class in every grade, and about the 3rd grade the class was split up where the Jewish kids went to a different class for their whatever stuff. Catholics and 'us gentiles' usually stayed in the same room.

I can still remember them going over much of the nonsense, and even at maybe 6 or 7, thinking WTF. A boat that can hold 2 of every animal on the planet, and feed them for months and months. Something don't add up here.

Prior to the internet/forums/blogs, etc. I never thought about being an atheist, I just was for simple reason the concept of gods or whatever is just nuts. I never thought about it, just like I never thought about any so-called god. I never read books about "being" an atheist, I didn't need an instruction manual, any more than I needed to read a book about how to walk, or breath. Nor did I didn't need to reinforce or justify my views (still don't).

For a while I got active on a forum where a lot of atheists related their story of how they became an atheist. Most of them were horrific tales, both from a personal standpoint, and then the family dynamics. Again, how I was raised "religion free" apparently saved me a great deal of anguish at some point, or worse, I would still be a slave to the willful ignorance that is religion, a fate I would not wish on anyone.

My wife is highly skeptical of religion, gods, etc., probably some residual of being raised by a catholic mother. Religion was NEVER part of our family, and raising our daughter. She "experimented" as a teen and dating boys into religion... but those were just test drives. Today no religion, probably atheist.

My grandsons were brought up much the same, and when the oldest was maybe 16, he was commenting about how he viewed the whole religion/god thing as nonsense.

The only times I have been to church was when it was mandatory when I was in basic training in the Navy with probably a 2-mile march to and from. Otherwise only for weddings or funerals where my absence would not have been cool within my wife's family.
 
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bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
6,755
2,129
146
Yeah so when you die you are judged on your behaviour in life, if the bad outweight the good, you go to lowet lifeform. And if you are really bad, you go to hell.

You only break out of the cycle if you obtain enlightenment and ascend to Nirvana.


My home city of Tainan has 1600 officially recognised Buddhist / Taoist temples. I have read my share of their books.
Yeah I'm sure you have and just outta curiosity how much did each one of those books cost you on your path to enlightenment? LOL @ religion. It always has been and always will be a cash grab. Western or Eastern it doesn't matter Northern or Southern doesn't matter either.

In the end all religion is just a way to play on your feels bro. How much are those feels worth to you because if you aren't sure don't worry religion has the answer and it can be yours. It just depends on how much you are willing to pay for the answer.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,152
15,772
126
Yeah I'm sure you have and just outta curiosity how much did each one of those books cost you on your path to enlightenment? LOL @ religion. It always has been and always will be a cash grab. Western or Eastern it doesn't matter Northern or Southern doesn't matter either.

In the end all religion is just a way to play on your feels bro. How much are those feels worth to you because if you aren't sure don't worry religion has the answer and it can be yours. It just depends on how much you are willing to pay for the answer.


They were freely distributed. Some rich folks sponsor the printing, thinking that will add points to their good side of the scale. I am skeptical of such thinking. Feeding the poor would be a good deed. Printing religious text, not so much.

In case it is not obvious, I am an atheist.
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
8,819
7,974
136
EVERYONE regardless of whether they admit it or not is an agnostic to some degree

Everyone is an atheist. We were all born without any concept or knowledge of any god. Sadly some were told by well meaning parents they "must" believe in a specific god, or they will suffer. And also told they also must NOT believe in the thousands of other gods, or they will suffer.

Just fucking with Johnny's little developing mind.
 
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