atheists

[MotionMan]

Your Opinion is correct.

Vetoed.

MotionMan

 

[mnewsham]

Your Opinion is wrong.

Seconded

 

[mnewsham]

No, I do not think they all sit around and preach about there not being a G-d, but many do.

MotionMan

Never have I seen it. The point of a religious group congregating is usually to talk about that particular religion or to conduct a ceremony or ritual for that religion. While there are nutcases and idiots everywhere I have never seen atheists preach about there not being a god. Hell most of us couldn't be bothered to go to one of these conventions anyway as we have full time jobs and/or are full time students.

 

[MotionMan]

A lot of people here are limiting their view of what a religion is. My view is much broader.

From Wikipedia:

"Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values."

"Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities."

Atheism can absolutely be a religion, or, at least, have many of the same traits as a religion. Broaden your mind.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

The point of an atheist group congregating is usually to talk about asthiesm.

See what I did there?

MotionMan

 

[mnewsham]

See what I did there?

MotionMan

The point of hungry people congregating is to talk about food. Should all hungry people of the world now unite under one banner?

 

[MotionMan]

The point of hungry people congregating is to talk about food. Should all hungry people of the world now unite under one banner?

It would be more efficient than the current system.

MotionMan

 

[sandorski]

A lot of people here are limiting their view of what a religion is. My view is much broader.

From Wikipedia:

"Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values."

"Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities."

Atheism can absolutely be a religion, or, at least, have many of the same traits as a religion. Broaden your mind.

MotionMan

We are limiting our View to what the term is defined as. If you want to Expand the meaning of words to fit your Opinion, the meaning of all words become pointless.

You are a Unicorn!

 

[MotionMan]

We are limiting our View to what the term is defined as. If you want to Expand the meaning of words to fit your Opinion, the meaning of all words become pointless.

You are a Unicorn!

Atheism is more like a religion than it is not. Is that so hard to agree with?

MotionMan

 

[sandorski]

Atheism is more like a religion than it is not. Is that so hard to agree with?

MotionMan

What does that mean?

Atheism has no Creed, Dogmatic rules, or Rituals. All Religions have those 3 as their focal points.

 

[Paul98]

What I find scary is where people think morality comes from and questions like this. If your belief in god is the only thing stopping you from killing or caring that other people die there is something seriously wrong with you.

 

[mnewsham]

Atheism is more like a religion than it is not. Is that so hard to agree with?

drinking is more like eating then it is not.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Atheism is more like a religion than it is not. Is that so hard to agree with?

MotionMan

wut. Are you talking in practice, i.e. singling out the Dawkins fellators that have atheist clubs and sermons in atheism and parody churches? Because even there they're a very small minority. If you mean in theory, just lol.

 

[destrekor]

Atheism can absolutely be a religion, or, at least, have many of the same traits as a religion. Broaden your mind.

MotionMan

It could... if you completely changed the face of Atheism as we know it.

edit: Because I cannot tell if you are being serious, or pedantic; yes, the way some people and/or groups approach the subject, it can be viewed, strictly based upon definition only, as a sort of vaguely religious order.
But there is no organization, no system, no plan, and no end-point... therefore, the only way it can be considered religious in practice is because some people like to discuss the sole reason it is even remotely religious - that it rejects everything religions have stated [on the topic of deities]. In other words, their only theme related to religion is the fact that the main point is simply a counter-point to faith.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

My little, but TRUE story on Atheists....

Last Winter I was walking the skywalks (exercise) during a cold weekend morning.
Usually the skywalks are vacant on the weekend. Maybe a homeless person or two
inside trying to stay warm, but that’s about it.

But on this day, the skywalks were filled with extremely well dressed people.
Men, women, old, young, children, parents with children, every one of them dressed in their Sunday best (but it was a Saturday?).

My first thought was... "must be some republican convention in town".
(Democrats would never dress that spiffy. )

Then I thought, some religious convention? Business convention? Pre-Easter convention?

Everyone I passed was "extremely" polite. Friendly. Nice looking.
Greeted me with a cheery "hello", and or "good morning", then a friendly glowing smile.

Hmmmm. Must be either some Baptist convention, or some republican thing?
Has to be either the republicans or Baptist.

Only later that same afternoon did I read it was, in fact, the annual national atheists convention being held this year in our own little city. A two day weekend event.
I was pleasantly shocked, to say the least.

As with most people, I'd expect an atheist convention to consists of evil looking, red eyed, slime oozing creatures of the night dressed all in black.
Not rightwing appearing, God fearing, Baptist looking, republican type folks with children, all dressed in their Sunday best.
And everyone as polite as (no pun) hell.
Good looking adults all of them, charming children, extremely handsome men, and women.
Truly an above average spiffy looking group, if ever there were such.

And they were all atheists. Atheists! Go figure....

So appearance is not necessarily what the stereotyping would suggest.
Lesson learned. Well learned! Take note....

I thought WOW! Is THIS what happens to normal people when they break free from the chains of religion? Can it be they become so clean, clear sighted, and uplifted?
They actually look.... happy!
(Much unlike the usual sourpuss faced locals of this bible-belt midwestern town)

There are two things in life I have had my eyes opened to, when it comes to the difference between the perceived stereotype, and the fact of reality.

#1. Atheists.
#2. Nudist. (another story for some other time)

No.. I was not converted or unconverted to the religion of atheism.
(And I do believe it must be a type of religion, to not believe)
But now I became very curious about these people in the skywalks heading to their convention gathering place...

WHAT do atheists talk about in their gatherings?
Isn't a gathering of atheists like a religion in itself?
If one were an atheists, a non-believer, shouldn't one requirement be that they not gather...?

I never realized people, that do not believe in something, must group and gather to proclaim their belief in that nonbelief of believing.
(Something like that???)

But... they sure dress damn spiffy I must say.
And I'd easily trade an afternoon locked in a room with your typical kids,
to be locked in a room with the kids of the atheist parent.
And I bet after encountering these well behaved children, so would you!!!
.
.
.

Interesting story. It's always fascinating to me how atheists are thought of as being this kind of stereotype of having no morals and no compunctions.

As for your question about what atheists talk about...they talk about all sorts of stuff. What do people talk about at Dragon-Con, or Comic-con? It's just a chance for people of like mind to gather in one place, meet and greet, and talk about a subject that they think is important to who they are.

Also, you have to remember that a lot of atheists come from deeply religious communities, and the only real choice for them is either to keep quiet about their non-religion, go along with the rest of their community, and feel uncomfortable about being someone they're not, or come out about how they're non-religious, and get bullied and discriminated against (bullying doesn't just happen at school, adults do it too) because of their views. These conventions are the place these people can go to meet like-minded people when everyone else around them thinks about the world in a fundamentally different way.

 

[zerocool84]

Religion would be fine if it wasn't for humans fucking it up and twisting it to fit their own agendas. This thread shows that people that say they are religious don't even follow the teaching of their religion. Pretty much all religions teach to be humble.

Another thing I never understood about religious people is that they say their god makes good things happen. I thought humans were given free will and god doesn't control what happens to us? If he makes things happen we certainly don't have free will which means he makes the good things happen as much as he makes the bad things happen like raping little children and tsunamis destroying cities.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Religion would be fine if it wasn't for humans fucking it up and twisting it to fit their own agendas. This thread shows that people that say they are religious don't even follow the teaching of their religion. Pretty much all religions teach to be humble.

Another thing I never understood about religious people is that they say their god makes good things happen. I thought humans were given free will and god doesn't control what happens to us? If he makes things happen we certainly don't have free will which means he makes the good things happen as much as he makes the bad things happen like raping little children and tsunamis destroying cities.

Ah, the good ole "Free Will versus Predestination" debate. Still unsolved, because it's all bs anyways As with all religious sects, completely based on your interpretation.

 

[Paul98]

As for gathering together, it could be that you want to gather with people who don't have a religious belief. It would be a good way to meet people, and maybe get together to do things. Also maybe talk about things that do pertain to them.

and I am an atheist by the way, you would be surprised how many others are also.

 

[reallyscrued]

As for the OP...(who is obvious troll, right? Or is my radar off...?)

When you put it that way, I guess religious people don't commit a crime because they're wary of eternal damnation.

Atheist people don't commit a crime because it's a shitty thing to do.

 

[micrometers]

I would say that the issue with atheists is that think too much.

No, really.

I'm an atheist, but I was thinking the other day on how I ended up as one. It really started when I faced rejection within the church I had latched onto. I had always had doubts about the theology but was willing to overlook them for the community.

Basically, an atheist is someone who is cut off from the community. Because religion is as much about a community as anything else. And many religious just pay lip service to the dogma but otherwise don't let it overly affect their lives.

 

[ioni]

And you did not find <purpose of convention> fanatics who would argue with anyone that their view of <purpose of convention> was correct simply because that was what they believed?

MotionMan

Can't say I've met anyone like that at any of the cons I've been to.

 

[HAL9000]

who cares if 1000 people steal?
who cares if 1 million people get raped?
who cares of 1 billion people die?
who cares of 2 billion universes get destroyed?
who cares...?

People who can empathise.

 

[mattpegher]

The debate about whether atheism is a religion or not seems a bit semantic to me. Atheism is a metaphysical belief structure. The difference is that there arent any churches that just profess theism. Each example of theist beliefs are centrally dependent upon a mythos. Catholics and Protestants and Muslims wont sit down in church together and discuss the nature of god seperate from their individual historical stories.
The prevailance of responses in these threads speaks to the strength of belief or nonbelief. For example, you arent going to see posts about the fact that unicorns dont exist, should someone choose to talk about them. (Vampires enthusiest come to mind)

Atheist belong to many metaphysical rationales.
The parental atheist - parents were atheist, so we never discussed these concepts.
The Angry child - raised religious, but negative factors (personal or world), have demonized religion as more harm than good. Cant see past the hatred.
The convinced - raised religious but logical inconsistancies place doubt on theism
The empiricist - I wont believe anything I cant see. (easiest position but not the most logical)
The dont give a fuck - (we really dont see them here, because by definition they wont post in a religious thread) - It doesnt effect them so they dont care what others believe.
The anti-theists - See so much effect (and sometimes prejudice) from the religous believers that does effect them, literally or emotionally that they choose to debate at every opportunity.
Lastly I should include the atheistic religions such as several of the Hindu sects, who believe in a soul (chakra) but not a creator god. (the autopilot universe) Pantheism

I will admit that one can vascilate between some of the above given mindset and life events.

 

[sandorski]

The debate about whether atheism is a religion or not seems a bit semantic to me. Atheism is a metaphysical belief structure. The difference is that there arent any churches that just profess theism. Each example of theist beliefs are centrally dependent upon a mythos. Catholics and Protestants and Muslims wont sit down in church together and discuss the nature of god seperate from their individual historical stories.
The prevailance of responses in these threads speaks to the strength of belief or nonbelief. For example, you arent going to see posts about the fact that unicorns dont exist, should someone choose to talk about them. (Vampires enthusiest come to mind)

Atheist belong to many metaphysical rationales.
The parental atheist - parents were atheist, so we never discussed these concepts.
The Angry child - raised religious, but negative factors (personal or world), have demonized religion as more harm than good. Cant see past the hatred.
The convinced - raised religious but logical inconsistancies place doubt on theism
The empiricist - I wont believe anything I cant see. (easiest position but not the most logical)
The dont give a fuck - (we really dont see them here, because by definition they wont post in a religious thread) - It doesnt effect them so they dont care what others believe.
The anti-theists - See so much effect (and sometimes prejudice) from the religous believers that does effect them, literally or emotionally that they choose to debate at every opportunity.
Lastly I should include the atheistic religions such as several of the Hindu sects, who believe in a soul (chakra) but not a creator god. (the autopilot universe) Pantheism

I will admit that one can vascilate between some of the above given mindset and life events.

Not sure if srs....

 

[The Green Bean]

less than 0.25% of the prison population in the US are atheists

here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbef07aQtB8

That figure means nothing. The reason for those numbers is because atheists are generally better educated and wealthier. I also don't think that they are atheists because of those two reasons but only time will prove that.