101 Atheist Quotes

I agree with this 100%. I knew from my early teen years that something was off, but I didn't talk much about it because I knew I would be the stand-out. Growing up in the heart of Iowa, everyone I knew was religious, and you better believe how many people would look at me in disbelief when the topic of religion would come up and I was asked to elaborate on my beliefs. To me, its just another Santa Claus, or another Casper.... there is nothing magical except us and every other creature on this planet. Everything on this planet is magical in my eyes, and I wish people would give more credit to themselves, and us as a species.... not a fictional character in the sky who says I will burn in hell for all eternity if I do not follow his rules. I used to get so upset when watching athletes score a touch down, or hit a home run, and all they would do is look up into the sky and signal a cross or something of the sort. Or in interviews, they would say "God is #1... God has given me this ability... God is the reason I am healthy and rich"....... I'm thinking "wait.... you cant even give yourself some credit? You can't remember all the hard work YOU put into this sport?" There are just so many flaws and holes in the religious/belief system, that I can't even take it seriously, let alone believe in it. However, lately these past couple of years, I have given religion some credit. Some people really do feel a happiness and loving relationship with their religion and beliefs, and sometimes, something like faith is what can get someone through a tough time. I am all for that... if you need something to help you... or this supreme being in the sky to talk with you about your problems and make you feel good... who am I to judge? I wish everyone could just respect each other's beliefs and move on with their own..... (sigh).... only in a perfect world perhaps. lol

 

I watched my mother draw here final breath in August as her brain rotted from Alzheimers finally failed to be capable of running her body any longer.

My sister, who is not religious, but suffers from acute verbal diarrhea, said to her "you are in a better place now." It is hard to explain how this sickened me in a moment of already extreme grief. It was all I could do to not say. "No, she isn't, she's just fucking dead after a miserable decade of decline. Just say goodby and get on with your grieving and leave that make-believe shit you don't even believe out of it.

 

OMG ...lol ...TGIF !

 

×No.

 

Why is it to believe the universe was created is to deny science? My personal belief is that you are limiting your knowledge of how things came to be. I don't limit myself to a belief that some supreme being created all of this. For the longest time humankind thought the earth was flat, the earth was the center of the universe, etc... Of course those ideas were disproven so the church had to "adjust' their doctrine to fit those new found discoveries (simplistic I understand). But there is an answer out there and one day we will find it.
You bring up "the God of the Gaps" and in my opinion that is a convenient way for people to still have a belief without losing faith all together if that makes sense? What if God is black matter for instance is brought up. If you base your opinion off the God of the gaps argument prepare to be disappointed as science paints God and belief into an ever smaller corner until god and belief are no longer a viable option.

In a sense yes. They are black and white issues (to me). I will not lump an entire group of believers into this group but "generally" speaking, people that hold on to a belief system are unwilling to listen to "rational" thought because it might make them question their own beliefs that have been ingrained since childhood. So they are content to believe in something irrational rather than take a step back and look at the facts and how those facts were proposed, scrutinized, and came to be. It takes less thought to believe that there is this invisible man in the sky controlling everything than it does to work to figure out why things work the way they do.

Please don't take this as discounting someone's belief. Believe what you choose. These are just my points of view.

People ask me all the time "aren't you afraid of dying?" Not really no. Don't get me wrong... I don't think any sane person "wants" to die but I always answer "do you remember anything before you were born?" No you don't. So with that said, I don't think you will remember anything after you pass away. You will just die and that is it. Make the most of each day. You are not guaranteed tomorrow.

 

Here is one video with the answer that makes sense to me.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg-MxS57FLE

 

19 pages of this shows a level of restraint never before seen. :golfclap:

 

I agree, it's easy to get carried away on the topic though especially in a thread like this where we are mostly all likeminded and able to finally discuss it (seeing as how religious and political topics are largely forbidden on this site). When I was in my late teens/early 20's, I was freshly "awoken" and broken away from the church and the religion I grew up with, and I was very outspoken about it. To the point where I was probably much more annoying than the people that I thought were annoying, lol. These days, I agree with your take on it entirely....just live and let live. I rarely talk about religion with anyone anymore in person unless it really comes up and I see that an actual conversation can take place, but too often it just devolves into a mess.

In truth, there are times I wish I had the faith I once had and see that others have. It does seem comforting. But that requires believing and having faith in something that I just have way too many questions and doubts in anymore to be able to honestly say that I'm okay with it. I have some very intelligent friends that are devoutly religious and I envy them sometimes, but I can't force what isn't there. Who knows what tomorrow holds.

"Don't be a dick, don't kill people that don't agree with you, and life goes on". That's a belief structure I can get behind

 

Here is a documentary from the book written by Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion". It's 1:30 hrs long so I figure that most will not take time to watch it. Should you decide to it takes a pretty insightful view of why people believe the way they do and places it in a simple to understand format. I read his book quite a while back and I highly recommend it. Not so much to change your views (belief or not) but just an objective look at all religions and the effect that each plays in society.

 

As was mentioned a while back... "Most" of the members that post here have been very respectful of each other's beliefs throughout this thread. I've no desire to change anyone's mind since that is not my place. But I enjoy open discussions and our community we have here at TW seems to be very good at doing just that rather than dissolving into a complete mess.

 

I was born into a family with a deep rooting in Christianity, I went to private schools with faith based educational approaches and attended chapel as part of my normal, daily learning and attended church services every Sunday.

In 7th grade we were studying in our science books one day, when I turned the page to see one of those "facets of.." sections where they pick a topic and focus on it for a page or two and cite a real life example of faith/science at work. I don't recall the meat of that story or the point of it, but captioned at the bottom under a picture of a wheelchair bound 9 year old was "muscular dystrophy is God's plan for some people." This was the tipping point for me, personally.

In addition to that, my teacher would warn us not to go into San Francisco (to which I am local), because sooner or later God was going to punish all of the gays and turn the city into ash.

After that year came to a close I was pretty much checked out of the religion scene, finished my 8th grade year at the same school and went back into public school. It wasn't until a few years ago that I ever got over that, though I obviously haven't forgotten. I have serious issues with organized religion to this day but would describe myself as spiritual, but not religious per se.. I don't have ill feelings about it and am pretty neutral, so far as I read the Bible on occasion and while I don't plan on introducing church or religion to my daughter, she'll inevitably hear about references to or stories from the Bible and I want her to know what they are.

On a side note.. faith and religion aren't tied together, and humanity needs faith, IMO.. whether it be in a higher power or not, faith (in anything, even in a new day) and the belief that something better will come to a person is sometimes the only thing that keeps us from losing our minds and spirits. The world is a screwed up place with faith, and would be even more so without it.

 

Well put

 

FWIW, I also don't personally have an interest in Creation vs evolution, my mind doesn't care to understand the universe as a whole - I'd rather spend my extremely short existence with tangible things like my family, friends, and doing things with my hands. I do enjoy John Muir's ramblings on faith, nature, God, and how they intertwine though, even if for no other reason than it's a pleasant read from a man who found his favored church in the wilderness. I do envy him in that way.

"Little men, with only a book knowledge of science, have seized upon evolution as an escape from the idea of a God. 'Evolution!' a wonderful, mouth-filling word, isn't it? It covers a world of ignorance. Just say 'evolution' and you have explained every phenomenon of Nature and explained away God. It sounds big and wise. Evolution, they say, brought the earth through its glacial periods, caused the snow blanket to recede, and the flower carpet to follow it, raised the forests of the world, developed animal life from the jelly-fish to the thinking man.

"But what caused evolution? There they stick. To my mind, it is inconceivable that a plan that has worked out, through unthinkable millions of years, without one hitch or one mistake, the development of beauty that has made every microscopic particle of matter perform its function in harmony with every other in the universe, that such a plan is the blind product of an unthinking abstraction. No; somewhere, before evolution was, was an Intelligence that laid out the plan, and evolution is the process, not the origin, of the harmony. You may call that Intelligence what you please: I cannot see why so many people object to call it God."

Excuse me in advance for romanticizing things.

 

Perhaps I can provide a counterbalance.

We are just organisms subsisting on the thin layer of scum composed of various elements accumulated on the exterior of a spinning hot glob of matter. Matter in a spin cycle with energy.

How it came into being is in question.

Humans have hope and dreams and try to make sense of it (hey, whoa, it's pretty vast and perplexing) by coming up with various stories, theories, and discoveries based on observation, but more often then not, they just eat, fuck, and kill like most of the other organisms.

And I'm OK with that. Not thrilled with it, and wish there was a bit more effort by the masses to use our oddly huge brains for the better (yes, yes, define better, define happiness, etc.) a fucking a little bit more responsibly, rather than for killing each other for whatever selfish, greedy, psychotic, unneccesary purpose.

 

Science vs God.....ironically the Big Bang theory is often denied by believers....yet there's not a more "God like" scientific idea out there. Every atom of everything that has, is and will ever exist was consolidated in a single point of infinite density known had "The Singularity".....and then BOOM....the universe was born. Doesn't get more divine than that in the scientific world.

Yet...not a single one of my Christian friends excepts this as how the universe was potentially created. Why do Christians bog down so much when it comes to science?

 

This should not be allowed on here

 

Most people who subscribe to an idea, particularly one as large as the concept of God and religion, tend to be largely incapable of seeing things from another perspective that challenges the core of their existence.