Originally posted by divegeesterI was brought up in a nominal Christian environment. I remember my parents taking me to Sunday school for a while. I don't think they ever went to church themselves, though, and I had small use for what little religious instruction I did receive.
How many atheists are there here who were at one time 'Christian' or brought up in a 'Christian environment'?
Any other transition is of interest too...
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Originally posted by divegeestermy mother was a catholic. she'd had bad experiences with nuns at her catholic school (mainly cruelty and violence) which put her off the church, but she was always a believer. my dad was protestant but never really went to church. ive always been an atheist that knows he should be an agnostic.
How many atheists are there here who were at one time 'Christian' or brought up in a 'Christian environment'?
Any other transition is of interest too...
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Originally posted by divegeesteri think being an atheist is almost as bad as being a believer. i lean towards atheism because of my love of science and because of the total lack of evidence towards the existence of god. but i also know that of this moment there is nothing to say god doesnt exist. my main frustration on this forum is people saying they are 100% sure that their god is the true god. so i know that if im an atheist 100% then im a hypocrite.
willing to expand on this at all?
Originally posted by stellspalfieThere is also nothing to say that Unicorns, Sasquatches, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Loch Ness Monster don't exist. As far as you know, the Lord of the Rings is not a work of fiction, but recorded history of a distant time and place. Hey, you can't prove it didn't happen, right?
i think being an atheist is almost as bad as being a believer. i lean towards atheism because of my love of science and because of the total lack of evidence towards the existence of god. but i also know that of this moment there is nothing to say god doesnt exist. my main frustration on this forum is people saying they are 100% sure that their god is the true god. so i know that if im an atheist 100% then im a hypocrite.
I fail to see why you'd consider it hypocritical to claim that God doesn't exist.
on that topic, stellspalfie seems to share the opinion of someone who, i guess, must be frequently quoted on this forum. Let me quote him again :
"I never know whether I should say "Agnostic" or whether I should say "Atheist". It is a very difficult question and I daresay that some of you have been troubled by it. As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one prove that there is not a God.
On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods."
(or sasquatch, santa claus, invisible unicorns, spaghetti monsters, and other teapots orbiting around the sun - that last example just to give another hint on who i'm quoting)
Originally posted by stellspalfieI'm an atheist and I have no idea whether a god exists or not.
i think being an atheist is almost as bad as being a believer. i lean towards atheism because of my love of science and because of the total lack of evidence towards the existence of god. but i also know that of this moment there is nothing to say god doesnt exist. my main frustration on this forum is people saying they are 100% sure that their god is the true god. so i know that if im an atheist 100% then im a hypocrite.
began life as an atheist, got indoctrinated into the hai orthodox church at a young age because my parents didn't know better, abandoned it in my teens, went into various other phases and ended up here today as a critical rationalist.
as a critical rationalist, i lack beliefs in general, so that would by default make me an atheist/agnostic, although, such label attributions can only be considered temporary place holders at best. who knows what the ever seeking path of knowledge will reveal tomorrow?
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Originally posted by rwingettmaybe my understanding of agnostic is wrong, i thought if you accepted their was a chance that god could exist then you were an agnostic. i might be wrong. despite what my wife says theres always a first time.
No. I don't believe in a god. Therefore I am an atheist (without theism). But I could be wrong. There's no way to know.
Originally posted by stellspalfieNo. That is incorrect. Many people would have you believe that to be an atheist means that you claim to 'know' that god doesn't exist. That, or course, is nonsense. Even Richard Dawkins doesn't claim to know that. There are only two types of people in the world: theists and atheists. And everyone who is not a theist is, by definition, an atheist (without theism). 'Agnostic' is a modifier to theist or atheist, as in agnostic theist, or agnostic atheist. It does not exist as a category unto itself, regardless of what uninformed people may tell you. An agnostic atheist would be synonymous with a 'weak atheist' or a 'soft atheist', which is someone who does not believe in a god, but who stops short of claiming to know that one does not exist (which, or course, almost no one does). So my advice to you is to hold your head up high and proclaim yourself to be an atheist in a loud and determined voice.
maybe my understanding of agnostic is wrong, i thought if you accepted their was a chance that god could exist then you were an agnostic. i might be wrong. despite what my wife says theres always a first time.