Back on topic.
I have a stereotypical crazy old church-lady for an aunt, you know, the kind of woman who organizes all the bake sales and basically uses the church as her entire social life and her only thing to do (now that she is retired).
She tended to try to get everyone to go to church a lot, I found out after I stopped going, that her brother (my uncle, not father) was also a pretty strong atheist.
I remember having long arguements as a child with my aunt about religion, and with my grandmother about crazy superstitions and how silly is was for her to do things like throw salt over her shoulder, avoid black cats, etc. Did anyone else have early experiences like this? Is it possible that hearing a polarized viewpoint early in life makes you adopt a stronger standpoint, either for or against? Do people who have relativly apathetic families tend to be either slightly religious or slightly agnostic, as opposed to the more extreme viewpoints many of us here have (extreme as in less middle-of-the-road)?
Originally posted by FreakyKBHRubbish.
[b]I just find that you can explain everything in the world without there needing to be one...
The problem with such responses is they inevitably rely on one of two scenarios:
1. nature is granted God-like attributes and/or powers;
2. undefinable occurence(s) are attributed with the same.
Summary: there is just no escaping a God-like person.[/b]
Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnowYes, nature is natural.
I do not grant nature God-like attributes or powers, or any kind of "powers" at all. Nature is just a concept, not an entity.
I have no idea what you mean by undefinable occurences, although I suppose you are unable to define it😕
I wasn't trying to start an argument about this, I was just explaining my beliefs (or lack thereof).
Let's keep t ...[text shortened]... for it.
Originally posted by scottishinnz
Rubbish.
Summed up too 🙂
Slowly science is finding a way to explain the un-explainable. Earlier generations (going back before B.C.E) thought things such as shooting stars to be acts of god, when he was angry, and same with lightning...
Now we KNOW for a fact why these happen.
However like UOS, i didn't make this topic so that people who believe in whatever can argue... I was just asking what is in the first post 🙂
I grew up xian. Really was sold out for about the first 20 years of my life or so. I acknowledged my atheism sometime shortly after college, probably around 22 or 23 years old. Now I'm 28.
For a very brief stint here, I was persuaded by the powerful words of dj2becker to renounce my atheism and return to the Light, and the quality of my spelling fell steeply shortly thereafter. Nevertheless, I once again acknowledged my atheism after a few short, confusing days.
My mother is a very spiritual xian believer. My step-father is more the hypocritically pious xian.
I was raised Catholic (I don't think that can be misconstrued to be Christian) but my life experiences and the world around me has convinced me there really is no supreme being.
On one side of the Christian coin, the most troubled people, those with the worst problems avow to be Christian. It seems this proclamation gives them permission to refuse ownership of thier own lives and problems. For me, everything good and everything bad that ever happened to me, I had my hand in.
On the flip side of that coin, if it provides others comfort and helps them to be better people then more power to them. But I do not like being taken to task for what I do or do not believe in. So, I do not try to encourage anyone to drop their religious beliefs, and I also detest those who would second guess mine and try to convert me to their worship attendance.
I suppose my beliefs are as foriegn to them as theirs are to me. But it's OK.
Let's just try to be good people.
My Mum is a Christian - a quite deep Anglican faith for her. For my Dad - I don;t think you could call him anything. Religion and God doesn't enter into his world.
I was raised asw an Anglican, baptised and confirmed. It wasn't a major part of my life or a major hassle - just something you did on Sundays.
I joined an Anglican youth group - mostly for the girls.
At high school and then later uni I started to question a little bit more than I'd done which led me to find out about other religions - judaism, islam, buddhism and so on.
I couldn't tell you when I became an atheist - it just sort of occurred to me gradually that I was.
Mum and I have great debates and she loves the fact that I care enough to talk about things with her. Much more so than either of my sisters who are both still Christians.
Rationally and logically I agree that wek atheism is probably more supported. But I consider myself a strong atheist. I can't rationalise it - although I've tried to do so in many posts here. I don't think you can - it's as much a faith as any religion in that sense.
But if I had to, I guess I'd explain it in this way - I'm a strong atheist, because I refuse to entertain the notion that I might live in a world with a god or gods. I refuse to believe that this world might be governed at any point by the supernatural. I refuse to believe that the fairy stories that I tell my kids at night might be real and may in some way interact with the natural of this world.
I deny the exitence of any god.
Originally posted by FreakyKBHFreaky why does nature need god-like powers?
[b]I just find that you can explain everything in the world without there needing to be one...
The problem with such responses is they inevitably rely on one of two scenarios:
1. nature is granted God-like attributes and/or powers;
2. undefinable occurence(s) are attributed with the same.
Summary: there is just no escaping a God-like person.[/b]
You talk about nature as if it is an entity of some sort. On the contrary I think of nature as just a convenient label we give to the world around us. We call it the universe, we call it nature, we call it a freakin' hamburger if you like - so what?
Undefinable occurances sounds a bit oxymoronic to me. Can you give an example? Of course not. They're undefinable.
Originally posted by amannionThat's very common IMO.
My Mum is a Christian - a quite deep Anglican faith for her. For my Dad - I don;t think you could call him anything. Religion and God doesn't enter into his world.
I was raised asw an Anglican, baptised and confirmed. It wasn't a major part of my life or a major hassle - just something you did on Sundays.
I joined an Anglican youth group - mostly for the ...[text shortened]... in some way interact with the natural of this world.
I deny the exitence of any god.
Lots of us are brought up in religious homes and reject that religion.
We almost have to in order to break away and establish ourselves as individuals.
It's rejected out-of-hand by many as a means to establish ones individuality.
It's easy to reject Christianity logically. Most adolescent children will rebel at some point against parental authority and most of them will learn in school exactly what distain "educated" men/women have for God in general.
It's what most "teachers" teach here in the USA.
Children love it! What better way to drive you're parents up the wall?
A lot of the rejection of God is simply children rebeling against parental authority .. it's "natural" IMO and necessary. It's what you do AFTER that that's really important.
Some .. not many, will realise at some poiny that University Profs are just as full of crap as parents are.
But most, just take the easy path layed out by SPs
It's the old prodigal son story .. you have walk out into the world and deal with it on it's terms. You experence. You learn, you grow and maybe, just maybe at some point in your life, you revisit the question .. Does God exist? What's it all about?
Most of us don't even want to think about the concept of God .. it's too scarey and requires lots of personal responsibilty and introspection.
It's much easier to just stick with that decision made when 12 yrs old and avoid those tough questions the remainder of our lives.
If we're lucky .. we get old and perhaps pick up a little wisdom along the way. Maybe we realise, we aren't quite as smart as we first thought.
To dismiss God at and early age and never revisit the question is a mistake IMO.
Originally posted by GhettosantaMy father was a Southern Baptist and my mother was a disciple of Maharaj Charan Singh Ji (a master of the Sant Mat tradition). I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember, and my parents both confirm that they can't remember me ever being even minimally sympathetic to theistic belief.
Are you atheist (wondering if it would have anything to do with chess 😵 ) and also, if you are, since when, and what religion are your parents.
I am atheist and have been since i could remember. My parents are both hindu.
Originally posted by bbarrNot to pry or anything, but were your parents married? If so, did this circumstance last for a very long time?
My father was a Southern Baptist and my mother was a disciple of Maharaj Charan Singh Ji (a master of the Sant Mat tradition). I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember, and my parents both confirm that they can't remember me ever being even minimally sympathetic to theistic belief.
Originally posted by bbarrKnowing you're the site philospher, I gotta ask .. are you a strong atheist?
My father was a Southern Baptist and my mother was a disciple of Maharaj Charan Singh Ji (a master of the Sant Mat tradition). I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember, and my parents both confirm that they can't remember me ever being even minimally sympathetic to theistic belief.
I'm curious to hear your views on this as I know you study Philosophy.
How do you answer the argument that to be a strong atheist one must "know everything?"
I can understand not believing in God, but have a hard time saying I know FOR SURE that God does not exist.
Not lookin' for a slagging match, just figured that if anyone could answer this question .. it would be you, a philosopher.
Try to keep your answer under 6 letter words .. i'm a HS drop-out.
Originally posted by jammerWho can really say they've never revisited the question? Everyone thinks about it from time to time, don't they?
To dismiss God at and early age and never revisit the question is a mistake IMO.
But really, if you've dismissed God at an early age, I suspect it's much harder to take up faith late in life, than perhaps to lose faith. Maybe I'm wrong on this.
The number of times I've been to church in my whole life I can probably count on two hands, if not one (not counting weddings and similar events).
At my age, it takes a big step to put faith in something simply because people tell you it's correct, as opposed to using logic to find your way.
I've been tempted to join a church, in the past, but I've just too turned off by overwhelmingly rhetorical discourse, and stark lack of logical discussion.
Maybe I've had the wrong religious encounters.
Originally posted by ChronicLeakyHah! Yes, they were married, but only for 10 years. My mother kept her general disdain for Christianity to herself. If only my father could have hidden his affairs that well...
Not to pry or anything, but were your parents married? If so, did this circumstance last for a very long time?
Originally posted by GhettosantaNeither of my parents were particularly religious, but I was brought up in heavily Christian schools and was confirmed in the Church of England at the age of 13.
Are you atheist (wondering if it would have anything to do with chess 😵 ) and also, if you are, since when, and what religion are your parents.
I am atheist and have been since i could remember. My parents are both hindu.
After that I drifted away from Christian pressure, I moved schools and began to realise that I was never really the slightest bit interested in being a Christian, I had merely gone along with the actions of the society I had been immersed in. By the time I was 18 I had ceased thinking about it at all. Drugs awoke me from my dogmatic slumber (the power of Kant compels you! (Philosophy joke)) and I began to think very heavily about my place in the universe. After 29 years and having dropped out of my first degree I decided to begin a degree in Philosophy.
As to being an atheist, I'm not sure. I guess I always was and never realised, then for a period I just didn't know how to explain my thoughts. I guess I've called myself an atheist and properly understood the term for about 6 years now.