Invitation to atheists

[thesorgo]

atheist can't accept that being what they are is a religion because its a belief in that there is no God or life after death. It is a belief system that is false. If you present logic, facts of based on archeology (sp) and recorded history of biblical events it confonds them . They believe in the KISS system. Other iwse they have stress headaches.

Saying that atheism is a belief in no god is just like saying that knowing there are no green men on mars is a belief too

Actually, atheism means just that; 'a' denotes the absence of, 'theism' means belief in God or gods.

I used to be a Christian until not long ago, When I Decided to actually think about God instead of blindly following. I read the bible and I looked deep inside of myself and I felt no God. I see evidence of God nowhere. There are no eyewitness reports of anything god did outside the bible, as a matter of fact there is no reports of jesus outside the bible either. Personnally my opinion of religion as a whole is that it was made to keep the uneducated masses in control and people flocked to it because they were/are insecure about what happens after they die. My atheism is based on observations that i have made and is in no way a belief

[methinkshe]

atheist can't accept that being what they are is a religion because its a belief in that there is no God or life after death. It is a belief system that is false. If you present logic, facts of based on archeology (sp) and recorded history of biblical events it confonds them . They believe in the KISS system. Other iwse they have stress headaches.

Saying that atheism is a belief in no god is just like saying that knowing there are no green men on mars is a belief too

Actually, atheism means just that; 'a' denotes the absence of, 'theism' means belief in God or gods.

I used to be a Christian until not long ago, When I Decided to actually think about God instead of blindly following. I read the bible and I looked deep inside of myself and I felt no God. I see evidence of God nowhere. There are no eyewitness reports of anything god did outside the bible, as a matter of fact there is no reports of jesus outside the bible either. Personnally my opinion of religion as a whole is that it was made to keep the uneducated masses in control and people flocked to it because they were/are insecure about what happens after they die. My atheism is based on observations that i have made and is in no way a belief

As someone much wiser than I once observed: how much do you think you know of all that can be known?

90% ?

50% ?

10% ?

1% ?

Let's be charitable and say that you are a genius and know 50% of all that there is to know. Do you think that within the 50% that you do not know, God could exist?

Ruth

[thesorgo]

atheist can't accept that being what they are is a religion because its a belief in that there is no God or life after death. It is a belief system that is false. If you present logic, facts of based on archeology (sp) and recorded history of biblical events it confonds them . They believe in the KISS system. Other iwse they have stress headaches.

Saying that atheism is a belief in no god is just like saying that knowing there are no green men on mars is a belief too

Actually, atheism means just that; 'a' denotes the absence of, 'theism' means belief in God or gods.

I used to be a Christian until not long ago, When I Decided to actually think about God instead of blindly following. I read the bible and I looked deep inside of myself and I felt no God. I see evidence of God nowhere. There are no eyewitness reports of anything god did outside the bible, as a matter of fact there is no reports of jesus outside the bible either. Personnally my opinion of religion as a whole is that it was made to keep the uneducated masses in control and people flocked to it because they were/are insecure about what happens after they die. My atheism is based on observations that i have made and is in no way a belief

As someone much wiser than I once observed: how much do you think you know of all that can be known?

90% ?

50% ?

10% ?

1% ?

Let's be charitable and say that you are a genius and know 50% of all that there is to know. Do you think that within the 50% that you do not know, God could exist?

Ruth

It's entirely possible that he is outside the (i'm not being charitable) 1% that I know but until he is than I'm not buying it. See, my problem with religion is that it's the easy way out. If we just attribute everything we don't know the cause for to god than we'll never know what caused it. There would be no progress in society. We never would have landed on the moon or have discovered modern medicine

[None]

It's entirely possible that he is outside the (i'm not being charitable) 1% that I know but until he is than I'm not buying it. See, my problem with religion is that it's the easy way out. If we just attribute everything we don't know the cause for to god than we'll never know what caused it. There would be no progress in society. We never would have landed on the moon or have discovered modern medicine

Easy way out of what? Even in the days the Bible was being written, scientific facts were being discovered and documented. They weren't called "scientific" at that time but as man moved forward in time, so did knowledge. Even though we "attribute" everything to God, we still want to learn the mechanisms behind everything. Even a child takes apart his toy to see what makes it tick. It's in our God-given nature to make these discoveries, He encourages it to all of His children.

[Ovedya]

Remember there is a different between "I don't believe in God" and "There is no God". The burden of proof rests on the person with the positive assertion, which more often than not is the Christian.

The burden of proof rests with the person making the case. However, it also rests within the context of the forum. If you, being an atheist, claim "There is no God" in a Christian forum such as this, the burden is yours to prove there isn't one, since the assumption in this forum is that there is. If you say, "I don't believe in God" there is no need to prove anything.

[Ovedya]

The burden of proof rests with the person making the case. However, it also rests within the context of the forum. If you, being an atheist, claim "There is no God" in a Christian forum such as this, the burden is yours to prove there isn't one, since the assumption in this forum is that there is. If you say, "I don't believe in God" there is no need to prove anything.

If I was to state "There is no God" on ANY forum, the burden of proof is on me, as I'm asserting a positive belief. On the other hand, if I state that I do not hold your positive belief, the burden of proof is on you to justify your belief. We're almost in agreement here.

The burden is upon you to tell us why you don't hold to our belief. Discussing "What I believe and why" is not a debate, as you cannot "disprove" what I believe. I will believe what I believe based upon my own knowledge and experience.

[IamCurrentlyUnableToBelieve]

Some theists I've come across somehow think their beliefs=absolute knowledge. They use them interchangeably. Does anyone else notice that?

Like everyone has stated, whenever a theist claims "God(s) exists" not "I believe God(s) exists." The burden of proof is on them, always.

[IamCurrentlyUnableToBelieve]

atheist can't accept that being what they are is a religion because its a belief in that there is no God or life after death. It is a belief system that is false. If you present logic, facts of based on archeology (sp) and recorded history of biblical events it confonds them . They believe in the KISS system. Other iwse they have stress headaches.

There isnt a religion that is an absent of belief. However, it is your job to meet once a week to keep reinforcing your beliefs. Why is that?

To qoute G.K. Chesterton:

"When a man stops believing in God, he does not believe in nothing, he believes in anything."

Religion is no more or less than a codified set of beliefs. Moreover, it takes as much belief to state there is no God as it does to state there is a God. Any formalised system that is predicated on the non-existence of God is as much a religion as a formalised system predicated on the existence of God. Thus, the theory of godless evolution qualifies as a religion because it is a formalised set of beliefs. We know that evolution is a belief system because it is in a constant state of flux and has been since Charles Darwin first proposed the theory. Evolution is not dependent on the evidence, per se, but on the interpretation of the evidence, and that is subject to the preconceptions/beliefs of the one doing the interpreting. If evolution were true, then the interpretation of the evidence would not keep changing with every new piece of evidence that is unearthed, because truth does not change. It is a 100% accurate record of all existence and all events. However, true Christianity is NOT a religion because it is not a codified set of beliefs, it is the personal, spiritual presence of the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, manifesting His life and character in Christians. In short, evolution is a religion, Christianity is not.

Ruth

-Do you believe all scientific theories are religion?

-I would like to see how the basics of evolution has changed so drastically with every piece of new evidence that comes across. Even so, perfecting the model of evolution via trial and error is a part of the scientific process. Same with cosmology, theories are liable to be revised if new evidence shows that they need to, the problem is having a world view that doesn't allow change even if there is evidence to the contrary.

-Christianity, by definition IS a religion, unless every dictionary definition is wrong. Belief in Jesus Christ, belief in the bible, belief in the trinity concept (usually), belief in salvation, belief in afterlife. You have rituals: Fellowship with Christians (i.e., Church, Christian activities), prayer, etc. It is a codified belief system in the sense, that there are certain concepts that you must believe in order to be a Christian. It may be a so-called relationship, but it is also religion.

-I don't see how a lack of belief in God is religion.....So you are basically saying Atheists believe that we lack a belief in God(s)? It's not a formalized set of beliefs, unless you want to say the LACK of belief in God(s) is one lol. But if you can think of others, I would like to know.

[Ovedya]

Some theists I've come across somehow think their beliefs=absolute knowledge. They use them interchangeably. Does anyone else notice that?

Like everyone has stated, whenever a theist claims "God(s) exists" not "I believe God(s) exists." The burden of proof is on them, always.

Not if the general consensus is that He does exist. See, the problem is with the assumption that generally most people believe, "God does not exist until he is proven." That is not true. Generally most people already assume that God exists. Therefore, the atheist must argue in the environment of "God exists until He is proven not to." The burden of proof is always on the atheist.

[Guest AV1611_USER]

I'm sure almost every atheist already knows that the vast majority of people do believe that God exists. The reason why they claim that theists have the burden of proof is because atheists know they cannot justify their beliefs. Atheism simply does not hold up. History, science, and philosophy all point to God's existence.