Atheism Poll

[Peter Jenkins]

I'm a 'born again atheist. I have been a believer and studied religion, and now I am an atheist. I cannot imagine ever going back to any religion.
I am slightly wary of the 'lazy' atheist, who has simply never bothered with religion. I tend to think that these are the sort of people who will, one day, be converted and held up as a victory for some religion or other.

Anyway, just to get an indication of the sort of people that post here, I thought this poll might be a good idea

Don't take the catagories too seriously, they wont be used in evidence against you.

Peter

[Skeptical Greg]

Took me a while to admit, the Emperor had no clothes...

[UnrepentantSinner]

I decided to call myself an atheist after I learned more about the issues at hand. I attended church most of my life growing up, enjoyed the experience and don't hold any ill will for the theology or Weltanschauung that I was exposed to.

During college I became a weak atheist, just not believing and in some ways realizing I never really believed. I remain that to this day. Nothing has convinced me of the non-existance of deities in general, but nothing has convinced me of either any particlar religious concept of deity or any abstract concepts of deity either.

[Dragonrock]

I was raised catholic, then when I graduated highschool I went ahead and dropped the faith I'd had doubts about for most of my life. After I got out of the army and married my wife, she wanted to go to church. The church she chose needed help in the sound booth so I helped there while she attended the service. About 2 years later I got caught up in the moment and "became a christian". The attention I recieved as a new christian fed into the excitement and I enjoyed people congradulating me for my new faith. After 6 months I started having doubts and about a year later I realized that it was the excitement of the moment.

When I look back on it, I'm embarassed that I gave in so easily. But, I do feel that I better understand why people get caught up in religion.

[TylerD]

I've been an atheist since I was 13. I was born into a theist family, but I didn't really have any sort of religious upbringing. But I did have exposer to religion that you would definitely get being raised in America (especially in a state like Maine). I already knew that most of religions were a load (especially Christianity) so I gave up theism at an early age.
It is still a hobby of mine to study religions, only so I know what I'm talking about when I'm debating people (and so I have a defense against the brainwashing tactics of Christian Evengelists/Apologists). So I chose the 'was a theist, became an atheist, studied religions'. Or at least I think I did (I have a really bad short term memory, oh well).

-- Tyler

[UnrepentantSinner]

Welcome to the forum Tyler. :)

[bjornart]

I voted Always atheist, studied religion.

I might have answered 'yes' if someone asked me at 10 if I believed in god. But I was definitely on the way to agnostisism after my attempt to read the bible in fifth grade (when I was 11).

As long back as I can remember thinking about the question I've thought god was less than likely, and that I certainly wouldn't worship the lunatic of the old testament.

[Nyarlathotep]

I used to be a good little Mormon boy, until I was 16 or so. Then I began actually thinking about not just the LDS church but religion in general. By the time I was in my early twenties I was firmly an atheist and never looked back

[Frostbite]

I used to be an atheist, but eventually I decided that as a mere mortal there's no way I could ever know for sure if God really existed. I mean, it's part of the sales pitch, that God theoretically is outside of science's grasp. It's like someone living in the Matrix wanting to find out what the Matrix is; there's absolutely no way he could ever find out.

Bottom line is, I don't know, I don't care, I need a drink.

[TylerD]

orignially posted by UnrepentantSinner
Welcome to the forum Tyler. :)

Why thank you, I think I'm gonna like it here. :D

[marxist2]

How can you say that you are an atheist after you have studied religion? Atheism is the default, acording to your stupid atheist logic.

P.S. I still think all atheists are child molesters.

[TylerD]

Anyone else smell a troll?

[Nyarlathotep]

Yep. ther is definitely troll scent in the air. And me without my +5 flaming sword. Drat

[K-W]

I was raised catholic. I prayed to god. But I never really thought of god as something that existed. Just of praying and going to church as something I was supposed to do. Prayer was more of a "what the hell, i'll try this" move. By the time I was old enough to think about it in terms of belief i realized I had none. I was educated in my religion more than any of the "believers" my age. And was confirmed by a catholic church while I was openly athiest.

While I sometimes envy those with Religion for the meaning they can find in life, i cant imagine myself ever being able to give up rationality.

[Dancing David]

Raised in Xian cult gentled by the jesus people, now poly theistic nihilist.

Peace
dancing David

[Frostbite]

Polytheistic nihilist. LOL

[Melissa Johnson]

What's a nihilist, actually?

I keep thinking of the characters in "The Big Lebowski"--but that has to be a broad parody, right?

And I didn't see anything listed for "pagan Catholic".

kidding, folks :D

More like "agnostic Catholic with small tolerance for philosophical b.s."

Or, whatever you want to believe is fine with me, just don't go messing with my Sundays off or fiddle with the government. Kay?

[c4ts]

Once I get all the philosophy worked out, I'm gonna make my own damn religion, called "God is an incomprehensible bastard who doesn't care that you exist, so let's party"-ism. Our dogma will be "my c--k is the Prime Mover." Rituals will mostly consist of optional heavy drinking, followed by philosophical discussion. Instead of relying on donations and collection plates for money, there will be small and cheap membership fees which amount to pretty much the same thing. There will be one holiday per month, and at the last day of the month before it, someone will spin the Mystical Wheel of Deterministic Physics to select a date. If it lands on somebody's birthday, they get Celestial Bingo. The purpose of each holiday is to honor the winners of this Celestial Bingo, no matter how many times in a row they may win.

Well, seriously, I doubt I could pull any of that off, or get anybody to join.

Dear all,

I don't really think about it. There are more important things in life.

Relax,
Sincerely,

S. H.

[Michael Redman]

c4ts, how could anyone win twice in a row, if you do it each month? Your religion is intriguing in its mysticism!

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes
Dear all,

I don't really think about it. There are more important things in life.

Relax,
Sincerely,

S. H.

So, so true. Cheers!

[DanishDynamite]

Technically: Agnostic

In practice: Atheist.

And no, I have never studied religion in any detail. Likewise, I have not studied the feeding habits of unicorns or the social life of gremlins.

[DialecticMaterialist]

Well for the first part of my life (0-10) I was somewhat of a lazy theist. Never really gave philosophy much thought.

At around 11 I became indroctinated by my older brother into being somewhat of a Jehovah Witness and adhering to creationism. This was mainly because I was convinced by their arguments. One things that made me like them was that they said they weren't like "other religions" but that they went by the evidence, proved their points even if the evidence wasn't what they wanted to hear.

So I was naive and easily fooled and became a fierce theist/creationist. That lasted maybe 2 years. After which questions that occured in my mind, unanswered by the Jehovah Witnesses as well as certain criticism and their odd behavior made the belief less credible to me. They started for example trying to tell me what I can and cannot read, who its ok to argue with etc. To me that seemed very closed minded and not with the evidence.

After that I decided to study every religion and came to the conclusion that they are all more or less based on pure faith. I became an agnostic.

In ninth grade I got into philosophy and Darwinism. I went back and forth between atheism and agnosticism for a while(and very much struggled with relativism until I learned more about logic), until I learned more about Occam's Razor and most importantly WHY we use Occam's razor, afterwhich atheism "won" hands down. (This was about 11th grade).

I still remain an atheist to this day.

One thing I've never done in my life though is go by a conclusion until I firmly believed it was proven. Even if I was wrong, very wrong or making huge mistakes in my reasoning I could never bring myself to just accept a belief in grounds of pure faith. If I did so, it was not consciously.

Perhaps this is because the JW's caught me so off guard. They showed me how easy it was to more or less trick a person and convince yourself of something that isn't true.

They also showed me how the beliefs you hold can so profoundly influence your life. Had I stayed a JW I'd probably be a very different person today. And thus this showed me how important it is to be on guard against false beliefs and never take your beliefs for granted. Because you can be wrong and if you are wrong about the most important of things (who we are, what is going on, what is true etc.) your decisions will probably lead you to certain courses of action you may otherwise not choose to go on.

[LawnOven]

PBS kept the god out of me from an early age. :)

Seriously though I didn't grow up in a religious household, so I never believed in god.

[A_Feeble_Mind]

Raised Catholic in a very religious household, I recently (within the last year) became an atheist. As it was a gradual process, I decided to mark my last birthday as the official beginning of the end of my belief in God.

It all started with an online web comic called PvP. (See http://www.pvponline.com ) It was the one from the series about John Edward that was later featured in Swift Online. One of the characters said something to the effect of "In the name of James Randi, I insist that you denounce your lies." At that point, I remembered hearing James Randi interviewed on a local radio station and did a search for the website. I eagerly poured over all the Swift articles. When I had completed reading them, I turned to this forum.

Both in the forum and the articles, I was a little bit put out by the atheistic comments; I thought it made perfect sense that we should be skeptical of psychics and astrology and aliens, but it didn't occur to me to apply that reasoning to God.

What finally started to sway me was not someone trying to convince me, but quietly lurking and reading the posts between the Christians and the atheists and realizing that, hey, the only "proof" that the Christians give is the Bible. But, once the Bible is considered and the inconsistencies are noted, the Bible doesn't seem to be a good source of facts. So, I decided that I would reflect for awhile and try to reason things out.

As time passed, much to my dismay, I became more and more convinced that there was no reason to believe there is a god. My whole life, I was the most religous of my group of friends. I very strongly believed in god for such a long time, my entire twenty-something years of existance, that it was a depressing and traumatic loss when I finally accepted that it was, at best, highly unlikely that there was a god.

At one point, I remembered that "faith is a gift from God." Thus, I reasoned, my lack of faith could be remedied by simply praying for faith. Heck, I didn't believe, but I figured, if I put it in "God's hands," that if he did exist and I didn't believe, it was his choice, and not mine. That, amusingly, was comforting.

From that point on, I no longer worried about god. In fact, there was a great deal of relief. The things that didn't make sense in my religion before no longer had to be reasoned out and feared. There was to be no divine retribution for any sins. But, with the relief, also came more disconcerning issues.

What has become my biggest fear was once something that I almost never thought about. Dying used to mean living forever in paradise. Now it means simply to stop existing. This continues to plague my thoughts and makes me angry when I think about religion. If, instead of believing in nonsense like life in eternity, everyone put forth the effort to research prolonging human life indefinately through the only means possible, science, then there may be a great many more advances in this area today.

Being on the non-believing side now, and remembering what it was like on the believing side, I am amazed how completely and totally I was convinced there was absolutely a god and not even realizing the need to question him. It also allows me an insight into the thought process of a believer and offers knowledge as what should and should not be said when discussing this with a believer.

Although I am convinced there is no god, I still desperately wish there was one. It makes no sense that there is any need, but, in the words of Rod Stewart, "still, I look to find a reason to believe."

On a final note, I find it amusing that the loss of my religion can be blamed on an online comic about video games. :)

[c4ts]

Originally posted by Michael Redman
c4ts, how could anyone win twice in a row, if you do it each month? Your religion is intriguing in its mysticism!

Yes, that would be logically impossible to have the same birthday in two different months... but with enough money, you could win for the same month two years in a row.

[uruk]

I'm probably an agnostic.

I was raised roman catholic (being half hispanic). But my mother also raised us to be critical thinkers, even though she' a decon in the church.

I never gave much thought to god or religion when I was younger. Then came sunday school and the inculcation into catholisism. It wasn't until I had to study the bible that I realised
what a big pile of steaming crock religion is.

All my experiance with religion since then has developed in me a seething disgust and hatred for religion. All religions.

Religion has been responsible for more bloodshed, tyranny,
bigotry, warfare, human suffering, and ignorance than any other
institutions man has ever seen.

Some of you might say that some knowledge and discovery started with certain religions. True, but when that knowledge and discovery started stepping on religious toes, church and science went their separate ways.

And I have also seen friends who have fallen into alchoholizm,
drug addiction and prostitution, recover via religion. ( like anything else,religion has some redeeming value). But they wind up replacing one addiction for another (fanaticisim)

But I also realise that religion and god are two different things.

.....to be continued

[DanishDynamite]

A_Feeble-Mind,

Congratulations on your escape. :)

My parents weren't religious in any significant degree, so I was brought up in a "Godless" environment. Hence, I've never had to escape anything. I realize, though, that those who were brought up in such an environment have a fairly large hurdle to get over.

Aren't inquisitiveness and intelligence great? :)

[Torment]

Agnostic then atheist here.

My mother was raised Catholic, and my father as well. They didn't agree with a lot of things their preachers had sermons on. (Anti-gay, ect) This caused them to stop attending church anymore. After that I guess their faith just dwindled until they considered themselves agnostic.

I do believe an agnostic upbringing is the most braggable choice. :D Nobody can accuse me of rebelling against how I was brought up, and nobody can accuse me of being brainwashed by parents since childhood.

I plan on raising my children the same way. I'll do my best to teach them critical thinking skills, and let them go with what they will.

Although I shamefully admit if they become religious I will be dissapointed with them... :(

I'd feel even worse if I forced my beliefs on them like the people I despise do. :mad:

[Darwin]

Voted for "always,atheist,studied"

I have come to perfectly understand those people who turn into religion,knowing hardship and even sort of a "struggle for existence" in my personal life (this,to be pointed out as a factor that I believe to be important in terms of converting)
I do not have anything against the idea that there was "reason" in the universe and that we were being watched over,but as someone previously said-my rational ideology will not let it take over.
Frequently I am also led to despise religion and forms it takes in everyday life,but the need for it will probably remain solid and the best I (or about anyone recognizing the same thing here) can do is go with the flow.

[Finella]

Okay... there's two other theists out there... are you shy?? :D

I've debated with all kinds of believers and nonbelievers, but always believed. And I can't tell you why, I just do. I think part of why my faith has been so strong is that I was raised by parents who were reacting against their fundamentalist and Roman Catholic upbringings, and thus became Episcopalian and integrated reason into their faith.

Interestingly, my father (reacting against the Catholic stuff) lost his faith when he prolly could have benefitted from it most, and my mother (reacting against the Fundy stuff) has continued to have a deep, yet continually questioning faith. Not sure if that says anything... but I find it interesting.

---,---'--{@

[Lord Emsworth]

What means "to study religion(s)" here?

I have problems to understand it, because in German the word studieren only means to study at university.

[steinhenge]

I don't bother to label myself with a word that describes me as someone who doesn't believe in astrology, so I likewise feel no need to label myself with a word that describes me as someone who doesn't have an imaginary friend named "Jesus" (Vishnu, Yaweh, Chthulu... whatever).

I'm a person, plain and simple.

[BillyTK]

Originally posted by Lord Emsworth
What means "to study religion(s)" here?

I have problems to understand it, because in German the word studieren only means to study at university.

Auf englisch "zu studieren" bedeutet nicht nur, an der Universität zu studieren. Es bedeutet auch, Wissen wegen des persönlichen Interesses zu erwerben.

Entschuldigungen für mein Deutsch, verwendete ich Altavista (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr), von englischem zum Deutschen zu übersetzen. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut; Altavista ist nicht auch so gut!

[BillyTK]

Originally posted by marxist2
How can you say that you are an atheist after you have studied religion? Atheism is the default, acording to your stupid atheist logic.

P.S. I still think all atheists are child molesters.

is there an award for the most inappropriately named poster? I think I might create a glove puppet called "Jesus Christ" to troll around this forum preaching Marxism :evil laugh:

[Lord Emsworth]

Originally posted by BillyTK
Auf englisch "zu studieren" bedeutet nicht nur, an der Universität zu studieren. Es bedeutet auch, Wissen wegen des persönlichen Interesses zu erwerben.

Thank you very much!
A vote, then, for "Atheist/once theist/studied" seems most appropriate.


Originally posted by marxist2
…I still think…

Wow, a very rare specimen of the Marxist conviction. Be careful, your head might explode.

[TylerD]

I just thought of something, (can't believe I didn't think of it in the first place), wasn't Karl Marx an atheist? I find it pretty funny that he thinks the person who codified his ideology was a child molester.

[Peach Jr.]

I voted "atheist, was once theist, studied religions"

Was raised Methodist (my parents weren't all that interested in religion, BTW), went into my "feminist wiccan" phase from college until after I was married. I wound up marrying an agnostic who in practice is atheistic (don't call him that though), and over the years have given the matter of religion and faith without reliable evidence a lot of thought. So I guess I would call myself an atheist.

[mindless]

I was never a christian although I have been through the brain washing process. I have no belief in God / invisible pink unicorns so I am an Atheist, but I am also an Agnostic becase there could be something out there that we have no knoledge of, I just don't know.

Something to get you minds in gear, go check out
The Infidel Guy (http://www.infidelguy.com), He has a weekly live callin show, and hundreds of archived shows on the site, which raise all sorts of atheistic / free thinking questions about religion. I heartily recommend checking it out.

If you are a questioning theist, you may find some answers here that you never dared to ask. If you are a strong theist here is your chance to phone in and proove all us atheists wrong.

[Bluegill]

Originally posted by c4ts
Once I get all the philosophy worked out, I'm gonna make my own damn religion, called "God is an incomprehensible bastard who doesn't care that you exist, so let's party"-ism.

Maybe you should bet together with Nyarlathotep and work on some blasphemous non-euclidean geometry. And be sure to invite me to the parties! I'll bring my horrid fungoid friends from deep beneath the ice of the Antarctic.

[Nyarlathotep]

Originally posted by Bluegill


Maybe you should bet together with Nyarlathotep and work on some blasphemous non-euclidean geometry. And be sure to invite me to the parties! I'll bring my horrid fungoid friends from deep beneath the ice of the Antarctic.

Okay, but let's not invite those guys from Innsmouth, they stink of fish.

[jimmygun]

I use the term atheist because it is convenient for describing to others what I am basically. It bothers me somewhat to use the term because of the generalizations that people make about me when they hear me use it.

[thaiboxerken]

Religion stops a thinking mind.

Atheist!

[peptoabysmal]

I was raised Lutheran Baptist. I was always somewhat agnostic. The straw that finally broke the camel's back for me was finding out that the resurrection wasn't written into the Bible until several hundred years after the death of Christ. From then on, I studied the history of many different religions. I have decided that religion is more of a basic basic need in humans than a basic truth of the universe.

That being said I don't see anything wrong with someone having religion or faith, and I would never want to take that away from them. Soemtimes it's better to keep the illusions.

[angard]

I voted: Always atheist, studied religion.

I actually once was an agnostic when I was a child , if agnostic means what I think it does.


<-- Look at that post number. :)

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Peter Jenkins

Anyway, just to get an indication of the sort of people that post here, I thought this poll might be a good idea


In the early 70's, the bass player in my band (and his super-religious mom) tried to christianize me. So through peer pressure, I pretended to be religious for a few months. It didn't "take" and I ignored religion for the next 20 years.

While in the AF, I needed to get a Masters to make Major - so, since I already knew about history, literature, music, art, etc - I opted for Humanities. I took a religion course from an ex-Jesuit priest (Dr. Hagan) and it opened my eyes! I suddenly saw the myth. I wrote a critical thesis on Christianity and have not stopped studying it since.

As to whether there is A god - I am agnostic...and that's all you can be - "I don't know!"

But I KNOW one thing - the bible, the gods in the bible, the miracles, the resurrection, and the trinity are all unsubstantiated crap created to assign guilt and distribute fear!

In this respect, I am an atheist.

Originally posted by thaiboxerken
Religion stops a thinking mind.

Atheist!

Dear Mr. thaiboxerken,

That was an interesting 'post-n-run', however, your claim is obviously not true. For religion to stop a thinking mind, as you claim, you'd have to show that no religious person is more intelligent than you are. Unfortunately for your theory, there are many intelligent religious people.

Sincerely yours,

S. H.

[Cleopatra]

Studied religions a lot. In fact, I wanted to become a Theologist when I was little...

That's why I try to avoid the topics that have to do with religion in this forum:)

My brain accepts facts that can be repeated and confirmed on an experimental basis. The miracles of God do not belong to this category.

Having to work, though, with the "accomplishments" of the dark side of human soul, I have concluded that if "Religion didn't exist, we should have invented it!"

" Si non e vero e ben trovatto" as Italians say...

The most useful invention of Humanity is Religion especially to the clever people.

The more brilliant you are, the more you need to be afraid of a power "bigger than you"!

Now, you can chop me :)

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes


Dear Mr. thaiboxerken,

That was an interesting 'post-n-run', however, your claim is obviously not true. For religion to stop a thinking mind, as you claim, you'd have to show that no religious person is more intelligent than you are. Unfortunately for your theory, there are many intelligent religious people.


I think the kickmeister probably means - in general Religion impedes straight thinking. "Religion is the opiate of the masses" is a famous line along this thinking.

The dark ages were not only dark in the arts, but in progressive thinking because religion controlled daily life. For instance, great progress in cartography (map making) was essentially halted during the dark ages, because Jerulsalem was required (by the church) to be in the center of the map! Galileo was made to kneel before the pope and apologize for thinking the Earth revolved around the sun. (The church only recently acknowledged that he was right!)

Dear triadboy,

It could be that Mr. thaiboxerken probably means what you explained, however I can only go by the things he actually posts.

Sincerely,

S. H.

[A_Feeble_Mind]

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes
Dear triadboy,

It could be that Mr. thaiboxerken probably means what you explained, however I can only go by the things he actually posts.

Sincerely,

S. H.

I disagree. You chose to go by the exact wording of his post. Why not apply some of that inductive reasoning you have used in the past to solve this "case?" ;)

[thaiboxerken]

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes
Dear triadboy,

It could be that Mr. thaiboxerken probably means what you explained, however I can only go by the things he actually posts.

Sincerely,

S. H.

In your case, it seems that religion DOES stop a thinking mind.

For everyone else, it simply means that religions stops rational thinking in many aspects.. not ALL aspects.



Post and run? LOL. I can't sit on the internet all day.