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Any atheist or agnostic fapstronauts,on here?

Discussion in 'Off-topic Discussion' started by The 1000 Water Fists, Feb 10, 2016.

  1. I am an atheist and I became one 3 years ago.I would really like to know what caused you to become one? Most atheists and other non-believers were, at one time, believers. Clearly, something changed our minds. Possibly more than one thing. I’d like to know what those things were.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2016
  2. Paddy

    Paddy Fapstronaut

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    I'm an agnostic. I was raised as a Catholic, when is was going through my teenage years the whole mythology of it just seemed to be unrealistic to say the least. I felt like it was created to scare people in to being good. Some of the stories that their is about the church in medieval times are just horrific to say the least. Not to say the church cover ups when it comes to child abuse. I do believe there is some kind of higher power because there is no explanation for how the universe was created. Which leave my to believe it may have had some deity involved . If there is one true religion to follow I would have trouble committing to any of them, they all have the same foundations with some that little bit more extreme than the other. I have no problem with anyone who has faith in religion. That's their own choice and I respect that. But for me, it's not something I can except.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2016
    The 1000 Water Fists likes this.
  3. Since I haven't given my explaination as to why I am an atheist.I will give it now.I became an atheist 3 years ago while re-reseraching some stuff about the bible.I was going through a really hard time believing that a god existed.I was depressed,had some health isssues and to make things worse my aunt passed away.She like an angel to me and my family.We all loved her so much and I was attracted to the person that she was.She would always make us feel loved.When she was in a coma I prayed a lot,I really prayed for a god to intervene in the matter.I pleaded with god everyday to bring her back.

    It wasn't meant to be becuase she passsed away.I cried for hours and I was angry a lot at god and my uncle who may have caused her death.I went online at looked at some atheist videos on youtube.I was hit something I would say a dose of reality.I took me a while to get over that anger of neing lied to but I got over it after a year.Atheism has really changed me to be a better person overall.The reason I say it changed me to be a better person becuase where I live my country is very homo-phobic and mostly everyone is religious.When I became an athiest I let go of all my homo-phobia and judgemental ways.

    Looking at a woman in the street didn't bother me as much or I wasn't worried about a sky man in the sky judging me.I drank alcohol and I went to parties and I didn't feel bad.Also I wasn't worried about having sex before marriage as well.I didn't have to wait for the perfect woman who would be a virgin if I got married.I felt in control of my life for the first time in my life.It also gave my life more meaning because there was no heaven in my mind when I die.Everything for me has a purpose now and I would never go back to Christanity or any other religion.
     
  4. Agnostic! I reason that since there are so many conflicting religions out there and choosing takes work, and your choice won't affect the integrity of the universe, choose the one that doesn't give a shit.
     
  5. Selacious Crumb

    Selacious Crumb Fapstronaut

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    I am an agnostic. I want to believe that there is a God and that there is Heaven but I doubt it. It can't be proven or disproven. I even went to a Catholic school for 5 years and said a prayer every morning. I went to Mass and other religious events. I think some people just want some security knowing that their good deeds will be rewarded in the future.
     
  6. Dizzy Lotus

    Dizzy Lotus Fapstronaut

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    Either I don't understand your post, or you said the opposite of what you meant here.
     
  7. Dizzy Lotus

    Dizzy Lotus Fapstronaut

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    I think most people that become atheist after "being religious" have that happening because they don't really understand it. There are many people who think they are Christian but actually don't follow Christ.
    I see this happening most often from Catholics, for some reason. Perhaps it's because they (used to) have many little rules and frills (not exactly what I mean here, but I could not find a better word in English) that are taking away from the real message, just having to follow Christ and make decisions based on that, instead of on all sorts of rules.
    I'm not trying to be judgemental here, this is just some observation and exchange of thoughts.
     
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  8. Paddy

    Paddy Fapstronaut

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    What I ment was, people that believes in a any of the religions. I respect there choice to do so, nor would I try to convince them otherwise. But for me personally I would not be able to join or practice any religion. Because I have trouble believing the stories that they are built upon. I probably could have worded it better. Coherent writing wouldn't be my strong suit.
     
    ManOfKnowledge likes this.
  9. I am agnostic. I left Catholicism at 15 because the stories in the Bible started to look more like fantasy fiction than real-life history. What saddens me is that many people who stop believing in the Biblical stories leave Christian ethics too. Even if there is no God, many saints are still awesome role models.
     
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  10. Dizzy Lotus

    Dizzy Lotus Fapstronaut

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    Indeed! The medical guidelines in the Old Testament and the ethics guidelines in the New Testament are legit no matter what!
     
  11. lynae

    lynae Fapstronaut

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    Agnostic here. I was raised by a muslim family. I became an agnostic like 1,2 years ago.
     
  12. I agree with Jesus' ethics but are you really serious about ancient Israelite medicine?
     
    Low likes this.
  13. Phibz

    Phibz Fapstronaut

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    Atheist here. Used to believe. But now I'm saved.
     
  14. snowowl99

    snowowl99 Fapstronaut

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    I'm an atheist. I was brought up catholic but it wasn't very strict, more like a watered down suburban version of it. Around junior high/high school I just started noticing how different cultures, different periods, people created gods for their needs and how the invention of a god came from that more than anything. I am not anti-religious though and think people should practice and believe in whatever they want.
     
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  15. Dizzy Lotus

    Dizzy Lotus Fapstronaut

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    Well, for a big part, yes. There's a reason most Jews weren't affected by the black plague. The Old Testament describes many hygienic stuff, which people back then did not yet know the reason for, but we have now confirmed. We now also know why it'd be better not to eat pig meat, among other things.
     
    RoseTenthFan likes this.
  16. MyNameIsX

    MyNameIsX Fapstronaut

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    I recall there's a section on how to remove mould from your house.

    If you remove the stuff about God, for its time it was actually a pretty solid howto manual for life, civilisation, ethics etc. After all, it was probably one of the few books people had any sort of access to.
     
  17. Buzz Lightyear

    Buzz Lightyear Fapstronaut

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    Well, I think a big part of the problem is that we are projecting our own way of thinking, one particular mode, onto the text. The medievalists had a variety of ways in which they interpreted their scripture besides analytical correctitude. The philosopher Vico is an interesting figure who highlighted something that typifies the modern mind; it's lack of a certain quality he termed 'fantasia'. Lacking this quality, we can be 'anachronistic' - we can not imaginatively engage with other historical ways of thinking and being. When we can not do this, we are impoverishing ourselves. We fail to appreciate the richness of our cultural heritage, not to mention how the present has come about by the past.

    This is not simply a matter of faith. Rather, it is a humanism. Consider Aristotle's distinction between poetic meaning and scientific/ philosophical meaning. In a chronological sense, the meaning we see in literature and poetry seems to be but fragments of something primordial; like a scattering of mosaic pieces that once constituted a way of seeing the world. You could also say western literature is in large part a kind of decompression chamber for a religious culture transitioning to a secular one. The practical aspect of all of this is that we can backward read these fragments, and create some coherency within our own minds. God help us the day art dies.

    Of course, the most rigorous-minded, besides dismissing religious texts as meaningless, are also willing to consign literature and poetry to the dustbin of history. It is a secular version of the bonfire of the vanities, and for us is a holocaust of the mind.

    I don't see it in terms of faith versus doubt. Consider Keat's notion of 'negative capability'. The idea here is that one has to be comfortable with uncertainty/ doubt in order to see things creatively and in novel ways. Perhaps the problem with today is that there is in reality one singular dogmatic way of seeing things.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  18. I do appreciate richness of the Bible. I do enjoy the stories of the Patriarchs, or of the early Church. But I do also enjoy science fiction, despite knowing it's not real. Do you need to believe there really are Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey to enjoy Doctor Who? Is this 'fantasia'?


    Yeah, the worship of abstract principles like humanity, equality, democracy, environment, or peace. Some people call this dogma Universalism. Back in 2001 I believed I was breaking free from the Catholic dogma, while really I was exchanging it for another.
     
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  19. Buzz Lightyear

    Buzz Lightyear Fapstronaut

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    Yes, a good point you raise. I made this distinction between [science] fiction and art the other day when I wrote this:

    Matrix was good in bringing back to mind the age-old problem of distinguishing reality from illusion. It trundles out the old argument, found in Plato, found in Descartes, found in Bishop Berkeley, dusts it off and tricks it out in a more contemporary and palatable style. But here's the problem with the Matrix. It's just a work of fiction, fascinating but fiction nevertheless. It provides a vicarious thrill - where we manage to suspend our disbelief for a couple of hours - but it can not be taken seriously. We can not believe it when we come out blinking in the light of day. Could I really be a brain in a vat, could I really be hooked into a computer. Nope, so we go on with our humdrum lives. OK, so it's a metaphor! So now we have to start looking at it in terms of art... and yet, only a dim reflection of what came before. And that's were art differs so much from mere fiction; art is not just a distraction from mundane life, as fiction is, but is like a window through which you peer and feel that something behind or beyond this mundane world really is real. It's the awakening of the will. And this is when we look up, instead of down.... as deterministic science would teach.

    Neo is a hero. He wakes up and takes control of his life. But the other lesser character raises a good point; if there is nothing to wake to, why bother. Besides the positive, there are also nihilistic, dark elements to the movie. Consider the machines misanthropic comparison of humanity to bacteria. Here is cold logic/ reason stripped of all feeling and human will.


    I think the word 'fantasia' can be confusing as today it's just identified negatively with fantasy. I think it refers to something like 'imagination' or 'synthesis'.

    As for fantasy, maybe a full-blown fantasy world, a Disney world, is required in order for us to think of the world we live in, the world we have constructed, as the real one... and not itself a kind of collective 'fantasy'.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  20. BlueNotes

    BlueNotes Fapstronaut

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    Atheist in the sense I don't believe in any sort of God that judges or has some sort of plan for us. Life is simply life. Extremely beautiful, brutal, and full of mystery. Human beings aren't shit and there's no way everything that exists was created for man in gods image. Our sun is going to blow up and that's that. Close the chapter on Earth. Then what? We'll be just another floating rock in space. Life goes on with or without us. And that's just life being doing what life does. No hard feelings.
     

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