Are you religious?

[edd1989]

Not hardwired into me since birth, as far back as I can remember I've never thought of myself as anything but a pointless talking monkey.

But having asked other atheists if they're the same, it seems I'm in the minority. As I'm much better looking and more intelligent than everyone else, I can only assume you're right about evolution and I'm the next step along the way. IMHO, of course.

Totally agree, I get the sense of how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. And I am certain how much of an overstatement "insignificant" is.

We are no more than a bunch of comparatively well evolved chimps.

Puts things into perspective.

[Old_Reprobate]

Atheist since I was about 10, but I daresay like a few others here I have occasionally offered up a prayer along the lines of "If you are up there, God, just get me out of this in one piece ..."

[Gas Gas Gas]

Atheist since I was about 10, but I daresay like a few others here I have occasionally offered up a prayer along the lines of "If you are up there, God, just get me out of this in one piece ..."

If you are here now He must have done.

[.Sven]

I dont understand how you can be 'agnostic', you must lean one way or the other?

Actually, agnosticism makes the most sense, rationally, as we cannot know for sure if God exists or not.

I disagree.

I could make something up right now that would be impossible to prove. Just because I've said it doesn't make it any more factual than when it was in my mind. We all remember Russells teapot.

How can you disprove something that wasn't there to begin with, is invisible, cannot be detected by any scientific means and people blindly believe in because it's written in a book.

Just because disproving and proving something are equal in their impossibility does not put them on equal footing.

Edd

P.S. Euphemism, thanks. My spelling has always been worthy of a mong.

Have to say, from what I remember from a basic logic course, you are right about that - is not the arguer's job to have to prove the non-existence of something, but instead, its existence.

But on a related note, I read awhile back that supernatural beliefs may be hardwired into us from birth - not that it makes the existence of God any more or less likely - but perhaps does serve some evolutionary purpose.

Your religion didn't get in the way of you paying money to the IRA to help them murder men, women and children did it kevin.

[Frogslegs]

I dont believe in any kind of anthromorphised god or a singular entity. I do recon there is a kind of cosmic balance or karma in the universe, but I dont believe that a sentient being/fairy is behind it. The universe has its own natural order which asserts itself without regard to us.

That's my view, too - but expressed much better than I would have done

I find it interesting that the same stories (creation myth, son of god* etc.) appear in varying forms in nearly all religions.

I wonder if the beautiful art, architecture, literature & music that exist because of religion balance out the hatred, torture & killing that these same religions inspire

* and yes, god with a small 'g' is deliberate as it refers to the species(?) rather than a specific individual.

[Flashman07]

Satanism is the way forward people. Sacrificing virgins at dawn and having blood orgy's, can religion get any better?

On a serious note I am an atheist, but some of the points raised in the Satanic Bible are quite profound and make sense really. They preach that it is ok to do things selfishly if they dont impact negatively on anothers life. They teach that if you want to be kind to people (giving to charities/being an all round good egg) you should do it for your own selfish reasons, rather than what is being preached by a book. It argues that religious people only do good things because they think they will go to heaven not because they genuinely care.

[hackle]

...They teach that if you want to be kind to people (giving to charities/being an all round good egg) you should do it for your own selfish reasons, rather than what is being preached by a book...

So this is a book which, ah, teaches you not to be preached at by a book?

[TankiesYank]

Then bring back the teaching of Christianity into ALL schools, after all WE are a Christian Country aren't we?

To teach if nothing else MORALS

Thanks for illustrating in a nutshell what gets on my t!ts about religion.

1. No, WE don't live in a Christian country. I live in a secular democracy, thank fcuk. In a "Christian country," said Christians could probably stop me from getting the morning-after pill, or even the regular pill, over the counter if it disagreed with their brand of Christianity. I don't want to live in a Christian theocracy any more than I do an Islamic one.

2. Why is religion the sole proprietor of ethics? Atheists and agnostics also lead good, moral lives. If you need a book of ancient myths to explain the difference between right and wrong, then you are in trouble.

Ironically, I'm quite a spiritual person, but my relationship with any particular spiritual realm is between it, and me.

[old_fat_and_hairy]

I've been known to cry out His name on occasion, usually to tell him I'm on my way.
But that was so long ago.

[Flashman07]

...They teach that if you want to be kind to people (giving to charities/being an all round good egg) you should do it for your own selfish reasons, rather than what is being preached by a book...

So this is a book which, ah, teaches you not to be preached at by a book?

Hah... yeah I suppose you could look at it that way. Its all one in the same to me, I just like sacrificing virgins and blood orgy's.