Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm a 2nd year student at Bowling Green state university.
I personally am an atheist. I have only been an atheist for about a year at this point.
Before I was an atheist I was heavily involved in Asatru, (see Norse mythology) and before that I was planning on being a Baptist minister.
I basically see no evidence that a god or gods exist, so I have no reason to believe.
Needless to say, my mind has been changed a lot, and is still open to change, provided proper evidence of course.

What about you all?
What do or don't you identify as?
Why?
Let me know, I'm interested in hearing what you think.

Thanks

I am a Christian, although no where near the type I should be.
I just don't see this universe coming together through accident, and believe God used natural laws to make it happen.
I believe we will be given more knowledge of God as we prove able to live within what we already have been given.

I believe that truth is truth and comes from the same source. Whether it be scientific or religious, it all comes from God. The more we learn about the universe and mankind, the more we learn about the ways of God.
Why I believe? because I've felt and seen to many things to ignore.
I also believe in Rock n' Roll.

I am technically an agnostic, but practically speaking, I am an atheist. Like you (OP), I would think twice if presented with any compelling evidence that there is a creative intelligence behind the cosmos. Even if there were such evidence, before I entertained the notion of "deity", there would have to be further compelling evidence that the intelligence was not the product of evolution by natural selection, because that would be the simplest explanation.

I am also old enough by now to understand that my beliefs are irrelevant to the truth. I.E. if something is true, it is true whether I believe it or not.

Devout Peregrinist. I was an atheist, but I wasn't very good at that whole "being humble" thing so I decided to stop trying. And hey, at least, unlike every other religion, there's evidence that my god actually exists!

I am an atheist; in my younger days that was on the grounds of not accepting that a god or gods could exist scientifically, these days it's a combination of the fact that as I say, as a child I dismissed the notion so changing now would be hard and the fact that I have no 'need' of a god or religion. I live my life, without being overly concerned about what happens to me afterwards or if there's someone/thing up there controlling everything I see or do or think.

I will add though that I am an atheist who is never going to tell someone their religion is wrong or have a problem with it. I'm pretty sure it's no coincidence that many of the kindest, wisest people I've known have a religious belief or background.

As such, though I may not subscribe to the idea of a deity myself, I find it hard to dismiss the fact that, god aside, the Bible and the holy books or teachings of other religions contain a moral code that is ultimately the foundation for being a good human being. I may not be a Christian, or a Buddhist, or whatever, but there will be elements of the teachings in those religions in my moral code, both consciously and otherwise.

I operate as an atheist, but it's a bit more complicated that that. I do not deny that a god, or in fact gods, could exist. To deny the possible existence is just as ridiculous as to believe in something with no evidence. I simply have no evidence that anything exists, so I don't believe in it. So I spend my days blissfully not thinking about religion very much.

I'm also Unitarian Universalist which is like if you take all the good parts of religion (helping other, charity, teaching, community, ect) and take out all the religion. It's very nice. Super accepting, and a large number of different beliefs. We have Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, pagans, wiccans, all sorts. Lots of social justice, environmentalism, helping those in need, that sort of thing.

 Paradigm wrote:
As such, though I may not subscribe to the idea of a deity myself, I find it hard to dismiss the fact that, god aside, the Bible and the holy books or teachings of other religions contain a moral code that is ultimately the foundation for being a good human being. I may not be a Christian, or a Buddhist, or whatever, but there will be elements of the teachings in those religions in my moral code, both consciously and otherwise.

I find it very easy to dismiss that "fact". The bible only has a good moral code if you remove all of the horrifyingly evil things it has to say, and its entire premise (the ritual torture and murder of Jesus so that god wouldn't have to admit that he was wrong, and the threat of eternal torture if you don't accept this "gift") is an appalling concept. You can be a Christian and a good person, but only if you already have a good moral code that exists independent of your religion.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:
As such, though I may not subscribe to the idea of a deity myself, I find it hard to dismiss the fact that, god aside, the Bible and the holy books or teachings of other religions contain a moral code that is ultimately the foundation for being a good human being. I may not be a Christian, or a Buddhist, or whatever, but there will be elements of the teachings in those religions in my moral code, both consciously and otherwise.

I find it very easy to dismiss that "fact". The bible only has a good moral code if you remove all of the horrifyingly evil things it has to say, and its entire premise (the ritual torture and murder of Jesus so that god wouldn't have to admit that he was wrong, and the threat of eternal torture if you don't accept this "gift") is an appalling concept. You can be a Christian and a good person, but only if you already have a good moral code that exists independent of your religion.

How was God wrong?

Relapse wrote:
How was God wrong?

About the fact that we should all go to hell. God could have just said "ok, I was wrong, I'll let you into heaven", but instead he had to go through the ritual torture and murder so he could have an excuse to do it.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:
As such, though I may not subscribe to the idea of a deity myself, I find it hard to dismiss the fact that, god aside, the Bible and the holy books or teachings of other religions contain a moral code that is ultimately the foundation for being a good human being. I may not be a Christian, or a Buddhist, or whatever, but there will be elements of the teachings in those religions in my moral code, both consciously and otherwise.

I find it very easy to dismiss that "fact". The bible only has a good moral code if you remove all of the horrifyingly evil things it has to say, and its entire premise (the ritual torture and murder of Jesus so that god wouldn't have to admit that he was wrong, and the threat of eternal torture if you don't accept this "gift") is an appalling concept. You can be a Christian and a good person, but only if you already have a good moral code that exists independent of your religion.

Sorry, should have elaborated. There are some parts of organised religion I find ironic/amusing(like a benevolent God that loves apocalypse-level floods if people are naughty, or a plague of locusts) and some I do find rather abhorrent (for example, the treatment of women in orthodox Islam, although Islam as a whole is moving beyond that slowly but surely). To try and rephrase what I was saying, you can form a strong moral code based around parts of many religion's teachings without subscribing to that religion, which I believe has the potential to be as strong or stronger than one formed independently of religion.

Actually, Co'tor Shas summed it up quite nicely with the explanation of 'Unitarian Universalists'. While, unlike him, I don't apply a formal title to what I am and what I believe, I do base my life around the ideas of charity and teaching and kindness as much as possible that does come, from a certain extent, from religion at one level or another (as ultimately, a lot of the morals of society at large have their roots in religion).

One can certainly find some morals in the writings ascribed to Jesus, like the Golden Rule, whilst just ignoring all the nasty bits he had to say about burning people forever, or other supernatural and /or immoral claims ascribed to Jesus by his biographers.

I believe Thomas Jefferson had this view of Christianity (just to namedrop a founder )

Atheist. Never really got the concept of a god as a child. Sang the usual songs and said the usual prayers in primary school (until I was about 8 and decided not to and just mouthed along). Stopped even doing that and just stood silent by about 12.

Quite happy to discuss beliefs with people in the flesh or online (generally if they bring up the subject or it is related to what is being discussed, though sometimes not!). Quite happy to tell people that I think they are wrong, have no ecidence supporting their beliefs and plenty of evidence directly disproving it; though that is reserved for when it is appropriate rather than a first move

 Peregrine wrote:

Relapse wrote:
How was God wrong?

About the fact that we should all go to hell. God could have just said "ok, I was wrong, I'll let you into heaven", but instead he had to go through the ritual torture and murder so he could have an excuse to do it.

God gave us free will to choose good or evil. If we didn't have that, we would be nothing more than robots, lock stepping around in this life with no gaining of knowledge or maturity. Because we do choose to do evil things, God provided a way through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus for us to make our way back to him through grace if we accept and try to live by his teachings. Because we can never attain what we need by works alone, we need this grace.

I'm a Christian, raised as one but I came to my develop my own personal relationship with Christ that I continue to work on to this day. Besides personal experiences, the Bible and teachings from Christianity are something I find are truly grounding in an increasingly materialistic and secular society that I find helps bring out more humanity/love in our interactions with one another. Also, science is great and all but it will never tell or teach you how to be a good husband or other values pertaining to living life, and from what I've seen so far there isn't anything presented from that side that is sufficient to change my belief.

Relapse wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Relapse wrote:
How was God wrong?

About the fact that we should all go to hell. God could have just said "ok, I was wrong, I'll let you into heaven", but instead he had to go through the ritual torture and murder so he could have an excuse to do it.

God gave us free will to choose good or evil. If we didn't have that, we would be nothing more than robots, lock stepping around in this life with no gaining of knowledge or maturity. Because we do choose to do evil things, God provided a way through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus for us to make our way back to him if we accept and try to live by his teachings.

Cunningly ignoring that god apparently made us without a sense of good and evil, right and wrong, then cast us out for eating an apple he said not to eat... even though he didn't give us the capacity to understand that disobeying was wrong... and you know... how god is apparently all knowing and all powerful but apparently at that moment stepped out to take a wizz or something...

Relapse wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Relapse wrote:
How was God wrong?

About the fact that we should all go to hell. God could have just said "ok, I was wrong, I'll let you into heaven", but instead he had to go through the ritual torture and murder so he could have an excuse to do it.

God gave us free will to choose good or evil. If we didn't have that, we would be nothing more than robots, lock stepping around in this life with no gaining of knowledge or maturity. Because we do choose to do evil things, God provided a way through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus for us to make our way back to him if we accept and try to live by his teachings.

This is the view that "God had to kill himself to save us from himself", and it is not very logical, at least to outsiders.

Let me pretend for a moment that Yahweh is really. Why not just forgive us? Whats up with all the blood atonement? Ritual suicide? And what's up with burning people forever? This side of Hitler, most modern humans, as bad as we are, have better morals than that. Shouldn't we expect a banevolent God to be more moral than we are, rather than less?

This thread is to open ended to be worth the electrons. Please try and bit more focus to your topic ideas.