To The Atheists, Agnostics, And Fundamentalists.

[Simba49 0]

First what each term means.Atheist – deny the existence of god.Agnostic – is not sure about the existence of god.Fundamentalist – takes literal interpretation of the bible i.e. the earth WAS created in 7 days.Well, what are you how do you describe yourself. What makes you chose this stand. Do you believe that the others are wrong? Do you care that the others are wrong? Are you disturbed when others try to change your point of view?To the Atheist-I personally believe that society needs religion in order to function. It gives hope and a meaning to those still looking for one. Do you think that society, as a whole, would be able to function in the absence of religion? Remember that most of our laws (no mater what country you are from) mirror the 10 commandants. Also if god is real what would you say to him/her after you have died..To the Agnostic-What made you doubt the existence of god? i.e. the loss of a loved one, what type of god allows loved ones to die. Are you afraid that there might not be a god? if not are you afraid that he might punish you for once doubting him.To the Fundamentalist- What do you have to say to those who do not believe in god? Do you believe that they should be condemned to hell/purgatory? Do you believe that every one who thinks different from should be damned no matter what?

[Aniki 0]

First what each term means.

 

Atheist â deny the existence of god.

Agnostic â is not sure about the existence of god.

Fundamentalist â takes literal interpretation of the bible i.e. the earth WAS created in 7 days.

 

Well, what are you how do you describe yourself. What makes you chose this stand. Do you believe that the others are wrong? Do you care that the others are wrong? Are you disturbed when others try to change your point of view?

 

To the Atheist-

I personally believe that society needs religion in order to function. It gives hope and a meaning to those still looking for one. Do you think that society, as a whole, would be able to function in the absence of religion? Remember that most of our laws (no mater what country you are from) mirror the 10 commandants. Also if god is real what would you say to him/her after you have died..

 

To the Agnostic-

What made you doubt the existence of god? i.e. the loss of a loved one, what type of god allows loved ones to die. Are you afraid that there might not be a god? if not are you afraid that he might punish you for once doubting him.

 

To the Fundamentalist-

What do you have to say to those who do not believe in god? Do you believe that they should be condemned to hell/purgatory? Do you believe that every one who thinks different from should be damned no matter what?

I'm an Atheist. I describe that as not believing in god. I never really chose this stand. My mother never taught me about religion, she believed it was a personal thing. The reason I kept this stand, however, is because of the overwhelming ignorance and intolerance of the various people I've met, most of whom are christians. I do not believe others are 'wrong' in their beliefs. I couldn't care less if someone believed incest was fine. I do, however, think people who bother other people are wrong. When other people try to change my point of view, I just laugh helplessly. It's hilarious when a christian tries to convert me by quoting the bible. Every person I get into arguments with uses the same crap over and over again. Oh well.

 

I believe socity needed religion. Note the -ed suffix? Hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, we used religion to answer questions about intangible things. Now, however, christians (for one) have opposed every new scientific theory that comes up. I don't need a crutch to find hope and meaning. People need to get off the crutch and look around. Yes, I think society would function very well without religion nowadays. We needed it before, but now we don't. You're thinking of, perhaps, the last 10 commandments, the first ones are about god. Once again, we needed religion. Perhaps it gave a moral core back in the day, but now we can do without it. If god was real, and I died and got a chance to talk to him, I'd probably tell him he needs to get his act together. I mean, really, hundreds of different religions, his worshipers running amok.

[mitchellmckain 0]

"Atheist : deny the existence of god."Yes, at least half if not more of the atheists are like this, but it a peculiar position to be in. For the relevant question is, "what is this god whose existence you are denying." Because atheism is more about what they don't believe that about what they do believe this reactionary nature is its greatest weakness. The majority of them are reacting against some particular religions, making atheism as diverse and denominational as religion itself. This reactionary nature is not a good weakness for a group to have because it represents some of the worst behaviors in human history. Think about anti-Semitism for example. However we can see in the example of Aniki that not all atheists are completely reactionary in nature, there are some who simply do not believe in any kind of God. Those which have no reactionary character, I would call "pure atheist", and I do not think that such atheists have any need to justify themselves at all. In answer to the question of why they do not believe in God, why do they need to say any more than, "why should I?""Agnostic : is not sure about the existence of god."Actually very few agnostics are in this category. Agnostics also include those who don't think that anyone can or do know if God exists and those who don't think the existence of God really matters anyway."Fundamentalist : takes literal interpretation of the bible i.e. the earth WAS created in 7 days."Actually the term for that is "Young Earth Creationist". Fundamentalism is a more general religion independent term which points to a reactionary element in many different religions that call for a return to the foundational beliefs of their religion that have been lost or degraded by liberal interpretation. So while the fundamentalist is not incapable of seeing those portions of their sacred scripture which are clearly intended to be symbolic or metaphorical they do stand against a trend which they see as having rendered their scriptures meaningless. Thus the idea is to return to the understanding of the scriptures which have given their religion its identity and vigor in the past. However, I do believe that the modern fundamentalist Christian movement largely derives from a reaction to the the effect of evolutionary thinking upon Christianity, and consequently there is a rather strong anti-science/pseudo-science element to fundamentalist Christianity.But my greatest criticism and question is why do you single out these three groups for an accounting? It is hard to see what made you choose these three groups unless it is an ignorance that makes you think that everyone falls into these three categories.

Edited June 10, 2007 by mitchellmckain (see edit history)

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I'm an agnostic myself (I was an atheist). I chose this position myself (as I'm a Liberal myself, which means I believe everyone should make their own decisions without limitations from the past.). After meeting several Christians (they are the most radical ones, no offence intended), and several arguments later, I figured out that there might or might not be a God, but I don't really give a crap about religious debates anymore. To me, their religion makes no sense, and I don't want to be part of something I don't find appealing at all. I've read parts of the Bible and to me, it makes no sense when I link it with the physical world, namely science.The book "Inherit the Wind" reinforces my stance when Drummond was asked about how old the rock was, the time of "creation" and "days of creation". It kind of flags down the whole debate.Religion does serve one great purpose: a sense of community. I think this is the best advantage that religion has.This is in my honest opinion and is not meant to be a flamebait. I type this under the guidance of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, paragraph 2.xboxrulz

[NeoTeemo 0]

I'm an agnostic. I used to be a Muslim -- having been born and raised in a predominantly Muslim country.

 

I didn't actually choose to be an agnostic; it came as a natural consequence of:

 

Being convinced, through reading and critical analysis, that existing religions are NOT divine revelations, but rather human inventions, and

NOT being convinced by the arguments put forth by atheists to prove the non-existence of a god.

This needs a bit of elaboration...

 

I, naturally, haven't studied all existing religions. The one religion I studied the most is Islam, since it was my mother religion, if I may call it that. After being thoroughly convinced of its being a non-divine revelation, I turned to the world's most popular religion, i.e. Christianity. I spent a lot of time studying Christianity as well before I decided that it belonged to the same category as Islam. Then I went to Judaism, and I must admit that it didn't take me long to see that this cannot, by any means, be a religion given down to humanity by an almighty creator, especially not the one described in Judaism itself!

 

Many of the other famous religions don't even claim that they are divine revelations, but admit right away that they are merely ways of life. I didn't need to include those religions into this particular study, but I certainly learned a lot from them, and there is a good chance I might become a Buddhist in the near future... But that's another discussion.

 

As for atheism, I couldn't be convinced of its arguments to the non-existence of a god. Sure, those arguments seemed, to me, very valid when they concerned the god described in religions, but they didn't seem very convincing when they came to the concept of a creator, a being or an entity or a power that caused the existence of the universe.

 

There's a lot to say about all this. The philosophical debates, arguments and discussions are almost never-ending, and they represent a particular interest to me. But I think that they belong to other, more detailed threads, and it would do great injustice to try to get into them here.

 

But I'd also like to say that I'm not predetermined to stay agnostic! If I find enough proof that atheism is the way to go, I will become an atheist. And if I find enough proof that a certain religion - even if it's one of the religions I had already studied - is indeed a divine revelation, then I will be a religious person. It's all about finding enough proof to convince me