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How it is to be an atheist?

Lark

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I think this thread could be more accurately described as what its like to hold popular/unpopular opinions.

The thing about agnosticism, in some senses it does sidestep the issue, although it is a response to the question of whether or not God exists, not whether or not you believe in any sense besides acknowledging existence. You could for instance believe in America, as in knowing it exists just as the maps and other media indicate, that doesnt make you an American patriot or pan-American. Agnosticism to be me is objectively atheist, although a lot of believers and religious could even fit into that camp to be frank.
 

mujigay

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1 - How it is to be an atheist?
It's kind of like asking me how it feels to have brown eyes. I don't know. It's such an ingrained part in my belief system, I can't really pull it apart and examine the emotions that it gives me.

2 - Have you ever gotten in a less favorable situation because of it?
Yes. But I have a deeply, deeply religious grandmother, so that's that.
Not to mention I live in a highly religious area, and not participating in church-related activities tends to isolate you a bit socially.

3 - Are you open about about it?
I don't volunteer the information or jump up on soapboxes or anything, but if somebody wants to know if I'm religious/spiritual or not, I'm certainly not going to lie about it.

4 - Do your family and co-workers know it?
My family knows. I always assumed that friends did, but as it transpired, most just kind of assume that I believe that a God exists without bothering to ask, which I can't say particularly bothers me. Let them believe what they want to.
 

Hazashin

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1-How it is to be an atheist? Have you ever gotten in a less favorable situation because of it?

2-Are you open about about it? Do your family and co-workers know it?[/B]

To answer your questions, my answer is basically like tinker683's.

Not really much of an issue. One of those after thought type things that come up in conversation every now and then. Vast majority of my time and energy are spent on things not at all pertaining to religion.

Still, when something does come into my life that forces the issues, then it's just one of those things I try to keep quiet unless I'm around like minded company.

I keep my atheism pretty quiet so it hasn't hurt me yet. I am surrounded often by people who feel very strongly about their religious faith and "them atheist people" are just one of the many groups that are responsible for the moral/economic/whatever ills that plague this country.

It's actually quietly amusing to me when these people bash atheists and then in the same breath will tell me what sort of a well mannered, polite, descent guy.

Makes me wonder how many silent atheists these people commend and compliment in there day to day lives :laugh:

No. The only people who know about it are my closet friends, my immediate family, and some fellow aquetances of mine who are also atheists. It simply wouldn't do me any good to advertise the fact. Here in the Deep South, if you're not a God Fearing Person (tm) then you're some sort of moral degenerate.

My immediate family does (as in, my parents and brothers). I work with my father and a friend of the family, who also knows.

My mother thinks I'm in denial, my father tells me often how sorry he feels for me, my older brother and one of my younger brothers have informed me that they disagree with me but otherwise could care less (In fact, one of my younger brothers has been veering more toward the agnostic persuasion as his attitude toward religion has soured with his time in the Army and his tours of duty in Iraq).

My other younger has since softened on his opinion of my atheism but when I first came out he threatened me with physical violence if I ever "bad mouthed Jesus".

Over all, my life as an atheist is a relatively quiet one but then that's because I keep it to myself. If I were more open about it, I imagine it would get really complicated and frankly I prefer my life to be relatively quiet and simple.

I'm not an atheist, but the US polling shows a strong detriment to being an atheist in the political arena:
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/reli...vey-americans-prefer-muslim-president-atheist

Here's another similar list that shows atheists at the bottom of the barrel:
http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistbigotryprejudice/a/AtheistSurveys.htm

Can you believe it? It's rather the kiss of death. Atheists were targeted during the Red Scare of the 50's too, along with homosexuals and artists and communists (who were often simultaneously referred to as atheists as part of labeling them an enemy of the state).

Mitt Romney will suffer some damage in the upcoming elections due to being a Mormon, which many protestant Christians seem to label as a cult, but he's still better off not being an atheist. obama has also take a decent amount of politic damage during his tenure from the conservatives, who keep insinuating he's not "really a Christian." Belief in a monotheistic god of SOME sort seems to be the standard in the US, whether one is a Christian or a Deist or whatever...

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/07...l-shows-9-out-of-10-americans-believe-in-god/

When I stopped going to church (without anyone even knowing why), my family and community immediately assumed something was wrong with me, and my moral stature in their eyes seemed to immediately drop.
See, this is what I cannot understand. - It doesn't seem to matter what you think is right, only where your convictions are coming from.

Apart from that, this poll has its own little curious points. - Not only does atheism seem to undermine your moral authority, but also being a Muslim, or being homosexual, being a woman or black too, to lesser degree. All of these seem to be 'defects' for the common electorate that a potential canditate would have to compensate for.
That's exactly what I have experienced. It doesn't matter whether you are a 'good' person morally, it only matters that you believe in God and believe certain things about God. Those kind of values are specifically inscribed in the type of predominant Christianity. (It's not enough to be a "good" person, you have to believe in Jesus/God. Apart from God, you are nothing.)
Unfortunately all quite true. It is almost as bad to follow "the wrong religion", though, as to be atheist or agnostic. Anything that strays from the straight and narrow of mainstream Christianity, or in some circles Judaism.

To all you non-Americans, this is often the frustration you face for being an atheist in the United States (especially in the South, where I live). My family thinks I'm one of the most honorable, respectable people out there, but if they knew I was atheist, they would think that I was being negatively influenced and going down a "dark path" or something.

The scariest part about that is that people think less of you and think you're not as trustworthy for simply not believing in God, regardless of all your principles, morals, and values. It's complete and utter bullshit. This is why many of us atheists in the U.S. keep quiet about it.

If religious people could really just copy Jesus I think that would be great. The world would have a bunch of mellow, pleasant, accepting people instead of the Right Wing hyper-judgmental control-freak mentality. I'm all for people being like Jesus and would encourage it because I suspect "he" would be just as accepting of atheists as anyone else.

Exactly! I don't see why more Christians actually emulate Jesus.

I do think, however, that I would be uncomfortable talking about it if I lived in a place where people think less of you for being atheist. I admit I got pretty freaked out reading the statistics in the articles people posted about America. Especially this:

:shock:

Yes, it's quite frustrating being an atheist here in the U.S. :(
 

RaptorWizard

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What's really funny is that most atheists who like science are standing on the shoulders of Christian giants, such as Leibniz, Newton, Galileo, Tesla, Bacon, Copernicus, Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, Boyle, Swedenborg, Faraday, Maxwell, Pasteur, Kelvin, and Planck.
 
G

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What's really funny is that most atheists who like science are standing on the shoulders of Christian giants, such as Leibniz, Newton, Galileo, Tesla, Bacon, Copernicus, Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, Boyle, Swedenborg, Faraday, Maxwell, Pasteur, Kelvin, and Planck.
And they're standing on the shoulders of those who held different religious beliefs than they did, including those who teased out the differences between philosophy and scientific inquiry in the first place such as Aristotle (who influenced Christianity but was of course not a Christian). The zeitgeist and our collective notion of 'truth' have been changing over time, as well it should be.

If you really want to tread down this path, you ought to take a look at the religious views of more modern scientists, of which Einstein and Hawking are prime examples.

If I were more of an ass and more confrontational with my beliefs, I'd say that people can be wrong with respect to one thing and right with respect to another, and that we ought not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But I'm not, so I won't.

This is intended to be a "you probably shouldn't head down this path" post rather than a "here's where you're wrong post; let's debate" post, but.. yeah.
 

RaptorWizard

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And they're standing on the shoulders of those who held different religious beliefs than they did, including those who teased out the differences between philosophy and scientific inquiry in the first place such as Aristotle (who influenced Christianity but was of course not a Christian). The zeitgeist and our collective notion of 'truth' have been changing over time, as well it should be.

If you really want to tread down this path, you ought to take a look at the religious views of more modern scientists, of which Einstein and Hawking are prime examples.

If I were more of an ass and more confrontational with my beliefs, I'd say that people can be wrong with respect to one thing and right with respect to another, and that we ought not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But I'm not, so I won't.

This is intended to be a "you probably shouldn't head down this path" post rather than a "here's where you're wrong post; let's debate" post, but.. yeah.

Albert Einstein said this about Jesus:
"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."[17] Einstein was then asked if he accepted the historical existence of Jesus, to which he replied, "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
He also said, "I'm not an atheist. I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism, but admire even more his contribution to modern thought because he is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and body as one, and not two separate things."

Stephen Hawking said this:
“ You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.”

This does not prove they are Christians, but it does prove they believe in some greater divine force that was the Grand Architect of Creation.
 

miss fortune

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of course we could look at the changes IN science over the course of history and how much more we know now than we did then... :thinking:

I'm not an atheist, but I'm not conventionally religious either... I think that it's too close minded to decide either way in some manner :ninja: it's not exactly a popular idea in my family (my mom's side especially enjoys church like octopuses enjoy water)... or with a good portion of my coworkers or people I was raised among, but they pretty much decided to put up with my heathenish ways as just a quirk that they needed to pray about :doh: I don't tend to point out what I believe unless specifically asked though, because I really don't think that's anyone else's business in the least... I don't care what they believe, so why should I share? :shrug:

I only find it to be an obstacle when confronted with the especially evangelical religious type who can't keep their opinions to themselves... the type of people about whom I have the same feelings as I have for militant vegetarians... :thelook:
 

ZPowers

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1 - How it is to be an atheist?
It's fine. I'm an atheistic agnostic, technically.

2 - Have you ever gotten in a less favorable situation because of it?
I've had to have the same debate a few more times than I'd care for, and the odd person has judged me a bit for it, but nothing too extreme. Sometimes I have to deal with people trying to admit the Bible in unrelated discussions, but I even know some religious folk who don't always let that fly.

3 - Are you open about about it?
I don't go about telling everyone, but I don't hide it. If it comes up organically when I'm talking to a stranger, I'll mention it.

4 - Do your family and co-workers know it?
Immediate family and friends do. Extended family (mostly) is unaware (particularly my grandmother, whom I'd prefer not to tell because she's quite religious). Some of my co-workers do, some don't.
 

ZPowers

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[Einstein on Jesus]

Stephen Hawking said this:
“ You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.”
Well, both Einstein and Hawking have been known to describe things like nature and science as a kind of supreme power, which is not supernatural in nature. They both sometimes used the term God metaphorically

Einstein also said: "I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being."

and

"An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls."

I'm sure what he said about feeling Jesus there was purely metaphorical, as one might feel a well-drawn character in a book or film.

Hawkings is more clearly atheistic. His ex-wife claims he is one, and he's said "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second." and "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing." He's fairly clearly an atheist or at least agnostic.

I don't see what their beliefs on the subject have to do with the validity of anyone else's though.
 
G

garbage

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Albert Einstein said this about Jesus:
"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."[17] Einstein was then asked if he accepted the historical existence of Jesus, to which he replied, "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
He also said, "I'm not an atheist. I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism, but admire even more his contribution to modern thought because he is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and body as one, and not two separate things."

Stephen Hawking said this:
“ You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.”

This does not prove they are Christians, but it does prove they believe in some greater divine force that was the Grand Architect of Creation.
You didn't address the point that I was getting at, which is that religious and scientific perception changes over time.

Besides.. Hawking stated that physical phenomenon can explain the creation of the universe without the need for a God in his The Grand Design. Einstein also said all of this stuff. Noting a "supreme power," revering the example set by Jesus, and revering the universe as a whole says nothing about a creator God, especially one that resembles anything close to the one supposed by Christianity.

And I wanted to nip this discussion in the bud because it doesn't exactly belong in a thread where atheists are sharing their experiences about being atheists. I guess I should have done that by not replying. Looks like I fucked that one up.
 

miss fortune

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[MENTION=5578]bologna[/MENTION]... you didn't fuck it up... once the post made it was inevitable :ninja:

ignoring religions role and the development of scientific discoveries over time just can't lead to any happy places :peepwall:
 

RaptorWizard

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In my opinion God from the Bible had a hand in the evolution of all life on Earth, but when it says he is the Creator, it does not also mean that he created the universe. We have no way of knowing what level of evolution the Super-Civilization of God and his colossal space station is at. As far as Heaven goes, it is in a higher dimension, proven to be scientifically possible by M-Theory, which says reality is 11-dimensional. It is very possible God is an extraterrestrial that came here from another universe, also proven possible by M-Theory because it says we exist in a multiverse of universes.

A smart guy once told me:
you dream a lot. As a technical civilization we evolve because we are pushed from behind by others to do that. If we have right now so much technology and science that's because Somebody else had take care of that.. WE DO NOT EVOLVE BY OURSELVES. In conclusion all your dreams will be in vain because our civilization will be wiped out from the surface of Terra. We are just in a cycle controlled by Those who own Terra and the human civilization. Nothing is accidental.

humans masters of the Universe? the Universe will follow our will?.... Is funny to see how the IW gives false hopes to people. You fall into the same trap like everybody else. Humanity will be destroyed. Martian civilization was destroyed. We are in the middle of some extremely advanced supercivilizations who own this corner of the Milky Way Galaxy, they created us, they control us, they will distroy us. Is simple. Read the ancient manuscripts and you will understand better our place in the Universe. We exist for Them. Humanity was always controlled by others. Since moment when the man spent his existence in a tree and until in the times when he stay on a chair with his eyes into a computer monitor, humans always has danced as Others has sang. The same thing happens with our evolution as a society, as a technical modern civilization. We are just in a game with a well defined purpose. To be controlled by others for Their own interests. So stop dreaming about how great we will be because: w.e. a.r.e. a b.i.g. n.o.b.o.d.y. i.n. t.h.i.s. U.n.i.v.e.r.s.e.
 
G

garbage

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[MENTION=5578]bologna[/MENTION]... you didn't fuck it up... once the post made it was inevitable :ninja:
:hug:

ignoring religions role and the development of scientific discoveries over time just can't lead to any happy places :peepwall:
It sure as hell can't. People were inspired by their religions, sheer reverence, or a sense of higher purpose to seek out the greater truths of the universe. That's what binds Aristotle, Descartes, and Hawking, despite their different backgrounds and beliefs. Whatever can be said to move us--be it our own intuitions and inspirations, a nudge from a God figure, or strings pulled by Martian overlords--it's pretty powerful stuff and shouldn't be ignored.
 

Blank

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It's okay. It sure as hell feels a lot more liberating than being religious.
 

cascadeco

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Well, I probably fall into this category...personally I view myself as agnostic but based on the nature of what I think, atheist would be how most others would probably categorize me.

How does it affect me / 'how is it' to be one? Well, to be honest it is kind of a moot point; it doesn't negatively affect me because I don't get into those sorts of discussions with people in the first place. If someone who is religious/holds beliefs opposite to me is waxing poetic about their beliefs, I might just smile and nod/ the act of me not really jumping on the bandwagon and agreeing usually gives the message I'm not interested in engaging in the convo. I'm not interested in getting into debates with people or talking about how I believe differently or challenging others' beliefs as tied to religion/spirituality; I see little point in having the discussion because typically there's nothing to 'discuss' - neither is really going to convince the other of anything, it's very much based on how a given person views the world and their value and logic systems.

If someone directly asks me, I'll answer truthfully, but beyond that I have no compulsion to talk about the subject with people I know view quite differently from me.

To the point raised earlier re. if I wanted to be in a public position / politics? I would probably be put out of the running very early on because I would not use the rhetoric needed, or hold the beliefs most people in my country desire their politicians to have. I would be smear-campaigned out the door. But I don't desire to go that route, so it's all good. ha!
 

ZPowers

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So stop dreaming about how great we will be because: w.e. a.r.e. a b.i.g. n.o.b.o.d.y. i.n. t.h.i.s. U.n.i.v.e.r.s.e.

Oh, I would never presume that we were. I always thought that was more the religious standpoint? People made in God's image, his chosen people, the whole universe made for them? The only creature on Earth entitled to eternal life? I mean, eternal life. That's a way bigger deal than anything a reasonable non-religious person could ever expect for themselves.
 

JustAMind

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It's okay. It sure as hell feels a lot more liberating than being religious.

This is what I feel as well, biggest issue that I have is thought that most likely we will disappear and not existing doesn't sound too appealing to me.
 

Comeback Girl

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1 - How it is to be an atheist?
Carefree. No angry invisible sky spy following my every move like the NSA, waiting for me to die so he can punish me for all the times I masturbated. Pretty douchebaggy move if you ask me, watching people masturbating and punishing them for it. It's like hacking a porn site, just to track down the addresses of all the viewers, going to their houses and chopping off their dicks or something. That's something only an asshole would do. Or a complete psycho.

2 - Have you ever gotten in a less favorable situation because of it?
Our local church used to organize fun activities for kids when I was little and of course I couldn't join in... However it might have been better for me, with all the child molesting church tales you hear lately.

3 - Are you open about about it?
Why not?

4 - Do your family and co-workers know it?
It's more people sense that I'm an atheist right away. I don't preach it or anything, it's more like I breathe atheism like Perez Hilton breathes gayness. People never assume I'm religious or act surprised when they find out I'm not. And I was raised by atheists, so my family knows. It would be more shocking if I converted to mormonism (if that's what you guys call it).
 

Firebird 8118

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I have a question for the atheists here:

If a religious family member/friend/loved one/etc. comforting you in times of distress made any mention of praying for you or whatnot, would you be okay with that?

I only ask because I would want the people closest to me to understand that if I say such things, regardless of whether or not they believe in the existence of God, that it's simply my way of expressing my love for them and that they truly are in my thoughts and prayers.
 
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