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Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 1:06 am
(This post was last modified: June 16, 2014 at 1:09 am by Sludgeman101.)
Hello atheist brothers and sisters, and today i would like to ask a question to theists. Do atheists need to have a reason to be atheists? This question stems from that when i told my dad i was an atheist, he said the reasons i have were "weak" and that i will have to study until i am at least 40 to say that i'm an atheist. Now, i know my dad did not study until he was 40 to become a christian, in fact, i know that the reason he is one is because my grandparents raised him as one. So does really any reason i give, as long as it is stronger than "because my parents/relatives/friends are" beater than any argument he can use from his life? Also, do i really have to study until i'm 40? Really? That is the time when you would accept that my choice was mine and mine alone and respect it? I don't think so. I don't think so.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 1:20 am
Just tell your Dad that you will ensure that he gets the religious burial that he wants when he dies. And then ask him to write down anything specific that he would like to have at his funeral. Assure him that you will do the best that you can to fulfill his wishes and he will probably be more accepting of your stance.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 2:27 am
He thinks he's right because he has absorbed a bunch of bullshit for his entire life.
The most obvious "reason" is that their magical view of the world makes no fucking sense. But they can't see that.
Ever.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 4:55 am
(This post was last modified: June 18, 2014 at 10:07 pm by Cyberman.)
The only 'reason' I have for being an atheist is that theists have yet to meet, or even in a lot of cases address, their burden of proof. That's it. Until they can present a compelling case that there's even a 'there' there, I reserve my judgement and my belief.
They don't get the money until they show me the goods.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 5:26 am
(June 16, 2014 at 1:06 am)Sludgeman101 Wrote: Do atheists need to have a reason to be atheists? Chicks dig atheists.
Actually, I don't know how true this is, but it'd be a pretty good reason to be atheist.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 5:39 am
Do you need a reason to dismiss all myths the human imagination has concocted? It is their burden of proof not ours.
Besides bullshit from a supposed holy book redacted as fit by the regional rulers, what do they got other than a tradition mimmicked over time without any thought given into it 
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 12:15 pm
This reminds me of all the times people have asked me why I'm a vegetarian, and I always want to respond with "Why aren't you?"
That's MISTER Godless Vegetarian Tree Hugging Hippie Liberal to you.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 1:46 pm
(June 16, 2014 at 1:06 am)Sludgeman101 Wrote: Hello atheist brothers and sisters, and today i would like to ask a question to theists. Do atheists need to have a reason to be atheists? This question stems from that when i told my dad i was an atheist, he said the reasons i have were "weak" and that i will have to study until i am at least 40 to say that i'm an atheist.
He's just looking for a way to tell you that you need to disprove God to not believe in him, and to make things better, he's refusing to listen to anything you have to say on the matter because of an arbitrary amount of research he said you need to do to disprove God. This is obviously horse shit. You don't need a reason to not believe in God. I'm pretty sure my two-year-old daughter is atheist, simply because she has no clue what a god is. She needs a reason to start believing that stuff.
Text time he tells you he believes in God, tell him he needs to study it for 969 years like Methuselah, or it doesn't count.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 1:50 pm
(This post was last modified: June 16, 2014 at 1:55 pm by Brian37.)
(June 16, 2014 at 1:06 am)Sludgeman101 Wrote: Hello atheist brothers and sisters, and today i would like to ask a question to theists. Do atheists need to have a reason to be atheists? This question stems from that when i told my dad i was an atheist, he said the reasons i have were "weak" and that i will have to study until i am at least 40 to say that i'm an atheist. Now, i know my dad did not study until he was 40 to become a christian, in fact, i know that the reason he is one is because my grandparents raised him as one. So does really any reason i give, as long as it is stronger than "because my parents/relatives/friends are" beater than any argument he can use from his life? Also, do i really have to study until i'm 40? Really? That is the time when you would accept that my choice was mine and mine alone and respect it? I don't think so. I don't think so.
Since the word "atheist" is not describing a club, nor is it a loyalty oath no an "atheist" doesn't need a reason not to believe. Having said that, being unarmed about believers position or your own is pretty fucking stupid and makes you an easy target.
There was a time when I was happy stopping at "god does not exist" but I look back at my lack of knowledge then, glad I didn't stay that stupid.
Not knowing why you don't believe is like playing chess only knowing how the pieces move but don't care about the strategy. If all you do is stop at knowing the pieces, someone who knows strategy will kick your ass.
It took me 13 years of reading other atheist arguments, and theists arguments, on line every day, plus dozens of books on top of that. You don't have to do that and be an atheist, no, but I think you'd be stupid not to do it.
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RE: Why must an atheist need a reason?
June 16, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Seems like he's trying to shift the burden of proof.
Try to explain to him that atheism should be the default position, or the null-hypothesis. To the contrary, it's HE that needs a reason to be a Christian!
I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a goddess, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
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