(March 20, 2014 at 7:03 pm)professor Wrote: Hez, everybody believes something.
If they didn't they would never get out of bed.

So THAT'S why I haven't gotten out of bed in weeks...

(March 20, 2014 at 6:59 pm)Deidre32 Wrote: I get it, I think? Even if we don't believe in a god, that in essence becomes our "belief."
I "believe" in humanity, so that's a belief, I guess.

No, I don't think it's possible to rid our lives of ALL beliefs.

Verrrry interesting.

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And welcome to the site. :-)

Yes! Thats exactly what I mean! Is belief a bad thing though? Like, if I shouldn't believe in one thing, doesn't that make belief an (for lack of a better word) "illusion"? Or bad? And should I avoid it all together?

No, I doubt very much that it is possible to get rid of belief entirely. That being said, people believe or disbelieve in specific things. Atheism is the unbelief in gods, period. One can certainly hold and then entirely abandon various individual beliefs. Someone may reject their former belief in astrology, bigfoot, alien abduction, the existence of Australia, and so on.

I'm an atheist. This doesn't mean that I have abandoned all beliefs. For example, I believe that dining with other people is better than dining alone. I believe that it is more productive to be helpful than to be unhelpful. I believe that virtually any food can be improved by the addition of bacon (I include ice cream, yoghurt, and most cold breakfast cereals). Lots more.

Your post seems to (correct me if I've got this wrong) repeat the oft-heard rubbish, 'If you don't believe in God, then you don't believe in anything.' This is rather like claiming, 'If you don't wear socks, you must go round naked all the time.'

I believe in a raft of different things, many of which I cannot prove. *shrug* Until and unless I'm prevent with a reason to abandon these beliefs, I shall continue to hold them.

Boru

Beliefs are impossible to avoid, which is why my philosophy is to always keep evaluating my beliefs and the evidence that supports them.

In that case I did not get rid of my belief in god, my belief in regards to god changed (although in fairness, I have often described it as losing my belief, but that isn't technically accurate). While atheism can be defined as a lack of belief in god/gods, I would characterize myself as believing that god does not exist. In that sense, my beliefs changed. Is it desirable? Meh, I dunno. I was not particularly thrilled to see that my belief was changing, but I was happy as a believer in god and I am happy as a not-believer in god. I just like being me, believer or not (with apologies to Ripley).

(March 20, 2014 at 7:05 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: No, I doubt very much that it is possible to get rid of belief entirely. That being said, people believe or disbelieve in specific things. Atheism is the unbelief in gods, period. One can certainly hold and then entirely abandon various individual beliefs. Someone may reject their former belief in astrology, bigfoot, alien abduction, the existence of Australia, and so on.

I'm an atheist. This doesn't mean that I have abandoned all beliefs. For example, I believe that dining with other people is better than dining alone. I believe that it is more productive to be helpful than to be unhelpful. I believe that virtually any food can be improved by the addition of bacon (I include ice cream, yoghurt, and most cold breakfast cereals). Lots more.

Your post seems to (correct me if I've got this wrong) repeat the oft-heard rubbish, 'If you don't believe in God, then you don't believe in anything.' This is rather like claiming, 'If you don't wear socks, you must go round naked all the time.'

I believe in a raft of different things, many of which I cannot prove. *shrug* Until and unless I'm prevent with a reason to abandon these beliefs, I shall continue to hold them.

Boru

I believe in many things.

Religion is not one of them.

I don't believe in religion. That shit fucked me up.

This really does depend on who the person is. I myself "deconverted" (if you can count believing in 2000-year-old bedtime stories until I grew a brain even a religious belief at all) from Christianity at six years of age. And you know what, I find myself happier than I'd be able to imagine myself if I was religious.
The happiness comes from that weight and worry being lifted off my shoulders, doing whatever I want without worrying about the big guy upstairs. Sins don't exist, neither do worries of heaven or hell. You rot in the ground, the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out. Supporting things like stem-cell research and any sort of scientific, technological or cultural progression is great.

Tonus Wrote:When I was a believer, one of the more common beliefs about atheists is that they did so in order to live immoral lives without guilt. (https://atheistforums.org/thread-20055.html)

Leading your life with your own morals is always neat, too.

Beliefs change depending on how stubborn we are, and whether we find one way of believing (or, in many of our cases, lacking any belief at all) better than another. I find it desirable, and in my opinion simply better. Of course, I'm talking about my own lack of/opposition to belief.

Thank you for being one of the Christians this anti-theist can respect, unlike those bible-thumpers that simply scream verses and scurry away.

(March 20, 2014 at 7:08 pm)Mr. Moncrieff Wrote:

(March 20, 2014 at 7:05 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: No, I doubt very much that it is possible to get rid of belief entirely. That being said, people believe or disbelieve in specific things. Atheism is the unbelief in gods, period. One can certainly hold and then entirely abandon various individual beliefs. Someone may reject their former belief in astrology, bigfoot, alien abduction, the existence of Australia, and so on.

I'm an atheist. This doesn't mean that I have abandoned all beliefs. For example, I believe that dining with other people is better than dining alone. I believe that it is more productive to be helpful than to be unhelpful. I believe that virtually any food can be improved by the addition of bacon (I include ice cream, yoghurt, and most cold breakfast cereals). Lots more.

Your post seems to (correct me if I've got this wrong) repeat the oft-heard rubbish, 'If you don't believe in God, then you don't believe in anything.' This is rather like claiming, 'If you don't wear socks, you must go round naked all the time.'

I believe in a raft of different things, many of which I cannot prove. *shrug* Until and unless I'm prevent with a reason to abandon these beliefs, I shall continue to hold them.

Boru

I believe in many things.

Religion is not one of them.

I don't believe in religion. That shit fucked me up.

Dude I am sorry. I know that's like a white a person apologizing for slavery-it doesn't mean much (I'm black by the way). But I think that too many religious people make a statement to "convert" atheist or anyone who is not the same as them. I like being a Christian, but that pisses me off because everyone has a right to believe what they want and let death be the judge.

I don't think I "believe" in any thing. I prefer to understand and have knowledge about everything.

Evidence of things being true after observation and testing I don't think of as "belief"

(March 20, 2014 at 7:13 pm)Hezekiah Wrote:

(March 20, 2014 at 7:08 pm)Mr. Moncrieff Wrote: I believe in many things.

Religion is not one of them.

I don't believe in religion. That shit fucked me up.

Dude I am sorry. I know that's like a white a person apologizing for slavery-it doesn't mean much (I'm black by the way). But I think that too many religious people make a statement to "convert" atheist or anyone who is not the same as them. I like being a Christian, but that pisses me off because everyone has a right to believe what they want and let death be the judge.

Let death be the judge, indeed. We'll bitch and whine and argue with one-another, but when someone or something offs us, then at least we'll know.

Or, if it goes my way, we won't know, because the host for the chemical reactions needed for thoughts (our brain) will be rotten and lacking any functionality other than food for maggots and beetles.

Now that I think about it, that is a pretty gloomy outlook compared to the Candyland in the sky. Meh, I'm afraid of heights anyway.