Atheism and Purpose

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

Well, you can point at the sky and say it's blue, and I can say, "prove it," and that's where the conversation ends. It's all very close-minded, just like religion. What's interesting is that you say you don't believe in God without ever bothering to define what God is.

You keep stating how closed-minded we atheists are when it's a completely absurd notion, particularly coming from someone who refuses to concede to any opinion other than his own.
It's as perplexing as it is agitating. I can prove the sky is blue by merely referring to the color blue and its similarity to the similarly-colored sky. There is also a lot of real science that goes into things like light refraction which explains why the sky's color is blue instead of another color, like Venus' orange or Mars' pink-red color that involve a great deal of basic-level chemistry and physics. Thus, no, the conversation only ends with someone who is unaware of the acutal science behind the effect, but that person's inability to mention those facts is irrelevant to the science behind the effect or the truth of it all.

I can say I don't believe in Santa Claus, but when I do, at least I have the sack to define what it is I don't believe in. I don't believe in a supernatural fat man with a white beard and flying raindeer who brings presents to children on Christmas. I do believe in the existence of an historical figure named Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra in the third century.

It doesn't take a sack to to believe in one thing over another, but it does take a sack to say that because you believe in one fairy tale over another, that's what makes that fairy tale true.

So, you can say you're an atheist meaning you don't believe God exists, but until you supply a definition of God other than (whatever anyone calls God) you sound like a religious fundamentalist. In fact, you become a religious fundamentalist.

I dont' know why it is so difficult to understand, but atheists do not believe in god. Period. Not your god, not the christian god, not the greek gods. None of them. We do not believe in any supernaturalistic faith or religion. That is the opposite of having religion or belief in god, which would require such a definition.

And this brings me to another thing that pisses me off about close-minded atheists: you act like it's enlightenment to believe in only what scientists tell you is real. Which really means you let others do your thinking for you, and then you follow them. Even worse, you refuse to think beyond any dimensions of the box they construct for you. How is thay intellectual? How is that smart or enlightened? I'd call it mentally handicapped. No?

Scientists can provide testable, repeatable evidence that has had a very real impact on the world. Scientists created the computer you're using with the same prinicples and truth-seeking foundation that has been a part of the human experience since man first produced fire, agriculture, and the wheel. Religion has done nothing and proven nothing. The difference is irrefutable.
Atheists often reject religion precisely on that basis. As such, neither science nor atheism is a kind of religion in any sense of the word. As was stated before, atheism is a lack of religion. The reason we've chosen this path is precisely because we weren't doing what we were told when we were growing up, otherwise, we'd still be going to church.
Those of us who do follow the scientific prinicples in seeking the truth of the world do so not because we've chosen to believe it to be true, but because those facts have been proven repeatedly by us (in school or professionally or both) and by scientists multiple times on demand. The same can not and never will be said by any religion on any spiritual matter despite having a head start to do all of that by several millenia. Yet, science has done more for humanity in our general advancement and enrichment in the past two hundred and ten years than religion has ever done in its entire lifetime.

So please, when you decide to go about in a diatribe, at least come to an understanding of what you're talking about before you begin in baseless accusations that are clearly rooted in ignorance.