XAccess
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And welcome to the forums!
That's awesome! 6 friends you feel close enough to to tell them you're an atheist is A LOT!
You know your family best, but maybe tread lightly. Religion can be intensely personal to people and some can't distinguish between trash talking religion and trash talking themselves.
Remember that you will probably have to deal with religious people IRL for the rest of your life so learn to pick your battles and learn to have level-headed discussions about religion. Let your "opponent" make the claims and shoulder the burden of proof. In time, you'll learn the topics that interest you most and which discussions you enjoy having and which you hate.
Just keep learning about things that interest you. Anything that interests you, not just religions - you might find that religions don't interest you that much, but creationism or (anti-)apologetics do, or you might find the intersection of atheism/minority groups and politics most interesting. Learn about cognitive biases and the way our brains fool ourselves (the confirmation bias especially) and try and look at issues from all angles, not just the one you agree with. Don't let yourself be suckered by your own confirmation bias.
I'm older than you, so if you feel old enough to call him a young person I guess I'm old enough, too.
Also:
Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos <-- to familiarize yourself with how numbers are used to dazzle us.
Proofiness, by Charles Seife <-- to familiarize yourself with how numbers are use against us.
Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language, Robert J. Gula
Crimes Against Logic, Jamie Whyte <-- so you can start learning about logical fallacies and simple, syllogistic logical arguments
The Believing Brain, Michael Shermer <-- to understand how how brains fool us into believing weird stuff.
50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, Guy P. Harrison <-- to understand that everyone believes weird stuff
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, Guy P. Harrison <-- to familiarize yourself with arguments you'll probably hear for the rest of your life.
Lost Christianities, Bart Ehrman <-- to learn how orthodoxy and catholic believe emerged from the tapestry of ancient belief
Also,
Burden of Proof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KayBys8gaJY
Also:
ironchariots.org <-- for familiarizing yourself with apologetics arguments and the counter-arguments
talkorigins.org <-- for things relating to evolution, creationism, intelligent design, etc.
Other useful resources:
Your Deceptive Mind Part 1 (of 24, I think; you can find the rest of them on youtube, listen to them all!) <-- the audio of the Great Courses series by Steven Novella talking about neuroscience, how our brains work, how they construct our reality, and how they fool us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYMcwFxabA
The Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism (it's about 3 hours long) <-- series by Aron Ra talking about how creationists lie about evolution in order to manipulate people and force their agenda into the political process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmQZ4f9f_Yw
Sorry about the brain dump; Brain got me thinkin' You didn't think you'd come to an atheist forum and get assigned homework, didja?!?
And welcome to the forums!
(April 2, 2015 at 9:32 pm)XAccess Wrote: At this point I felt confident to label myself as an atheist. I came out to my friends (I don't have many). I told 6 of which 4 were cool about it (Small debates but didn't change friendships) And the other 2 were also atheist. I never really discuss religion with my friends so I was happy and surprised to find this out.
That's awesome! 6 friends you feel close enough to to tell them you're an atheist is A LOT!
Quote:I am not open with my family but I like to hint a lot and trash talk religion in general. My mother is kind of religious and my dad does not really talk about it at all. Soon I am thinking about coming out.
You know your family best, but maybe tread lightly. Religion can be intensely personal to people and some can't distinguish between trash talking religion and trash talking themselves.
Remember that you will probably have to deal with religious people IRL for the rest of your life so learn to pick your battles and learn to have level-headed discussions about religion. Let your "opponent" make the claims and shoulder the burden of proof. In time, you'll learn the topics that interest you most and which discussions you enjoy having and which you hate.
Quote:More About Me
I spend way too much time on the internet and I consider myself an addict to it. I am currently going through a diet (which is not going real well). I love music and I like anything but country. I am bad at debating because I am not that educated about religions but I love to talk to people.
I hope I enjoy being on this fourm and meet lots of new people!
Just keep learning about things that interest you. Anything that interests you, not just religions - you might find that religions don't interest you that much, but creationism or (anti-)apologetics do, or you might find the intersection of atheism/minority groups and politics most interesting. Learn about cognitive biases and the way our brains fool ourselves (the confirmation bias especially) and try and look at issues from all angles, not just the one you agree with. Don't let yourself be suckered by your own confirmation bias.
(April 2, 2015 at 10:16 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote:
Hope you enjoy the forums. It's always good to see young people being able to think critically. I say that as a 29 year old... am I old enough to say "young people?"
I feel like I am.
I'm older than you, so if you feel old enough to call him a young person I guess I'm old enough, too.
(April 3, 2015 at 6:31 am)Brian37 Wrote: Take your time on this suggested reading list.
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
The New Atheism, Victor Stenger
God The Failed Hypothesis, Victor Stenger
God Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens
Letter To A Christian Nation, Sam Harris
The End Of Faith, Sam Harris
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Took me several years to get through those and still lots more authors I want to get to as well.
Also:
Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos <-- to familiarize yourself with how numbers are used to dazzle us.
Proofiness, by Charles Seife <-- to familiarize yourself with how numbers are use against us.
Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language, Robert J. Gula
Crimes Against Logic, Jamie Whyte <-- so you can start learning about logical fallacies and simple, syllogistic logical arguments
The Believing Brain, Michael Shermer <-- to understand how how brains fool us into believing weird stuff.
50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, Guy P. Harrison <-- to understand that everyone believes weird stuff
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, Guy P. Harrison <-- to familiarize yourself with arguments you'll probably hear for the rest of your life.
Lost Christianities, Bart Ehrman <-- to learn how orthodoxy and catholic believe emerged from the tapestry of ancient belief
Quote:Terms you should learn.
Occham's Razor
Fallacy of Pascal's wager
Infinite regress.
Also,
Burden of Proof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KayBys8gaJY
Quote:Usefull websites
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com
www. this one
http://www.atheists.org
http://www.ffrf.org Freedom From Religion Foundation
http://www.positiveatheism.com contains lists of sourced historical quotes of famous politicians and celebrities.
Also:
ironchariots.org <-- for familiarizing yourself with apologetics arguments and the counter-arguments
talkorigins.org <-- for things relating to evolution, creationism, intelligent design, etc.
Other useful resources:
Your Deceptive Mind Part 1 (of 24, I think; you can find the rest of them on youtube, listen to them all!) <-- the audio of the Great Courses series by Steven Novella talking about neuroscience, how our brains work, how they construct our reality, and how they fool us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYMcwFxabA
The Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism (it's about 3 hours long) <-- series by Aron Ra talking about how creationists lie about evolution in order to manipulate people and force their agenda into the political process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmQZ4f9f_Yw
Sorry about the brain dump; Brain got me thinkin' You didn't think you'd come to an atheist forum and get assigned homework, didja?!?
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
