Am I an Atheist?

[Pizza]

On a scale from 0(lowest ) to 1(highest) on god as commonly defined, where are you?

[Bob Kelso]

You either believe in a deity or you don't. If you don't then you're an atheist, if you do then I suppose it's up to you to choose a term that let's people know where you are within the realm of theistic/deistic belief. 


As for any inexplicable events, as you see them, I'd suggest a thorough use of Occam's Razor instead of reliance upon old sayings. 

[Polaris]

Atheism simply means someone who does not believe in God or gods; all atheists fall under this category by definition. There are many atheists who believe in the supernatural and even the afterlife.

There are atheists who do not believe in anything supernatural and even some atheists who are anti-theist to the point they are borderline irrational.

Maybe the question isn't if you are atheist or not, but what type of atheist you are...

[dyresand]

Atheism simply means someone who does not believe in God or gods; all atheists fall under this category by definition. There are many atheists who believe in the supernatural and even the afterlife.

There atheists who do not believe in anything supernatural and even some atheists who are anti-theist to the point they are borderline irrational.

Maybe the question isn't if you are atheist or not, but what type of atheist you are...

I some what believe in a form of reincarnation but i'll still be dead and i wont be conscious again after this.

[Rhondazvous]

'Gee, you must have stopped reading at the end of that sentence. If you\'d read further you would know that I'm not saying these experiences came from God.

I've had experiences in my life that I cannot with any measure of logic dismiss as mere coincidence.

Try harder.


Where is the "logic" in thinking that god gives a shit which song you listen to?

[Ben Davis]

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My mother asked me if I was an atheist when I moved away from Christianity.ASoon after I made the break, after 25 years of slowly increasing cognitive dissonance, I looked into other brands of religion and found that they  are all basically the same—everybody trying to prove they believe in only one God whom we can only contact if we make our checks payable to a select group of men and organizations. Add to that the mysogyny I found in all manner of holy writ and I figured religion just wan't for me.

But does that make me an atheist? I've had experiences in my life that I cannot with any measure of logic dismiss as mere coincidence. Case in point: I'm listening to my Windows Media player that has over 300 songs playing at random. I walk a friend to his car and it's raining. When I come back inside, the song "In the Rain" is playing. You knw the saying: if it happens once, it's an accident. If it happens twice, it's a coincidence. If it happens thrice, it's a pattern. I've had similar experiences much more than 3 times. I don't feel enjoined to attribute these experiences to any specific deity since they lend themselves to fifty million different ways they could be interpreted. A supernatural beings? Aliens from a parallel universe trying to make contact? Mind over matter?  Could my mental energy be so strong that I can make a song play simply by thinking about it? I've been left on my own with no empirical means to determine what's what. I could easily rule out the possibilty of the Christian god because the biblical creation story bears not the slightest resemblance to the universe in which we live and it's no jump to conclude that the biblical creator is as fictitious as the world he created. Yet, the possibility of a spiritual explanation for my experiences remains up in the air. So   how can I call myself an atheist?
My problem is that I have no conside definition for the word "atheist." Some atheists define atheism as not believing in God. Nothing more and nothing less.This isn't the answer that ends all questions for me. We recognize a difference between theism and deism. Yet, I've never heard of a adeist.  Instead, atheism is used as a catch-all term that includes everything outside the physical universe.
By that definition, I guess I'm not an atheist. But if I define athist with an emphasis on "theist." then I probably am.  I guess I answered my own question. still, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

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Hi Rhonda,  from the UK! Start an Intro thread and we can sit down for a cuppa  

It seems you've accepted the 'binary' definition of atheism so hopefully you can now see that there's no instruction as to why you might not believe in deities. Some disbelieve because they're rational skeptics; some disbelieve because they were raised with no theistic indoctrination; some disbelieve because they have a different religious belief (e.g. some buddhists & pagans). 'Atheism' can't help you deal with any other subject of belief. Atheists can (and do!) believe in all kinds of nonsense, from aliens to conspiracy theories to extreme right/left-wing politics. It all boils down to your personal interpretation of evidence: if a situation satisfies its burden of proof enough for you to accept it, you'll likely believe it. So you think that there's more to 'coincidence' than the word suggests, a 'spiritual' aspect, due to your personal experiences? Fair enough. As long as you remember that personal experience is only 'evidence' to you and you don't blind yourself to evidence which might refute your belief, you probably won't annoy anyone else with it 

[AFTT47]

Labels can be useful but they can also be a major pain in the ass. Sometimes it amazes me the lengths people will go through trying to find just the right word to define themselves and others. People are way too complicated for that, frankly. Don't sweat it. It sounds like you're somewhere in the region of agnostic but that's just a ballpark thing. You're Rhonda.

[watchamadoodle]

Hi, Rhondazvous

I can relate to the weird experiences. This morning I was remembering a time when I wanted to read a book and each time I picked up the book the electricity and lights went off. Then when I set the book back down, the lights came back on. That happened three times, before I gave up. I remember lots of weird experiences like that all my life, but I also experienced psychosis briefly a few years ago, so that is another consideration.

I think the same question as you sometimes - "am I an atheist?". Mostly I don't care, so I think that makes me an atheist.

EDIT: I wanted to add that the incident I described was probably a hallucination, because I was off-balance psychologically at that time.

[Rhondazvous]

'Oh, but we\'re not even talkng about evidence, here. Just phenomenon that lends itself to any number of interpretations.  Without a clear method to veriffy one interretation over another, we can't begin to call it evidence.  I've had experiences, yet no agent has come forth to claim responsibility for those experiences.  All I know is that whatever agent is respondible is probably outside the currently accepted theories of classic physics.What I want to do, and will do in time, is explore the possibility of applying quantum mechanics to the spirit world as a theory that can be studied, quantified and proven or disproven as the case may be.I have the basic theory and rationale. Just let me put it on paper and then you can examine it, tear it down ortake whatever part of it you find useful.  What I will not do is form a congregation for the Fist Church of Windows Media Playlists.

---

My mother asked me if I was an atheist when I moved away from Christianity.ASoon after I made the break, after 25 years of slowly increasing cognitive dissonance, I looked into other brands of religion and found that they  are all basically the same—everybody trying to prove they believe in only one God whom we can only contact if we make our checks payable to a select group of men and organizations. Add to that the mysogyny I found in all manner of holy writ and I figured religion just wan't for me.

But does that make me an atheist? I've had experiences in my life that I cannot with any measure of logic dismiss as mere coincidence. Case in point: I'm listening to my Windows Media player that has over 300 songs playing at random. I walk a friend to his car and it's raining. When I come back inside, the song "In the Rain" is playing. You knw the saying: if it happens once, it's an accident. If it happens twice, it's a coincidence. If it happens thrice, it's a pattern. I've had similar experiences much more than 3 times. I don't feel enjoined to attribute these experiences to any specific deity since they lend themselves to fifty million different ways they could be interpreted. A supernatural beings? Aliens from a parallel universe trying to make contact? Mind over matter?  Could my mental energy be so strong that I can make a song play simply by thinking about it? I've been left on my own with no empirical means to determine what's what. I could easily rule out the possibilty of the Christian god because the biblical creation story bears not the slightest resemblance to the universe in which we live and it's no jump to conclude that the biblical creator is as fictitious as the world he created. Yet, the possibility of a spiritual explanation for my experiences remains up in the air. So   how can I call myself an atheist?
My problem is that I have no conside definition for the word "atheist." Some atheists define atheism as not believing in God. Nothing more and nothing less.This isn't the answer that ends all questions for me. We recognize a difference between theism and deism. Yet, I've never heard of a adeist.  Instead, atheism is used as a catch-all term that includes everything outside the physical universe.
By that definition, I guess I'm not an atheist. But if I define athist with an emphasis on "theist." then I probably am.  I guess I answered my own question. still, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

---

Hi Rhonda,  from the UK! Start an Intro thread and we can sit down for a cuppa  

It seems you've accepted the 'binary' definition of atheism so hopefully you can now see that there's no instruction as to why you might not believe in deities. Some disbelieve because they're rational skeptics; some disbelieve because they were raised with no theistic indoctrination; some disbelieve because they have a different religious belief (e.g. some buddhists & pagans). 'Atheism' can't help you deal with any other subject of belief. Atheists can (and do!) believe in all kinds of nonsense, from aliens to conspiracy theories to extreme right/left-wing politics. It all boils down to your personal interpretation of evidence: if a situation satisfies its burden of proof enough for you to accept it, you'll likely believe it. So you think that there's more to 'coincidence' than the word suggests, a 'spiritual' aspect, due to your personal experiences? Fair enough. As long as you remember that personal experience is only 'evidence' to you and you don't blind yourself to evidence which might refute your belief, you probably won't annoy anyone else with it 

[downbeatplumb]

My mother asked me if I was an atheist when I moved away from Christianity.ASoon after I made the break, after 25 years of slowly increasing cognitive dissonance, I looked into other brands of religion and found that they  are all basically the same—everybody trying to prove they believe in only one God whom we can only contact if we make our checks payable to a select group of men and organizations. Add to that the mysogyny I found in all manner of holy writ and I figured religion just wan't for me.

But does that make me an atheist? I've had experiences in my life that I cannot with any measure of logic dismiss as mere coincidence. Case in point: I'm listening to my Windows Media player that has over 300 songs playing at random. I walk a friend to his car and it's raining. When I come back inside, the song "In the Rain" is playing. You knw the saying: if it happens once, it's an accident. If it happens twice, it's a coincidence. If it happens thrice, it's a pattern. I've had similar experiences much more than 3 times. I don't feel enjoined to attribute these experiences to any specific deity since they lend themselves to fifty million different ways they could be interpreted. A supernatural beings? Aliens from a parallel universe trying to make contact? Mind over matter?  Could my mental energy be so strong that I can make a song play simply by thinking about it? I've been left on my own with no empirical means to determine what's what. I could easily rule out the possibilty of the Christian god because the biblical creation story bears not the slightest resemblance to the universe in which we live and it's no jump to conclude that the biblical creator is as fictitious as the world he created. Yet, the possibility of a spiritual explanation for my experiences remains up in the air. So   how can I call myself an atheist?
My problem is that I have no conside definition for the word "atheist." Some atheists define atheism as not believing in God. Nothing more and nothing less.This isn't the answer that ends all questions for me. We recognize a difference between theism and deism. Yet, I've never heard of a adeist.  Instead, atheism is used as a catch-all term that includes everything outside the physical universe.
By that definition, I guess I'm not an atheist. But if I define athist with an emphasis on "theist." then I probably am.  I guess I answered my own question. still, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

I vote deist.