How to be an Atheist?

[ignoramus]

I'm signing up for a 6 week course at the local community center on how to not collect stamps.  The tuition and books come to over $200.

That's not really all that funny when one can spend a lot more on how to not drink.


But it was funny anyway...

[robvalue]

If this is at all serious...

"Atheist" is a description. You are are one, or you are not. Once you are one, it requires no effort and indeed you don't have a choice in the matter. You can't "try" not believing in something you believe in, any more than I can try believing I can fly. The mind is only changed by new evidence, or by a critical examination of how it has processed evidence it already has.

What you do have a choice about is how much of an effort you make to examine your own beliefs as objectively as possible, to understand why you believe things, and to discover whether the reasons are rational or not. A big clue is that if you bring "feelings" into it, you're not very likely being rational.

One last point which is often missed: being an atheist doesn't necessarily mean believing there is "no God". That is informally known as strong atheism. It can simply be just not being convinced there is one, but not believing that there isn't, either. In other words, undecided. That is still atheism. If "God" is simply described as an intelligence somehow responsible for this reality, that is my position. It's informally called weak atheism.

[account_inactive]

I was born and raised by an Atheist family so this is what I have been used to for my entire life. I also don't believe in letting a fictional book dictate how you live your life, or a made up character in the sky for that matter.

[Fake Messiah]

I remain Catholic largely because I like Jesus ! He seems so decent and kind, as far as Gods and myths go. Unlike other Gods (like Anubis,Thor,Poseiden,Zeus, Odin, etc.) Jesus was (and still is) decent and kind to people, especially the poor and vulnerable. While Jesus might not have made sense all the time, he seems like a far more generous and kindly soul than the other Gods I mentioned. How many lepers,blind men and cripples did Poseiden help again

Ok, so why aren't you a Clausist?  Santa helps people all the time.  And - for the record - Poseidon helped exactly as many people as Jesus did - nil = nil.

Boru

And also why don't you worship Jonas Salk who invented polio vaccine? Just in 20th century it is estimated that 500 million people died out of Polio (most of which were kids) and this guy, Jonas Salk, made the decease go away - it was not Jesus, Poseidon or Santa Clause or prayers, but man armed with knowledge in science. Now even if accounts are true that Jesus healed some lepers it doesn't even come close to what Jonas Salk did by saving billions of people and yet rarely anyone talks about Salk because he used science. Not to mention if Jesus was all knowing what a cunt he was for not telling people about antibiotics and penicillin to cure Leprosy for everyone not just few that happen to be on his way to the toilet.

Seriously if you really want to help people and this world then better throw away any notions of religion and afterlife because then you'll become aware that this is the only life you have and only world that you have a chance calling paradise. If more people were atheist then the world would be better and more fun place because they would place their maximum to this world and not save it when they they because they will supposedly be revealed all the truths about the universe by it's creator. People would be much more curious to know what's going around in this world, in our solar system and our universe.

[Homeless Nutter]

Simple. Just by trying "Christianity."

I have have had doubts and ceased to "practice." So I've tried it.
[...]

No, you haven't. I know many christians who don't "practice" and yet they consider themselves believers. Most of them admit to having had doubts as well - because only particularly stupid people don't have them. That's not atheism - just a very convenient form of religion. Alternatively - you can be working as priest and be an actual atheist.

If you don't believe in gods - you're an atheist. There's no "trying".

[The Valkyrie]

How to be an atheist...

1. Don't believe in deities
2. Don't blame the Jews for everything

[robvalue]

Haha. TRB did an epic offensive joke about that on a recent bible study.

They said that seeing as so many different groups have hated the Jews over the years, do the Jews ever stop to think that maybe "it's them" after all?

[downbeatplumb]

Hello all,

This is a true and honest serious thread (for once!) .

How does one remain an atheist? I only ask because I have "tried" atheism a few times, but always have found myself drawn back to my Catholic faith.

I realize the great limitations of the Catholic Church as a structure, and even readily admit that some of the theology teachings don't make a whole ton of sense. I also appreciate that when one asks someone believe everything the Church teaches, one is asking a lot.  

I suppose I find myself still "practicing" the Faith because life just gets hard at times  . It seems people and life are so flawed, imperfect, and downright bad. The Church is the same way in a lot of ways, but I suppose it's just the faith, it's stories and teachings I find attractive and hard to dump. Religion may be the "opium of the people" yet it is a strong and satisfying opium all the same   !!!!

I remain Catholic largely because I like Jesus    ! He seems so decent and kind, as far as Gods and myths go. Unlike other Gods (like Anubis,Thor,Poseiden,Zeus, Odin, etc.) Jesus was (and still is) decent and kind to people, especially the poor and vulnerable. While Jesus might not have made sense all the time, he seems like a far more generous and kindly soul than the other Gods I mentioned. How many lepers,blind men and cripples did Poseiden help again ?

I get atheism. I get that the bible is contradictiory, flies in the face of science at times, and has been used to justify some pretty sketchy things .

I suppose it is the message and the "mythos" of Christianity and it's many saints that I find so compelling/endearing.

I just wonder if any of you have felt that way about the religion you were raised in (if there was any) and how you cope with the loss a lack of faith brings? What do you fill the empty space with?

Can anyone identify with my feelings and how they helped overcome them?  On the one hand I do like "faith in God." But on the other, I don't want to believe in something untrue

For me it requires no effort to be an atheist and that's just as well as I am a lazy lazy man.
No I just happen to not believe in god.
Never have, never had a reason to start.
I also do not believe in pixies and trolls under bridges and put the same amount of effort into dis believing them i.e. zero.

[Whateverist]

For me it requires no effort to be an atheist and that's just as well as I am a lazy lazy man.
No I just happen to not believe in god.
Never have, never had a reason to start.
I also do not believe in pixies and trolls under bridges and put the same amount of effort into dis believing them i.e. zero.

So you're saying when it comes to god belief, as with drinking, it might be better never to start?

[robvalue]

If you actually want to be an atheist, that's a different matter. Any sceptic can help you along that path. It's just a matter of being prepared to dig up everything you've had buried in your head for years and years and give it a good shake.

If you just "try being an atheist", then you're not one. What you would probably experience is just emotional discomfort at trying to think religious stuff isn't true, and the implications. Again, feelings are not a reliable guide to truth. They are a kind of early warning system which can prompt you, but which can also lead you badly astray.