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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 12:38 pm
We've all heard the "used to be an atheist" claims and many of us have thought, "Not like me, you weren't!" For me there is no going back short of magical powers of full display making me question, let's face it, first my sanity, and maybe eventually my view of reality. I will never "used to be an atheist". For me, it's not about belief, it's about understanding and realization. I didn't decide there were no gods, I realized it. Atheism is not a choice I made, it's a realization I came to.
With that in mind, anyone who "used to be an atheist" was never an atheist for the same reasons I am, that reason being that I want to see evidence for magical beliefs before accepting them as reality, or even a realistic possibility worth considering. So it's kind of obvious that not all atheists are atheists for the same reason as me.
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 12:44 pm
(September 22, 2016 at 5:05 am)chimp3 Wrote: I submit that not all atheists are skeptics who demand evidence before believing.
As a teenager I befriended a guy in my neighborhood. His father was an atheist and he was simply an irritable old fart that disliked all preachers in a serious way. He did not like what Christians had done to his people and would tell door to door evangelists to fuck off. He never read Darwin. He could catch fish in a mud puddle and during season always got his deer. He chewed tobacco and drank cheap beer by the case. We had a lot of fun in the outdoors. When this man died he never asked for prayer. A cantankerous old heathen to the end. (One time I knocked on his door and he pretended not to see me. He grabbed a broom and started yelling "Snake! Snake! and whooped me with the broom to the end of the driveway. Crazy-assed SOB)
I am sure that other atheists exist that do not fit the current skeptical evidence seeking rationalist model. Do you know of any?
Haha, that guy sounds awesome! Yeah, "atheism" is not synonymous with "skepticism". It just happens to be that many skeptics are also atheists because the God-hypothesis doesn't currently meet any burden of proof.
Nay_Sayer: “Nothing is impossible if you dream big enough, or in this case, nothing is impossible if you use a barrel of KY Jelly and a miniature horse.”
Wiser words were never spoken.
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 12:47 pm
But to answer your question; no, I don't know anyone who fits that description. I don't even know any Atheists IRL, so I'm still "in the closet" fo the most part. ?
Nay_Sayer: “Nothing is impossible if you dream big enough, or in this case, nothing is impossible if you use a barrel of KY Jelly and a miniature horse.”
Wiser words were never spoken.
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 1:01 pm
(September 22, 2016 at 5:05 am)chimp3 Wrote: I submit that not all atheists are skeptics who demand evidence before believing.
As a teenager I befriended a guy in my neighborhood. His father was an atheist and he was simply an irritable old fart that disliked all preachers in a serious way. He did not like what Christians had done to his people and would tell door to door evangelists to fuck off. He never read Darwin. He could catch fish in a mud puddle and during season always got his deer. He chewed tobacco and drank cheap beer by the case. We had a lot of fun in the outdoors. When this man died he never asked for prayer. A cantankerous old heathen to the end. (One time I knocked on his door and he pretended not to see me. He grabbed a broom and started yelling "Snake! Snake! and whooped me with the broom to the end of the driveway. Crazy-assed SOB)
I am sure that other atheists exist that do not fit the current skeptical evidence seeking rationalist model. Do you know of any?
There as many reasons to not believe in god as there are to believe in a god.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 7:36 pm
(September 22, 2016 at 6:37 am)Thena323 Wrote: Going by your description, it sounds as though this man was simply "unrefined". Drank excessively, had a short fuse.
And was likely un- or undereducated.
Perhaps he just didn't fit the model of the "intellectual atheist". That wouldn't necessarily mean that he wasn't prone to skepticism, though.
Did he have any other particularly nutty beliefs?
A lot of tinfoil lying around, perhaps?
No , he did not and he had the option of returning to his First American spiritual traditions but did not. He was funny as hell and witty . I guess his skepticism was of the " Show Me" type.
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 7:40 pm
I suppose that if atheism was an army some of us would be the Yossarians and Cpl. Klingers. The undisciplined ranks.
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
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RE: Not All Demand Evidence
September 22, 2016 at 8:11 pm
Simple annoyance is sufficient reason to be an atheist-- not much thinking required, other than "It's Saturday morning, fucking 8:00. Get of my porch and stop ringing my fucking doorbell, or I'm gonna blow a grapefruit sized hole in your dumb ass!"
