[Serious] Why are you an Atheist?

[no one]

What do you consider as prime reality?
Optimus

What is the purpose of history or does it serve a purpose?
HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
(The Devil's Dictionary)

How did human existence begin?
A Hypotheticalosaurus took a dump on a magical fungus .

What is morality?
Whatever I say is!

Where do you decide what is right and wrong?
The shitter.

What do you believe in with absolute certainty?
Hendrix is the greatest!

[Alex K]

Where do you decide what is right and wrong?
The shitter.

Great minds man

---

How did human existence begin?
A Hypotheticalosaurus took a dump on a magical fungus .

Ken Ham says it was a Noonesaurus Whereyouthereii

[Alex K]

> What do you consider as prime reality?

I don't understand the question

> What is the purpose of history or does it serve a purpose?

understanding the present and the future

> How did human existence begin?

depends on where you make the cut in the past coupla million years.

> What is morality?

A standard by which beliefs, thoughts and actions are judged as good or bad, which is usually based on justification from an imagined higher power. As such, I have little use for it and prefer to think about ethics.

> Where do you decide what is right and wrong?

On the loo

> What do you believe in with absolute certainty?

Nothing, and not even that

What happens to you when you die?

How do you construct your ethics?

Max

Are you just going to keep asking questions? Are you working towards some elaborate "Comforting" gotcha moment?

Anyhow, I have so much work to do, I'll have time to construct ethics when I'm dead, which answers both your questions. But seriously, personal ethics are considerations rooted in basic values, and I got those probably in equal parts from being human and thus wired accordingly, and my upbringing and cultural background.
When I'm dead, my thoughts and memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain, and all the parts my wife doesn't want to keep will be donated to science. Says so on the card in my wallet.

[EgoDeath]

Are you just going to keep asking questions? Are you working towards some elaborate "Comforting" gotcha moment?

Anyhow, I have so much work to do, I'll have time to construct ethics when I'm dead, which answers both your questions. But seriously, personal ethics are considerations rooted in basic values, and I got those probably in equal parts from being human and thus wired accordingly, and my upbringing and cultural background.
When I'm dead, my thoughts and memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain, and all the parts my wife doesn't want to keep will be donated to science. Says so on the card in my wallet.

OP claims that they are conducting interviews as part of a school project or something. It's at least worth considering that they don't have some sort of 'gotcha agenda.'

edit: It's also worth noting, to the OP, that I, and most others, so far as I know, are atheists simply because we do not hold a belief in any god(s). It's truly that simple, and for the most part, your questions have little to nothing to do with atheism in and of itself.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Moderator Notice
To no one in particular:  Some recent 'Serious' posts have gone off the rails with jokes, insults, and bad language. As a reminder:

When creating a thread, members can select "serious" from the drop-down menu to the left of the thread title field.

• Posts should be on topic or at the very least, related to the topic (i.e. no derailing).
  
• Posts should not consist of only jokes. We're not outright banning jokes, but your post should add to the discussion.
  
• Posts should not contain insults, of any kind.
  

Members who violate these rules will be banned from the thread. Note that we are allowing swearing, provided you aren't doing it at someone.

Please keep this in mind.
Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

A thing that question lists like this one always brings out, is the assumption in the questioner that the answers to those items must, somehow, be different between a believer and an atheist.

This is rarely the case, as both people are coming from the same culture, which has overarching answers to these questions that will be broadly uniform in the population regardless of whether they believe in gods.

If we're being candid (with each other and with ourselves) believers and non believers from the same culture are even likely to share an assessment of the faith of other believers and god notions in general. Insisting, for example, that the churches and religious people are largely ignorant of gods, corrupt, and in need of serious reform (if they shouldn't just shutter the windows and stop it already). Ask a protestant about the catholics tidy little racket. Ask the catholics about the protestant megachurch prosperity hustle. Ask an atheist about either.

Ultimately, the difference between a theist and an atheist is unlikely to be found in the minutiae of questions that swirl around a shared cultural monolith...and more generally a shared experience of life.

I have a question for the OP. How did you expect atheists to answer, what did you expect to be different?

[Rahn127]

New to this site and actually atheism. I’m here to know more about atheism and how people convert to it. My questions are below. If you have time please take a moment to help me understand more of the atheist view. These questions are intended for those who espouse the atheist view but if you are from another belief system feel free to answer.

What do you consider as prime reality?

What is the purpose of history or does it serve a purpose?

How did human existence begin?

What is morality?

Where do you decide what is right and wrong?

What do you believe in with absolute certainty?


Thanks in advance.

Max

What is prime reality ?
I think I have a pretty good notion of reality and I'm unaware of any other realities.

If history is the study of past events then the purpose of studying those events would be to hopefully not repeat mistakes and also hopefully repeat the good things we learned that worked well.

Human existence began when we became a separate species from our cousins on the evolutionary branches of the tree of life.

Morality is making a conscious assessment of the consequences if our actions as it relates to well being.

I decide what is beneficial to well being (right) and what harms well being (wrong).

There are lots of things that I believe with absolute certainty.
Most of them are quite common.
I am wearing shoes on my feet.
I am replying to this using my phone.
I am currently sitting on my couch.

None of your questions have anything to do with atheism.

I have some questions for you about your theism.

Do you think owning other people as slaves is morally good ?

Do you have a divine way to measure things that are as accurate as a tape measure or any scientific instruments ?

How did you determine that the god you worship is good ?

Do you have any moral character or intellectual honesty ?

That should do it.

Max, I was so kind to have answered your questions.

Would you care to answer mine ?

[brewer]

What do you consider as prime reality?

Reality.

What is the purpose of history or does it serve  a purpose?

History has no purpose. Humans apply significance to varying degrees for historical events.

How did human existence begin?

I don't know for sure but it's the result of evolution. Were you asking about how life began?

What is morality?

It's what ever a particular human society says it is.

Where do you decide what is right and wrong?

If you mean how, it's primarily a learned behavior along with some genetic social evolution thrown in.

What do you believe in with absolute certainty?

I'm not sure I understand,...…... there is death.

[maxolla]

What happens to you when you die?

How do you construct your ethics?

Max

Are you just going to keep asking questions? Are you working towards some elaborate "Comforting" gotcha moment?

Anyhow, I have so much work to do, I'll have time to construct ethics when I'm dead, which answers both your questions. But seriously, personal ethics are considerations rooted in basic values, and I got those probably in equal parts from being human and thus wired accordingly, and my upbringing and cultural background.
When I'm dead, my thoughts and memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain, and all the parts my wife doesn't want to keep will be donated to science. Says so on the card in my wallet.

I’m asking questions for the purpose of understanding not a gotcha. You’re right...some explanation is in order. I ask the first 6 questions to get a basis point for what someong believes about reality (worldview). Many have answered with glib answers to some of the questions, which is a basis for discovery in itself. Of course everyone is answering with freewill to say whatever the choose but the fact that some people decide to make a joke of some of the questions while answering seriously to others tells me that there is something deeper or hidden in the joke answers.

My reasons for asking these questions is because I’m taking a class on philosophy called Contemporary Worldviews and one of my assignments it to find some people with a varying worldview from my own and learn about their view.

Specifically what I’m trying to understand is how the atheist view is formed.

[The Grand Nudger]

There isn't one. You probably should have asked more direct questions about those items to identify whether or not someone actually did have a different worldview than you do. Americans, for example, have a shared worldview, regardless of whether they believe in gods - that single line item.