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by lil_miss
So what do you do when you're involved in atheism?

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In my experience, you waste a lot of your time debating something you don't believe exists.

Endless petitions calling for disestablishmentarianism are another highlight.

But you do get tea and cookies.

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by Byron
But you do get tea and cookies.

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Hey, I never got any cookies! Who stole all the cookies?!


Well, growing up as a heavy metal fan *obviously* my religion of choice was Satanism. Me and my metal friends (well OK, so there was just the two of us) spent many an evening worshipping the dark prince (...bater) in a dark room lit by red candles on an altar of upturned crosses and other such paraphernalia, offering him our souls in exchange for whatever our teenage hearts desired. It was only when it came to finding a live sacrifice that we just couldn't be arsed, so we just stayed in and watched Beavis and Butthead instead.

S'funny how things turn out...

Peronally I'm Humanist Athiest leaning towards Druid, which is kinda wierd I suppose but to give an idea a Druid is a sort of Wiccan scientist (not a good description I know but it's the best I can come up with). Humanism is the belief is essentially a belief in Human power, that our destiny/fate/future is decided by our own actions. Also I never prayed in school, at times I did get told off for that but they gave up because they realised that I would simply comnplain of religious tyrrany.

btw, Atheism is the belief that there is no god, nto as most people think not believing in god, for that is simply a lack of belief on the subject, it's a difficult distinction but an important one. Belief in the supernatural is not procluded by Atheism. As for being Agnostic that's belief that there is a god and that s/he/it is unknown and cannot be defined, or to put it another way having the idea of god but not the belief structure (got that from Dogma ).

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by Havoc
Wiccan scientist

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Care to explain what Wiccans believe/practice for those of us that don't know?

I'd care to let an actual Wiccan tell you (since I'm sure there are a couple on site) as I only know very vague details, essentially the similarity between Druidism and Wiccanism (that can't be a word) is the basic ideas of the power of nature, however where Wiccan beliefs are (as I understand, I'm probably wrong) rooted in spiritual/ supernatural ideas such as Gaia, Druids are more scientific in nature believing in understanding and that there is no one absoloute in this world but a balance between the tangible ideas of scientific knowledge and the faith in the spiritual world.

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by Byron
(quotes)
But you do get tea and cookies.

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Sounds like giving blood.

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by JtB
Sounds like giving blood.

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Now we're back to Satanism again.

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by Byron
(quotes)

Though I might recant on my deathbed, just covering my bets like.

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Although according to all accounts that wont help ya, can't remember what the actual quote is but apparently the worst sin of all is to not believe in God, and ya wont be getting through them pearly gates just by recanting on ya death bed

So god is quite petty then, surely s/he/it would judge your worth through your actions in life, wouldn't they?

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by Havoc
So god is quite petty then, surely s/he/it would judge your worth through your actions in life, wouldn't they?

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As far as I am aware nope....I'm kinda an agnostic myself but my brother who is going to become a vicar and a few other people I have spoken to about it alwayssay that not believing in God is the worst sin, I myself find this amazing it basically means I could be a good person all my life not harm a soul but because I never truely believed in God then my entry ticket is null and void

I was a Christian, but am now a 'sort-of-agnostic': I believe God/Allah/Whatever-you-want-to-call-him/her/it exists and made the universe, but I don't believe in Genesis, or anything similar, but I won't (bore/confuse/insult/all the above) everyone here like crazy by explaining all my half-baked theories. I'm trying pretty hard to recall a similar conversation I had with Havoc the other week on this subject, but as usual, I'm drawing a blank...

But one element of the conversation I think I said (Correct me if I'm remembering this all wrong, OK Havoc? ) was that religion in schools is kinda like English Literature: if you're taught it for 5+ years and have really stupid archaic representations/views of it rammed done your throat by idiot teachers who refuse to let you develop your own ideas (In fact, this definitely reminds me of something Havoc said about RE at school... I'm on a roll! ) then of course you'll start to hate and despise it. Just like Shakespeare, really...

This really reminds me of the Offspring song Meaning of Life... *shrug*

[/uberbabble]

And Sange, what your brother said reminds me of why I didn't saty a Christian: so many contradictions! (Which I'm not going into here...)

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by Sange
(quotes)

As far as I am aware nope....I'm kinda an agnostic myself but my brother who is going to become a vicar and a few other people I have spoken to about it alwayssay that not believing in God is the worst sin, I myself find this amazing it basically means I could be a good person all my life not harm a soul but because I never truely believed in God then my entry ticket is null and void

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Got why I'm an Atheist in one!

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by Sange
As far as I am aware nope....I'm kinda an agnostic myself but my brother who is going to become a vicar and a few other people I have spoken to about it alwayssay that not believing in God is the worst sin, I myself find this amazing it basically means I could be a good person all my life not harm a soul but because I never truely believed in God then my entry ticket is null and void

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Well, how can you expect religion, which is based on invented all-powerful beings and run by a bunch of archaic old fools, to be rational?

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by Sange
(quotes) but apparently the worst sin of all is to not believe in God

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But its only a sin to other people not to yourself and an athiest doesnt give a toss about that.

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by Havoc
btw, Atheism is the belief that there is no god, nto as most people think not believing in god, for that is simply a lack of belief on the subject, it's a difficult distinction but an important one.

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Sorry mate, but got to correct you there. A-theism = (roughly) Without Theism, which is to be without belief in any deities. Vast majority of atheists (myself included) would never sign up to a statement like 'there is no god' - because you cannot prove a negative. All we can say is, there is a total of zip evidence for the existance of god, the theory does not advance knowledge one iota, and has nothing rational or empirical to support it. Hence I do not believe in any form of diety (not just the usual crowd, but stuff like pantheism or deism), and until someone has hard evidence on the matter I consider the issue closed.

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by Havoc
As for being Agnostic that's belief that there is a god and that s/he/it is unknown and cannot be defined, or to put it another way having the idea of god but not the belief structure (got that from Dogma ).

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Sorry, but this is again wide of the mark. A-gnostic = Without knowledge. This is a position where you are saying that you do not know whether any particular form of deity exists or not. Fact is, 99% of us, atheists and theists, are agnostic. Only the most extreme atheist would claim they know for a fact there are no gods (godesses). And only the most fanatical theist would say they had knowledge of same - we either have faith or we do not, few have knowledge.

So, agnostic and atheist are not mutually exclusive (I'm both but consider the statement 'I'm agnostic' redundant as I'm not a lunatic). But here's the thing - you are either theist or atheist, there is no in between (simple maths, you are either in the group or you are outside it, which is what these two terms describe). In other words, you either have faith or you don't. If you don't you're an atheist.

But you were spot on about atheism having Jack S to say about the supernatural. Atheism is a statement of what you do not believe in, not what you do believe in. To say you are an atheist is to say you have no faith, no religion. End of.

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by Jayjay
To say you are an atheist is to say you have no faith, no religion. End of.

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Thanks to the points raised in this thread, I've done some digging and the term "Atheist" seems narrowly defined as someone who rejects God, not religion. Since there are many religions that reject the concept of God or Gods, could you not be an Atheist and adhere to one of them?