Religion is a favourite topic of mine. I find pleasure in pointing out the wonderful variety of paradoxes, incoherent constructs, and logical conundrums that tend to reveal themselves quite easily when using religious dogma and doctrine as building blocks for developing one’s thinking. An example is how one can piece together two fundamental Catholic beliefs — (1) God’s infinite capacity for forgiveness and (2) his promise to sentence to eternal damnation those who do not redeem themselves of their sins — to get two conflicting assertions:
(a) If God’s forgiveness is infinite, then Hell should be empty.
(b) If Hell is not empty then there is a limit to God’s forgiveness.
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Perhaps it is these philosophical curiosities that “atheists” use to demonstrate to the religious the utter futility in their lifelong commitment to their faith. If so, then they are good selling devices — kind of like those “shoot-the-iPhone” banner ads that promise a prize if you successfully click on the cross-hair while an iPhone dances across it. So if you find yourself nodding even just a little bit while reading Points (a) and (b) above, consider yourself experiencing an Inception moment that brings you a bit closer to joining the growing ranks of “non-believers”.
Not surprising, therefore, that atheists are quite visible today. At least in the corner of the Philippine cyber-community I am most aware of, they seem pretty well-organised. The community Filipino Freethinkers is one (maybe the only) such Filipino community I am aware of (though they count among them “humanists, atheists, agnostics, deists, etc.” — the etcetera bit making what defines them as a community a bit ambiguous). As of this writing, their Facebook page, “Likes” (i.e., Facebook users who opt in to get updates posted on their profile newsfeeds) number more than 3,200.
For me the appeal of atheism, drawing from my own experience tossing it about in my head, would have come from a freedom to grow intellectually and to approach life from a broader range of perspectives. The problem is, atheism seems to be defined more by what one is not rather than what one is. An atheist does not believe in God, is what I keep hearing.
In that sense, I don’t consider myself an “atheist”. There is a lot more to being intellectually free than not believing in God. Being intellectually free is to be open to confronting realities about one’s place in the universe. Religion, in contrast, considers the specialness of humanity’s place in the cosmos as the cornerstone of the belief system it prescribes to its flock. The irony there is that the religious are seen to be the “humble” ones while the intellectually free the “arrogant” ones. Strange indeed. As I recall, it was science that pointed out the insignificance of humanity in the face of an immensely vast universe while religion stubbornly insisted upon the special and literal central place humanity held in the cosmos.
To be intellectually free then is to understand what it really means to be humble.
The concept of “God” as religion pitches it, as such, does not give enough meaning to the true nature of our humbleness in the cosmic scheme of things. God is an old man with a long white beard who speaks in a thunderous voice. Or a triangle with an eye inside it. Or a finger pointing out from a floating cloud. Or the rays of the sun poking out from a gap in a cloudy sky. Or he may look like Morgan Freeman or George Burns. Or a lamb. Or a calf. Or a naked man hanging from a cross.
Religion attempts to simplify or encapsulate God so that he may fit within the finite capacities of the average human mind — so that considering one’s self “humbled” in “God’s presence” need not be such hard work.
But what science presents as a context to appreciate humility is different. Those who worked hard to understand science have a more real grasp of just how humble and insignificant beings humans are. Modern physics has shown the vastness of reality and the smallness of the subset of it that we perceive with our senses and the illusion of reality that our minds are wired (by millions of years of evolution) to make of it. Science does not simplify reality to fit our human capacities. Science challenges us to expand our human capacities to understand it. Humanity’s greatest minds have done just that — developing the mathematics and intellectual constructs to piece together a picture that reveals reality as something not necessarily structured to make sense to us if we apply conventional thinking to it.
So while science challenges us to step up to understand more as it reveals more, religion hides as much of the truth as possible so that we need work less at understanding less meaning.
Where is God in either world view? If we use the God as defined by organised religion, then I’d answer that question by saying that he does not exist in either — not in science nor in religious faith. That leaves us with a God that we should define ourselves. And that requires a lifetime of hard work.
[With thanks to the guys behind BetterPhilippines.com and BadMannersGunClub.com for many of the concepts that went into writing the above article.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Well said sir, well said. Honestly, I don’t mind that some people are atheists, I mean in this kind of world, I understand why they believe in such Philosophy. I can’t really blame them.
The way we see God is the same we see a person. I put a person in front of 1000 people and I’ll get 1000 different answers. So yes, the article is right, what we perceive God is only for our own explanation.
But it is not how we see God that’s important but how we act out our beliefs in God that’s important. If not believing in God is what makes you do good thing then by all means do it. There’s no debate here really, what’s important is what we do with our lives not what we know we believe.
It will only cause too much debate and would waste a tremendous amount of time just to prove something like one’s belief instead of using it to help people. Time, once it’s lost, can never be regained again so Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “Time is gold.” I suggest we use our small time in this world wisely.
Fighting only creates more problems. Honestly, winning a debate does not make you more right or winning a war does not make you more right, it only makes you more stupid because you wasted a lot of time and money killing instead of respecting and helping each other.
Me, I believe that there is something beyond us humans. Whatever it is, I really do not care, all I know is I want to grow as a person not only intellectually but morally and spiritually as well, if that requires believing in God then so be it.
It is your SuperEgo; that is working…according to Sigmund Freud…
Call it what you may, it won’t change anything. I still believe in the higher power.
i would question religious dogma any time but i would always maintain a healthy belief in some higher power. i call it God for no special reason. I just like it that way.
Hey…have you considered checking on: Reincarnation beliefs? We may have many lives; many masters, to teach us in our lifetimes. Millions of Asians, believe in this religion. Do you think; they will all burn in Hell, for not believing in the Christian doctrine?
I don’t mind having atheists around. I just mind when they attack you and call you or your religion evil or something. Some people are just too aggressive.
Another thing I notice is that most atheists actually react to the dominance of the Catholic Church in this country. They are reacting to a real problem indeed, but some are just too reactionary for comfort.
Rich thinking here. Organized churches, or “religions” as you call them, are manmade structures built on faith. Faith is what you use when you believe something but can’t prove it.
One danger of faith is: what happens if you are wrong? It is rather like those who have faith that global warming is hype; what if they are wrong?
A second danger of faith is that there are so many conflicting ones. Faith requires total commitment, so we have wars trying to prove one faith is more right than others. But of course, no one can prove anything.
So we end up with lots of loved ones in graves. Including the innocents, the children.
In the name of God, we do despicable acts. The devil’s acts.
I also detest organized churches when they claim they are the only path to salvation, or when they impose doctrine on me, like I can’t use a condom to prevent having a kid that I am in no position to support. Or that I must, if I have a girl child, treat her as the scum of the earth and keep her from getting educated.
These are man’s rules, and they are lunatic.
My personal faith is that God is bigger than that. And He is not lunatic.
I’m very encouraged of your personal faith Joe.
Ann Marie. Thank you for sending encouragement back.
“The problem is, atheism seems to be defined more by what one is not rather than what one is. An atheist does not believe in God, is what I keep hearing.”
That’s the textbook definition of atheism, as informative as the textbook definition of theism is. If you want to learn more about atheism, why not ask or research? In the same way you ask when you want to learn more about something.
The culture in which you’ve been conditioned is your own set of biases. For instance, this post has monotheism all over it. Monotheism is not the only religious option here. And when you speak of “God” are you referring to the Christian God, Allah, Krishnu, Zeus?
Here’s a 10 minute introduction to atheism and agnosticism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNDZb0KtJDk&feature=player_embedded
Good day, sir.
Oh, what took you guys so long?
The textbook definition of atheism is what it is. If you are not that, you are something else. Which is fine. But “atheist” means “one who does not believe in a deity”. Which I think is impossible for human beings.
I’m curious, though: why try to convert anyone? Isn’t one of the consensual tenets of (mis-labeled) atheism that people should come to their own conclusions? That’s my biggest pet peeve with “organized” atheists — for people who profess not to believe in a god, you sure act a lot like a church.
impossible for you, not for other people. also, i’m not converting you. you can worship god all you like. it’s only response to benigno.
Amen, BenK!
If you consider the textbook definition of atheism to be an incomplete one, then why use the word to describe the link to that “introduction” to it? And if you have anything against being conditioned by culture, then why label yourself with a concept that, itself, is defined to be the antithesis of a cultural artifact such as the concept of “God”?
As I explained in my longer comment below, usually one’s “atheism” (to use the label to describe the broader concept of intellectual honesty) is usually but one in a set of underlying pillars that presumably hold up a bigger conceptual framework which one lives by. Like Richard Dawkins, for example. His “atheism” is, in his case, a natural path taken to complete his intellectual coming to terms with our evolutionary origins.
That’s the point I make in this article. How many of the newer “atheists” we see popping up and noisily proclaiming themselves as such are truly the products of a robust intellectual journey?
as i mentioned, you can also use the word “theism” and it will not encapsulate every idea that’s attached to it. what else should I call it? “the conclusion I deduced when I realize there is no evidence for the existence of gods.” i could type it as such, but i’ll just call it atheism.
i got your point, benign0. for my part, theism started to crumble when i read the bible from genesis to the notes. that was more than a decade ago. it’s only recently i’ve encountered the works of dawkins and the “4 horsemen” as people like to call it. i’m not sure if it counts as a “robust intellectual journey” to you.
perhaps atheism in the ph is becoming more visible because of social media, but i know there are those who might have jumped into bandwagon. those who decided to come out do not become people’s favorite, so if there are ppl that jumped into the bandwagon, then good luck.
i was compelled to respond, to show you the other side of the river, because you admitted in print you don’t really know the deal. you’re not being forced to cross it.
I’m not saying we encapsulate anything using any term — not “theism” nor “atheism”. Encapsulating stuff is usually done for the purpose of selling something (kind of like how brands and logos encapsulate the value proposition of a product it represents).
I think the great minds in our history crystallised ideas long before there was even a term for said ideas — like how people power wasn’t known yet as “people power” back in 1986 as the crowds started to gather around Camp Aguinaldo (though I am not saying that this activity was necessarily the product of great minds).
So I’m not really getting why you are so fixated on defining your “atheism” and taking great pains to justify your use of the word.
You either believe in God; or you don’t…It is your choice…Religion helps also in our own existence here on Earth. If a Religion, will help me have a good experience with the Divine…then, I’m all for it.
However, if a Religion; will make me; exclude anybody; and agree totally, with the Doctrine of that Religion…then, I don’t believe, I want to be tied-up with it…there are many beliefs, many faiths…each telling us they are the true religion; and their teachings come from God…
The world is far bigger than the world humans perceive and, as such, modelled in our very limited minds. And that, in a sense, is what would be consistent to Edward‘s assertion: “I want to grow as a person not only intellectually but morally and spiritually as well, if that requires believing in God then so be it”. In that sense, the concept of “God” is a label we put in a thing or a world that is bigger than our persons that we seek to explore and come to terms with.
Some people choose to call the thing or world they seek a “God”. And with that, atheists come around and present themselves as the anti-thesis to that approach chosen by some to come to terms with their world. Atheists therefore exist because there is a subset of humanity with a very specific approach to regarding their world.
I noticed that celebrity intellectuals like Richard Dawkins are held up as the posterboys of atheism. But, see, Dawkins is an intellectual and accomplished scientist first before he is an atheist. His being an atheist is but a tiny aspect of his character — a tiny byproduct of his vast intellect. Ironically, his book The God Delusion had been latched onto as the “bible” of atheism. Uh oh — bible of atheism. Alarm bells are starting to sound…
Dawkins frames his atheism by his being an evolutionary scientist. Therefore he does not wear it as a fashion label. He wears it more like most of us wear underwear.
Indeed, his follow-up book The Greatest Show on Earth sees him going back to his bread-and-butter: exhibiting to humanity the wondrous beauty of the process of evolution and how it resulted in this “great show” that is life unaided by the designs of some “being”.
I’m sure many who see themselves as “atheists” got there in a similar way — perhaps kind of like how the first Christians became Christians because through a similarly lucid journey (compared to most of us who were simply raised to be such).
The trouble comes when encapsulation sets in on “atheism” much the same way that Christianity had been reduced to a quaint set of rituals and symbols.
Everyone are atheists. Some just aren’t aware of it.
Atheism is a form of religion, also…so are agnostics; and free thinkers…It respect them all…I’ve never seen suicide bombers from these people…
“No one has a monopoly of the true God, nor is there a nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that it has been given the exclusive right to the Creator or sole knowledge of His Being.”
~ Jose Rozal annotations to Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas – translated by Austin Craig
It is not even sure; if God exists or not…Extra Terrestrials, from the UFOs; may have a hand in our beliefs in God…this is probable…
“To doubt God is to doubt one’s own conscience, and in consequence it would be to doubt everything.” ~ Jose Rizal in his letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)
According to Sigmund Freud, the Father of Phycho Analysis: Consciense is your SuperEgo…
In modern PsychoAnalysis: there is a: concious mind; sub-concious mind; and super-concious mind…research on them…and be enlightened…
If you doubt, you question
If you question, you understand
If you understand, you know
If you know, you want to know more
And if you want to know more,
You are alive
this is very NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
If what Jesus said was false, and I believed in Him and lived a life according to His principles, then at least, I would have lived a good life…But if what Jesus said was true, then I didn’t believe Him yet I lived according to His principles, then still there is no salvation, for no amount of good works may justify my single sin in the everlasting and perfect justice of God…I still will be damned forever…I’d rather believe and be wrong…than not believe then it was true all along…peace bro… 😀
Either way, you won’t know whether you were right or wrong in believing. By the way, what exactly do you mean when you say that God’s justice is “perfect”?
Perfectness is according to the tenets of your faith…or religion. The Islamic Jihadist, blow themselves up…to perfect their lives and to be with Allah…enjoy 72 virgins in 72 mansions, forever…
Same as a Christian Cult leader, who encourage his followers, to drink cyanide poison; to go to a perfect bliss…
your so honest I’d rather believe and be wrong…than not believe then it was true all along…peace bro… haha this making me laugh.
No one has really been sure, if God exists or not…even the mystics, who have divine experiences; are not sure of it…we have various religious books and texts; all climed , were inspired by God.
If your religion will: give you joy; makes you more kind to people; makes you more honest ant tell the truth…Then, go for it…Religions’ purpose is to make us Good
However, if a Religion will make us:
(1) Exclude people, who do not believe…then, it not a good religion…God does not exclude people…we are all given, free air to breath…free water to drink…free sun to warm us …
(2) To tie us, with a certain religious dogmas; where you have to conform to : tribal rules; sets of laws to follow, to ensure your salvation; certain food to eat, to make you clean; vote for a certain political candidate, or be “tiwalag”…or give certain amount of your earnings…
Then, I believe; I don’t want to be tied-up with that religion…
It is your choice what to believe…we will have different divine revelations and experiences…
Ok I respect you but in a bigger sense, this is not about proving if there is a God or not, this is about living with a purpose.
Us humans have our basic needs, water, shelter, food, but looking deeply we need further than the basics like love, comfort or unity. But all in all that human needs, still, we cannot live without a purpose.
You see we can never truly achieve something great without a purpose. We live because we have a purpose in this world.
Some may live because they mean something to someone, some may live because he is fulfilling a high degree of ideal that he has deep down inside and so on and so forth.
One of those purpose for us to live a better life here in this world is to be a good person and part of that is to believe in a higher power, in other words God.
Achieving to be good is very hard, it requires a very strong purpose for us to be motivated to do good things. It’s like writing a novel, a good writer does not force himself to write, he motivates himself by experiencing what he is writing to better understand his story.
It’s the same thing if you want to pass a board exam, for you to study extremely hard and ace the test, you need a very strong purpose. It may be your family, rise to poverty or someone.
It’s no different from believing in God. I want to become a good person so what I do is believe something much greater than me. I do not believe in God because I want to be saved, I do not believe in God because he is real to me, I believe in God because I want to live free. Free from evil, free from man-made rules and free from all the ideals that misled me from living a life without a purpose.
Saved or not, that’s in God’s hands. He is the judge of my soul. I do not judge myself because I am imperfect. I make mistakes. So I ignore what I cannot do and do things that I can do, and one of those things is live life to the fullest by believing on a higher purpose, a higher goal in life. Beyond human if you will, but if I never reached that goal at least I lived my life with a good purpose. I can die happy.
Filipinos lost this part of us. A lot of us live for a very lame purpose, and that’s money. Rizal had a purpose back then and he achieved it, that’s because he believed in something much more bigger than himself. He may not changed the country but he sure did inspire his countrymen to rise against tyranny.
Now, it’s all about the money. Where’s the purpose? Where’s the motivation? I saw almost none.
If we start believing that our people is better than just be puppets by greedy people then our country will never change. We will be forever be in a stagnation of nostalgia. Always dreaming of the better days instead of creating it.
I’ve read about the Scientist and Theologian: Emmanuel Swedenberg…this is not to covert anybody. What you believe is your business…I’ve read also about: Reincarnation and Soul Perfections…including about : the Akhasic Records…it is said : we live many lives, to teach us lessons, in this Earth school, from the Masters…if our souls are perfected…we can join God…these people pray to the Universe; not to a person-like Deity…I believe in open mindedness…I’m more of a Free Thinker…
Then good my friend if you are a free thinker. It’s better that way because you free yourself from rules of men and take charge of your own life or, as others might call it, destiny.
Frankly speaking, that’s what this country needs, open-minded people, not one-sided people like the priests.
What you read sir, all of it constitute to one goal of every man, and that is, like I’ve said, living with a purpose.
Whether it be atheism, deism, theism, agnosticism, etc. The common denominator to this is purpose. We need it, some even die for it.
But whatever purpose we walk, it is because we chose it out of our freewill. In the end what we do with our lives is what counts, not what we believe or choose to believe because our actions tells something about us.
Ah yes, the Akashic records written in Nadi leaves. It’s from India, and one only needs to travel to the Tamil Nadu province in India, and find gurus there, waiting for you. It’s been said that every life and soul that has come to this planet were already foreseen by ancient Hindu sages thousands of years ago, and the data of these lives were written in Nadi leaves.
Take one human, then apply a simple attribute are they religious or not? True some people are not prepared to be classified one way or the other but many will accept one or the other. Now you know one thing about this person no more. We have been under the despotic regime of religion for so long that there are many flavors of religion people identify with and in part by it’s nature there are few different Atheist schools at least with names and logos. Perhaps the Atheist resists such classifications as they are historically the source of war and more. Even Atheists have not truly come to understand the freedom from religion they now assert. We are only now starting to develop a new world view in part because we value it but more so because we reject what proceeded it.
Perhaps, it is not even about being religious or not. Filipinos cannot even distinguish religiousness from spirituality. This is something I wrote about way back in my article “Filipinos: religious or spiritual?“
excuse me sir. did u just claim that according to history atheist are the source of war and more? please do elaborate.
Stalin
Mao
Hitler
Pol Pot
Kim Jong Il
On the scale of their murders, yes, they have warred more and killed more.
Crusades and jihads were bloody, but then again, these were never carried out on an industrial intensity as those mentioned above.
And please don’t rub the Inquisition in, because going by the alleged numbers put forth as its victims, one would think that the whole medieval European population was wiped out by those rabid papists instead of the plague, bad hygiene, incessant warfare, and constant famine characteristic of the ages.
And no, I’m not a big fan of religion or the pederast CBCP, ever. I’d rather point out that mindless atheists often conveniently blame religion for wars and other bad things in the past and present, and just as conveniently leave out atheism’s biggest fans committing wholesale slaughter.
Hitler was a Christian. Please confirm.
Adolf Hitler in ur list of atheists? He was Roman Catholic, a Christian nonetheless. So please, get your facts right.
1.)Religious views of Adolf Hitler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Adolf_Hitler
2.) Hitler by the Protestant and Catholic Churches in Germany
http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm
3.) “I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so”
— Adolf Hitler
http://www.remnantofgod.org/nazircc.htm
4.) Roman Catholicism’s Nazi History Exposed!
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/former_hitler_youth_elected_pope.htm
I kinda prefer the term “humanist”, somehow the label “atheist” rubs me the wrong way, it defines someone based on what he’s missing (an absence of theistic belief) rather than what he aspires for – like the general upliftment of humanity. After all, people help other people, not some deity in the clouds.. if you could really cash in on prayers, then why is the Philippines still a third world country up to now?
I will understand if said critics of organized religion takes offense on what they see are excesses religious leaders and well-placed-albeit-misguided adherents.
However, I will take offense if said critics impose their arrogance on those only sin was to practice their own religions/belief system in a manner that best reaches out to others.
Just wanted to share. Faith is a struggle, and to question one’s faith is not a bad thing, it is encouraged. Because only when you question your faith will you actively seek to answer your questions about it. I question my faith everyday. 🙂
Having said that, you obviously have questions about the Catholic Faith because you cited it specifically in your blogpost. And as you said, you take the time to enjoy pointing out the conundrums and paradoxes and incoherent constructs which just goes to show you think a lot about it. 🙂
I hope you don’t mind my asking, were you baptized catholic? Did you go to mass every Sunday with your family and found that the experience lacked meaning? That’s fine. That’s the experience of most Catholics today. There is a general disinterest in religious practice, and that’s not because faith is not interesting, but simply there are just so many other things that’s more interesting than faith, spirituality, or religion today.
Having said that, there are STILL available means out there for you to get to know the dogma without having to think about it by yourself. Simply thinking about it by yourself would have worked for Christ, or Buddha, or the other major religious figures, but how many of us are like them? You have to reach out to others, people who know more about it than you do, to understand it. It the same thing as any kind of science, physics, engineering, you have to go to the best schools and find the best teachers to learn from. My suggestion is, join activities where the doctrine is explained in a more thorough manner.
If we are so wrong and if our faith is misguided, then such activities can only make your disbelief stronger, educate you better in why we are wrong, and no harm is done… 🙂 My key message being, seek out the answers to your questions. Don’t let them just be questions. Questions don’t have meaning, answers have meaning. And that is my challenge to you. 🙂
God is infinite. Our reality is not.
Indeed there are available tools to understand something such as faith. But when truly “questioning” something without strings to tie you down, well from the looks of things you’ve got a long way to go bud. It is not just about seeking the answers to your questions. It is also about *how* you seek those answers. 😉
I’ve always regarded atheism as simply the lack of and the rejection of unquestioning belief or faith in a deity. But the whole confusion of how the word “atheist” should be defined is why I usually avoid calling myself one. But as a non-believer, while it is possible to dismiss *claims* about the word “god”, I think the word “god” in general is too broad to just dismiss or describe.
Atheists in general–I have no fight with them, even without Nostra Aetate. My beef with some of them, though, is this: those “some atheists” have a habit of shitting on people just because they believe in God. Seriously, would you trash a Catholic just because he is Catholic?
Most atheists love attention. It’s funny because most Catholics and other theistic religions don’t really care about them, despite that religion is a topic for debate. That’s why they demand attention through groups, books, and promotions, encouraging other atheists to step out and spread the word. What’s funnier is it’s actually like doing missionary work. They made their beliefs a mission. And they lost it there. I actually see politics and hedonism as religions more than atheism.
There is no God…..now what?
There is God….now what?
SO WHAT?
humans were created and bred by the annunakis as slaves. period. religions were created and designed by annunakis to make the humans docile. and now the slaves are being arrogant and stupid.
We have an active and daily international email exchange where Pocholo Suzarra who call himself the grandfather of Filipino atheism is in the forefront of his mission.
While theists are respectful, Pocholito and his atheist groups use vile words against those who do not agree with atheism. Pocholo said that he was kicked out of De La Salle College during his early teenage years and for more than 6 decades, he has espoused his campaign of hate and villification against religion especially Christianity and Catholicism. I have attached your two articles on atheism as well as that of Hector Gamboa who said he is/was an atheist but is very much dismayed by the behaviour of his fellow atheists when they argue.
Yes it’s ironic isn’t it that “atheists” have just about turned their “atheism” into a religion in its own right. Atheism demands a lot of work thinking things through rigorously because it is, in principle, against the very nature of relgious practice which at its very essence is a non-critical belief in a system of ideas prescribed by officers of said religion. A lot of people who lack that rigour in thinking presume to label themselves “atheists” yet lack the skills to clearly frame their supposed atheism in a coherent conceptual framework in their heads.
“Atheism demands a lot of work thinking things through rigorously”
Of course not. You dont need a MENSA brain to figure out if it’s possible for a senior citizen Noah to build an ark and gather pair of every beast on the planet, From Asia to Australia to get a pair marsupials, That Earth is just 6K yrs old. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to smile when creationists claim that farthest the visible stars at night are just 6k light years away. Goodluck
It doesn’t when you regard Atheism for what it is not (as you’ve demonstrated above). But for one to regard what it is requires a lot of that thinking as I stated.
“My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?†-Wernher von Braun
my experience with god led me to science.
i can now not only light a candle on my own, but make one.
god cannot hold a candle to science
Yes, Atheism is a religion as abstinence is a sexual position. Atheism advocates separation of church and state, If that’s wong, I don’t know what is right.
Some states that Atheism is a “religion”, doesn’t that make atheism redundant?
It’s just ironic how atheists do not believe in God nor any form of Deity but literally ‘practice what they preach’ and spread the word which is a form of teaching from all major religions. Atheists interminably argue with believers persuading them that there is no such God and is rampant in social networking sites that some consider aggravative. Atheists also writes and publishes books and sells them targeting a particular group of people i.e. the believers countering every aspect of their belief. It is starting to sound like religion itself in some ways but you can never justify that atheism is a religion because a religion has to have a form of deity.
It’s safe to say that Atheism is not a form of religion, but rather a form of faith. Having faith in something is what keeps you motivated to believe and continue doing something. And just like what Aaron posted above; I also do question my faith in Christianity once in a while but end up with a much stronger faith.
There is a lot of hypothetical thinking taking place in the minds of Believers and atheists that involves the theory of possibilities and the exploration in search for the truth and I think that’s our true purpose in life. But if I died believing in something then found out that it was not real, I would still die a content person; I led a life led by faith that made me a good man and has done good unto others and the same has been done towards me.
I am a devoted Catholic. I have friends that are Atheists, agnostics, hindus, sikhs, muslims, buddhists & “Atheists” who think it’s a fashion statement. Albeit the cultural and spiritual differences, we all get along, we all take in constructive criticism of our faith & learn from each other. I think we should start living like this. It is the best we can do so far. Keep faith and maintain peace within ourselves.
@ Jom
Atheism is nothing but fear of “Divine retribution”. God is not a respecter of men. What you do in life will come back to you in death…Gods judgement.