is it possible to be athiest and be free of ...

A lot of time I see atheism as a rebellious stance against religion that many were force fed. It seems thats why so many atheists seemingly have chips on their shoulder. I suppose it would be possible, but I have never seen it.

My opinion is that atheism is absolutely impossible, though i am also not a follower of any of the organized religions.

 

An Athiest, is basicly a contrarian.

 

you can replace the word athiest in that sentence with almost any religion in existance....

the only difference is athiest arnt sentencing its opposition to an etournity in hell for their "other views"

i say agnosticism

 

Atheism means non-religious. A person who is against religion would be an antitheist. Atheism is the neutral position between theist and antitheist. If a person studies religions from a philosphical perspective, they all are just ideas and thoughts, which then could be subjected to logic. I was raised without religion (with no talk for or against it), I have since read many of the "holy" books and studied several religions(both ancient and modern) but never in anyway believed in them. There are some great stories/myths and some important philosophical thoughts contained in some of them. I really don't care what other people believe, but sometimes find it fascinating that people really believe such things.


Contrary to the popular belief about atheists having no morals, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the U.S., Atheists make up only .209% of the total prison population. This is far lower then the percentage that they make up in the population (about 10% according to the CIA World Factbook). In the case of Christianity the percentage in prison roughly matches that of the population (around 80%).

 

Maybe a lot of people are atheists without having adversaries...everyone seems to agree that it's fun to argue about God. So from a different perspective, maybe we're all on the same side: fun.

I guess I have to give atheists the benefit of the doubt, that not every atheist is antitheist, though it often seems that way, just as I would like to be given the benefit of the doubt that just because I'm a theist doesn't mean that I believe in the validity of any myths.

Many atheists seem to be experts at making people angry by being unreasonable, but that's probably because a lot of them were made angry by unreasonable religious people, so they have a good understanding of how irritating that is. They ought to rise above that hypocrisy, though. There are a lot of hypocritical religious people out there, yes, but it shouldn't be a situation of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".

 

well their doubts are reasonable, and im sure everyone could agree with that....also concepts, usually the ones having to do with any sort of religion pose a somewhat reasonable threat to logic and rational intelectual interest...sorta demoting a cause for searching for knowledge and replacing it with a 1 out of one hundred billion chance answer, and some people are just too lazy to create a cause that fits them perfectly and happily accept their forcefed beleife system weather they think its that or not because im willing to bet less than 75% of most religious affiliates chose their religion......and about 25% of the same chriteria dont know shit about the religion they claim to belong to.....

and il admit, i have a complex similar to that you mentioned basically from people left in awe at the fact that i dont think modern religions or even my old feeding tube that you might call christianity...is a good use of anyones time or worthy of any part of my life, as short as it is...weather the religions word is fact or not, because if god did exist, i hardly beleive he would want us to do so anyways.....

though its ethical word isnt that bad.....

i wish that was how it was.....but this is applied everywere in almost everything....especially ethics and is in a since, the essence of religion, thus, itl be another thousand years (five hundred at least, before we see "doctor muhmadi" instead of middle eastern terrorist because like human beings, religion evolves, it changes with the times, and modern religions wont be the first, or the last to become extinct, as im sure thousands have before them

 

To believe in any kind of religion you're basically saying that every other faith is utterly wrong in their beliefs. So how could one not come across as somewhat arrogant when you think the person you're talking to is being tricked and they defend it too?

 

In response to question one, it depends on the temperament of the atheist. Some atheists are confrontational, some aren't. It's the confrontational ones who get the headlines. I still love the bit in Southpark where Richard Dawkins starts his own atheistic reglion and Eric muses along the lines of "Ok, so he's an atheist, but he's only famous because he's an ars**ole about it."

Secondly, it isn't necessary to have a moral code if you don't believe in God, but all humans are born into societies with morals, which means it's hard for even the most virulent atheist not to pick up the "local moral norms."

Thirdly, it depends on the person, doesn't it? My partner and I used to argue all the time (in a playful, positive, making you think sort of a way that usually ended up in us having a fit of the giggles because one or other of us had been backed into a corner), but I couldn't live with a fundamentalist Southern Baptist because I would end up taking what she said too seriously (I'm Catholic by the way).

On the other hand I could live with a Jew or Muslim or Athetist (who I always imagined should be more different), as long as they had a similar point of view on my "hot button topics."

 

Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

 

Drum

As Heeh2 suggests.
It's far easier being an agnositic.
Agnosticism conflicts with nothing.

Sorry, it conflicts with ALL religions that say if you dont choose a saviour.
you burn forever.
It seems that theism is the only stance that 'inflicts'

This to occam means, wishes to control.

Why cant these people just do something with their lives instead of
trying to control others.
How boring that must be.

Occam