Atheist Doctrine

[rocket]

Atheists NEVER kill or maim because of what they believe (mostly because we don't believe) and secondly, nothing good will ever come from killing or maiming yourself or anybody else to defend our beliefs...we ain't even know what THAT could be about....and we'll beat the livin' crap out of anybody that says we don't believe that!....ummm amen or somethin'...

[Peter Kirby]

Even though atheists don't believe in gods, they can still have other beliefs, and they may do stupid things in part based on those beliefs.

best,
Peter Kirby

[Ice Monkey]

I'm not really interested in being given a label that reflects what I DON'T believe. I don't like being referred to just based on what I'm not. I don't call a horse "not a dog". Guess that's why I refer to myself as a "Secular Humanist". I just don't see any beliefs in Atheism. Sure, Atheists have other beliefs, but they're not Atheist beliefs. I suppose that's what you're saying?

[Barron]

06-17-2003 @ 11:15 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=126123#post126123)
rocket:

Atheists NEVER kill or maim because of what they believe (mostly because we don't believe) and secondly, nothing good will ever come from killing or maiming yourself or anybody else to defend our beliefs...we ain't even know what THAT could be about....and we'll beat the livin' crap out of anybody that says we don't believe that!....ummm amen or somethin'...

Atheism is barely a belief at all, IMHO. It doesn't say anything about how to treat people, how to look at the world or whom to maim/kill. If I tell someone I'm an atheist I haven't told them anything about my morals EXCEPT that I don't base them on a divine command. That leaves open a pretty much limitless scope though. And, as I've had to point out the believers time and again, apart from Sunday morning they'd be hard pressed to distinguish my behaviour from theirs (and lets not forget the times I'm mistaken for a believer).

Atheism is like Oakland, there's no there there. All it says is what you aren't, not what you are. Unfortunately our theist pals have a bad habit of trying to sculpt atheism into a full world view (usually by adding metaphysical naturalism, secular humanism (if we're lucky) and evolution science) so they have something solid to beat on.

Barron (who actually was an atheist living in Oakland!)

[Nowhere357]

Barron:
If I tell someone I'm an atheist I haven't told them anything about my morals EXCEPT that I don't base them on a divine command.
Why is this so hard for people to accept? Is it because we live in a highly theistic society, and "atheist" defaults to "devil spawn" or something like that?

I was uncomfortable with the label for a long time, for that reason. But now I see that I'm not responsible for the ignorance of others, and I set then straight whenever I can.

Still, I like "freethinker" better.

[Barron]

Today @ 02:48 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=133463#post133463)
Nowhere357:


Why is this so hard for people to accept? Is it because we live in a highly theistic society, and "atheist" defaults to "devil spawn" or something like that?

I was uncomfortable with the label for a long time, for that reason. But now I see that I'm not responsible for the ignorance of others, and I set then straight whenever I can.

Still, I like "freethinker" better.

For a looooong time "atheist" was a serious perjorative. I mean, it was probably on the top three nasty things to label someone. I may not like it, but there is some logic to this. When religion was a huge aspect of social cohesion a person not following that religion would have been a really scary force. This was a time when people were sure that bad belief, or unbelief in the local dieties could dry the rivers and wither the crops. So the unbeliver was a threat to the community as a whole. This carries on into the more enlightened times. Jews were considered "atheists" by the Romans because they didn't sacrifice to the city cults (which the Romans knew were vital to the health of the city).

When I use atheist I use it in the simplest, most technical sense, And part of the reason I hang out on religious boards is to, as you pou it, set people straight. Sort of like an apologist in the older sense of the word (as in "to explain and defend a belief"). And yeah, as long as people retain the older ideas about what "atheist" means it's not a lot of fun to be labelled that way.

On the plus side, maybe the local believers will browse this board and get some insight.

Barron

[Passant]

Atheists NEVER kill or maim because of what they believe (mostly because we don't believe) and secondly, nothing good will ever come from killing or maiming yourself or anybody else to defend our beliefs...we ain't even know what THAT could be about....and we'll beat the livin' crap out of anybody that says we don't believe that!....ummm amen or somethin'...

Of course this is a big point many thiests miss. They like to point to Stalin, or Mao and say "see, they were arhiests!" but the problem is that they didn't kill anyone in the name of atheism, they could have just as easily been Christian, and could have even found plenty of Biblical support for communism.

[Barron]

Yesterday @ 06:46 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=133657#post133657)
Passant:

Of course this is a big point many thiests miss. They like to point to Stalin, or Mao and say "see, they were arhiests!" but the problem is that they didn't kill anyone in the name of atheism, they could have just as easily been Christian, and could have even found plenty of Biblical support for communism.

People will kill for a political ideology. In fact you can make some commonality between extreme religious and extreme political beliefs. Both are all encompassing and DO tell you something about their holders (unlike "atheist"). If you refer to someone as a "Green" or a "communist" or a "Jevohah's Witness", that tells you something about their ideas about how the world is or should be.

I do wonder if Marx lived today if he'd be more in the tradition of liberation theology than avid materialism.

Barron

[geochron]

Personally, I prefer misotheist

I believe God is a Japanese form of soup.

:wink:

[LGM]

06-27-2003 @ 01:18 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=134196#post134196)
Barron:
People will kill for a political ideology. In fact you can make some commonality between extreme religious and extreme political beliefs. Both are all encompassing and DO tell you something about their holders (unlike "atheist").

...a good point Barron, and a reason I am not and never have been a member of a political party. I like to spread my votes around and especially against incumbents and the two major parties... If god had meant man to vote... he would of given us good candidates! :lol

I wonder if there is a strong correlation between atheists and political indepedents?

LGM

[C. D. Ward]

07-07-2003 @ 11:38 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=142816#post142816)
LakeGeorgeMan:

I wonder if there is a strong correlation between atheists and political indepedents?

...I'd say that the correlation between god-belief and political liberalism (or progressivism) is probably somewhere between -50 & -1. In other words, quite large...

C. D. Ward