UncleJim

Non-belief in a deity god is based in how you perceive reality. Since the deity god is considered to be above or apart from reality and since you know that there is no such place or condition you will then naturally reject the idea of a deity god: And properly so.

But simple rejection is not intellectually potent. The greater challenge is to accurately define the word god and then work to have this definition serve in place of the definition of what the deity god is.

sleepy_

I agree with Jim.

Bearlaker

My father was gone a lot when I was little, I remember realizing that he was my dad, not a handyman who came to our house and fixed things. He also was not the holy mormon type of dad like all of my chums fathers were.
I didn't hate him, but I didn't mind it when he left to go to work either. I can see the same thing with my kids and me.

Splarnst

I don't hate my father. He gets on my nerves and frustrates me frequently, but I certainly don't hate him.

jayG60

Sorry to disillusion anyone, but I don't hate either my mother or my father. (I'm inclined more toward agnosticism than atheism.) Both were present during my childhood, fed and clothed me, gave me love and support, and were excessively proud of me when I did well in school. After we all survived my teenage years, my only complaint about them was (and still is) that my mother prays for me every Sunday.

adophis1984

:Cheeky:

Check these out:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

I wouldn't doubt that certain people meet the father criteria, but I'm weary of making such a generalization without strict empirical evidence, of which there is none to my knowledge.

Lord Umbra

I think this "study" is unfounded.

My atheism is predicated upon the unbelievability of religion/Xianity. And NOT upon my earthly relationships.

I did not become an atheist until recently, at the ripe old age of 45. I've hated my dad since I was a child. I see no correlation. :huh:

Keith Russell

I was agnostic until shortly before my 21st birthday; I've been a 'strong' atheist ever since. (I'm almost 39...) I believe that the nature of the universe (as finite in dimension and quantity of matter/energy, yet eternal/uncreated) contradicts even the possibility of a 'Creator-God'.

My wife and I live with my father, having moved in with my parents last fall. My mother passed away last month.

Now that it's just the three of us, although I've always been close with both my parents, I'm starting to feel closer to Dad than ever before. I'm in school, finishing up a four-year art degree, and I plan to continue on to grad school. Both my parents are/were incredibly supportive of my art, and I couldn't begin to count the number of times my father has helped me set up shows, carry paintings, stake display tents, etc.

He is not an artist, really isn't 'creative' in any way I can detect, and probably doesn't really like my work very much. Nonetheless, he's always been there for me--and continues to be, even now, at 82.

Hate my father? The truth is as far from that, as possible.

Keith.

The Defenestrator

I'm a pretty solid atheist, maybe even a little bit angry at times, and I've always loved both my parents. My atheism has little to do with my parents except that they encouraged me to be open-minded when I was growing up, and never indoctrinated me into any belief system.

sodium

No, but then, my father wasn't religious either, so I guess I'm like John Stuart Mill. Of course that goes against the whole psycho-analytic interpretation, but whatever. I think pretty much any theory you derive from old-fashioned Freudianism is going to be nonsense.

One thing I always find surprising about tracts like the one linked to is that they assume that any conception of God is going to be the same as the Christian one. It's just assumed that if I believed in God, I would think he was very concerned about my sex life.