Heathen Dawn

(This should have a separate thread so as not to derail IAsimisI’s existing one)

You might believe that my conversion from atheism to theism involved a turning from a rational person to an irrational one. You would be wrong. When I was an atheist, my reasons for atheism were just as emotional as my current reasons for being a theist.

My reason for being an atheist then: “look at all the SUFFERING in the world! There can’t be a God with all this suffering! The chicken on my plate, the bug hunted by my cat, the Holocaust! This shows God doesn’t exist!”

Then as atheist, just as now as a theist, I padded my philosophical stance with rationalisations. But then as now, the core reason for holding that stance was my feelings and not reason or evidence.

So you may be consoled you did not lose a rational person when I became a theist.

truthie

Fine, it is your problem; you did not come to atheism by rational means.

Quite emotional.
Now, you are a theist, fine.
What bothers me is that [edited] on occasions, you denigrate atheism only because it did not work for you.

Wicca and religions did not work for me either. Chose reason over faith. Sure, I think religions are a form of mind-slave among other stuff, but I am not going to insult them constantly.

Because I care that you are a theist, right?
Answer: I don't give a damn.

[edited]

T.

Mods: sorry for the langauge.

Naruto

(I'm gonna go ahead and self-moderate a few mean comments from my post.)

How are you reasons for being a theist different than your reasons for being an atheist?

Heathen Dawn

If anyone wants me for debate, I’ll be at Metacrock’s board. If it’s something personal, send me a private message here, I’ll receive e-mail notification of it and log on to answer it. I’m taking a break off IIDB.

Queen of Swords

truthie has a point. Atheism isn't going to fill an emotional void or give liberty and justice to all, and it should not be bashed for failing to do so, any more than a car should be discarded for not having wings.

Kassiana

HD:
You might believe that my conversion from atheism to theism involved a turning from a rational person to an irrational one. You would be wrong. When I was an atheist, my reasons for atheism were just as emotional as my current reasons for being a theist.

Kass:
Thanks for letting us know. Enjoy your vacation from IIDB.

_Naturalist_

This is something I realized pretty quickly. I mean it seems as though you believe in something because you want your belief to be true, and are ready to reject general relativity (and other scientific theories) in order to keep your personal belief up. Also now I see you weren't an atheism because you realized there was no evidence for any god or gods, but simply because of how many bad things there was in life. Good and bad are of course subjective, so that's perhaps not the best foundation.

DMB

I think it is simplistic to put people into *rational* or *emotional* compartments. We don't suspend our emotions when we use reason and we can still sometimes use reason when under the grip of a strong emotion. But creating a dichotomy between reason and emotion is rather like creating a dichotomy between *body* and *soul*.

And we really do like to think of human beings as rational. It is hoped that it is one of the most important human characteristics that distinguish us from other animals. But no-one is rational all the time or, probably, even most of the time.

NiceWookie

Even the most rational person in the universe has emotions. I, for one, am all for people finding and having emotional well-being in life. Whether they find it with or with-out religion I'll not knock em for it and I must question what the people who do get out of it.

Anyway, just felt the urge to write that, I dunno why

I am curious though-do some people actually feel a "loss" when a person here choses a philosophical path that includes more than rationalism? That seems so strange to me.
I would be skeptikal of folks if they tried to put some sort of "trip" like that on me for making a decision that it, in my opinion, quite personal.

Also, Unless one is suffering from a brain disease, I question whether or not one can actually "lose" rationlism. I think expanding ones philosophical stance could be percieved as actually gaining something rather than a loss.

Hmm.... whatever?

One persons loss is anothers gain. One persons trash is anothers treasure.

Rusting Car Bumper

Actually that is quite a rational reason for rejecting the ethical monotheist conception of god. There is nothing irrational about it.

DC