VonEvilstein

Well, I certainly did not choose to be an atheist, that just happened when I was about 6. Neither did I choose to reject all notions of the supernatural - that was unavoidable. Even as I write this, I know there's a part of my brain that desperately wishes I were wrong about a lot of things, that wishes the world were a more magical place, that the spiritual existed outside of paper and words.

Finally accepting my position in, and view of the world was a grim experience - so many doors that's I'd managed to hold ajar had to be closed, perhaps never to be reopened.

However, as painful as all of this was, lying to myself, and living that lie, would have been more painful still.

Choice never came into it. I never chose not to believe - I never came across anything credible enough to believe.

Harpy

Fiach There is no advantage anywhere in being a non-believer, only varying degrees of negative social stigma

I must disagree with this part of your post Fiach

There are many advantages such as; Self worth- I am not owned by anyone or thing, I am not obligated to anyone or thing. I am free from irrational dogma, all that collective guilt nonsense.

I live my life on my own terms , I have a brain and I'm not afraid to use it.

If you ask me there is no advantage in being a believer. As for social stigma, I am choosy about who's society I keep, and the disdain of fundy bigots would not bother me a jot, infact I'd quite enjoy it.

Ptarmigan

I just believe in God and that's it. No organized religion needed right there.

Fiach

I had no choice in being an Atheist. In fact, I lived in very small town in Scotland where most were religious believers. I wanted to believe. In year two of school, I had compulsory religious eduction. I immediately found problems with the bible stories. They didn't make sense to me. My mates accepted them. I assumed that I must be missing something. "I must be wrong."

So, I asked the teacher and the local pastor at Bible class, to explain things that bothered me. Why did God punish Adam and Eve for such a minor sin. Why was the guilt inherited? Why did Jesus have to die for a minor sin? None of it would make sense. Yet I CHOSE to believe in God and Jesus, but I realised that down deep I didn't really believe. I wanted to, pretended to, tried to, but it was insincere. I wanted to be like the other lads. As the years rolled on, I kept trying, praying for something to give me belief. I spent a couple hours every sunday with the Pastor and his wife in low key counselling sessions, discussiong God and the Bible. I did this for about 9 months. The pastor and Mrs. were great folks. I had tea and scones or crumpets, strawberry pastries and it was a positive experience. But I was not successful in convincing my brain that Christianity made sense.

For a period of 6 years, I struggle to believe. I was choosing to believe, but it never worked. So by age 13-14 I admitted that I was an Atheist. BTW I knew very little science by then and very little about evolution (which was not forbidden). It is like I said, you can choose to like asparagus but gag whenever you taste it. You vomit if you eat it. Then you keep trying to eat it because your family loves it. My body rejects the asparagus not my will.

You are similar to me and to many other atheists that I have met. Some people may be brain wired in the mid-range in which their frontal lobes will accept religious ideas lacking evidence and may be religious or non-religious with some choice. Others are wired so that they have a compulsion for theistic beliefs. There may be no choice in being religious. The compulsory religious person may choose among religions. One religion is as good as another psychologically. The compulsory Christian is of the same mindset as the compulsory Muslim. They would be religious no matter where raised.

Fiach

Fiach

We can have our own opinons on it, of course. But from my personal experience of trying very hard to believe, choosing to believe because my mates all did, but failing is strong evidence for my argument. I put in hours of agonising over the issue with the goal of believing. My mother believed. I didn't know my father was an Atheist until I was 18.

In the old USSR, the shoe was on the other foot. Despite attempts to eradicate religion through education and science, 20% of people still believed in God, some 50% were undecided or didn't care about the issue and 30% sincere Atheists.

Perhaps if people accepted the notion that believe was wired and not chosen, there would be no excuse for bigotry.

Fiach

JEST2ASK

Really agree (though I am going through the transistion much later in life)... It is not a choice especially about trying to turn off certains parts of your brain to not question or trying to deny inner truth .... thinking it must be something wrong with me. I am still putting in hours trying to balance reasonable doubt and rationalization/ denial.

I often feel isolated from so many people I respect and appreciate. Yeah trying to go against mom is extremly hard.

Ultimately honesty is best but it still sucks in some ways.

Is there a valid excuse / reason for bigotry ?

Oh and new word I learned FIDEISM .....

Sorry Amie but I somehow do not fully accept (probabbly taking it out of context & reading something that is not there)......>>>

Originally posted by Amie
Hi Fiach
I disagree, I choose to believe in God. No evidence, no data, no visions of God. I draw my own conclusions based on my experiences.
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Without a book (the bible) Without examples & testimony from others how do you interpret your experiences to arrive at a defination of God?

Respectfully

malookiemaloo

You make a very good point.

Although I am a Christian I never understood why atheists did not believe in an aferlife. If we are here without the ceative will od a deity, why not an afterlife. Come to think of it, why do we die at all. If it is not God's curse for sin, why shall I pop my clogs in about 20 years?


malookiemaloo

Fiach

Slainte mhaith,

Fiach