I said atheism is completely pointless.
I challenge you to try and show me the point of atheism.
How does "believing God doesn't exist" make you any wiser? It's like one sentence. I already memorized that sentence, therefore I already memorized the whole of atheism, and atheism can't learn me anything new anymore.
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Congragulations, that's all atheism is. It's not a religion, it's not a dogma, it's not a belief system, it's just a lack of belief in god. Now you understand atheism in it's entirety and so any conclusions drawn from that are you're own.
Well, for starters, once you don't have a fairytale book and a priest telling you how to live, you figure things out for yourself and that leads you to learning and seeing the world in a very open way, THAT makes you wiser.
It's like one sentence. I already memorized that sentence, therefore I already memorized the whole of atheism, and atheism can't learn me anything new anymore.
He's understood that atheism's just a collective term for disbelief in god? He's not going to say it equals communism or satanism, or a belief in murder and rape?
Is it snowing in hell?
Well, it's basically correct. But it's the wrong question.
It's not "What does atheism get you", it's: "What does religion cost you".
you could take the answer to the second question, and apply it to the first. It'd be wrong, but it is what you intend.
Atheism means:
You can learn whatever you want and accept or reject whatever you want. You can also "believe" what you want, but it ought to have some reasonable correlation with reality before you consider believing it, imo.
What I personally like about atheism, is its inherent freedom from superstitious nonsense.
The whole point is that there is no point. There doesn't need to be a point. It makes you wiser because it lets you question things and go in search of the real answers, instead of just saying "Big fella did it, up in the clouds, you don't wanna mess with him" when ever something interesting happens.
Thunder - "God moving his furniture"
Lightning - "God taking a photo"
Rain - "God taking a shower"
The list is endless.
"I challenge you to try and show me the point of atheism.
How does "believing God doesn't exist" make you any wiser?"
Well, let's see. By not believing in the existence of your God, I don't:
* Start wars just because someone else believes in a different God than you do;
* Give a big slice of my time and 10% of my income to a church devoted to the worship of your God;
* Outlaw harmless activities that your God claims are immoral;
* Look for the answers to life's tough questions in a book written by bronze-age semi-civilized shepherdfolk;
* Assume that everything that contradicts the words of said bronze-age semi-civilized shepherdfolk must be false;
* Ignore the rules of science and logic.
Sounds pretty wise to me....
I said theism is completely pointless.
I challenge you to try and show me the point of theism.
How does "believing God exists" make you any wiser? It's like one sentence. I already memorized that sentence, therefore I already memorized the whole of theism, and theism can't learn [sic*] me anything new anymore.
[No. But atheism might teach you something. Like thinking for yourself and not allowing yourself to be brainwashed by pastors and fools. And paying homage to a very flawed book that exalts murder and hatred; that self-contradicts and gets a lot of things wrong. Just something for you to think about objectively.]
Okay fine, it's completely pointless. Your statement is all there is to atheism. What's wrong with that? It frees us up to deal with other things in our lives as opposed to trying to figure out if we're pissing off some sky-daddy.
Now if you want to understand our frustration, round up a few hundred 5-year olds and tell them that Santa doesn't exist.
"How does "believing God doesn't exist" make you any wiser?"
Since god doesn't exist, then he is not responsible for lightning. Since he's not resposnible for lightning something else is. We will do experiments to discover what that something is.
Result 1. Lightning rod invented. Your house doesn't burn down.
Result 2. Light bulb invented. You can see at night without risking burning your house down.
Result 3. Computer and internet invented. You can post blithering idiocy about the uselessness of atheism.
"atheism can't learn me anything new anymore. "
No, that's fundieism. Atheism taught us how to make the computer you're reading this on.
I used to go on that forum. Great for learning how to dream lucidly... a place where an open mind is kinda the requirement in order to actually achieve lucid dreams... and yet it can't escape the grasp of fundies (thankfully, it is restricted the the religion forum).... a pity I tell you, a pity..
It makes my life simpler.
Yes, that is atheism, entirely.
More accurately, perhaps, "I will not believe in anything without reasonable empirical evidence."
Anyway.. You measure religions by their complexity?
Memorize the Wikipedia. There. It's the best religion now.
Or better yet, learn things yourself and live your own life. Memorizing older things is for historians. [Although you could do that]
For me, it doesn't do anything. It's not supposed to. You take your Christianity (or whatever) and go and do as you please. Have at it. Enjoy. Just as long as you leave everybody alone with it, knock yourself out.
Yep, that's about it. Some claim it "opens minds" or something, but the only thing an athiest "IS" is someone who doesn't believe in gods.
No real need to get more complicated than that.
atheism frees your mind from the straitjacket of dogma and allows you to explore the world of knowledge freely without being restricted by what you have been told you must believe in or else. It doesn't teach you anything new, but it allows you to learn things on your own.
but first off you should try learning some grammar.
if we have no point, then probably do not either
at least our supposed dogma is simple, maybe it would be easier for your mind
Believing or not believing in god does not inherently make you smarter then anyone. I've met Christians who are probably smarter then me, and met atheists who are dumb as a board. However, learning about scientific facts about how the world works with an open mind does. And far more atheists are willing to learn and study these facts then people who believe in god.
We're not claiming a higher purpose. We're just saying, that's how it is, and there's no need to be a prejudiced shit.
This allows you to live in a civilized society, unafraid that free speech and equal rights for religious and sexual minorities will make you responsible for their "damnation."
pushing it out here:
within the Xian west, the point is to be able to live life without fear of a homicidal sadist breating down one's neck secod guessing everything, especially within the context of a bronze age book written by goat-shaggers and edited by power-mad clergy.
the overall point is to take dignity and reponsibility for one's life without the emotional crutch of an all-powerful parent holding one's hand until death.
Who said that lack of belief leads to "wisdom"? It simply requires it. And simply knowing what atheism is does not mean that you actually possess the trait relevant to it, and are able to view the world from that perspective.
And seriously, the phrase "learn me" makes the baby Jesus cry.
well, I don't there was a point to me admitting I'm an atheist. I was at church and was sitting there when all of a sudden, I realized that I didn't believe anything the preacher was saying. So at that point, I had 2 choices. Either pretend that I still believed or be honest with myself. I picked being honest with myself. It just came down to admitting that I wasn't buying the dogma anymore. I just don't believe anymore. I tried, but I'm tired of playing games. I am an atheist.
A lot of theism becomes pointless once you learn about the history surrounding many of its components. That history, in turn, would suggest that God is less an independent entity of his own and more a concept thought up by men. The overwhelming number of cults, religions, and deities that have existed and been abandoned down throughout recorded history (and that exist even today) would support that idea quite well.
One of the advantages of atheism is that you clear your mind of superstitious crap and leave space for more useful things. Being open-minded is a wonderful thing, as is not spending this life being a miserable prick waiting in vain for a better life to come after death.
That's just for starters, but it's more than enough for me as it is.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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