Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
I agree. It is a worthy question to pursue. If there are negative consequences to atheism I would like to be aware of them.
What are the negatives of Atheism?
- Thread starter Luger187
- Start date
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
You are convinced of god, you remain unconvinced of god. One is a belief, the other is the absence of a belief.
olylifter420
Well-Known Member
olylifter420
Well-Known Member
funny how only big time atheists back each other up...
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
Respectfully disagree. "There is no tangible engaged godhead" is just as much a statement of faith as its opposite.
woodsusa
Well-Known Member
Luger187
Well-Known Member
if you read past the first post maybe you would know
Luger187
Well-Known Member
im not sure actually. i asked because i would really like to know. ive never heard a good argument for why atheism is a bad thing. as you can see, nobody seems to have one lol
nice lol
sen.c
Active Member
I guess if I had to put something on the negative column strictly from a non biblical world view i would think that being athiest would mean that you are accountable to no one but yourself so they would have the tendency to care less about the people around them as long as they felt they were ok. With that being said though it all depends on the type person it is, being athiest doesn't mean you have no morals so you could still be a good person.
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
I agree. However atheists do not make this assertion. It is done outside and in addition to atheism. An atheist is simply a person who remains unconvinced by the theists argument. A person who outright claims the non-existence of god may be atheist by default, but is a fool by necessity. I remain unconvinced of bigfoot, that is not the same as saying he isn't out there.
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
I personally find this to have the opposite effect on me. I am accountable to myself, and I am strict in my convictions of what is right and wrong, therefore I am an unforgiving judge. I often find myself abstaining from spreading gossip and rumors, from stealing petty treasures, and from telling white lies simply because I do not stand for it. I can only speculate when I say that having a deity as a judge who forgives all sins accept non-belief would seem to offer an out. When I worked in a warehouse which dealt with goods like candy, I would often, daily, see good men who identified as Christians taking snickers bars and bags of chips when the boss wasn't looking. I can not say by any stretch that this was because god offered forgiveness. I can only say that I personally did not do these things because I would have a hard time living with myself. This is a result of my own personal filter which apparently is more effective than threat of retribution. I agree with you that both are really beside the point and it comes down to integrity. My grandpa was a devout christian and had the utmost integrity, but he did it in the glory of god and not to avoid endless punishment.
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
Perhaps my definitions are wrong, or at least outside the norm. I have always believed/maintained that the distinction between agnosticism and atheism is the declarative statement "there is no god" and its many variants. If I follow that, I see myself as agnostic, "hard" category. By your def I am an atheist. Semantics, my brain, owie.
cheers 'neer
sen.c
Active Member
That is the only reason it should be done in my eyes. Salvation should not be a fire escape, sadly many people do it for the wrong reason and in the end I feel they may be suprised.
In the end whether you believe or not it still comes down to a persons integrity and sometimes a person will lead people to believe they are something by wearing a false flag to benefit
from the things it may bring them.
Luger187
Well-Known Member
its a truly amazing thing to ponder the universe and really see it for what it is in your minds eye. all of the processes that keep it going perform in such a way that i am always amazed. and the true mystery of it, at least in my opinion, cant be experienced if you believe that a god in the sky made it all. to me, that trivializes the universe
i agree with what you said, except the part about needing it to be balanced. i see where youre comin from though. the benefits of spirituality can also be experienced in other ways that dont require a deity, such as meditation or drugs.
that is true. people can be greedy at times. and i mean greedy loosely. most people live in their heads, mostly worried about themselves. they reach out to others either to benefit themselves later, or just out of the goodness of their heart. of course, these qualities can be taught without religion, and one does not need religion in order to be a giving person. yes, most religions do promote giving to others. but this does not mean religion is the sole cause of this.
why cant we have a society where people are good to one another because we are all made of the same atoms? we are all essentially made of the same exact building materials. i do not think it is necessary to have an all-seeing god watching over us, forcing us to be good to one another. we can do it ourselves.
/rambling
thanks for the input guys
Luger187
Well-Known Member
atheism- answers the question "do you believe in a god?". answers are yes or no(belief, or lack of belief)Perhaps my definitions are wrong, or at least outside the norm. I have always believed/maintained that the distinction between agnosticism and atheism is the declarative statement "there is no god" and its many variants. If I follow that, I see myself as agnostic, "hard" category. By your def I am an atheist. Semantics, my brain, owie.
cheers 'neer
agnosticism- answers the question "can we know a god exists?". answers are yes or no(we can know, or we cant know)
you can be an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
Goodness. If I don't know if I can know if there is a god - what does that make me? (Other than an obvious aficionado of recursive logic.)
cheers 'neer
Hepheastus420
Well-Known Member
Well I guess I was wrong. There ya go, what u wanted to hear. Ha.