[Grifter]

Atheists are hated by most because most people need to construct a belief for something that they don't understand.

Saying I don't know why such and such happens is seen as a failure in your belief system and therefore your entire belief system is thrown into question.

The fact that it is not a belief system at all, is lost to the wind.

[killJOY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katinkate', 'S')ome days I'm an atheist. Some days I'm a theist. Most days my scientific training holds sway and I'm an agnostic.

[Ludi]

Plenty of gods walked the earth.

*shrug*

And of course a bunch of them were born of a virgin too.

No biggie.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katinkate', 'S')ome days I'm an atheist. Some days I'm a theist. Most days my scientific training holds sway and I'm an agnostic.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Atlantean_Relic', 'M')any Athesist I met are so smug in there unbelief.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Mostly I am a Deist though I lean heavily towards the Buddhist teachings (why do Buddhists pray if they don't believe in a God?) I respect all the Gods and will offer thanks, or prayer even to the nature spirits that guard the special places found in the woods or by streams.

As far as organized religion goes... if you need a crutch... use one. I personally don't need someone to tell me what or how to think. I do not need someone to tell me how to find salvation and am not overly afraid of death even having faced my own a few times.

Some people feel more comfortable. its easier, then they don't have to think for themselves beyond or outside of the limited constructs of their chosen religion and don't have to face the dark night of the soul alone (its all an illusion). We are all alone but we are never alone and those who can't see will never know, will never know peace and never feel safe. I feel sorry and if they need a crutch to try and fill the empty hole... what ever gets you through the night.

[Bobbotov]

They say there are no atheists in the foxhole. Truthfully, that does not mean that everybody in the foxhole is a God believer either. In fact, when faced with certain or imminent death people will believe in anything that might save their ass. They carry good luck charms that rival the Voodoo cultists. They develop special behavioral patterns that would outdo the most obsessive compulsive person. They chant mantras that would upstage any Buddhist.

It is just human nature.

There is saying in Japanese about this situation: "Storm passed, prayer forgotten."

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grifter', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katinkate', 'S')ome days I'm an atheist. Some days I'm a theist. Most days my scientific training holds sway and I'm an agnostic.

[smallpoxgirl]

“There are no atheists in foxholes" isn't an argument against atheism. It's an argument against foxholes! - James Morrow

[killJOY]

ANyone who believes the "no atheists in foxholes" cliche hasn't read Paul Fussell, an American treasure.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ontemptuous of American religiosity, which he sees as largely contrived, he says: "Conservatives know that I cannot be trusted... I hate them in general

[kochevnik]

Did you hear the one about the dyslexic agnostic ?

He isn't sure if there is a Dog.




Well, the original question to be answered here was if there was a difference between PO posters and the general population - and while this is by no means a 'clean' sampling I think the results speak for themselves.

Just as the Myers-Briggs poll and the IQ poll showed, PO posters are NOT from the normal gene pool (did you know that tendency towards religion has a genetic basis ?)

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kochevnik', ':')!:
Did you hear the one about the dyslexic agnostic ?

He isn't sure if there is a Dog.

[Kfish]

I believe religion's a good thing - it's just the people that screw it up.

Seriously, my grandparents grew up in the same little country town in Queensland, Australia. The town (possibly 10,000 people?) was divided into atheists, Catholics and Protestants. Things were so bad that the kids from different sides would throw rocks at each other on the way to and from school.

Grandad was an atheist. Grandma was a Catholic. Despite strong opposition from all sides, they married. When they got back from eloping, Grandma was excommunicated and her family refused to acknowledge she was married, telling her she had to come home and stop 'living in sin'. Eventually, the community got used to the idea, and even bought them a late wedding present.

Over the next fifty years, they raised two kids, worked extremely hard, bought several farms and retired to Brisbane to live near the growing extended family. They're still two of the most inspirational people I've ever met, but the experience has left scars - Grandma can still recite the nursery rhymes she and her friends used to taunt Protestant kids with, and Granded still rants about Catholic women having too many babies.
He's still an atheist, but claims these days that there's nothing wrong with most religious people that a bit of education wouldn't fix.

Ironically, I read a similar survey about five years ago that found that evangelical Christians were America's most unpopular neighbours - less popular than gays, Jews and pot-smokers. Of course, this was prior to 9/11, for what that's worth.

Kfish

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kfish', 'I') believe religion's a good thing - it's just the people that screw it up.

[weirdo27]

Im just curious how many people here that do believe the world is in for a crisis dont believe in a god/higher power? Please post your feelings and stuff below if you want.

[Zardoz]

Supposedly, only about five percent of the global population are atheists.

[killJOY]

I move daily from one to the other.

I don't believe in the YHWH/Elohim deity of the bible. A vicious little brute (read Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth" for a howling assessment of this deity).

I don't believe in Allah, or Jupiter/Jove, or Etcetera, either.

So on those days I do "believe" (or want to believe), what is it I believe? I'll let the Genius that runs This Country declare it:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right." —George W. Bush, in Rome, July 22, 2001

[dissimulo]

I am, but I usually don't write it in all caps.

[gary_malcolm]

And how many of you believe in Santa Claus.

Testing the philosophical negative is a clusterf*ck of logic bombs. Not that logic bothers the faithful.


Just saying.


Edit: Oh, and "don't care" is exactly 1.783 million miles from "don't know".



G$

[weirdo27]

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right." —George W. Bush, in Rome, July 22, 2001

-i dont believe bush said that. First is that he is an idiot. Second is he is a christ loving christian and is not afraid to say it publically and is not against putting religion in schools.

Also there is more of a point to this then my curiosity nd i have a good discussion after i get enough votes.