Atheists Holiday

[Bustem' Down]

Yeah - I am pretty intolerant like that - giving out red karma every time someone disagrees with me. In real life I hit people who disagree with me. Or run them over with my car.





I missed Bustem's reply before:



I could celebrate my freedom from cholesterol. Or my freedom from noise-pollution. I suppose it's a valid argument, but if I were an atheist I wouldn't consider this something to celebrate any more than I would celebrate my ability to breath air, or take a dump. (And I was an atheist... so I know for sure what I'd do in any given situation )




We all celebrate that on July 4th.



Believe it or not, but I, as a Christian, do enjoy the freedom to believe what I want and not what someone tells me. Nobody is forcing me to believe as I do.

Just pointing out that you don't need a reason. I actually celebrate the christian holidays because I like the traditions, not because I believe in Jesus.

Although some would argue that the existence of God implies that there is no such thing as freedom at all - but I digress.

smarter men than you and I have debated this for centuries.

 

[Roughidle]

I would think that atheists would celebrate everyday like it was their last...just on the chance they are right.

 

[Bustem' Down]

I would think that atheists would celebrate everyday like it was their last...just on the chance they are right.

Why? What's the point. Most atheists I know aren't scared of death.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Why? What's the point. Most atheists I know aren't scared of death.

And Christians I know are not scared of physical death because it is just graduation day; physical life to eternal spiritual life in our Father's kingdom.

 

[Roughidle]

Why? What's the point. Most atheists I know aren't scared of death.

What does fear have to do with celebration?

 

[Bustem' Down]

And Christians I know are not scared of physical death because it is just graduation day; physical life to eternal spiritual life in our Father's kingdom.

I didn't say they were. Just that I see no reason to celebrate everyday as my last just because I don't believe in an afterlife.

 

[Roughidle]

I didn't say they were. Just that I see no reason to celebrate everyday as my last just because I don't believe in an afterlife.

The thread was started on the argument that Atheists wanted an official day of celebration. I was simply responding even if the argument was aimed as a joke, as was my response. You mean you didn't find it humorous?

 

[Bustem' Down]

The thread was started on the argument that Atheists wanted an official day of celebration. I was simply responding even if the argument was aimed as a joke, as was my response. You mean you didn't find it humorous?

Yeah I did. I've heard that one before though.

 

[Roughidle]

I still haven't found an Atheist than can explain to me, what they truely feel to be the end of life, not the life of the body but of the soul/spirit. Do you not believe in the having of a soul/spirit, one not connected to your physical being?

 

[Tonio]

You mean you didn't find it humorous?

I got a chuckle out of your initial response. Regarding the joke that led off this thread, I maintain that the point of the joke is mistaken. There is nothing inherently wrong with being an atheist, just as there is nothing inherently wrong with being a theist. Also, the joke incorrectly suggests that atheists as a group seek special privileges, thus encouraging feelings of resentment in atheists.

 

[Roughidle]

I maintain that the point of the joke is mistaken. There is nothing inherently wrong with being an atheist, just as there is nothing inherently wrong with being a theist. Also, the joke incorrectly suggests that atheists as a group seek special privileges, thus encouraging feelings of resentment in atheists.

Probably wasn't intended to be as humorous as I received it. I tend to chuckle at peoples' idealolgies as well as my own. The atheist view I find interesting but find proclaimed atheists to be confusing individuals.

 

[Tonio]

The atheist view I find interesting but find proclaimed atheists to be confusing individuals.

How so?

My attitudes toward others' religious beliefs are based on how they affect me personally. There are some atheists who accuse religious people of being stupid and ignorant. I condemn such behavior at as a matter of principle and manners, but I don't have a strong emotional reaction to that. Mostly I dismiss such accusations as juvenile ranting.

An example: Gene Roddenberry often used "Star Trek" to push his views on religion, but describing him as a militant atheist is too simplistic. Harlan Ellison, writer of the "City on the Edge of Forever" episode, once described Roddenberry's basic plot as (approximate wording) the Enterprise meets God and God turns out to be insane, a child, a computer, or a combination of the three. Remember Nomad or Q or the Squire of Gothos? That's not true atheism, that is simply sublimated anger.

What really gets my goat is when religious doctrines such as original sin and eternal damnation attempt to define people in a transendentally offensive way. Or worse, when prominent extremists such as Falwell and Robertson suggest that the horrific events such as 9/11 and Katrina were punishments from God. Sure, those two hatemongers were almost certainly posturing for the cameras. Still, both they and the doctrines say that people would (or should) suffer horrible punishments simply for having the "wrong" religious beliefs. I know of nothing about atheism that even comes close to that.

 

[Roughidle]

Tonio, are you an atheist?

 

[Dondi]

An example: Gene Roddenberry often used "Star Trek" to push his views on religion, but describing him as a militant atheist is too simplistic. Harlan Ellison, writer of the "City on the Edge of Forever" episode, once described Roddenberry's basic plot as (approximate wording) the Enterprise meets God and God turns out to be insane, a child, a computer, or a combination of the three. Remember Nomad or Q or the Squire of Gothos? That's not true atheism, that is simply sublimated anger.

Not to mention that God-awful (pun intended) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The absolute worst of the movie series.

 

[Tonio]

Tonio, are you an atheist?

My beliefs seem to be a combination of pantheism and agnosticism. I reject the idea of supernatural explanations for natural events. But unlike atheists, I don't rule out the possibility of the divine. If there is a divine, I believe that it is probably very different from the claims made by the various organized religions. It may not be a conscious entity at all.

On other boards, I've gotten grief from a few militant atheists when I've defended the individual's right to believe in deity. As long as someone doesn't use his or her religious beliefs to harm others, I don't see why those beliefs should be anyone else's business.

 

[Tonio]

Not to mention that God-awful (pun intended) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The absolute worst of the movie series.

I never saw that one. From what I've read, Roddenberry gradually became a figurehead for the franchise during the 1980s, so I don't know if he had any input in the "Final Frontier" story. Once his influenced lessened, "Next Generation" became a much better series.

 

[Roughidle]

On other boards, I've gotten grief from a few militant atheists when I've defended the individual's right to believe in deity. As long as someone doesn't use his or her religious beliefs to harm others, I don't see why those beliefs should be anyone else's business.

My thoughts as well. I'm just curious as to how atheists view life and the end of it. None seem to be able to explain the "nothingness" of their end. Atleast not to my satisfaction where I can imagine "nothingness". To me nothingness is as intangible as infinity.

 

[Toxick]

My thoughts as well. I'm just curious as to how atheists view life and the end of it. None seem to be able to explain the "nothingness" of their end. Atleast not to my satisfaction where I can imagine "nothingness". To me nothingness is as intangible as infinity.

Think back to before you were born.

If there's no afterlife, I imagine that it will probably be a great deal like that.

 

[Roughidle]

Think back to before you were born.

If there's no afterlife, I imagine that it will probably be a great deal like that.

That remark was already put out there perhaps by yourself and still offers no explanation for me. I don't remember my first two years of life but am quite sure I was alive. Are you implying that life begins at birth? Or that there will just be absolute no thought process upon death? Just not sure where you are with that statement.

I believe at some point we begin to have thought/spiritual awareness and that is at the spark of actual life, not just when the heart starts beating. We may not remember all thought as I believe our initial thoughts/spiritual awareness has no language. That awareness I believe, is from that point on forever eternal and doesn't stop when our bodies shut down.

 

[wxtornado]

I still haven't found an Atheist than can explain to me, what they truely feel to be the end of life, not the life of the body but of the soul/spirit. Do you not believe in the having of a soul/spirit, one not connected to your physical being?

I answered this in another thread. I think that after I die, I'll feel the exact same as before I was born, if you can understand that.