Atheists under attack

[quisquose]

I think you're confusing agnosticism with atheism. Atheism cannot come to somene later in their life, as we're all born atheists. Only when we consider whether or not there is a god do we cease to be atheist. Agnosticism is to conclude there is no way of actually knowing whether there is or isn't a god. I'd say you're probably the latter as I suspect most people are.

 

I'm an agnostic atheist, but lets not go over that ground again shall we ...

 

Besides, my post was in response to doubts that an 11 year old could even claim to be an atheist, when clearly he/she can.

[janie48]

How you can consider being convinced to believe a load of gobbledegook lucky I don't know. But that's the great trick that religion plays, once you believe you're taught not to question and in a circular way to believe that your belief is a good thing.

 

Great speech,but not convincing enough,you need to do better then that if you want everyone to convert to atheism

A bit less of the cocky approach might acchieve better results,have you tried that?

[Cyclone]

You can't be born an atheist, a baby has no ability to believe or not believe in something, you might as well claim that a cat or a tree or a rock is an atheist.

 

That said, agnostic atheist is a contradiction. The first claims that the answer is unknowable and the second has arrived at a conclusion on what the answer is.

[maxmaximus]

I think you're confusing agnosticism with atheism. Atheism cannot come to somene later in their life, as we're all born atheists. Only when we consider whether or not there is a god do we cease to be atheist. Agnosticism is to conclude there is no way of actually knowing whether there is or isn't a god. I'd say you're probably the latter as I suspect most people are.

 

I used to believe in both God and Father Christmas along with many other fantasy being, at the point I stopped believing in the existence of God I became an atheist, before that I must have been a thiest.

[Cyclone]

Great speech,but not convincing enough,you need to do better then that if you want everyone to convert to atheism

A bit less of the cocky approach might acchieve better results,have you tried that?

 

I don't want to 'convert' you. Any more than I'd want to convert you away from a belief that father christmas was real.

I do however see the two beliefs as equivalent, and it's difficult to have much respect for adults who still believe in father christmas.

[Cyclone]

Because it likely gives her a warm fuzzy feeling inside to know that when loved ones die they go to a better place and she will one day be reunited with them.

 

Yes, I expect so, that's one of the common tricks of the religious meme, promise something that can't be tested or verified for the future, and demand things now in the present.

[quisquose]

Great speech,but not convincing enough,you need to do better then that if you want everyone to convert to atheism

A bit less of the cocky approach might acchieve better results,have you tried that?

 

Theism and atheism are simply positions with respect to a single question.

 

There is no empowerment to convert people by holding either position. For that takes dogma, ... political, religious or otherwise.

[quisquose]

You can't be born an atheist, a baby has no ability to believe or not believe in something, you might as well claim that a cat or a tree or a rock is an atheist.

 

That said, agnostic atheist is a contradiction. The first claims that the answer is unknowable and the second has arrived at a conclusion on what the answer is.

 

I don't know, and I don't believe. Both are different. I'm an agnostic atheist, there is no contradiction.

[RootsBooster]

Yes, and many of them do, but the ones who often claim to be the most certain are those who have never progressed from childhood, in a questioning sense.

 

Thats why i have a certain respect for the atheists who have come to their decision by thorough examination,and i'm more likely to listen to those who have identified themselves as atheists through thought and study as adults.

 

So now you have concluded that you were taught a myth,but at at least you are an atheist who has had the advantage of knowledge which resulted in you arriving at that opiinion.

 

What about me? I've always been an atheist, I haven't come to any conclusions to be one, I just am and always have been since birth.

 

Do people like me not deserve any respect?

[RootsBooster]

I think you're confusing agnosticism with atheism. Atheism cannot come to somene later in their life, as we're all born atheists. Only when we consider whether or not there is a god do we cease to be atheist. Agnosticism is to conclude there is no way of actually knowing whether there is or isn't a god. I'd say you're probably the latter as I suspect most people are.

 

Of course you can become an atheist later in life. We are born atheist but many become theist as they grow older and their regional or family faith is taught to them (being the most common way of beginning theism). Later on in life the person may realise there's no actual reason to believe what they have been told, then become atheist again.