Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by A. Dave on May 9, 2011 at 10:36pm

Honestly? I don't really feel anything because of my atheism. I think my life is fabulous and all that, but being atheist doesn't really do anything for me. I guess you could say that not being religious means I'm not weighed down by all the hullabaloo that comes with it.

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Permalink Reply by Parsley Victorious on May 9, 2011 at 10:40pm

Atheism for me is freedom. The freedom to question, to think critically, to form conclusions based on evidence, to not be subject to dogmatic belief. Given that I have an incredibly strong, deep-seated curiosity about more or less everything, religious belief is simply not sustainable for me, given its utter lack of meaningful, verifiable answers.

 

In short - being an atheist doesn't make me feel anything, really; it's my feeling of wanting to know more that makes me an atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Juan Martin on May 10, 2011 at 1:16am

So,in short,it's not atheism what makes our lives beautiful,it is what made us atheists what makes them beautiful

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Permalink Reply by Graham on May 10, 2011 at 4:02am

Religion distorts the feelings and thoughts that I have as an atheist. How? Well, if we were all atheists, and religion didn't exist (I'd like to think that humanity will reach that level of enlightenment one day...) no-one would have to reflect on their atheism. It would simply cease to be an "ism" at all.
In the meantime, as a result, I end up reflecting on the schism between theism and atheism a disproprtionate amount of my time, as I suspect most here do - why else would we be here on this forum, otherwise?
My thoughts and feelings about the world aren't shaped by my atheism. Rather, they are consistent with it, and go hand in hand with it, but they were arrived at quite separately. Free thinkers are capable of this, whereas religious believers simply cannot separate their world-view from the dictates of their chosen manual, be it the bible, the quran or whatever.
I see beauty and ugliness in the world. I value and savour the beauty and try to nurture it in whatever small ways that I can. Much of the ugliness stems from religion. Religion perpetuates it.
Need I say more?

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Permalink Reply by Luka Rek on May 10, 2011 at 4:49am

It is interesting to me how my surroundings and the environment in which I grew up shaped what I today consider to be my view of things. I was baptized and did all the ceremonies or what you call them because it was part of tradition. However, in my part of the world, religion is not so "reflective", that is, it is something you do because you were taught you should. This has a positive aspect of there not being too many fundamentalists or religiously orthodox, but also a negative aspect of a large number of "believers" being hypocrites. I noticed this very early on in my life. My family never forced me to accept or deny religion, but I was always encouraged in asking questions about things which interested me. When I was 8 or 9, two Jehovah`s witnesses came to my house and gave me a child`s bible. I read through all of it in a matter of days and told them to come back because I wanted to ask them some questions. When they came back about a week later I asked them a bunch of questions and they politely answered every single one until I asked this: "How could have Holy Mary remained a virgin AFTER she had given birth to Jesus?" After which they said they needed to go and never came back. A similar thing happened years later when I went to talk with the head priest of my parish (not sure of the terminology here) and on several other occasions. The reason why I left any kind of religious belief behind me is not because of some kind of disillusionment, epiphany or any other type of melodramatic event. I simply did not wish for things to limit me and forbid me from asking questions when I am already, as a human being, limited in what I can do in this world.

I find it my only purpose in life to constantly better myself as a person and as a scholar in such a way as to have the highest possible benefits from it for, firstly, myself, and then also for other people as well. I wish to develop my interests, identity and knowledge of things to the point where no person can distort the reality which I constantly try to grasp. To look for reasons and purposes of things within the scope of rational thinking and science is hard and long, but fruitful in the end. To find instant meaning and explanation is easy and instant, but deluded. So being an atheist for me means taking on the responsibility of living the best possible life while taking care not to diminish the quality of the lives of others, to never stop at a conclusion because it suits our ego and to strip away all things which prevent us from persevering in any of these

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Permalink Reply by Jim Scotti on May 10, 2011 at 5:28am

Looking at the Universe through the filter of religion makes it really hard to see and understand the magnificence of the world we live in.  Having your world constrained by the limitations placed on it by faith and religion makes it so trivial compared with the grandeur we see around us with science and knowledge.  I feel sorry for those who cannot see past their religion....

Unburdening myself of the superstition of religion took a great weight off.  I not only could see the world through newfound scientific eyes, but I no longer had to look over my shoulder for the guy in the sky to judge whatever I was doing or thinking.

To me, faith is a bad word.

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Permalink Reply by dragotron on May 11, 2011 at 11:43am

In awe of the possibilities. 

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Permalink Reply by Andrea on June 9, 2011 at 12:07am

I am now in awe of nature. Instead of believing this was all a whim of a god, I realized just how eager for life nature is, constantly in a state of change to adapt. It is more beautiful to me. I am also unshackled of any fear of the supernatural (ghosts, demons etc). A fear that plagued my early life.  It also makes me feel more special to know just how small we are. The universe is incredibly vast, yet, here we are, in our little homes, on our little planet, in our little solar system. I feel like those Claritin Clear commercials, and suddenly, I can see clearer.

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Permalink Reply by AntiChristianLeague on June 9, 2011 at 12:22am

I feel more comfortable with myself now that I am completely open about my atheism. While I have never actually believed in "god" or been a member of a church, I used to try to "fit in" with the religious crowd. Why? Well, even though my head was screaming at me that those people were insane to believe such things, I was curious about how happy they appeared...With themselves and life in general.

Now I know that the supposed happiness was in most cases a farce, though some of it might have been that they were confident about themselves, no matter how deluded they may have been.

I think I've found a tolerable level of satisfaction within my own life through giving up thinking that I needed to change my beliefs, or pigeon hole myself into any specific mode of thought. Nowadays, I'm happy with who I am, and confident in my own NON belief.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Hale on August 4, 2011 at 2:17am

I know someone well-known has said something similar to what I'm about to say (albeit in a more eloquent manner), but I cannot remember his name...

Atheism does not make me feel differently about life; the knowledge brought about through science shapes my feelings about life and the universe. Just imagining how I am made from the very stuff of the universe, how billions of years ago the electrons, neutrons, and protons in my body were part of an immense star (or even multiple stars), fills me with a sense of awe.  This idea fills me with a sense of camaraderie not only with my fellow homo sapiens, but also with the animals, the plants, the insects, the microbes, the rocks, the water, the oxygen, etc.  I feel like part of the universe, not a separate entity for which the universe was created.

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Permalink Reply by A. Dave on August 4, 2011 at 9:35am

Sounds like Lawrence Krauss:

 

"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today."

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Permalink Reply by Wesley on August 7, 2011 at 6:17pm

Coming from a religious and spiritual background, being atheist is a very freeing experience.  The universe is much bigger than ever before.   The wonder and mystery are grander than ever and I am not scared to say I don't know.   This life...This one short life becomes much more precious.  This earth, the only one we have, also becomes more precious.

 

Time is too short to waste on petty things.  The heart grows bigger as the universe grows larger and what we know becomes a tinier and tinier speck even as our knowledge continues to expand.

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