Home

An Atheist's Faith

user warning: Table './anti_drupal/asktheatheistcom_accesslog' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: INSERT INTO asktheatheistcom_accesslog (title, path, url, hostname, uid, sid, timer, timestamp) values('You think we came from monkeys?', 'node/2147', '', '192.168.104.1', 0, 'qt42ep3knva5rulv0ui12jidd4', 51, 1732171130) in /var/www/nginx/drupal5/includes/database.mysqli.inc on line 156.
Fri, 2008-01-25 11:23 — Sapient
Question:: 
If atheists claim that they don't believe in anything, then why do they truly and faithfully believe that there is no God?
Atheist Answer: 

I've never heard an atheist say "I don't believe in anything." Atheists don't neccesarily believe there is no god. Many are simple without a belief in God.

Here is more on the definitions of atheism and agnostic.

You're question is one of those questions that is generally on the "how to annoy an atheist" list of questions. Such questions are highly silly. Do you actually think we don't believe in anything? Don't you see how we can have beliefs about food preferences, clothing preferences, and entertainment preferences? And not have beliefs in gods?

There are literally hundreds of gods you don't believe in. I don't believe in those either. We are atheists in reference to all of those gods.

"I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” - Stephen Roberts

Enjoy this video on what Pat Condell believes:

In Rationality,
Brian Sapient

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Mon, 2008-08-04 20:18 — yellowcab643

B-leaf

Well, if you have to make me believe it and it isn't explainable then it ought to be called make believe.

Or, I b*leave it all up to you b*boss because it's b*bad gnus 2 me.

Ute Indian Cheif Shitting Bull

Mon, 2009-02-23 18:02 — SayNoToTheMagic...

a belief is a personal

a belief is a personal conclusion that someone CHOOSES to make. when a belief can be put to the test like say through proving that creationism as dictated by the bible which is the soul dogma for Christianity or any other religious text dictating the creation of earth, is false as proven by science it doesn't necessarily mean a person will choose to change their beliefs in the Christian faith. the fact still remains though as to the existence of a higher power or physical manifestation of our destiny's controlled by something greater may or may not be.

Mon, 2009-02-23 20:58 — SmartLX

Belief not a choice

I completely disagree. A person can choose whether to profess a certain belief, but belief itself is not a conscious choice.

Think about it from your own perspective, SayNo. Your handle alone tells me you're not a theist. If you were convinced that theism, true or not, is beneficial (say, you thought that it increases your lifespan and all honest theists get rich), could you suddenly decide to believe in a god? No, you would still need to be convinced somehow that a god is real. Sure, you could say you believe, but you'd be lying. Only when it seemed apparent to you that there really is a god would you truly believe.

Now look at it again from the perspective of those who really do believe not only that the Christian God exists, but that He created all life as-is, and the earth is only six thousand years old and made to order.

When they're presented with evidence that contradicts any of this, they're either convinced by it or they're not. If they're not convinced, it might be because
1. the particular evidence is inadequate,
2. they are unable to understand its implications or
3. their belief is strong enough to override their other thought processes, and perfectly good evidence simply has no effect.
A lot of the time, if 2 or 3 is the case they will claim 1 instead. Sometimes, though, someone will admit to ignorance or fervent presupposition.

If on the other hand they are convinced by the evidence that some or all of their beliefs are untrue, the beliefs are essentially changed or killed at that moment. The only real choice available is whether to tell anyone that this has happened.