Atheism

Hear, hear!

I won't pretend to even try and think of an answer to you. I was not trying to pass it off as factual information, but only from what I have seen.

And I consider Buddhism a religion and not to be atheist, though i can see how that would contradict what I previously

Seed, catholics, as far as I know, are not against evolution, given there is a "first cause". And probably religions somewhat like catholicism agree.

I still like gregorian chant.


Not that I play my tapes often, but still..

I'll second and third and fourth edgarblythe.

i have opinions about santa claus, the easter bunny and the tooth fairy

and yet curiously, i feel no need to discuss them

Yes. A spiritual experience minus the organized religious aspects.
Something to be said for that!

So, you call that spiritual. I keep getting labeled as spiritual, but trust me, I've no interest in crystals and my reading and interest in many cultures and their practices doesn't leave me full of fervor.

I do admit to joy in music.

When I read this it seems you are saying that I do this to you daily. This can't be true. If not me, than you feel that someone here on A2K does this daily. Is this true? My question, seed, is: does anyone on this thread who is telling you that they are atheist (or something close to that) preach to you as if they were religious?

I'm talking about my (atheist) soul, osso!

No, no, no! Not at all. I thought I portrayed that as a joke. I am sorry if I failed to pull that off. I was saying that the only people who were like that other then one or two people who are regulars on A2K, were either trolls or some one who didn't stay on the site long.

You and I have a good past present and hopefully future. You have been nothing but respectful and kind to me. I am sorry the joke did not get across as I had intended it.

Oh! Hard to read sarcasm! I think we have a squeaky-wheel syndrome here. Just as most christians aren't fundamentalists, most atheists frankly don't think about religion at all.

I read Seed's comments as you did, k. (Sorry Seed.)



You might just be right there.

I'll agree that a lot of the atheist that I know don't talk much about it. When it comes up, religion that is, they debate with me and talk rather level headed about it. These are my friends. Though I tend to find that my atheist friends have atheist friends that are not like this. (And this is where my idea of atheist taking their beliefs of being an atheist to a religious level) These friend's of a friend tend to be very harsh in their beliefs. Doing what they can to disprove anything and everything that has a religious sound to it.

I don't think I am doing a very good job at conveying what I am trying to say and I apologize. These guys I have had the joy of talking to, if they were on the other side of the fence would be called bible thumpers. They talk about it with such vigor, such passion that it seems like being an atheist is their religion, which is a contradiction of terms.

If that makes any sense at all.

That makes sense, seed. I only know one of those people ( and I know a lot of people of various religions and not). Most of us don't give a ****. We can be riled once in a while.

That's a false dichtonomy. "Atheist" is Ancient Greek for "without god". Because there are godless religions such as Buddhism, "Without god" isn't the same as "not a religion". It's a theist fallacy to believe that they are.

Well, I'm without theism and without belief, which I consider the same. Have I failed in some way to be properly atheistic?

I'll admit to fair ignorance about buddhism, even though some of my best friends are.. (and so on)

I'm probably too tone-deaf to notice when atheists take it to a religious level. For example, I strongly disagree with Farmerman about Dawkins, whom I almost find polite to a fault, and who I think sets an example of civil, well-reasoned discourse.

But in spite of my tone-deafness, I did notice that you personally, littlek, are especially generous about these things. In fact, one of my first memories of our real-life acquaintance is when you impressed me with a gesture along just these lines. You had invited the Boston crowd and me to a dinner at your house. At the beginning of the dinner, you said, and I quote from leaky memory: "Well, I'm not going to say grace, but if one of you would like to, you're welcome. Please be my guessed." (Nobody ended up saying grace.) I don't consider myself overly preachy, but I had never thought about treating my guests with me. At my place, we just sit down and eat. Your gesture was a very persuasive clue that maybe I was going to like you sometimes.

So, whatever consensus ends up forming about atheist stridency, let me assure you you're fine personally.

No, you haven't. Atheists are a subset of non-believers, and you are a non-believer. But even if you don't believe in god, you can still believe in things like karma and reincarnation. And that's what Buddhists do.

It happens (remember, I said I'm not spiritual either) that I don't go there.

I like aspects of buddhism. But no.