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The Crack that Lets the Light In

 
 
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 12:27 pm
The crack being atheism.
I'm not giving up on having a thread for atheists. Friendly voices of all persuasions are welcome. Just check arguing notions at the door. I am interested in knowing who else is an atheist and how life is treating you.
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 01:28 pm
@edgarblythe,
I’m an agnostic so I’m being bold by my self-inflicted spouting. I can’t know what is unknowable. I’m going to die eventually but seriously doubt I’ll ā€˜know’ anything after that because I’ll be busy being dead. After all, at that point I’ll be dead and without a body. What will be left to have any impact without a body is unknown. Electrical impulses without any cohesion. Hmmmm!?

I refuse all the handwringing and ā€œgod-botherersā€. Not my cup of tea. Only trouble I see is Agnostic and Atheists have no holidays…yet!
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 01:32 pm
As I have stated elsewhere, atheists don't need a reason to be atheists. Our reasoning can be intellectual, but it can also be very private. I've stated my case elsewhere on page one of this locked thread. https://able2know.org/topic/569276-1
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  2  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 01:33 pm
@Ragman,
Thanks for your input, rags.
0 Replies
 
Mame
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 01:47 pm
@edgarblythe,
Well, of course there's no definitive answer to whether there is a god, but I tend to believe there isn't one. Some people refer to 'the universe' or 'spirit guides' and other such things, but I have a hefty skepticism in anything spiritual, including God.
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 02:04 pm
@Mame,
Many of us keep our skepticism hidden in our daily lives to avoid complications. I keep it mum mostly, except when cornered.
Mame
 
  2  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 02:10 pm
@edgarblythe,
Yeah, I rarely discuss religion, abortion, vaccinations, and other contentious issues. Mostly because I just don't care what other people think or believe. None of it really matters.
thack45
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 02:14 pm
@edgarblythe,
Bertrand Russell wrote:
I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist.


That pretty well sums it up for me these days. And really I'm only atheist in the face of theism. So I guess I'm not so much an atheist, rather, that is how others might want to classify me.
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 04:02 pm
@thack45,
I can sort of see the agnostic position. But I couldn't be agnostic if I tried. I was hardwired from early childhood. Nothing I have experienced or read about has been able to dislodge any of it because it's who I am.
edgarblythe
 
  2  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 04:07 pm
@thack45,
In 1967 or 68 I was commuting between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Bertrand Russell's autobiography was still pretty new. I was reading my copy of it when an older man with a heavy black beard leaned his head between me and the page I was reading. He looked saddened, shook his head and resumed minding his business. I took it in stride and read on.
0 Replies
 
ascribbler
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 06:15 pm
@edgarblythe,
Quote:
But I couldn't be agnostic if I tried.


https://preview.redd.it/vaalncufnjz11.jpg?auto=webp&s=403ccd053a337fa7de8abec1c7001403cd77cab0

edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 07:28 pm
@ascribbler,
See, that's an opinion you are allowed to have.
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 3 May, 2022 09:00 pm
What sets my determination in these discussions is that people insist an atheist has no right to be a real atheist. As I said earlier, I don't even need a reason to be one. Like Topsy, I just growed.
Frank Apisa
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 01:18 am
@Ragman,
Ragman wrote:

I’m an agnostic so I’m being bold by my self-inflicted spouting. I can’t know what is unknowable. I’m going to die eventually but seriously doubt I’ll ā€˜know’ anything after that because I’ll be busy being dead. After all, at that point I’ll be dead and without a body. What will be left to have any impact without a body is unknown. Electrical impulses without any cohesion. Hmmmm!?

I refuse all the handwringing and ā€œgod-botherersā€. Not my cup of tea. Only trouble I see is Agnostic and Atheists have no holidays…yet!


Excellent post, Ragman.

Edgar seems to think that atheists are put upon by non-atheists...and that "people" insist that "an atheist has no right to be a real atheist."

For the most part, that is preposterous. Most people have no trouble with people calling themselves atheists. I certainly have no problem with that.

The trouble begins when someone INSISTS there are no gods. That is appreciably NO DIFFERENT from someone who INSISTS there IS A GOD.

Edgar gets all upset when I call him on this. And for the most part, he is not willing to discuss the issue with me...mostly because I suspect he sees the logic of my position.

I will never stop challenging people who claim "there are no gods"...just as I will never stop challenging people who claim "there is a GOD."



edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 05:15 am
Even Frank and his guesses can post here.
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 05:22 am
I remember when I was a little kid and finally accepted the arguments against the existence of Santa Claus. It didn't take me long to apply the same reasoning to the "God" story. But I maintained faith in the Easter rabbit for a while longer – those brightly colored eggs were solid evidence of its existence!
edgarblythe
 
  2  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 05:30 am
@hightor,
What about the tooth fairy? Smile
hightor
 
  4  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 05:42 am
@edgarblythe,
You mean that's a fraud too???
Frank Apisa
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 06:05 am
@hightor,
hightor wrote:

I remember when I was a little kid and finally accepted the arguments against the existence of Santa Claus. It didn't take me long to apply the same reasoning to the "God" story. But I maintained faith in the Easter rabbit for a while longer – those brightly colored eggs were solid evidence of its existence!


Are you also asserting that there are no gods, Hightor?

If you are, you, as with Edgar, are merely asserting a guess...just like our currently militant theists are asserting their guesses that a GOD exists.

Here is my position (posted several times already). Please tell me what you see objectionable or illogical about it...and which part you see to be a guess:

I do not know if any GOD (or gods) exist or not;
I see no reason to suspect that gods cannot exist…that the existence of a GOD or gods is impossible;
I see no reason to suspect that at least one GOD must exist...that the existence of at least one GOD is needed to explain existence;
I do not see enough unambiguous evidence upon which to base a meaningful guess in either direction on whether any gods exist or not...so I don't.


(When I use the word "GOD or gods" here, I mean "The entity (or entities) responsible for the creation of what we humans call 'the physical universe'...IF SUCH AN ENTITY OR ENTITIES ACTUALLY EXIST.)


edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 4 May, 2022 06:08 am
@hightor,
WE never believed in Santa Claus because we could easily see the neighbor kids with the piles of loot compared with our five and dime ****. We watched our Mom color the eggs. I was jaded by the time we got to the tooth fairy.
 

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