Do you consider yourself an atheist?

Briefly explain your views on God, atheism and freethought. Would you consider yourself a theist of any sort? I'm not asking for semantics here. The word "spiritual" is not being used. This is about belief in a deity of any sort at all.

I do not believe in anything you might term supernatural, or magical.

That includes Gods, gods, karma, spells, prayer, miracles, jesus-in-cheese-sandwich, emaculate conception, emaculate perception, unicorns on venus, magicians, witches, ghosts, or anything of the sort.

I DO accept that there are many things not currently understood, and that it is unlikely that everything that can be known , will be known in my lifetime. All the same, certainly every strange occurance has a natural cause and could be understood on human terms.

Johnson1010
That includes Gods, gods, karma, spells, prayer, miracles, Jesus-in-cheese-sandwich, emaculate conception, emaculate perception, unicorns on Venus, magicians, witches, ghosts, or anything of the sort.

What!!!?!!!

You don’t believe in Pink Venusion unicorns?

That is soooo disappointing!

Just kidding… I am with you, none of the above are likely to exist and I do not believe in any of them in their traditional forms either.

So yes I consider myself an atheist.

Later

I believe the universe is mechanistic. Everything that is or was is a result of a long chain of cause and effect back to the big bang. Interspersed there may be randomness at the atomic level, but it is within known parameters.

There is no room for magic nor gods, but there is most definitely very much we don't know. All human action is determined, but the complexity of the brain, interactions with others, and the environment, is vastly beyond our current ability to understand let alone predict.

I am definitely not an Atheist
I do believe in God and think that belief is an experience rather than a "logical conclusion"

I don't believe in any kind of supernatural or magic, so yes I'm an atheist. I do believe there is much we don't know about the wonderful and strange universe we live in. What we do know and what we continue to learn is far more majestic and wonderful than anything religion can give us. In that respect, I agree with Carl Sagan, who said, "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

I do not consider myself an atheist, I do not like labels. This may sound like a cop-out, but once you put a label on yourself, you may feel the need to defend it. I can only defend my beliefs, not a label that may be attached to it. I believe in the idea of life after death, only for those I love dearly. It helps me coup with the loss. As for me, scatter my ashes, because once I'm gone, I'm gone. If I'm wrong, what a great surprise, but I'm not banking on it.

I believe in random acts of kindness, and anonomous gifts of charity. I do not expect recognition or praise for the kindness I spread to others. I see the direct result of this kindness here on earth, I have no other motivation. I have a very devout Catholic mother in law who is now dying, taking communtion every day comforts her. Believing she will meet her husband and daughter in heaven comforts her. I encourage her in these beliefs because it is the decent thing to do, these beliefs will get her through the last days of her life, will ease her pain. Who the hell am I to tell her she is wrong. When she dies, and she is wrong, she will never know it. The comfort and hope believing in God can supply is for the living, not the dead.

I do not believe in hell, except for those living in it here on earth, I do not believe in the devil, except for those who have encountered evil people on this earth, in this life. (Hitler was a devil) The fact that I believe in "heaven" and not "hell" puts me in the catagory of atheist in the eyes of many. It is not this simple.

I follow the ten commandments because they make sense, I feel sorry for people who need a list given by "god" to tell them the difference between right and wrong. The Bible is a book of stories, written by man, comprised of myths and legends, and it disgusts me when people use it as a tool of hate, intollerance and discrimination because they feel they have some kind of permission to do so.

I do however believe there is a force inside of me. This force is comprised of love and compassion and forgiveness, tollerance, a love of knowledge and hope. I do not need any external being to direct me in regards to these qualities and how to use them. If God exists, He exists inside of us and how we use these qualitities in regards to others. It's the only evidence that I can see. Whether it is in the form of love, or hate.

What distinguishes an atheist from theists, is an open mind. The search for knowledge. I said that many consider me to be an atheist, these are people who have decided to whole heartedly believe in Christian doctrines. This is easy, this requires no effort what so ever, I will go so far as to say, this requires a closed mind. They are of the opinion, "Believe it all, or you don't believe in God". Again, it is not this simple.

Man has the capacity for learning. Man evolved into the creature of today because of this capacity. To stop craving knowledge, to whole heartedly believe in what can not be proven, in my opinion, goes against human nature. However, seeking comfort and hope is human nature as well even when the source of this comfort and hope can not be proved. Maybe I'm a "human natheist".

The problem with atheism is that it denies the empirical fact of spiritual existence.

Tom

I'm not exactly sure what to call my passion for God, perhaps because I am not exactly sure what to call the God I am passionate for...and this may be because what I call God is not as important as God's call for me...and, I am not exactly sure what to make of this call, or what it will make of me.

This passion matters and it has something to do with what matters about everything: a passion for matter, material, the stuff of life...all of it from as far back to as far ahead including all points between: a passion for existence...not simply to understand, know, make sense of, define, or properly delineate and demarcate (which is a poor substitute for passion) but a yearning, longing, aching, burning passionate desire to, well, to...again, I'm not exactly sure what to say about this "to" or where this desire and passion is leading. But lead it does, even if it lacks exactitude.

I think it has something to do with creation: the changing of existence into something that matters...in such a way that existence itself, all of it, always and everywhere (which is not test-tube friendly) serves as material, the subject matter of a mysterious subject who creates, composes, calls existence into a matter worthy of, well, passion.

Thomas wrote:The problem with atheism is that it denies the empirical fact of spiritual existence.

First of all atheism doesn't do anything of the sort. So to start with you have applied an invalid definition to the term. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in a God or gods. Nothing more and nothing less. It doesn't address spirituality.

But let's pretend that your definition of atheism does indeed apply. Let's assume atheists deny spiritual existence. Heck, I certainly do. I think most atheists do too. Now what about "spiritual existence" is an "empirical fact?" Be very specific please.