So??????

It's been some time since we had one of these discussions on CC.com.

Just thought I might want to get this off my back as many previous arguments have been made years ago regarding some religious views.

I am an atheist.

Actually been for a couple of years already. I don't believe in any magical being nor a after life. I changed my mind back in 2009 due to absolutely 0 scientific evidence supporting the matter. This doesn't even account for the unanimous amount of falsifiable claims in the fanfic people tend to call the Bible, the word of God. etc??????

I have however not mentioned this to family members as they are all traditional folk that will probably accuse me of blasphemy and disown me out of their little circle. Close friends and a recently ex SO knows but I probably would continue the Christian act in front of my family to my grave.

It sucks having to lie like that but the contrary is much better. For the past 4 years I've finally opened my eyes and realised what a silly lifestyle I used to have.

[TTD03]

Yea same here,
I don't mind the whole story of god and stuff, but I realize that once your dead, your dead and gone.

[gouldy]

This is my absolute favourite subject to discuss for various reasons and in various guises. However, I learned a long time ago not to bother bringing it up here, although I will happily address it when it rears it's head!

This is the internet, though remember, so being an atheist here is nothing worthy of note

[TTD03]

gouldy wrote:

This is my absolute favourite subject to discuss for various reasons and in various guises. However, I learned a long time ago not to bother bringing it up here, although I will happily address it when it rears it's head!

This is the internet, though remember, so being an atheist here is nothing worthy of note

+1

[hyyyper]

Just a friendly reminder to keep it nice and friendly. The moment the discussion goes of the rails the topic will be locked.

[Mikey]

I was raised Catholic, but just before middle school I revolted and told my parents I had no interest in religion or church. That if there is some sort of supreme being, and he or she is ready to pass judgement upon me, then there is not much I can do about it anyway. No sense in living in fear for something that has never been proven. In high school and college I studied a lot of technical and science fields, and it is for this reason that I am an Agnostic.

[TTD03]

^ Lol I was just thinking of the Bill Nye thing as I was reading your post.

gouldy wrote:

This is my absolute favourite subject to discuss for various reasons and in various guises. However, I learned a long time ago not to bother bringing it up here, although I will happily address it when it rears it's head!

Which is why I decided to post this eventually. Last religious discussion I saw on the forum was when I was still a believer.

gouldy wrote:

This is the internet, though remember, so being an atheist here is nothing worthy of note

True that. There's nothing special about atheism in general nor do we unite. The term atheism even bothers me a bit as it is commonly misinterpreted as a religious view where I just call it the lack thereof.

Athiesm meaning the inverse of theism. Like acos, atan, asine.

hyyyper wrote:

Just a friendly reminder to keep it nice and friendly. The moment the discussion goes of the rails the topic will be locked.

Hopefully we're all big and responsible now.

Oh for the record I'm not a fan of Bill Nye. Even though he's 100% correct, his comical attitude towards debating is infuriating. Ken Ham vs Bill Nye was just a 3 hour waste of my time.

[gouldy]

Mikey wrote:

...and it is for this reason that I am an Agnostic.

This is my least favourite sentence to read on this subject.

One cannot be "an agnostic", that's not a thing. You be agnostic towards something, but you cannot simply be an agnostic. You can be an agnostic atheist, or agnostic theist for example, but the word agnostic alone cannot be used to describe a position of belief, as it does not describe a position of belief.

I notice the trend for saying "I'm an agnostic", especially from the US, where it seems as though the word "atheist" has become to feel like a swear word.

gouldy wrote:

One cannot be "an agnostic", that's not a thing. You be agnostic towards something, but you cannot simply be an agnostic.

Richard Dawkins (read: King of Atheists) argues that you can be "an agnostic" and refers to a majority of people that identify with Atheism as "teapot agnostics".

dj, I think the last discussion we had on these boards was 2 years ago when I made a post about the Reason Rally.

I just believe that all religion is basically made up and a bunch of crap that people believe in for some reason.

[gouldy]

NightwindElf wrote:

gouldy wrote:

One cannot be "an agnostic", that's not a thing. You be agnostic towards something, but you cannot simply be an agnostic.

Richard Dawkins (read: King of Atheists) argues that you can be "an agnostic" and refers to a majority of people that identify with Atheism as "teapot agnostics".

Gnosticism relates to one's knowledge of a subject.

Gnostic - knowledge
'A'gnostic - without knowledge. The letter A denotes 'without', this derives from Latin.

To the say the phrase "I am an agnostic" when answering the question "do you have a religious belief?", does nothing to answer the question and is nothing like close to being grammatically correct. You are quite literally saying "I am a without knowledge". The word agnostic is a qualifier for a position of belief, not the position itself. I find it most used by people who are accustomed to an environment where it is generally seen as a bad thing to be an atheist, so they use the word agnostic when describing their position, even though they actually are an atheist. Given that it is largely true of the United States that the word "atheist" brings about bad feelings from others, the phrase "I am an agnostic" has become much more prevalent on the internet. As such, the phrase seems to have become accepted by the majority, which is a little unsettling, as the phrase means nothing, whatsoever, on its own.

"Richard Dawkins (read: King of Atheists) argues that you can be "an agnostic" "

Someone isn't "an" agnostic. Someone is agnostic about something and therefore their position of belief is "X". You can't use the word "agnostic" alone to describe your belief position. To say "I am agnostic towards the subject of god, and therefore hold no belief", or "I am agnostic towards the subject of god, but still hold a belief in the teachings of the Bible", are both perfectly legitimate sentences describing a belief position. "I am an agnostic", is most definitely not.


Someone could say "I am agnostic", and then not describe their position any further - although this doesn't answer the question about their belief, it is, at least, grammatically correct. But no one is "an agnostic".

Leave it to a Brit to turn this into a discussion about grammar.

[gouldy]

NightwindElf wrote:

Leave it to a Brit to turn this into a discussion about grammar.

It's not so much grammar, more about word definitions.

Something I forgot to mention, is that part of the reason for this phrase becoming more prevalent is the false idea that the word "atheist" means someone that has actively decided they believe there is NO god. Which is not true, again deriving from Latin:

Theist - with belief.
'A'theist - without belief.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Agnostics are generally wusses that play mandolin and listen to Coldplay or something along those lines and want everything super safe and hideously boring. Have some balls. That's my opinion of agnostics and I generally don't really care what they say because it's all indirect dribble.

Just respect your family's beliefs on things and don't turn into the debate team captain at family parties and you'll be fine. Remember, you're just as bad as the door-to-door [insert whatever group here] that annoys your particular area if you bring it up at dinner all the time and stuff like that.

gouldy wrote:

NightwindElf wrote:

Leave it to a Brit to turn this into a discussion about grammar.

It's not so much grammar, more about word definitions.

Something I forgot to mention, is that part of the reason for this phrase becoming more prevalent is the false idea that the word "atheist" means someone that has actively decided they believe there is NO god. Which is not true, again deriving from Latin:

Theist - with belief.
'A'theist - without belief.

Theist, from the Greek theos, meaning 'God'. Atheist, from the Greek atheos, 'without God'.

http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=atheist
http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/atheist