Collarspace Discussion Forums


Home  Login  Search 

Atheism/Agnosticism


View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
 
All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> Atheism/Agnosticism Page: [1] 2   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 9:06:51 PM   
cabernet


Posts: 40
Joined: 4/10/2004
Status: offline 		Ok, I have a question.  But before I ask it I want everyone to know that I am not trying to offend anyone.  Nor do I want to start any controversy between those who are religious or spiritual and those who are not.

Earlier, I was looking at profiles on collarme and once again found a person who listed Atheism and/or Agnosticism under "Lives For"  on his interests list.  I don't quite understand this as I thought that one of the aspects of being an atheist or agnostic was so that you didn't spend any part of your life thinking about it.  And to me if you "live for" something it would mean that you would be actively spending a lot of time or thought on it.  And if you were spending much thought on it, wouldn't that mean that maybe you weren't as sure about your beliefs (or non-beliefs) as you thought?

Any thoughts?  Comments?  Pearls of wisdom?
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 9:26:25 PM   
lulu346


Posts: 1
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline 		agnostic and athiest are actually not the same thing, athiest believe there is no religion nothing to believe in, where as agnostics believe there is a religion but and a greater being but without proof of that being they won't put faith in it. so both are something you can believe in greatly so it is posible for someone to live for that

(in reply to cabernet)
Profile   Post #: 2
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 9:28:11 PM   
michaelOfGeorgia


Posts: 4253
Status: offline 		i prefer "idontcareism"...LOL

_____________________________

Are we having fun, yet?

(in reply to lulu346)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 9:51:10 PM   
juliaoceania


Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: lulu346

agnostic and athiest are actually not the same thing, athiest believe there is no religion nothing to believe in, where as agnostics believe there is a religion but and a greater being but without proof of that being they won't put faith in it. so both are something you can believe in greatly so it is posible for someone to live for that


Kinda but not really...

Atheism = believing there is no God, religions are not all built around believing in deities

Agnosticism = not knowing whether there is a God or not. Agnostic literally means "unknowing" or "not known". Gnostic means "knowing".



_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to lulu346)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 10:22:18 PM   
Zensee


Posts: 1564
Joined: 9/4/2004
Status: offline 		Perhaps the person in question is an Evangelical Atheist.

_____________________________

"Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water." (proverb)

(in reply to juliaoceania)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 11:08:29 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		Why not ask the person himself?  Strangers can't possibly know what was going through his mind...

(in reply to cabernet)
Profile   Post #: 6
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/21/2006 11:35:46 PM   
MasterKalif


Posts: 648
Joined: 5/24/2004
Status: offline 		cabernet, like veryone has stated, an agnostic is someone that doesn't have enough information to have "faith" in God or a religion....an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in anything (perhaps in science?). I suppose that by putting them in their profile, they are trying to show that they dislike people who are religious minded or who go to a local church every sat. or sun....or simply because they are militant in being informed agnostics or atheists and will fight against what they might see as an imposition of religion in some form or another (a waste of time in my opinion).

so I take it you like cabernet sauvignon? try the Casillero del Diablo, from Vinya Concha y Toro...

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 12:53:12 AM   
Level


Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: cabernet

Ok, I have a question.  But before I ask it I want everyone to know that I am not trying to offend anyone.  Nor do I want to start any controversy between those who are religious or spiritual and those who are not.

Earlier, I was looking at profiles on collarme and once again found a person who listed Atheism and/or Agnosticism under "Lives For"  on his interests list.  I don't quite understand this as I thought that one of the aspects of being an atheist or agnostic was so that you didn't spend any part of your life thinking about it.  And to me if you "live for" something it would mean that you would be actively spending a lot of time or thought on it.  And if you were spending much thought on it, wouldn't that mean that maybe you weren't as sure about your beliefs (or non-beliefs) as you thought?

Any thoughts?  Comments?  Pearls of wisdom?



Many people spend large amounts of their life "thinking about" religion, and are either atheist or agnostic, that's how they reached that particular viewpoint. Bertrand Russell is one example of a person that wasn't a "believer", and he devoted both time and effort in his work thinking and writing on the subject. C.S. Lewis is another, although he went from non-believer back to believer, eventually.

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to cabernet)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 12:53:54 AM   
ScienceBoy


Posts: 114
Joined: 11/21/2006
From: Bristol, UK
Status: offline 		I'd say it is a good way to live your life, to actively and constantly question the things you believe, any faiths you may have, and your understanding of the universe! (I'll bet you a dollar that's not what they meant though - I'd guess that they just really dislike the idea of a god.)

Atheism is a belief in the non-existence of God/god/deities - a position of irrational faith ;) (It also tends to imply a distaste for the structures of religions, but makes no real comment on them besides that those centred around a deity are based on a false assumption).

Agnosticism is the acknowledgement that it is not at present, or likely to be in the future, possible to prove, or provide good evidence for either case. (Scepticism, as opposed to cynicism)

I'm a militant agnostic myself. Can't stand preachy atheists! Worse than the dreaded doorknockers if they corner you at a party..

(in reply to MasterKalif)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 1:19:41 AM   
seeksfemslave


Posts: 4011
Joined: 6/16/2006
Status: offline 		I havent looked anything up but I always thought Atheists were those who "knew" that a Deity does not exist. Since this is a logically impossible position to hold it doesn't add much to anything.

As has been mentioned Atheistic religions exist....Buddhism for example.

I am not sure whether this really is true but I believe until a certain nation decided to improve the lot of the Vietnamese people by killing millions of them, that bit is true, Buddhists had never been involved in organised conflict.

(in reply to ScienceBoy)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 3:22:52 AM   
KatyLied


Posts: 13029
Joined: 2/24/2005
From: Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		My comment is the following: Atheism and/or Agnosticism do not belong together.  I don't know why people continue to group them together.

_____________________________

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
- Albert Einstein

(in reply to seeksfemslave)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 7:23:53 AM   
DesertRat


Posts: 2774
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: NM/USA
Status: offline 		Fast reply:

In my profile, I have atheism in the "Loves (expert)" categegory, just below "Lives for". There aren't many things I'm willing to avowedly "live for", but cats, love, singing, and a few other things rank pretty highly. At any rate, I don't view the stating of my preferences in my collarme profile as a philosophical exercise worth spending a bunch of time agonizing over. As was said by someone earlier in this thread, I fully expect and welcome requests for clarification of anything I say on this site and that especially applies to my profile. Now...if I WERE to have atheism listed under the "Lives for" heading, it would be for a pragmatic reason: to let a certain segment of the population know that they might not want to contact me, even if we seem compatible in other areas. It's not an issue I lit candles and meditated upon.

Bob

_____________________________

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro--Hunter S. Thompson
It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!--Chief Dead St. Knockout, 1933, Liverpool
Damn the crops. I'll only find peace at the end of a rope.--Winston Van Loo, 1911

(in reply to KatyLied)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 8:07:34 AM   
Zensee


Posts: 1564
Joined: 9/4/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave

I havent looked anything up but I always thought Atheists were those who "knew" that a Deity does not exist. Since this is a logically impossible position to hold it doesn't add much to anything.



Then the same must be said for those who "know" god does exist, as that too is a logical impossibility.

You make a semantic distinction, not a substantive one. The words faith, knowledge and belief are used, confused and abused pretty much universally.


_____________________________

"Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water." (proverb)

(in reply to seeksfemslave)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 9:49:20 AM   
Lieren


Posts: 29
Joined: 11/19/2006
Status: offline 		Or perhaps it's just a result of the fact that the choices are limited when using a checklist system   I feel pretty strongly about my spirituality and the only way one can represent that with the choices given would be select the "Lives for It" category.

Just my 2 cents...


_____________________________

~Lieren~ -- Happy in my Perceived Indecision :P

(in reply to cabernet)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 10:05:39 AM   
sophia37


Posts: 1433
Joined: 2/7/2006
Status: offline 		Maybe it was meant as a cosmic joke. Only those of us who "get it" on that persons profile need write. Or maybe that person knew it would be a great issue to raise on this board, and so was thinking waaaaay ahead. Seems to have done the trick!

(in reply to Lieren)
Profile   Post #: 15
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 12:16:12 PM   
fergus


Posts: 1110
Joined: 6/22/2005
Status: offline 		Certainly there are those that are just as zealous about their aetheism as some religious fundementalists.

fergus

(in reply to sophia37)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 2:24:51 PM   
FirmhandKY


Posts: 8948
Joined: 9/21/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: fergus

Certainly there are those that are just as zealous about their aetheism as some religious fundementalists.

fergus


I would put forward the proposition that the zealous atheist is more of a zealot than most (Christian) zealous believers.

I don't mind them having their beliefs, either way but many zealous atheist often seem on a crusade to "open our eyes", without seeming to understand that atheism (and in particular atheistic Humanism) is a belief system as much as any religious belief system.

*shrugs*  Makes for some interesting discussions, sometimes.

FirmKY


_____________________________

Some people are just idiots.

(in reply to fergus)
Profile   Post #: 17
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 2:28:00 PM   
juliaoceania


Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: fergus

Certainly there are those that are just as zealous about their aetheism as some religious fundementalists.

fergus


I know many people that would fit that description. There used to be a room in the religion and beliefs section of Yahoo chat dedicated to Christian V. Atheists screaming and arguing about who was right and who was wrong. It was so hateful I only stopped by once, and unfortunately it was an atheist that was more militant than the Christians were. I have seen this in other circumstances as well.

I have to say most Atheists I have met in real life were among the most moral and ethical people I have ever met.  Atheism is a belief, it is a belief that there is no god whatsoever.

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to fergus)
Profile   Post #: 18
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 2:37:38 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		Have I mentioned that atheists have larger penises than Christians?  It was a little-publicized discovery by the PEW Foundation.

quote:

ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

I would put forward the proposition that the zealous atheist is more of a zealot than most (Christian) zealous believers.

(in reply to FirmhandKY)
Profile   Post #: 19
RE: Atheism/Agnosticism - 11/22/2006 2:39:05 PM   
KatyLied


Posts: 13029
Joined: 2/24/2005
From: Pennsylvania
Status: offline
quote:

I have to say most Atheists I have met in real life were among the most moral and ethical people I have ever met. 


And they do this without dependence on a book of code to fall back on.  It is within.


_____________________________

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
- Albert Einstein

(in reply to juliaoceania)
Profile   Post #: 20
Page:   [1] 2   next >   >>
All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> Atheism/Agnosticism Page: [1] 2   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy

0.156