Agnostic or Atheist? (page 2)

troubled mind

I don't know what I am other than confused .....and I think I can live with that .

done4good

jstalin, thanks for the book recommendation. I have ordered it.

Whenever an extraordinary claim is made, I want to see proof before I will profess any possible acceptance of it. In the meantime I will lack belief in it.

Good point. I have considered this myself. I just have certain questions about where ceratin human traits, (such as where inate ethical and moral values), come from. There seems to be no easy answer for this, and I would have to say it is most likely the reason for the human invention of religion in the first place, (and all of the bad that comes with it). Does a scientific explanation for that actually exist?

j

drwtsn32

such as where inate ethical and moral values

Evolution has an answer for that. Ethical and moral values are good for the group, which in turn will aid in the success of a species.

As far as religion goes.. I think it was natural. Humans definitely want answers to things. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that primitive man, when unable to answer things on his own, would just attribute it to a higher power. Lightning, diseases, what holds the earth "up", etc, etc, are all things that used to be attributed to a god.

JamesThomas

Am I an agnostic or atheist?

Am I philosophical concepts, mental constructs, beliefs and ideas?

What am I, really?

j

kid-A

"That is not the same thing as someone who believes you can disprove god (which is impossible)."

Active negation and disproving a concept are two entirely different things and my statements did not conflate these two themes. Atheism is still an active negation, and does not require evidence in either direction.

plmkrzy

What do you call someone who is dislexic, agnostic, and has insomnia?
***Someone who stays up all night wondering if theres a dog***

lol! That was funny.

I still believe in God but I don't like him.

funkyderek

Philosophically, I consider myself a rationalist. I believe than truth can best be discovered through the use of reason. As I have seen no evidence for the existence of gods (or other supernatural entities), I have no reason to believe in them and so I am an atheist (and a materialist). I cannot be sure that this position is correct as I do not have all the evidence, and so, in a purely technical and incidental sense, I am agnostic regarding the existence of some gods (although not YHWH).

Short answer: atheist.

Confession

Being only about two years out of the organization, I am calling myself an "agnostic" at this point. I have appreciated some of the statements made in this thread.

...subjective reality does not, and cannot prove any reality outside of one's own experience.

Since nothing in this area can be proven, I don't consider this a question of what we know, but instead of what we believe. (Or at least what we think we believe.) That said, I still struggle with the idea that all of what we see just happened without an intelligent designer. I know at some stage, I will begin to read and entertain the work of atheist authors. I'll report back then.

Confession

Seeker4

Atheist.
On the idea of moral or ethical values I have a couple of ideas. The WTS often referred to what might be called universal moral values which show the presence of a god-oriented conscience.
In thinking about that, I tried to come up with a moral judgement that all people share. something every society considers is wrong. I'm still trying.
Murder? Human sacrifice was fairly common in a lot of cultures.
Adultery? Some cultures openly share their mates with one another.
Incest? Not uncommon in a lot of cultures.
Stealing? Some native cultures exulted in stealing from other tribes, and in some the idea of personal property was very loose.
So - are there inate moral values that all cultures share? Any ideas on this?
S4

Nathan Natas

The theological philosopher and hedonist Jim Morrison (The DOORS, "Adolph Hitler") said, "I straddle the fence, and my balls hurt."

I'm an atheist.

Pain-free balls for me!

Agnostic or Atheist?

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