Many people claim to be atheist when they are really agnostic. Some people even claim to be atheist after having gotten "really angry at God", which is perhaps the silliest thing I've ever heard.
This has been my observation.
Why Do Atheists Return to Theism?
by B_Deserter 145 Replies latest jw friends
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FlyingHighNow
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Gopher
To be sure, there is "condescension" on both sides of the believer/atheist discussion. The believers of the Western World are mainly Christian, a religion that tends to evangelize. And that's where some believers (even some on this board) can come off as irritating. The evangelizers say that others have to accept their God or else others will be eternally condemned somehow. They condescend in saying that eventually the atheists will see the light or be proven wrong.
The last few posters are technically correct to say that no real atheist can hate God. How can you hate something that (according to your philosophy) doesn't exist? Every atheist I have encountered (in real life and here on the board) does NOT hate God.
All atheists are agnostic. So are all believers. Nobody living on earth has the resources to definitely prove or disprove the existence of a divine being that has been described or invented by humanity.
To be a believer, you only need to pass one test -- do you believe in a deity?
To be an atheist, you only need to pass one test -- in your mind, is the evidence for the existence of any deity so weak or inconclusive that you do not believe in any of them?
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BenV
Gopher!
Excellent comments!
Ben
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FlyingHighNow
The evangelizers say that others have to accept their God or else others will be eternally condemned somehow. They condescend in saying that eventually the atheists will see the light or be proven wrong.
Not all of them. And it's not condescending to say we believe you won't always be atheists.
I would say that while I was a JW, I never really believed in their Jehovah. I hardly prayed to him. I just couldn't embrace this murderous, abusive god. I felt much more in touch with Jesus, who was colored by the kind, loving, one I learned of as a child.
I've come across more universalists in various churches since I went back to the Episcopal Church. I understand there are universalists in most any religion.
In between waking up to the org and coming to where I am now, I was very distanced from God. When I went through the horrors of the past year, I felt very distanced from God. As a teenager I let go of him completely and became agnostic. My definition of agnosticism was that I knew there was probably a god or gods and goddesses, but they didn't seem to care to intervene in the affairs of humans. If I was ever an atheist, it would have been off and on then.
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parakeet
JG wrote: "....maybe there is a difference in a true atheist and one who just chooses to hate god based upon a man made cult....."
If someone hates God, then he/she believes there is a God. They just don't like him very much. See the difference? -
MsMcDucket
Junction man guy, most atheist don't go around advertising that they're atheist. They don't want to get burned at the stake.
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MsMcDucket
I'm agnositic. I belong to a "non-prophet" organization!
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MsMcDucket
Awakenened that was very funny! ..."get to the other side." I'm going to have to remember that one!
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Fadeout
I've seen "maltheism" used the describe the belief that God is evil and should be hated.
Gopher:The evangelizers say that others have to accept their God or else others will be eternally condemned somehow. They condescend in saying that eventually the atheists will see the light or be proven wrong.
The thing is, if you believe the Bible that's really the only conclusion to arrive at. It's a pretty explicit teaching in both the Old and New Testaments. Which is why Christians scare me a little because at some level, the God's-gonna-get-you-for-not-joining-us belief is always present, maybe not to the same degree as with the JWs, but there nevertheless as an unavoidable part of their sacred texts.
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beksbks
The one that I get a kick out of (makes me want to puke actually), is that non believers don't believe, because god hasn't chosen to "touch" them. It handily sets them above others, and leaves no room for discussion. That condescending, superior attitude sums up christians quite tidily to me.