Ask an Atheist

[TackleTheWorld]

I'm a devout atheist.
I have deep reverence in the knowledge that every second of life is precious, and than it's The End when my body stops working.

Why must there be no God for every second of life to be precious?

[Jim Johnson]

Why should every second of live be precious?

[Russell Kanning]

[Caleb]

I'm so glad you put up this "Ask an atheist" thread, Lauren.  There's been something I've been meaning to ask an atheist:

How do you spell `Atheist'? 

[Tom Sawyer]

Jim is clearly some kind of freakin' pagan, gnostic, nihilist. ("We are nihilists we believe in nothing...")

[Kat Kanning]

He's got his atheist's robes of office on.

[TackleTheWorld]

People who act to secure an afterlife are not acting to secure this life.

What's worse, religions usually advocate sacrifice as the way to afterlife.  Sacrifice is giving up something you need or want.  Sacrifice causes your natural life to suffer.  So athiests value their natural life and this earth more highly than others because they refuse to harm the life and earth they have for a fantasy of imortality and perfection.

[TackleTheWorld]

I'm so glad you put up this "Ask an atheist" thread, Lauren.  There's been something I've been meaning to ask an atheist:

How do you spell `Atheist'? 

Wrong, I guess.

Thanks Caleb

[Pat K]

Also I like not having a bloody guy nailed to a plus sign up on
a wall in my house . It is so unatractive and hard to dust.

[TEBON]

Also I like not having a bloody guy nailed to a plus sign up on
a wall in my house . It is so unatractive and hard to dust.

+1

[Tom Sawyer]

Also I like not having a bloody guy nailed to a plus sign up on
a wall in my house . It is so unatractive and hard to dust.

Ahhh... you'll be smokin' a turd in purgatory for that one Patty Boy.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I'm so glad you put up this "Ask an atheist" thread, Lauren.  There's been something I've been meaning to ask an atheist:

How do you spell `Atheist'? 

Realist

[MaineShark]

People who act to secure an afterlife are not acting to secure this life.

What's worse, religions usually advocate sacrifice as the way to afterlife.  Sacrifice is giving up something you need or want.  Sacrifice causes your natural life to suffer.  So athiests value their natural life and this earth more highly than others because they refuse to harm the life and earth they have for a fantasy of imortality and perfection.

Not all belief systems ask people to sacrifice in order to attain an afterlife.  Many believers in reincarnation believe that it is an inevitability, not something that you "win" by your behavior.

I'm so glad you put up this "Ask an atheist" thread, Lauren.  There's been something I've been meaning to ask an atheist:

How do you spell `Atheist'? 

Realist

Not to nit-pick, but atheism isn't any more "realistic" than theism.  You can't know that there is no god, any more than Caleb knows that there is one.  The theists do have the advantage in that it would be logically possible to find one or more gods and prove their claim, whereas the atheist can never prove that there is no god of any sort.

Agnostics admit that they don't (and often, can't) know the answer to that question.  I have more respect for that than for any claim made based on faith alone, regardless of whether that is faith in a god, or faith in the lack of a god.  I would have equal respect for someone who was a theist based on actual knowledge of the existence of one or more gods, but I've met precious few of those...

Joe

[FTL_Ian]

Not to nit-pick, but atheism isn't any more "realistic" than theism.  You can't know that there is no god, any more than Caleb knows that there is one.  The theists do have the advantage in that it would be logically possible to find one or more gods and prove their claim, whereas the atheist can never prove that there is no god of any sort.

The burden of proof lies on he who makes the claim of existence.  "God" is a man-made concept that people tend to absorb from parents.  Everyone is born an atheist.  It is our natural state.

or faith in the lack of a god.

Common fallacy.  I don't have to have faith in the non-existence of entities.  They simply don't exist until proven otherwise by their supporters.  This applies to any fantasy entity:  god, unicorns, leprechauns, or bigfoot.

[AlanM]

I don't have to have faith in the non-existence of entities.  They simply don't exist until proven otherwise by their supporters.  This applies to any fantasy entity:  god, unicorns, leprechauns, or bigfoot.

Or Shorty Dawkins. Oh, my God! What am I saying? I'm sorry Shorty.