Can one ever be a true athiest?

[styley]

Do you actually believe that it is possible to be 100% truly athiest, with not a single doubt in your mind about the existence of a god out there somewhere. I have to admit that deep deep deep down somewhere there will always be something niggling away to make me wonder. It is probably because it is drilled into you as a child and it is very hard to dispel those life lessons be they true or false.

[Vicodin66]

Yes... you are an Agnostic:

''Agnostics claim either that it is not possible to have absolute or certain knowledge of the existence of God or gods; or, alternatively, that while individual certainty may be possible, they personally have no knowledge.''

[chakka35]

Yes. I am true atheist. In the same way that you probably have no doubts at all about the non-existence of Santa Claus and Cinderella, I have no doubts about the non-existence of God. It's not difficult.

[styley]

How do you believe we came to being chakka?

[littleoldme]

I'm sure it's possible. At present I'd describe myself as agnostic, but veering towards Atheism. When I was younger I had SOME belief in the hereafter - mainly because my dad died when I was 10 and I couldn't face thinking that he had just completely ceased to exist. I was never what you'd call religious, but I had to believe his soul/spirit/call it what you will was still around looking over me and I still (nearly 30 years later) find myself driven by an urge to make him proud. Whether or not that equates with a belief in God I don't really know.

As time goes by, my preparedness to believe in the existence of some unseen almighty being gets less and less. If one can approach the contrasting theories of creationism and evolution without emotion or preconception (a very difficult thing to do), I'd have to say the latter makes a lot more sense to me than the former, and there seems to be rather more evidence for it.

One thing's for sure though. If there really is no god (small 'g' intentional), then the thousands of years of various religions have been one hell (pardon the pun) of a con trick.

[pel320]

THEIR IS NO GOD!, When your turn comes to dying you become non-existent as if you were not born,the good thing about it is YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!,SO DO WHAT I DO ENJOY THE LIFE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN,BECAUSE YOU WILL NEVER SEE IT AGAIN.

[brionon]

Yes-I still wonder if the Tooth fairy just Might be real !

[styley]

What do you do to enjoy life so much pel?

[pel320]

I live! sometime i have bad days sometimes good you live get through both of them.

[Le Chat]

You don't have to believe in God ...or maybe ....or not! Their are other options of belief, which are not creationism or religions.

[chakka35]

styley, we and all complex modern life came from extremely primitive life by the process of evolution.

That primitive life almost certainly came about by the chance coming-together of the necessary chemicals. We have not proved this yet but we are well on the way.

[styley]

Yes, but where did the chemicals come from? In your OPINION.

[keyplus90]

Has anyone seen Evolution with his own eyes.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Any athiest that has an evidence-based outlook on life would say that there is a faint possibility that there is a god, but that there's no more credible reason to believe in one on the current evidence than there is fairies or unicorns or indeed that you will sprout a second pair of arms and develop the ability to fly if you eat enough hummous. Given the extreme unlikelihood of such a god existing, why bother behaving as though there is one?

(...and cue Pascal's wager...)

[WaldoMcFroog]

KeyPlus, it depends what you mean by evolution. In my experience, most people who reject evolution on religious grounds are either ignorant of what evolution actually means, or choose to understand it selectively. Please note I'm not accusing you of being one of these people. Not without evidence.

Evolution has been seen countless times both in the field and in the lab.

Evolution is a change in the gene pool of a population over time. Even someone like Michael Behe at the Discovery Institute would accept this has been seen countless times and that the evidence is overwhelming and uncontrovertial. Most fail to distinguish natural selection as being just a part of the wider theory.

What hasn't been seen, (but what is normally demanded as proof by those who object to the idea of evolution) is one species changing into another; a dog suddenly changing into a bird, say. Since evolution would never claim such a thing would happen, why would it be seen?

[keyplus90]

So in other words if I come to a cold country from a hot country and put my jacket on or little bit of extra hair grow on my body after sometimes to protect me from cold, Is that evolution.

[WaldoMcFroog]

I think we'd probably call putting a coat on when it's cold 'sensible' and the other a fashion decision.

[styley]

keyplus, there is prove of evolution in a sense that they have found

[styley]

keyplus, there is proof of evolution in a sense that they have found bones of a creature that is not a monkey, but not quite human, more an in between creature. That information could be used to hypothesise that perhaps there was a slow transformation of said creature to what we are today, humans. And in 100,000 years people probably will have different features than today. I feel a new question a brewing.