Just As Dogmatic

[nailit]

are atheists/agnostics just as dogmatic about their unbelief as religionists are of theirs?
Wouldnt it be more honest to say (when it comes to the 'big issues' such as life after death, paranormal experiences, etc) that we just dont know?

Ive wavered between belief systems for years and have read the bible/koran/other religious writings and Dawkins/Hitchens et all.

Ive spent countless hours reading forums of all faiths and those of no faith. But what strikes me is how similar, atheists present their case similar to how religionists present theirs..."im right and youre wrong"....no middle ground.

[woofgang]

I believe in god and in a life of some kind after death here but I am not dogmatic about it and have never said that i am right and others are wrong. How could I? Its what I believe in and hope for but I have no proof

[MallyJ]

And I am the opposite but the same as Woofgang. I do not believe in god and believe that once we are dead that is it. I think everyone should believe those things that make them most comfortable ... providing that they have come to those beliefs through finding out and making informed decisions. I think no less or more of people because of their beliefs...

[keyplus90]

The main mantra of atheism is that we know and you don't and we are intelligent and you are fool. So what do you expect after that?

[woofgang]

wow this thread must be a first for R and S....two diametrically opposed answers and no yelling.

[naomi24]

Keyplus, slightly the wrong way around there. It’s the religionists who tell us they know. Shame they can’t synchronise stories.

[Mamyalynne]

I have never been dogmatic about my beliefs in conversation etc - nor in truth has anyone I chat with.

If someone were to state their non belief, I would show no shock or surprise and accept that as part of them.

We each choose our own paths, I would never deem to tell anyone they had chosen the wrong one.

[DaisyNonna]

Believing is not the same as Knowing

[RATTER15]

I think most atheists would just like to see some kind of evidence to support what the bible or the Koran says. I certainly dont see myself as intelligent, however, I can see through the stories of talking snakes, women born from a rib and 800 year old men building boats. So no I don't believe in any God. and when I read and see the killing that has gone on and still going on by Muslims, I really hope that there is no god, because if there is, he is one evil piece of carp, and I, being a civilised person would want nothing to do with such a repulsive and evil God!

[RATTER15]

And yes I can be dogmatic about such utter nonsense!!

[MallyJ]

I never yell Woofgang ...everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to belief systems .... providing they are not used to justify killing others.

[Retrochic]

Try Paganism, No one is encouraged to defend their beliefs, nor to persuade people to join their beliefs,but actively encouraged to understand and respect others rights to believe what they wish to believe in as long as it causes no harm. Most of the Christian holy days are based on Pagan 'sabbats'. Pagans are the only 'religion' that worship a god that is seen everyday Mother Earth, the sun the moon,the seasons of the year

[woofgang]

I don't yell either Mally.

[RATTER15]

Retrochic, but worshipping pagan gods are just as futile, these are still Gods that don't exist, the sun is not a God and neither is Mother Nature, and all the praying and worshipping to any God will make absolutely no difference to anything!

[wildwood]

Science can prove our evolution. Religions are based on illogical convictions.

Any specific scientific Q can be answered very clearly. Religious specific Qs are never answered clearly.

Try it, you'll see. It doesn't take a genius to find out the truth.

[mibn2cweus]

In the pursuit of knowledge it's not a question of who's right but rather a question of what's right . . . and why?

Differentiating knowledge from beliefs, requires an understanding of and commitment to the process of reason, the only means by which anyone can hope to learn to explicitly distinguish one from the other, to be liberated form ones cherished delusions and to learn to love what is real.

[Deskdiary]

"Wouldnt it be more honest to say (when it comes to the 'big issues' such as life after death, paranormal experiences, etc) that we just dont know?"

But in my own mind I do know, so it would not be more honest for me to say that I don't.

The very premise that there is a god and there is life after death is just so fantastical as to be entirely absurd. There is not one single iota of proof of either in the whole of human history. Common sense and logic dictates neither are true.

On a par with god and life after death, other things I don't believe in (to name but a few) are:

Leprachauns.
Santa Clause.
The fairies at the bottom of the garden.
The troll under the bridge.

[beso]

I don't know if there is a god.

However the unequivocal scientific evidence is that everything we see in the Universe can be produced without requiring a god to manage it. The only place left for a god's input is the manifestation of the first pixel of pure energy that we know as the Big Bang. Everything after that is simply a consequence of the laws of nature that applied in that first dot.

Consequently, since the description provided in them, it can confidently be said that the holy books of the Abrahamic faiths are nothing more than the musings of ignorant men.

Moreover, the notion that the Abrahamic religions with their deeply embedded misogyny, bigotry and prejudice represent a worthy model for human behaviour is plainly ridiculous.

Atheists actively reject theism because the faithful continually seek to embed the tenets of their religion into the secular framework of our societies. The did so with extreme prejudice and violence for centuries.

I and many other atheists are outspoken because will not tolerate this any longer.

[woofgang]

"In my own mind I do know" That's a belief, not knowledge.

[RATTER15]

Well said beso!!

[Retrochic]

well copy & pasted beso lol!