Question(s) for the board's Atheists
- Thread starter EERs 3:16
- Start date
I was correcting this ignorance: "Since you do not believe in God, then it's only fair to assume you believe Allah is false as well."
Is that OK with you?
I think the point is that since Allah is just another word for God, there is no reason to assume that they are different entities and therefore the question is pointless.
I don't understand the point of the question in the first place. I don't think my Muslim friends know I'm atheist and there are lots of my Christian friends that don't know it either. They know I don't go to church, but I don't think they know I'm atheist.
A very religious friend asked me if I'd help her son with a HS project. It was a Christian school and it was about atheists or agnostics and why they believe what they believe, or more specifically why they don't believe. I was happy to help, but did so in such a way that I didn't insult his/her belief systems, and he approached it in a way to not insult me for mine.
I don't really discuss religion at all with most people. To each his own, live and let live.
Disclaimer: (so some of you don't get your panties in a wad) This post will not address the question in the OP.
Being an atheist (not that I am and not that there is anything wrong with that) is harder to divulge than being a homosexual, bisexual or transgender. Over the last several months, I have toyed around with some of my Christian friends in conversation as a way to "feel them out" on their position. Probably the most alarming response was a married person saying they would divorce their spouse if they found out the spouse was an atheist. I really don't understand that one. Didn't they take a vow to love, honor and cherish, regardless. Don't they love that person for who they are, whether they believe in God or not? That one is dumbfounding.
Being an atheist (not that I am and not that there is anything wrong with that) is harder to divulge than being a homosexual, bisexual or transgender. Over the last several months, I have toyed around with some of my Christian friends in conversation as a way to "feel them out" on their position. Probably the most alarming response was a married person saying they would divorce their spouse if they found out the spouse was an atheist. I really don't understand that one. Didn't they take a vow to love, honor and cherish, regardless. Don't they love that person for who they are, whether they believe in God or not? That one is dumbfounding.
Thank you, that's definitely not something heard very much on this board.
I respect you and your viewpoints as well. I do with many on the board. It's not difficult to have rational conversations with most, even if we don't agree.
It is kind of difficult to divulge. This board is mostly anonymous so it's different, but otherwise you have to know that the person on the receiving end really knows you and your value structure.
It basically all comes down to living your life honestly and how you treat people. IRL I'm polite and respectful to people, I don't look down on people because of their income or vocation (nor do I look up to people because of them), I try not to judge because everybody has things they deal with that nobody knows about. I have no idea how somebody reached the place they are in life, **** happens. I practice random acts of kindness, I deal with people honestly, and I'm faithful to my wife. What many would consider "Christian values", but I just don't believe there's a God. I think it's just how we should all live to make where we are more pleasant.
I don't care what religion you are or what you do for a living or anything else ... if you're a good person, I'll like you.
Why would you? Their beliefs are none of my business and my beliefs are none of their's. Only people trying to create conflict would do so.
I don't know that it's difficult to divulge. I don't care to divulge it, mostly because I don't view it as being all that important. I'll believe what I choose, and someone else will do the same. It's nobody's business what those beliefs are unless you choose to make it their business. I generally choose not to do that. I have close friends and family that know, but I don't usually discuss it with either.
I think your approach to people and life is a good one, and I follow a similar model. I always think about that when I see or hear about surveys that say things like a majority of people wouldn't vote for an atheist for president. Most of the reasons cited are about having a good moral code or concerns that an atheist president wouldn't be as cautious about using nukes or the like. It always strikes me as silly.
It depends on who you are around at the time.
People wear cross necklaces all the time. If there were some kind of similar symbol for atheists you'd get judged immediately if you were wearing it. To many people, if you're an atheist you may as well worship the debil. They don't seem to have any concept that somebody can have their own morality that has nothing to do with a deity. Proudly proclaiming to be an atheist would result in a lot of people thinking you have no morality at all.
I prefer to keep mostly quiet about it and let my actions speak for themselves.
I don't live in WV, so living in a metropolitan are isn't the same. I don't have issue divulging it living here, most people I know here are agnostic at minimum. Even some of the people I know that are atheists still go to church, mostly for their kids.
When I go home and have conversations with people about my spirituality it sometimes gets awkward. I never place any value on someone's opinion when it comes to my core principles and beliefs. So, I guess that's why I say that I don't have a problem weighing in or divulging if it's brought up. I'm polite about it, I never challenge them to their beliefs and 95% of the time, it's very cordial.