Atheists: Time to Come Out of the Closet!

Oh stop it Phat. There is no analogy that works. You are talking about god choosing to speak directly to you. (And Paul). He's not broadcasting, he's narrowcasting. He's apparently chosen to reveal himself to you specifically. He hasn't done the same for me, why not? Is that fair?And those Hamas guys. They really believe. They really have heard the revealed truth. They actually have given everything in answer to god's call. You, nah, you can't follow the truth that's been revealed to you because it's a bit inconvenient. Which is fake?Could it be that you're just not quite as deluded as them?

Good questions.I could simply conclude...as George Carlin did, that it is all made up. My cognitive dissonance would lessen, as yours did.
jar used to continually tell me to throw God away. I balked at the very idea. I would argue back that doing so would be similar to my throwing my Mother away. Or someone very close to me. Their "God" told them to kill. | Are you saying that were I atheist I would be less delusional than I am now?

Why is that a difficulty for you? Your god has given many instructions to kill. And your god is the god of Abraham; so is theirs. They have heard god's voice and acted on it. Yes of course. And so would they. If god didn't talk to them they would not kill - or at least not suicidally in order to gain heaven the fast way.I'm also trying to point out that those Hamas boys have heard the voice of god just like you. We both know that they're deluded, so why can't the same apply to you? We think it does - Christians are not excluded from delusional belief just because they say so.

Because my God is not a God in a book. My God is living and active. My God is personified in the character of Jesus Christ. Show me where Jesus advocated killing. Allah had no son. This is no excuse, however. They have heard about God. They do not know Jesus Christ as God nor do most of the Jews. You do have an argument, but it does not solve the rift between the Jews and the Palestinians. Many of the Jews are atheists. And many of the Palestinians just want to raise their families and hope for a better future. Again, no. They have heard the voice of Satan, broadcast through their Imams and senior leaders with an inborn hatred and jealousy of Israel and a self-justification for forcing Israel off what they consider their land. I am delusional at times. It has nothing to do with any voice in my head except my own, though when one who knows God(Jesus) ignores that God, the enemy can grow in their head like a virus. Agreed. Christians, Jews, and Muslims can ALL be deluded. What makes atheists immune from delusion?

Without the damn book there'd be no damn Abrahamic religions. They all believe that their god is the real god and that he's speaking to them. There's absolutely no difference, you're all deluded. You've heard the voice of God, they've heard the voice of Satan.Can you really say that with a straight face? Of course, but not about whose sky daddy is the best sky daddy. You're all bonkers.

WTF?

How is that any different than saying that many Christians (perhaps as many as 30%) are atheists yet call themselves Christians?I have been accused of being one of them since I cling to materialism and ignore the sayings of jesus to give it all up and to do as He did. This coming from atheists who have read the book!There could be a major plot twist if everything goes to pot. That being that a latter day revival will occur and it will start with the humanists and atheists. Actions speak louder than words.

Who calls christians atheists?

Why do you continue to misstate atheists' attitude toward religion? Like most people you probably don't play tiddlywinks. Does that mean you reject tiddlywinks? No, not at all. In all likelihood you probably haven't thought of tiddlywinks in years.Most atheists have the same attitude toward religion. It's not that they're rejecting it. It's that they aren't even thinking about it, with the exception of when it's shoved in their face, which probably happens a lot given that religion is ubiquitous - unlike tiddlywinks.Gotta go - the Jehovah's Witnesses are at the front door.--Percy

Your God is an absentee Father. You have a gift for understatement. And don't forget irrational.--Percy

Actually, creationists do. Even though they may lack the courage to call them that to their faces, that is in what they teach.Despite creationists' determined refusal to tell us what they are talking about (eg, "what do you think evolution is?", "what is an 'evolutionist'?"), we can deduce what they mean by observing their statements and their writings.In those writings, an "evolutionist" is simply one who accepts "evolution" (whatever their bizarre Earth-2 misdefinition of it is). They go on to describe
"evolutionism" is being "atheistic" (another word they have a unique unstated definition for, no surprise there). Therefore, in their logic all "evolutionists" are "atheists". And since many believing practicing Christians do accept evolution (the real thing, that is) then they are "evolutionists" and therefore, according to creationist teachings, are atheists.One noted example is biologist Dr. Kenneth R. Miller whom leading creationists Drs. Henry Morris and Duane Gish acknowledged as one of their most effective opponents.  Creationists, would immediately identify him as an "atheistic evolutionist" (thinking that term to be redundant), but in his essay, Scientific Creationism versus Evolution: The Mislabeled Debate (by Kenneth R. Miller, Science and Creationism, ed. Ashley Montagu, 1984, pp 18-63), Dr. Miller describes himself as a "creationist" in addition to clearly not being an atheist:

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The Scientific Creationists

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We begin with a dilemma. Who are the creationists? Simply stated, a creationist should be anyone who believes in creation, in a universe formed by a supreme being. In other words, a creationist is someone who believes in God. By that standard of ordinary usage, I am a creationist (I'm a Roman catholic), and so is any other scientist who professes a religious belief. However, in the context in which I must write this article, ordinary usage will not do. We will be forced to use another definition for the word creationist, a definition which has been forced on us by the current of political debate in the United States.

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Another example is paleontologist Dr. Mary Schweitzer whose work is constantly and widely lied about by creationists, including our own ever-unrepentant candle2, as "blood cells and soft tissue found in T Rex fossils" (see my replies to candle2's repeated use of those lies; eg, Message 2930, Message 2943, Message 2948, Message 2954). She used to be a YEC and indeed entered into her doctorate program for the purpose of gathering data to be used to disprove evolution. Instead, she now accepts evolution because of all the massive amounts of data indicating and supporting evolution. She is still a strongly believing Christian, just no longer a YEC (whom she's very upset with for their constant lies about her and her work). And I have no doubt that creationists denounce her as "just another atheistic evolutionist."Of course, if you try to pin a creationist down for a definitive statement, they will waffle and weasel every way that they can; I have heard Dr. Duane Gish doing that on the question of other non-YEC forms of creationism (which according to their Two Model Approach would be consigned to their "atheistic evolution model" along with "most of the world's religions, ancient and modern" (Dr. Henry Morris).

If atheists are correct and this life is all there is, then nothing matters, bcoz life is meaningless - so it doesn't matter if all religion is bonkers.It doesn't matter what humans do or think or believe or feel or experience - they're just bags of chemicals whose existence is as meaningless as a bag of mud. Most atheists lack the courage to face up to this fact - going so far as to deny it - but that doesn't matter either.

Dredge:

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If atheists are correct and this life is all there is, then nothing matters, bcoz life is meaningless - so it doesn't matter if all religion is bonkers.

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I suggest you pretend for a day that there is no god and see if nothing matters. Here's a clue, millions of atheists think that our lives here matter and you won't do a thing differently except waste time chanting crap to imaginary beings.
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It doesn't matter what humans do or think or believe or feel or experience - they're just bags of chemicals whose existence is as meaningless as a bag of mud. Most atheists lack the courage to face up to this fact - going so far as to deny it - but that doesn't matter either.

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Do you want to explain what you think doesn't matter and what you mean by meaningless? As above, I find immense meaning in my life and what happens in it means a lot to me. In fact, because I know that this life is all I have it means everything to me; unlike you who thinks that this is just god's waiting room.

This is interesting. You don't refer to the sky daddy but to the afterlife. For you it is the afterlife that gives life meaning. How so?I'm like Tangle. This life is all there is and I try to live it in such a way as to produce the most joy possible. Since I do pretty much the same things that everyone else does (except the religious related stuff), evidently believers and non-believers alike come to the same conclusions about how life should be lived. Whether there's an afterlife or not doesn't change the fact that we're still just "bags of chemicals." What does an afterlife do for you that gives your particular "bag of chemicals" meaning? Do you believe judgment will be rendered after you've passed from this mortal plane, and then you'll know the meaning of your life? Or do you think you just pass from one plane of existence to another, leaving unanswered the question of how this confers meaning upon your life? I'm not an atheist, I do believe in God, but I also believe all the world's religions have it hopelessly wrong because, lacking evidence, they make it up. My belief in God springs from faith and involves no evidence.--Percy

Been there, done that. Atheism means a human being is just a bag of chemicals that's here today and gone tomorrow - there's no meaning in that; chemicals don't have meaning.If religion is a fantasy world, atheists who believe their lives have meaning also live in a fantasy world. Any meaning atheists ascribe to life is an invention of weak minds that can't accept reality. But that's OK, coz if this life is all there is, life is as meaningless as death, so it doesn't matter if someone lives in a dream world.