i am an atheist

[Zedblade]

I just read through all 29 pages of this thread (yeah I was bored) and it was pretty damn entertaining and for the most part, civilized. In an attempt to get it going again, here are my opinions on a few of the topics brought up. Reply if you want, if not... I guess let the thread die then.

Is there a God?

Fuck if I know. Science can't prove there isn't one, just like men of faith can't prove there is one. Guess that one is going to stay at a stand still for a while.

On Homosexuality

I don't think homosexuality is an illness or a choice. In my mind people can be born with a variety of sexual preferences, just like people can be born with a variety of different heights, skin tone, eye color, hair length etc. Also, how can people say homosexuality is a choice? I didn't choose to be straight, so how could someone choose to be gay?

On The Universe and ETs

Whoever said that the big bang theory can be disproved because there are planets and other elements out there that are supposedly older then the universe needs to show some data. The universe is estimated to be about 14 Billion years old, I've never seen any article stating there is anything IN the universe that is older. Even if that was true, that doesn't disprove the Big Bang Theory, it just disproves our estimated age of the Universe.

As for ETs, I doubt any of the so called UFO sightings are real. However I do believe there is ET life out there somewhere. There are literally billions of stars in our galaxy alone... and there are Billions of galaxies in the visible universe. How can there Not be another world out there with life on it? It happened once, which means it could happen again.

Do Ghosts exist?

No, only overactive imaginations and fear.


That's all I really care about typing right now.

[Roberto1223]

I agree with all your points except homosexuality one.
Homosexuality I believe is sometimes nothing but a bad decision made in a bad situation for some people (not all). For example; your at a party, you are super drunk and some sketchy bisexual guy starts joking around with you then starts feeling you up and you fucking push him over and call him a fag, but then suppose he has some drug on him and he puts it in your drink and ends up screwing you from behind and you never even knew until you hear the rumors.
It ruins your life and sometimes causes you to question your sexual preferences, and the victim might end up doing it again.

Almost like when a person tries out a drug for the first time, it is weird the first time, but once you do it you start feeling indifferent towards that experience you once thought of as a bad one before doing it.

Who is to say (straight guys) that putting your penis in a girlââ,¬â,,¢s rectum dosent feel the same as in maleââ,¬â,,¢s ass. It is just the mental picture of the same sex physiology and the act against societyââ,¬â,,¢s norm that repulses other men from men and women from other women when straight. But when some make the decision (read "drunken individual" example above) to break norm to find out that they can achieve sexual pleasures with same sex too, they go gay.

Itââ,¬â,,¢s like when a "good" kid steals something from some gas station store because his friends did it too. Even though he had to overcome his consciousness' ethical rational, he found out it was really easy to do it without getting caught. So now, he thinks of it as something he can do any day if he needs some snack for free.

Gayness as choice (not all cases) can also be related to losing virginity (as straight guy) with a girl. First it is kind of weird because you think of pussy as something awesome when you havenââ,¬â,,¢t had it. then once you have it you realize that it feels good but that itââ,¬â,,¢s not as big of a deal as you pictured it was; in addition, this experience helps you acknowledge the ease of getting laid sometimes because you realize that many girls are down to fuck with no real commitment even if you ask them for sex straight up.
Therefore the only real thing preventing you from losing your virginity was a fear not really anything to do with girls being hard to get (some are but u should go for easier ones imo lol.. (Unless ur super pro pimp))

So yeah idk if I sidetracked too much or if i was able to illustrate my point, but to sum it up I say this

*Gayness does exist by choice (psychological issues like undergoing rape or past experiences one actually enjoyed), as well as by genetical disorder (idk how that would work, but usually when you see kids that dress like girls at young age that is the case). I wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t go as far as to say homosexuality is normal and completely sane at its source. Just because gay people can live healthy happy lives doesnââ,¬â,,¢t make homosexuality a healthy psyche. (I am not an activist against gay rights Iââ,¬â,,¢m just saying gayness is not normal at its source (either mentally or genetically)).

Donââ,¬â,,¢t say "whereââ,¬â,,¢s the research that proves your point?" because there is none. Doing research on that kind of stuff gains no money to scientists and provokes gay groups to go on a grief riot. Scientists have nothing but loses if they spend time researching that.

[LennardF1989]

Gay, Bi, Straight, what the hell does it matter? Everyone is unique in his own person, you shouldn't need a reason whether or not you feel attracted to a person.

[CurdyMilk]

Genesis 1:1  ââ,¬Å"In the beginning Godââ,¬Â¦Ã¢â,¬Â

Atheist:  ââ,¬Å"Evolution is true.ââ,¬Â
God Believer:  ââ,¬Å"Prove it.ââ,¬Â
Atheist:  ââ,¬Å"I canââ,¬â,,¢t.  Prove to me that there is a God.ââ,¬Â
God Believer:  ââ,¬Å"I canââ,¬â,,¢t.ââ,¬Â

Genesis 1:1  ââ,¬Å"In the beginning God createdââ,¬Â¦Ã¢â,¬Â

God Believer:  ââ,¬Å"But I believe there is a God.ââ,¬Â
Atheist:  ââ,¬Å"I believe there is no God.ââ,¬Â
God Believer:  ââ,¬Å"Ok, great.  We have common ground.  We both believe, and we are both here, right?  Give me a nudge to make sure.  (Reality Check)  I believe that we were created by a good and great God; you believe that we happened.
Atheist:  ââ,¬Å"But if there is a God, he cannot be good and great at the same time.  If he is good, he is not great (or powerful) enough to do anything to change the world we are living in.  If he is great, then he is not good because we have a lot of problems here on earth that he is ignoring.ââ,¬Â

When you get right down to it, this is the fundamental difference between Atheists and God believers.  One of the major problems is that people try to use science to prove and disprove what it was not invented to do.  Ideas of the origin of the world and its governance are completely beyond the boundaries.  These can only be explained through religious views and faith.  Scienceââ,¬â,,¢s main focus is the properties, process, histories, and some purposes of the universe.  It is used to further our knowledge.  So what do I believe?  I believe what the Bible says.  Some would call me a ââ,¬Å"Christian,ââ,¬Â but the term does not mean anything what it used to mean, and there are many people who claim to be Christians but they really are not.  Therefore, I just like to call myself a Bible Believer.  Why?  If you look at the entire book, you can see that all prophesies spoken by the prophets through God have been fulfilled from the Old Testament to the New Testament.  Jesus Christ came to die for our sins in order for us to become healed.  It is for us to decide whether to accept or reject.  He wants us to make the choice to love him back rather than just get rid of all sin because it shows our true belief and trust in him.  God has revealed himself to us, and he is a personal God (even still today).   And also, you can see how the world is moving exactly toward the direction of the end times as seen in Revelation.  We are not there yet, but it is coming. 
It is quite interesting to even look at the history of the United States.  We were founded on ââ,¬Å"Christianââ,¬Â principles with God (The God proclaimed throughout the Bible) as the supreme ruler of the country.  And how did we gain prosperity and eventually become the most powerful nation in the world?  -by obeying God and trusting in him to provide for our needs.  He blessed America.  Now, we are falling away from these principles quite obviously, and I believe this is the reason we are declining as a nation.

[Ion.67]

We were founded on ââ,¬Å"Christianââ,¬Â principles with God (The God proclaimed throughout the Bible) as the supreme ruler of the country.

Assholes like you really piss me off. The US was founded on the basis of freedom, it just so happened that a lot of those people were Christian.

And how did we gain prosperity and eventually become the most powerful nation in the world?  -by obeying God and trusting in him to provide for our needs.

False, we worked and set certain systems and structures in place to help guarantee that position. If I wanted God to provide for my needs I would sit at home on my butt all day and let him generate money for me. No, that doesn't work. I work and get stuff done for my own good. God simply gives hope that when someone dies they aren't gone forever.

He blessed America.  Now, we are falling away from these principles quite obviously, and I believe this is the reason we are declining as a nation.

What are we doing that would be falling away from those principles? I am an atheist but your statements are not even logical. Obama is Christian and the day we get an atheist president I'm sure we will all die huh?

I would take the time to show you a youtube video of comparisons to countries with a higher percentage of Theists to countries with more Atheists, but I am far to lazy. Summary: IQ is generally linked to Theism in a reverse way (Atheist = Higher IQ)

[Aj]

Obama claims to be a Christian.  He also went to a church whose pastor(the wrong Rev. Jeremiah Wright) asked God to damn America.

I think it's just a show for most polititians.  They claim to be Christians, but they don't walk the walk very much.

Anyways, happy Easter to all the athiests out there! :-)

[Westfall]

Zed, I had read about objects in the universe being older than the big bang. Turns out it falls in the margin if error so it's not really thought about anymore. At the same time, we'll never really know. You know, with the universe being big and all (multiple solar systems, galaxies, universes, dimensions(?), etc.)

How can the oldest stars in the Universe be older than the Universe?

Of course the Universe has to be older than the oldest stars in it. So this question basically asks: which estimate is wrong -

The age of the Universe
The age of the oldest stars
Both
The age of the Universe is determined from its expansion rate: the Hubble constant, which is the ratio of the radial velocity of a distant galaxy to its distance. The radial velocity is easy to measure, but the distances are not. Thus there is currently a 11% uncertainty in the value of the Hubble constant measured directly by the Hubble Space Telescope. John Huchra gives a good discussion of the historical uncertainties in the Hubble constant since even before Hubble's work. There is now a more precise but more indirect determination from WMAP observations of the CMB anisotropy, and a more accurate direct measurement from Riess et al..
The estimated age of the Universe has been increased by the observations of an accelerated expansion of the Universe. The current best value is 13.7 +/- 0.2 billion years from WMAP.

Determining the age of the oldest stars requires a knowledge of their luminosity, which depends on their distance. This leads to a 15% uncertainty in the ages of the oldest stars due to the difficulty in determining distances.

Thus the discrepancy between the age of the oldest things in the Universe and the age inferred from the expansion rate was always within the margin of error. In fact, in 1997 improved distances from the HIPPARCOS satellite suggested that the oldest stars were younger, and the WMAP results in 2003 suggest that the Universe is older, so the discrepancy has disappeared.

[Wh1tE_Dw4rF]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHiuaGJ46zo


There is no christianity, no islam, no budhism. There is only faith in 1 God with different faces and his son with questionable looks.

Once every faith sees that and merge together, the world will be a better place.

[Tidenburg]

If I could, a large portion of America would be lined up and shot. Your country is so backward it hurts. I feel for the people with genuine 21st century mindsets who are trapped over there.

[Tidenburg]

Also, whoever the idiot who thinks America was founded under God was, America was strictly secular, mixing religion and politics was highly frowned upon. Look at the biased shithole that is your media and the things people take into account (religion, race, sexuality) when voting. It's sick.

[CurdyMilk]

We were founded on ââ,¬Å"Christianââ,¬Â principles with God (The God proclaimed throughout the Bible) as the supreme ruler of the country.

Assholes like you really piss me off. The US was founded on the basis of freedom, it just so happened that a lot of those people were Christian.

And how did we gain prosperity and eventually become the most powerful nation in the world?  -by obeying God and trusting in him to provide for our needs.

False, we worked and set certain systems and structures in place to help guarantee that position. If I wanted God to provide for my needs I would sit at home on my butt all day and let him generate money for me. No, that doesn't work. I work and get stuff done for my own good. God simply gives hope that when someone dies they aren't gone forever.

He blessed America.  Now, we are falling away from these principles quite obviously, and I believe this is the reason we are declining as a nation.

What are we doing that would be falling away from those principles? I am an atheist but your statements are not even logical. Obama is Christian and the day we get an atheist president I'm sure we will all die huh?

I would take the time to show you a youtube video of comparisons to countries with a higher percentage of Theists to countries with more Atheists, but I am far to lazy. Summary: IQ is generally linked to Theism in a reverse way (Atheist = Higher IQ)

Ion, if you want to continue this conversation, I would be glad to.  However, for anything to get accomplished we need to respect each other.  Email me if you want to keep going with this...otherwise, we would just be wasting our time yelling at each other with no real good reason.

[Tidenburg]

No offence, but if you believe something when no evidence, that theory does not deserve respect. The theory of evolution has proof but christians always use the "it's a theory" card. What they completely miss is that theory means something entirely different than a mathematical theory (normally known in science as a hypothesis), a theory in science has to have actual established evidence.

When you're taught science you don't shout "oh but it's only the THEORY of relativity!", it's accepted as though fact until debunked.

Also, as well as having gay marriage over here. The UK recently introduced a new law! Homophobic abuse / hatred is now just as illegal (prison time and all) as racial hate. :)

I lol'd that you think America became powerful because of God, like religion enables technology. Remember that little thing called the Dark Ages? Yeah.



Just some nice informationals for you. ;)

[frvge]

The one who posts the most funny quote/anecdote/picture in a religious debate WINS.

[Wh1tE_Dw4rF]

[Tidenburg]

oLAWDS, I wanna win.