Forum:Is everyone on RationalWiki an atheist?

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I do not agree with any of you.  
 
I do not agree with any of you.  
 
Pitzy 18:31, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
 
Pitzy 18:31, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
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:But didn't God create sin by allowing the serpent to tempt Eve?  Why would a benevolent all powerful god create such a scenario?  [[User:Marlow|Marlow]] ([[User talk:Marlow|talk]]) 18:39, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Revision as of 18:39, 15 January 2015

Is everyone on RationalWiki an atheist? — Unsigned, by: GrandDukeofGrizzlydale / talk / contribs

No. TeenageWasteland (talk) 16:22, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
Who cares? Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 16:34, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
The idea for a RationalWiki user survey was always around. But no, not everyone here is an atheist. Osaka Sun (talk) 18:40, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
No, only the intelligent ones. Tee hee! - shit meet fan! Scream!! (talk) 19:31, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
Try not sounding like a /r/atheist at least in front of outsiders. :P --ZooGuard (talk) 19:34, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
Most of us are CIA stooges anyway. The stuff about atheism is just a smokescreen. WeaseloidWeaselly.jpgMethinks it is a Weasel 19:36, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
the FSM, IPU and Fairy Belinda prefer we not say, so yes , atheists with regard to some things Hamster (talk) 20:25, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
No, but rationalists, skeptics and people who ask for evidence before belief tend to be or become athiests.--Bob"I think you'll find it's more complicated than that." 20:34, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian god as has been described by those religions for centuries any more than I believe the Earth is flat, that the Sun revolves around the Earth, that a turtle propping up two elephants keeps the Earth in space, or that the stars in the sky are dead lion kings. As time progresses so does our understanding, this is mostly true except in the case of religion, which tends to make myself and other rationalists take a step back and question why exactly that is. I do believe in an infinite multiverse however, and as Bruno described finding providence in infinity, I too see there being far more to understand about the nature of reality than we know now. I understand that given an infinite system, all things become possible however improbable. This to me leaves room for God or a god-like being. However, as rationalwiki points out, believing in the multiverse in some sense still requires just as much leap of faith as does belief in that same Judeo-Christian God does. However, at least with multiverse theory, their is at least some evidence to support the hypothesis, if not any direct evidence of its existence.--Wyt3dr4g0n (talk) 22:01, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

I am a Christian, a legit one too. I believe Atheism is one of the many paths that lead to hell.Pitzy 17:39, 14 January 2015 (UTC)— Unsigned, by: Pits Brazil / talk / contribs

I'm not sure how one variety of nonsense can be more "legit" than another. Could you clarify how you know you're "legit"? Ikanreed (talk) 17:47, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I call myself agnostic (or, if I'm dealing with someone who's super-religious, I simply say I'm "non-religious"), partly for the sake of avoiding stigma and being non-confrontational. If atheism were deemed less disturbing than agnosticism, I would probably call myself an atheist. But also, "agnostic" describes me better because I don't presume to know whether there's a god out there, somewhere beyond the limits of my five senses. A deep sea fish, which didn't need, and therefore doesn't have, functioning eyes, doesn't know either whether there's a bathosphere shining a light on it; it doesn't mean the lamp doesn't exist. Or the ants in an ant farm may be unaware of their owner. Landmartian (talk) 17:57, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

No. Though people are often unsure if I'm Catholic or if I worship entropy in the form of Hastur. An argument could be made that there if very little difference between the two.--Castaigne (talk) 18:07, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
I ultimately consider the question of whether god exists or not to be irrelevant to the daily function of my life, and so would be an apatheist despite having other beliefs. --Miekal 18:16, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
I do not know if God exists. I also do not know with absolute certainty that unicorns, fairies or bigfoot don't exist. However, in the absence of any good evidence that they that do exist, I am justified in believing that Gods, fairies and unicorns do not exist. One is a question about knowledge and the other is about belief. As I do not believe that gods exist I am an atheist.--Coffee (talk) 18:28, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
(ec)Since we're re-opening this discussion, I've got lots to say, particularly about apatheism, but it relates to agnosticism, atheism, and every other term for the "whether there is a god" question. There's a lot of hypothetical gods that would matter to my day-to-day life if they existed, but there's a lot of good reason to doubt those gods existance, because the observational results vis-a-vis that daily life isn't there. I'm not agnostic towards that class of gods, nor should I be. They're non-extant. Then there's the set that I have to be agnostic about because they're almost defined by their lack of evidence: deist gods, faith demanding gods, invisible pink unicorns. I feel compelled to be apatheistic towards that. In the end, I have to shift the burden of proof onto the god claimant, because otherwise, I don't even know what kind of god/goat you're talking about. Ikanreed (talk) 18:31, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Unicorns are different because they would be something detectable by your senses (unless they were invisible, silent unicorns that are able to pass through matter like neutrinos). If someone were to ask whether such unicorns exist, I would have to disclaim opinion on the matter. I would also probably be an apatheist about it. Landmartian (talk) 18:35, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Invisible, pink ones can't be detected at all. Ikanreed (talk) 18:40, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Indeed. But is the argument that Gods - and by their extension their influence - are by definition undetectable? Because if neither they nor their influence is detectable then we have no reason to bother about them. If however they are detectable than they should be at least as testable as unicorns.--Coffee (talk) 18:44, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
That was the point of my post. Some hypothetical gods require and justify active atheism. Because they would present evidence. Others seem purposefully cloaked in plausible deniability and require apatheism. It varies. Ikanreed (talk) 20:08, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I said I am a legit Christian because that's exactly what I am, a legitimate Christian, the one the Bible talks about. Not some fake politician that says that to get votes. ANYWAY Unicorns haven't had an effect on the history or the culture of the world. On the other hand, God has been the basis of EVERYTHING since the dawn of the world 10,000 or so years ago. There is little evidence to suggest that God doesn't exist. Why? Because every Christian is an evidence he DOES exist. Every church shows he DOES exist. Every life changed shows he does exist. Can science bring joy, happiness, and end to addictions? Explain Billy Graham or Abraham Lincoln or Paul or the thousands of influential Christians in the world. Charles Spurgeon. How do you explain the fact you hate the God of the bible more than any other false god, or religion, your all in denial. If you ever explored the sciences, chemistry, anatomy, etc...You will realize how FREAKING COMPLEX THE WORLD IS. Every breath is amazing. Every particle transferring energy and staying in place is AMAZING. LIFE itself is proof the a God exists, we don't need the Bible to tell us that. Go to a third-world country, ask anyone if they happened by chance. They wont tell you about mother nature, no, they will tell you about a Creator, perhaps not MY Creator, but a creator. Think about yourself...As a kid, before your were influenced by Satan. What did you think??? Every time someone dies the bible says that is a warning- a warning that the end is near. For all of us. Are you going to be able to tell God you love him, or that you spent your non-influential and sad, depressed life trying to find happiness and disregarding all mention of someone that freely gives the GRACE of JESUS to those in need. I am a Christian, and I hope all of you become Christians, and I hope that someday I will see you in heaven, and rejoice I was part of your conversion.Or, in the line to Hell.— Unsigned, by: Somebody too dumb to sign / talk / contribs

Counterpoint; every other religion. And I never understood how you can argue "but the world itself proclaims gods existence!" because, hypothetically even if it did absolutely be evident a deity created it, what about it shows it's any more created by some desert hill tribes god than the great spirit of several native tribes? --Miekal 19:15, 14 January 2015 (UTC)--Miekal 19:13, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Point one: Shouting with capital letters doesn't make you right - though it does make you look silly. Point two: What is this evidence? You simply say it exists. What is it?--Coffee (talk) 19:26, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
The evidence - ebola, AIDS, cancer, poverty, starvation, war. Yep, he's an alright dude that god of yours. Doxys Midnight Runner (talk) 19:31, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
and what's your take on the Problem_of_evil. Doxys Midnight Runner (talk) 19:33, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I enjoy SHOUTING because I feel like a PREACHER! You asked what is the evidence, for God. Well.. If you want me to repeat the list.. But that would be a long paragraph so I wont. Basically, everything GOOD in the world is evidence for God. Caps are used as like italics for me as well, but that's beside the point. Anyway. Ebola-Sin-Aids-Stupid humans not listening to God when he said have Sex with your wife, Sin-Cancer sin..- Poverty, liberals...Just kidding sin- starvation, greed and sin- war, stupid humans not listening to God, and sin, and plain evil.. I suppose the fact that we want to eliminate the above things is fact that he exists. We want, simply put, perfection. 777. Sadly, humans are imperfect, 666. Jesus came to cast our imperfections and sinful lives away.— Unsigned, by: True Christian™ / talk / contribs

awesome. --Miekal 19:46, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Good enough for me. I'm converted! The shouting and associated content-free ranting was especially convincing.--Coffee (talk) 19:52, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Why do you think God doesn't exist? Did your mom die? Or are you in denial, or something? Or, you want to be completely logical. Right. Nobody spends their time on a forum like this if they don't really REALLY hate God. And.. no. I wont stop the CAPS, I rather enjoying yelling and ranting, I feel more convincing. I remembered my siggy too!---> Pitzy 19:57, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Because the idea that there's an all powerful deity running around throwing natural disasters and causing/allowing human made disasters to happen on both widespread and personal scales, and i'm to believe that this deity is benevolent, just and that I should love them for it all, is absolutely horrifying. That I can attribute these things to natural causes instead seems more likely than the doublethink of "loving god who lets lots of terrible things happen"--Miekal 20:02, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
"Nobody spends their time on a forum like this if they don't really REALLY hate God." Typical god-botherer statement. I'm an atheist; I don't hate god -'cause there isn't anything there to hate. Mind you the older I get, the more likely I am to hate god-botherers! Scream!! (talk) 20:12, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
"I feel more convincing" to bad it's just a feeling. Marlow (talk) 20:21, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Wow. We must all hate unicorns as well. Sorry "HATE" unicorns.--Coffee (talk) 20:22, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
I would like to Welcome a Fellow Christian to this site. I am sure that our strneght and Honesty are equally Firm.--Tolerance (talk) 20:24, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
So... why care about god if god doesn't exist, right? You have a roundabout way of asking that question, but let's address it honestly. Because people who believe in god, and their interpretations thereof, have very real implications for people who just want to live their lives. Be it your own inexcusable hatred for gay people(seriously, that's on you; grow up), other people's attempt to control our family planning, or some more extreme peoples' attempts to murder and kill. The implications of assuming the absurd are pretty drastic. Wanting to contest that at a root level isn't unreasonable. Ikanreed (talk) 20:29, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Thus spaketh Pitzy: Explain Billy Graham, and the people wailed and shook their fists, for they had not the ingenuity among them to overcome the obviousness of the troll, nor could they answer its challenge. Fonzie (talk) 21:41, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

. Two of the many consequences of sin coming into the world are sickness and death. Romans 5:12 says, “Sin entered the world through one man and in this way death came to all men because all have sinned.” The worst part is that either one can strike anyone at any time, even innocent little babies. 1 John 5:19 tells us the whole world is under the control of the evil one. He’s the responsible party here because he’s the one who brought sin into the world. As long as there’s sin in the world there will be sickness and death. THIS was too answer the guy that said why did a God let bad crap happen. Pitzy 18:30, 15 January 2015 (UTC) I do not hate Gay people. I do not agree with Gay people. I do not hate you all. I do not agree with any of you. Pitzy 18:31, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

But didn't God create sin by allowing the serpent to tempt Eve? Why would a benevolent all powerful god create such a scenario? Marlow (talk) 18:39, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
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