The Atheism Thread

[christopherc]

Its all nonsence as far as im concerned. Most wars are due to religion. If there in fact is a God he is likely to be American. I will except that back in the day when people went to church times were more pecefull, but now things have gone to shit. Why would god let us destroy something he created?

Evil men cause wars in their struggle for power. Religion is one of the tools they use to manipulate/control their minions.

[Pip]

been thinking again about the nature of the universe and the religions, All organised religions are still a load of rubbish, anyone believing the words of 2000 year old texts as the word of God seriously need to sort their heads out. Having said that the one that I think comes closest to the mark would be Buddism.

Why does it tickle me? for a start there is no supreme being, the buddah was a man who reached enlightenment. A step closer to scientific reality than an omnipotent being of supreme power overseeing the whole of creation. There is no need for conflict, each persons journey is personal, you can spread the word, but never force anything upon people without affecting your own karma, people must make thejourney by themsleves, it is a very peaceful religion. No wars have every been fought on the behalf of buddism.

The most important part though, for me, would be the reincarnation of spirit, while not reincarnation as most people view it, it is more a return to the earth of the spirit. For this I had to consider who am I, what am I? Humans, animals are more than just rock and stone, we are even more than just flesh and blood, we have to be, we have a mind, we can think, we can feel, we are conscious. All the electrons and neurons firing in my brain, in a pattern that make me who I am is an energy, this what I think of we people talk of soul, something separate from the flesh. The body is a host of the energy that makes me consious, makes me alive. SO what happens when I die, the flesh rots and returns to the earth, I become plant food, which in turn becomes animal food. My atoms will again become part of something else, I will in a very real sense be reincarnated. Then what of the energy? energy can not be destroyed so it must go somewhere, we are all buzzing with electricity on a micro level, does this energy also get 'reincarnated' dissapated only to be reused in future generations as another consciousness?

In short Buddist believe in Karma and reincarnation of the spirit. A spirit journey where the karma of each life builds or decreases depending on your actions until your spirit can reach a state of enlightenment and break the reincarnation cycle and reach nirvana. Karma is on a subconscious level, your karma is effected before you take actions, should I squash that fly or open the window and let him free, your karma has already been affected by the very thought that squashing the fly entered your head at all. A hard thing to reach enlightenment, even through years of meditaion trying to clear your head of all things.

The reincarnation is the rebirth of the spirit, and you are not aware of previous life, there is no kind of regression like we see on television, there is no way for you to be aware of any previous lives, the spirit is truely reborn a new each time, but possibly as a further or closer step towards the journey to nirvana than your previous life.

The very basics, of course there is alot more to Buddism that this, and alot which has varying interpretations, much like the Abrahamic religions the are many different views stemming from the same source. Stripping away the chanting and mediation and ceremonies, it would seem to me that Buddists are hitting far closer to the truth than any of the other religions, they where centuries ahead of there time.

[troy]

Dawkins talks about the poverty of agnosticism. Maybe we can never absolutely know whether god exists or not but its probable there are no gods. There is no evidence that gods exist so why would you want to entertain the idea that they do ? Its not a 50/50 split of probability between god existing and not, its a very small probability that god exists. From this perspective agnosticism seems an illogical choice.

[Phaze420]

My belief, idk if it's agnostic or not is that I dont know. I think thats hard for people to say because it has somehow been related to defeat. But thats how I and what I think most people say in their heads when the question of god comes up.

Edited June 7, 2010 by Phaze420

[troy]

scraglor

without conscious thought which doesn't exist in the physical universe, as it's neither energy nor matter

Conscious thought is energy and matter : Thought is the process where neurons carry electrical impulses along their length and then cause neurotransmitters to release various chemicals (serotonin etc) across the gap between neurons and then cause the next neuron or neurons to fire.

[troy]

Where the fuck is this debate going?

In to and beyond the great depths situated at the rear. :bunny:

I think humanity lacks the experience and knowledge to posit any valid opinion on whether 'god' exists or does not considering we lack even the ability to agree on what 'god' is.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

I'd also like to add that Laramie has kept me amused throughout.

We can all have opinions, if people can't agree its because god doesn't exist

[ratdog]