Once you're an atheist you will always be an atheist (imo)

[Helm]

There are atheists who find true religious faith but I what I'd say it boils down to one of two reasons.

1) They weren't really proper atheists to begin with they just hadn't really thought about it and didn't realise their own religious inclinations at the time they were atheists. So they were in effect closet theists.

2) They were full blown atheists but they have somehow talked themselves into their new faith and have near enough managed to fully convinced themselves. But at heart they will still have the rationality and doubt of an atheist they know deep down is there but they're blocking that aspect of themselves off from their minds eye. It's kind of like Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in Star Wars who seemingly turned fully to the darkside of the Force in Revenge of the Sith but deep down there was still some goodness and conflict within in that never really went away and that was fully brought to the surface in Return of the Jedi in his final duel with his son Luke Skywalker.

[Monarchist]

2) is surely a joke, and 1) is used by everyone else. When someone becomes an atheist, his friends will say "he wasn't really a Christian/Jew/Muslim anyway". That first point can be called nothing other than Sour Grapes.

I myself was a fervent atheist who attacked religious people constantly, you know! It wasn't difficult to become a believer in God, though it took a process of about two years to squeeze the atheism out of me. Of course, you are correct in the assumption that a previous atheist can find it hard to believe in the religious dogmas. My previous anti-theism is a large obstacle to becoming a slave to the Bible, which I am quite suspicious about. This same experience of mine also blocks me from sitting, wide-eyed and blank, at a preacher or priest. Every single thing they say that is based on the Bible is immediately questioned by my sub-conscious will to logic. This does not exclude me from being a believer in God, however, but it does hurt my ability to blindly follow a Church or a Book.

You seem to be conflating religious people with believers in God. Not every theist is a religious person?

[Arch-hereticK]

Why do you keep making reverse satires Helm?

Next you'll be saying all atheists who leave the faith should certainly be put to death because that's what the hadith says.

It's crazy, you're crazy................I like you man, but you're crazy................crazy.

[lord o kelly]

meh, not true

I went from catholic to atheist to religious-catholic, i just had to get over myself, and realized their was something greater than me.

[Helm]

I myself was a fervent atheist who attacked religious people constantly, you know!

That could have just been your "rebelious phase" there are quite a few teenage atheists who really only see atheism in the sense of antitheism and way to tell people to stop telling them what to do rather than a true belief system in itself. I can't say for sure if you're a type one or a type two former atheist, but you'll be one of them.

[Monarchist]

That could have just been your "rebelious phase" there are quite a few teenage atheists who really only see atheism in the sense of antitheism and way to tell people to stop telling them what to do rather than a true belief system in itself. I can't say for sure if you're a type one or a type two former atheist, but you'll be one of them.

I'm sorry, but my father was an atheist long before I was even born. He did not raise me to have any contact whatsoever with any beliefs. All I ever heard from him when religion was brought up was "screw the Bible and Qu'ran; my holy book is The Joy of Cooking", or something to that effect. There was nothing to rebel against, unless you are now going to say that my 20+ years will be a rebellion against his atheism by becoming a believer myself.

[Helm]

I'm sorry, but my father was an atheist long before I was even born. He did not raise me to have any contact whatsoever with any beliefs.

That would still suggest you're a type 1 former atheist seeing as you were really just taking after your father at that stage and hadn't really fully formed your own religious beliefs.

[Monarchist]

Oh boy. I can't wait for the day atheists begin having a catechism. You know it's coming! Anyone who refuses to commit himself to the idea that there is no God will be anathema! It's adorable to see a movement based on nothing try to make itself into something.

My most serious question for atheists is this one: why do you care? Religious people have a reason to convert as many people to believing in God as possible. We either don't want people to go to Hell, or we want our pews to be full again, or we have some motive. Atheists, on the other side of it, have absolutely no reason to care if there are other atheists. Why on Earth are you so concerned? Since "we're all going to die, rot in the ground, and the Cosmos will eventually expand so far that it will just become a Nothingness where even the black holes have ejected their last energy", why do you bother to care if human beings become Godless? According to science-obsessed atheists (95% of atheists?), literally everything we know will become a dead husk after the Dark Age of the Universe, uncounted trillions of years from now. Who gives a hoot whether there are more atheists, then, if the whole thing is an inexorable march to cold emptiness?

[Arch-hereticK]

Oh boy. I can't wait for the day atheists begin having a catechism. You know it's coming! Anyone who refuses to commit himself to the idea that there is no God will be anathema! It's adorable to see a movement based on nothing try to make itself into something.

Helm is trying to poke fun at religious people by drawing an untrue parallell.
If you laugh he wins.

[Fiyenyaa]

My most serious question for atheists is this one: why do you care? Religious people have a reason to convert as many people to believing in God as possible. We either don't want people to go to Hell, or we want our pews to be full again, or we have some motive. Atheists, on the other side of it, have absolutely no reason to care if there are other atheists. Why on Earth are you so concerned? Since "we're all going to die, rot in the ground, and the Cosmos will eventually expand so far that it will just become a Nothingness where even the black holes have ejected their last energy", why do you bother to care if human beings become Godless? According to science-obsessed atheists (95% of atheists?), literally everything we know will become a dead husk after the Dark Age of the Universe, uncounted trillions of years from now. Who gives a hoot whether there are more atheists, then, if the whole thing is an inexorable march to cold emptiness?

Why do I care? Because we have to share a damn planet with everyone else, and contrary to your charactures, most of us (those of us who aren't nihilists) actually care about life. Why would you want to waste the only life we're guarenteed to get? Your idea that atheism leads to uttery dispondancy and lack of meaning in life is absurd.

[empr guy]

My most serious question for atheists is this one: why do you care?

i only care about religion because idiots in the US are trying to get it into schools and denounce real science as myths (lol) , and those jibs like "you have no morality!" get a bit annoying after a while.


another thing that gets me is the hypocrisy

Type 1 former atheist, eh? Perhaps my homosexuality is also inherited into my conscience from societal pressures.

In the King James Version, Leviticus 18:22 is translated: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

I see nothing wrong with peoples sexual orientation but when something is forbiden by a book you consider to be completly true and then you disregard parts of it so you have more people to be in your faith then you aren't really faithful to that book, are you?

[Banana Jelly]

i only care about religion because idiots in the US are trying to get it into schools and denounce real science as myths (lol) , and those jibs like "you have no morality!" get a bit annoying after a while.

O rly? Why have I learned Earth Science at the age of 13, as an Advanced Placement course which is usually tooken at High School, is it because USA hates science? Why did I learn Biology at High School? Is it because USA hates Science? Why did I take Chemistry at High School? It taught me actual science without putting in god. USA is a secular country. The only time i hear god in it, is the Pledge of Allegiance, which I have a choice to not even say it.

[empr guy]

O rly? Why have I learned Earth Science at the age of 13, as an Advanced Placement course which is usually tooken at High School, is it because USA hates science? Why did I learn Biology at High School? Is it because USA hates Science? Why did I take Chemistry at High School? It taught me actual science without putting in god. USA is a secular country. The only time i hear god in it, is the Pledge of Allegiance, which I have a choice to not even say it.

no i didnt mean everyone in the US, where i live i've only heard of ONE person ever suggesting teaching a different version of evolution (im not sure of the specifics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzmil...chool_District


thats what i was talking about

IMO, its actually pathetic to believe that the universe is 10,000 years old.

they get away with it by ignoring everything that dosent support their story 100%

and your new avatar... all i can say is lol

[Lysimachus]

I've gone from no opinion on religion, to an agnostic, to an atheist, to a nihilist.

[iudas]

Contrary to popular belief, people get weaker and less intelligent in old age - the perfect time to return to faith.

[Banana Jelly]

This could be proven wrong when Oceola Oscreola (mind my spelling of his name) who was an atheist, converted to Islam.

[Monarchist]

Well, atheists make fun of religious people every day with odd parallels and false choices. When I see arguments like these, I yawn. If only atheists were more focused on attacking us with gusto than on making facetious Star Wars references, the debate might be healthier. This sort of sarcasm is only poisonous.

[Arch-hereticK]

Well, atheists make fun of religious people every day with odd parallels and false choices. When I see arguments like these, I yawn. If only atheists were more focused on attacking us with gusto than on making facetious Star Wars references, the debate might be healthier. This sort of sarcasm is only poisonous.

Humour is the favoured weapon of atheists mostly because it's undetectable by the majority of theists who are slabs of humourless rotting meat looking forward to the joys of undeath.

I thought you (having a sense of humour) would be able to see the funny side of it. Serious conversations with light hearted asides is all for the good I would have thought. I think sarcasm is too strong a word for what is being used here.

[Monarchist]

Humour is the favoured weapon of atheists mostly because it's undetectable by the majority of theists who are slabs of humourless rotting meat looking forward to the joys of undeath.

I thought you (having a sense of humour) would be able to see the funny side of it. Serious conversations with light hearted asides is all for the good I would have thought. I think sarcasm is too strong a word for what is being used here.

... As if the majority of theists are humourless... - I don't see the funny side of it because it's a direct attack on me and my friends. I'll laugh when it's something we can all laugh about, not when it's constant hostility!

That would still suggest you're a type 1 former atheist seeing as you were really just taking after your father at that stage and hadn't really fully formed your own religious beliefs.

Type 1 former atheist, eh? Perhaps my homosexuality is also inherited into my conscience from societal pressures, as well as my tendency to like beans. You can relate anything to everything else, but it isn't really relevant. I believe in God and His redeeming glory now, and those who believe also believe now. Does the sub-conscious atheism really matter when the brain is convinced of it?

Why do I care? Because we have to share a damn planet with everyone else, and contrary to your charactures, most of us (those of us who aren't nihilists) actually care about life. Why would you want to waste the only life we're guarenteed to get? Your idea that atheism leads to uttery dispondancy and lack of meaning in life is absurd.

Well, you've answered my accusation of Nihilism, but you really must answer the question: why aren't you nihilists? If there is no God, where do you derive your morality, sense of meaning, and happiness? If you derive them from evolutionary processes which worked to stabilise humanity, why do you care about stability? Without God's directives, I see no reason for or point in doing anything at all. Why do atheists watch comedy or enjoy tragic plays? The emotions are just little electrical signals, aren't they? Any intellectually honest atheist should probably shoot himself.

[Banana Jelly]

... As if the majority of theists are humourless... - I don't see the funny side of it because it's a direct attack on me and my friends. I'll laugh when it's something we can all laugh about, not when it's constant hostility!



Type 1 former atheist, eh? Perhaps my homosexuality is also inherited into my conscience from societal pressures, as well as my tendency to like beans. You can relate anything to everything else, but it isn't really relevant. I believe in God and His redeeming glory now, and those who believe also believe now. Does the sub-conscious atheism really matter when the brain is convinced of it?



Well, you've answered my accusation of Nihilism, but you really must answer the question: why aren't you nihilists? If there is no God, where do you derive your morality, sense of meaning, and happiness? If you derive them from evolutionary processes which worked to stabilise humanity, why do you care about stability? Without God's directives, I see no reason for or point in doing anything at all. Why do atheists watch comedy or enjoy tragic plays? The emotions are just little electrical signals, aren't they? Any intellectually honest atheist should probably shoot himself.

Your a homosexual and a christian?