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  1. #1
    ollypitts2 Guest

    Default FAQ's About Atheism

    Here's a link to a website that answers some really common questions people have about atheism.

    Just FYI

    http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/ath/..._atheism101.htm

    ETA: One more link. This one goes to a secular humanist site.

    http://atheism.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsit...%2Forg%2Faha%2F

  2. #2
    DivineSpirals Guest

    Default

    Thanks for the links. If you do not mind, I'd like to address this question to you personally...

    Do you beleive in "consciousness"? What you you think about it? Or maybe a better way to phrase that would be, how do you perceive your own awareness?...the awareness of others?

  3. #3
    curlygirl Guest

    Default

    Olly thanks for that link, it's very comprehensive. I realized when I began looking over all the topics that I really don't know much about atheism.

  4. #4
    Tigersi Guest

    Default

    i appreciate the link. thanks very much.

    i think it is essencial that religious people remember the intelligence & validity of atheism. i am deeply spiritual & i know i must be able to respect & work with people who are not.

    this is the core of peace & harmony in the human realm: diversity, respect, openness, acceptance of difference.

    thanks again for this excellent site.

  5. #5
    ollypitts2 Guest

    Default

    I'm glad that the links were helpful!

    @DivineSpirals

    As usual, you asked a tough, but interesting question. I think my awareness of others is shaped by my awareness of my Self. I'm able to use my intellect, emotions, and senses to provide me with important information about others. I can use my vision to be aware of the physical existence of others. I can also use my own experiences of various emotional states to understand the feelings of others and provide them with empath (e.g. I know that I would feel sad if a loved one died, I'm going to make a guess that another person suffering the same loss might feel similarly. Empathizing (all thinking, really) appears to be a projective process, but it seems to be the most certain way that I (maybe most of us) can begin to truly understand how another person feels emotionally. Of course I can be wrong and misunderstand what the other person really feels so this is where intellect comes in.

    My intellect or ability to reason also shapes my awareness of others. For example: if a woman is sitting in my office crying and she tells me that her husband is dying, and she hasn't eaten or slept in days, I can make an educated guess about what she may be feeling and thinking, I can also hypothesize about her psychiatric diagnosis, given the information presented. This is the best example I can think of to illustrate consciousness. My cognitive abilities, emotional attunement, and senses all work together to provide me with a multilayered perspective of someone else's consciousness.

    I also believe that we have subconscious that is shaped in our early years through our interactions with significant care-givers. Because we lacked the cognitive abilities to process those interactions as infants or young children, we may have difficulty remembering those events. I also think that a preconsciousness may exist that we are just barely aware of, but can't really verbalize. This is one theory that informs my thinking about the levels of human consciousness.

    In general, I think that my awareness of others is only as deep as my awareness of my own reality.

  6. #6
    PEBBLES Guest

    Default

    The message alot of people get about atheists is that they are bad people. As a child I was scared of them :lol:
    Good thread!

  7. #7
    Cococure Guest

    Default

    What I find is that a lot of people confuse agnostcism with atheism. I was born and raised a Baptist, by my Mother who was born Baptist converted to Islam then converted back to Baptism. When I was about 10 years old she told me she wasn't going to force anything on me and that I could choose to believe whatever I wanted.

    After looking into this I honestly couldn't decide, so I'm an agnostic. I personally believe that there is a higher (omnipotent/omnicient) being in this world. But who am I to say which it is? Why should I name it so that it is one thing and nothing else?

    I'd like to believe that that being does not care by which name it is called. Whether it be Allah, Buddha, Vishnu, Jesus, The Goddess or whoever, for we are all it's children.

    I'm also confortable with the idea that there may be nothing watching over me or anyone else. I accept that notion of there being nothing is not impossible. The fact is: No one really knows for sure.

    I find the concept of heaven and hell facinating, but I also find reincarnation intriguing. A lot of people tell me my beliefs as they are is a 'sitting on the fence' position. But I don't think it should matter what specific thing I believe in. Just as long as I belive in something and I have hope.

    Nothing else should matter.

    I'm lucky that I was given the opportunity to choose. Few have that option. Now if I could only get my Mom to be as liberal and understanding about my hair, that would be something.

  8. #8
    GalaxyGirl2010 Guest

    Default

    What I find is that a lot of people confuse agnostcism with atheism. I was born and raised a Baptist, by my Mother who was born Baptist converted to Islam then converted back to Baptism. When I was about 10 years old she told me she wasn't going to force anything on me and that I could choose to believe whatever I wanted.

    After looking into this I honestly couldn't decide, so I'm an agnostic. I personally believe that there is a higher (omnipotent/omnicient) being in this world. But who am I to say which it is? Why should I name it so that it is one thing and nothing else?

    I'd like to believe that that being does not care by which name it is called. Whether it be Allah, Buddha, Vishnu, Jesus, The Goddess or whoever, for we are all it's children.

    I'm also confortable with the idea that there may be nothing watching over me or anyone else. I accept that notion of there being nothing is not impossible. The fact is: No one really knows for sure.

    I find the concept of heaven and hell facinating, but I also find reincarnation intriguing. A lot of people tell me my beliefs as they are is a 'sitting on the fence' position. But I don't think it should matter what specific thing I believe in. Just as long as I belive in something and I have hope.

    Nothing else should matter.

    I'm lucky that I was given the opportunity to choose. Few have that option. Now if I could only get my Mom to be as liberal and understanding about my hair, that would be something.
    fellow agnostic here as well.. that's how i see it noone knows for sure andI'm ok with the idea that maybe my beliefs arent correct. i tend to just read and research alot and question alot and am more drawn towards buddhism since it's a philosophy and not really a religion.

  9. #9
    afrikankween Guest

    Default

    i appreciate the link. thanks very much.

    i think it is essencial that religious people remember the intelligence & validity of atheism. i am deeply spiritual & i know i must be able to respect & work with people who are not.
    does religion mean a deep belief in god or a deep belief in something?
    technically,cant atheist be religious? a deep belief in not beliveing in god?

  10. #10
    Cococure Guest

    Default

    does religion mean a deep belief in god or a deep belief in something?
    technically,cant atheist be religious? a deep belief in not beliveing in god?
    I suppose they can. Good point

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