Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Yes. 😄 I know one.
who?
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
No, other then the Buddhists in Tibet, but they are just trying to protect themselves from the Chinese.
i have this question about a spiritual person regardless of their religion. if they adhere and believing in their faith why would one fight and protect oneself from physical harm to the body which in itself is just a shell and holds no spiritual value?
just my two cents on the subject.... i am not talking about ur average church goers and weekend Christians and Buddhist but actual practitioners of the faith like monks, priest, cardinals and popes.. who by the way can be decadent in their appearance at times.
i have my own opinion on the subject but would like to hear others.
Originally posted by Wild Shadow
who?
No one you know, and no one on this forum.
Originally posted by Wild Shadow
i have this question about a spiritual person regardless of their religion. if they adhere and believing in their faith why would one fight and protect oneself from physical harm to the body which in itself is just a shell and holds no spiritual value?just my two cents on the subject.... i am not talking about ur average church goers and weekend Christians and Buddhist but actual practitioners of the faith like monks, priest, cardinals and popes.. who by the way can be decadent in their appearance at times.
i have my own opinion on the subject but would like to hear others.
You should start a thread.
Originally posted by inimalist
people who think identifying as atheist is an encompassing system of beliefs with ideas about science that are akin to moses' tablets?I can't remember any recently, but you don't know what I'm saying? People who like religify evolution...
hold on, this guy:
knowwhatimsayin?
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
It is an anti-god belief. If you are an Atheist, then you believe there is no god or gods. That is a belief in the simplest form. Eventually Atheism will look no different then any other religion.
No, you're outrageously wrong. If you are an atheism, you lack belief in God(s). I'm also sorry to tell you but your "eventual" transformation of atheism turning into a religion is sure taking thousands and thousands of years.
[b]Is it the hammer that drives a nail into a board? Or is it the person using the hammer? Without people, Christianity, and all religions would not exist. Religion is something we humans made up, just like all the wars and death, that we humans caused. If you wish to blame the hammer for the nail in the board, then be happy in your delusion.
Wait, we "made up" all of the wars and death?
Originally posted by Ultraviolence
I'm also sorry to tell you but your "eventual" transformation of atheism turning into a religion is sure taking thousands and thousands of years.
I doubt that. The moment it becomes popular people will start redefining it. We could have "real true atheists" within a hundred years.
Countering the idea that atheism is a belief system is simple- look at its opposite. Is Theism- belief in a God or Gods- a belief system?
Of course not- there are many, many outlooks on life, or belief systems, with theistic characteristics, from Christianity to worshipping gnomes. Likewise, there are many outlooks that have atheistic characteristics.
It's far too broad to be called a belief system.
Originally posted by Ultraviolence
No, you're outrageously wrong. If you are an atheism, you lack belief in God(s). I'm also sorry to tell you but your "eventual" transformation of atheism turning into a religion is sure taking thousands and thousands of years.
There are people who go around using the word Atheist as a way to describe their belief. There are even people who will go out of there way to defend Atheism. They will agree over what Atheism is and is not. Do you still wish to argue with me about this?
Originally posted by Ultraviolence
Wait, we "made up" all of the wars and death?
Humans are the root cause of all wars.
Ultraviolence, I think what you are trying to say is that Atheism is not an organized religion. On that point I agree, however, there are a lot of religions in the world that are not organized. For example, many new age religions are not organized, and are so broad in belief that there is no way to organize them.
To me, Atheism is an infant religion. Only time will tell if it dies or becomes organized.
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
In that way of thinking, many new age religions are even older.
sure, depending on the specific belief
there are legitimate new agers who are looking up ancient spirituality and using it to find answers, so ya, I'd buy that in some cases. There are other, more frequent, examples of people ascribing 70s era spiritualism (based on the human potential movement of the early 20th century) to ancient cultures who would have never believed anything close to that.
The concept as "new age" as a uniting principal between these ideas, however, is an entirely modern concept, and in fact, older belief practices are being co-opted (along with conspiracy theory and pseudo-psychology) by the modern interpretations of what "new age" is.
This isn't the same as atheism. Whether we call it a belief system or not, there were people (Greek atomist philosophers, Socrates/Plato/Aristotle etc) who ascribed to the same principals as atheists in modern time do. There is this strange mythology that "atheism" was a product of the Enlightenment, which, imho, is not the case.
Originally posted by inimalist
sure, depending on the specific beliefthere are legitimate new agers who are looking up ancient spirituality and using it to find answers, so ya, I'd buy that in some cases. There are other, more frequent, examples of people ascribing 70s era spiritualism (based on the human potential movement of the early 20th century) to ancient cultures who would have never believed anything close to that.
The concept as "new age" as a uniting principal between these ideas, however, is an entirely modern concept, and in fact, older belief practices are being co-opted (along with conspiracy theory and pseudo-psychology) by the modern interpretations of what "new age" is.
This isn't the same as atheism. Whether we call it a belief system or not, there were people (Greek atomist philosophers, Socrates/Plato/Aristotle etc) who ascribed to the same principals as atheists in modern time do. There is this strange mythology that "atheism" was a product of the Enlightenment, which, imho, is not the case.
You are correct about the concept its self, but I see something new. A while back, and this gets into the extremist militia type people, I had an unfortunate encounter with an extremist Atheist. Now I've had my run ins with Christians, and I have been shocked by how nasty some of them can get, but they can't hold a candle to the vileness of that woman. She did not like the fact that I was a Buddhist, and insinuated that all religious people should be done away with. I had images of a holocaust in my head even though no such reference was in our "conversation" (which consisted of her yelling at me, and I trying, but failing, to get a word in sideways). This woman was a fundamentalist Atheist.
I realize that some Christians use the idea that Atheism is a religion as a way to legitimize their point of view. I'm not doing that. I think that there is something going on. People who have a natural inclination toward extremism are discovering Atheism, and in no way are they enlightened.
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
There are people who go around using the word Atheist as a way to describe their belief. There are even people who will go out of there way to defend Atheism. They will agree over what Atheism is and is not. Do you still wish to argue with me about this?
I hope you don't think you're winning here. You think that because atheists defend their positions and describe their views that it is a belief? That's horrible logic. Atheism is a lack of belief. Whether you want to compare it to religion or even be remotely akin to religion is your own initiative but that won't suddenly turn it into a belief. I've met a lot of religious folk who'd like atheism to be an organization or belief like theirs so they could take some pressure off of the crimes that religion has performed and the past and, depending on the religion, still performs today.
Humans are the root cause of all wars.
Then you may have worded your previous statement incorrectly. You made it sound as if someone had falsely "made up" all of the wars and death of the past.
Ultraviolence, I think what you are trying to say is that Atheism is not an organized religion. On that point I agree, however, there are a lot of religions in the world that are not organized. For example, many new age religions are not organized, and are so broad in belief that there is no way to organize them.
No, Shakyamunison. It's not a religion at all.
To me, Atheism is an infant religion. Only time will tell if it dies or becomes organized.
You can hold that position all that you'd like but it's not a religious organization at all. Even if all of the atheists get together and call it "SUPER DESTRUCTO ATHEISM," start donning black robes and killing people with swords, it still wouldn't be a sodding religion. The whole belief system of religious belief usually relies on creationism or the presence of supernatural entities and we all know that atheists are strongly against that. A religion also has to contain a rule system and atheism doesn't. I might add that we are also missing eschatology from our "religion."
To wrap this up, another large part of religion is providing you with a lifestyle or providing you with a philosophy to live by. Atheism, again, lacks that. Being an atheism does not mean that you will live a certain way to avoid sin or that jazz. Atheists have a broad variety of lifestyles, morals and ethics.
I'm sorry but I am afraid we lack far too many key ingredients of religion to be even remotely considered one.