OBLIC'S PROFILE

author=emmych
@Dyhalto:Seriously, show me the Pope of Atheism, someone that all atheists recognize as the leader of their "religion", and I'll be inclined to believe you.

HAH! I'd love to see someone claim to be the "pope of atheism"! It'd make my day! Oxymoron at it's best!

Wow, whoa... okay, maybe I was wrong to start this here. I had a really long day and just had a chance to sit down and read all this, and I actually couldn't keep up with the posts!

I'm glad this many people are willing to share their beliefs with a community that I feel is very tightly knit; this, to me, is like baring your true feelings to real world friends or even family for some of us here (I'm not that close to anyone here yet, but I still think that some of your opinions matter; in other words I care about what some of you think).

I hope that no one is truly offended after all of this; again, that was never my intent. I am seriously fascinated by this facet of society! Religion, in general, for better or worse, shaped human existence. That is a fact. And I'm sure it will for quite a while (again, for better or worse). And I truly believe that it gives insight into why people do the things that they do, even on a day-to-day basis. My point here is, I think, is I never meant for anyone to argue (an ideal wish, I know). It's nice to see passionate people, on either side of the argument, but I don't want any hate or negativity to come out of this. Mostly because I feel like we are a relatively happy, fun-loving community!

Anywho... My thoughts...

I was never baptized. My parents weren't really that hard up about religion when I was younger (I can't remember a time I went to church with them other than a funeral... sad but true). But, since both of my parents worked, I always had a day-time babysitter. Until I was 5, my babysitter was EXTREMELY religious (not sure what faith exactly, but yea…). I was once punished, and I swear on my life this is true, for saying “holy cow”. Her reasoning? “Only god is holy!” Now, I will say this (SPOILER ALERT): I am an atheist, but I harbor no ill will to those that follow a religion, even after (several) experiences like this throughout my life.

Later in my life, while going through some rough times, and still having some semblance of a belief in a god, I started to question my existence. Not god’s existence, mine. Again, being young and dumb, I kept the belief in god, and started to think that there was something wrong with me. I felt that, considering what I had learned throughout my life, if life was crappy, god had a reason for it, and he was making it so. I lived like that for YEARS. I even had a girlfriend in highschool that tried very hard to actually convert me to Christianity. She loved me, but thought I was primitive and flawed.

Finally, after meeting a ton of different people in college, I finally started to form my own ideas and opinions about the whole thing. It made the most sense to me that a god couldn’t exist (at least in the way most people believe). It didn’t make sense. The world (on a grand scale) is a pretty crappy place. Don’t get me wrong, there is much to live for, and lots of good in the world. But there is too much bad for a god to truly exist. The only “god” that I could possibly believe exists is a “computer programmer” like god. Kind of like, we are all in the matrix or something… but I highly doubt it.

Sorry that was longwinded, but that’s my story (in a nutshell I suppose).

In terms of other people, I say live and let live. I won’t try to convince you of anything as long as (excuse my language) you leave me the fuck alone about what you believe. To quote a good friend of mine: “A person’s religion should be like their genitals: keep it to yourself, and don’t shove it down others’ throats”. I mean this in the sense that I don’t want to be converted… I still enjoy hearing about other people’s life experiences!

Again, I am grateful that so many of you shared, and hope that more will! I know I got a bit angry in there, but there were some sensitive bits… sorry.

EDIT: Damn you guys are fast... I guess it did take me a while to type that up though...

I looked throughout the 'General Discussion' section of the forum to see if a topic like this has come up, and came up with nothing. I'm sorry if I'm digging up something old.

Anyway, this is a topic that I always find interesting. Not really an icebreaker, but I usually end up asking my newer friends about it somewhere along the line. I am most curious about what people believe, why, and how strongly. I have met plenty of people that say they follow X teachings, but don't practice them that faithfully. I have also met others that are very devout and believe the teachings very closely and take things very seriously.

It's also interesting to hear their history into how they came to their conclusions. Most people were brought up a certain way, while others had a particular experience at one point in their life that lead them down their current path. I want to leave my views out for the moment so I do not discourage anyone from joining the discussion or encourage negativity off the bat (not that I think either would happen, but I'd rather get the ball rolling first before I volunteer any personal views).

I realize this is a sensitive topic, and I promise I am not flaming, trolling, or grabbing for any kind of negative attention. I am just curious. Again, if this is old, please let me know.

Ummm... I feel like I'm late to the game, but does anyone still use this?

THANK YOU!! Can we be best friends now?