Atheism/Agnosticism General Discussion #1

[Aimz]

... i don't have a God that challenges, i challenge myself. It is ME who expects better of me, and when life throws it's numerous challenges it is ME i hold responsible for how they come out and MY OWN good i work hard at resolving them for.

I completely agree Hoobley - this reinforces my point of humanity taking credit/responsibility for our own actions without thanking/blaming a particular entity for it.

I am with Niliac in that I wouldn't enter a forum on christianity or hinduism and state my belief system and then ask these members why they believe in god - sparking a debate on religion. I respect others belief systems and I would like my beliefs to also be respected - not questioned or judged - but openly discussed by people who share similar beliefs.

[echidna]

Hello. I am non-religious. I was told to go here to talk about it.

[suse]

What do you want to talk about echidna?

ETA: Just reading back on earlier posts in the thread, and a few people have questioned the difference between agnosticism and atheism. This is not intended to challenge anybody's personal interpretation of the concept of agnosticism, as there are accepted interpretations that do deviate from the original meaning of the term. But I thought I'd throw in a bit of the history and provenance of the concept of agnosticism for anyone interested.

Agnosticism literally means 'without knowledge' (from 'gnosis' - to know). It is a philosophical stance whereby the holder acknowledges that the reason for, or source of existence is unprovable. The concept was originally developed in the 19th century by TH Huxley, who defined it as being "...wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism." Agnosticism is an intellectual concept; its core tenet is a rejection of the unprovable. It is not that an agnostic is open to the possibility of existence of a higher being, but that it cannot be proven.

Atheism, on the other hand, is either non-belief in a higher power (known as 'weak' atheism) or denial of the existence of a higher power (known as 'strong' atheism).

[echidna]

I'm not sure what I want to talk about. Perhaps, as non-religious people, do you feel offended when someone of faith tells you how great their faith is and offeres to pray for you?

[suse]

Personally, no I don't feel offended, I actually feel honoured that somebody would do that. Just because I don't have faith, doesn't mean that it is any less valid to those who do.

It depends on how it is intended though. If the person respects that I hold a different belief and does not see me as a lesser person for not having faith, then it can be quite a beautiful thing to know that they are extending their faith to me in the form of prayer, which I understand to be a very deep and personal expression of a person's relationship with God.

[echidna]

What I was thinking, discussion turns to say Christenings. And a friend says how great it is to be baptised so you can go to heaven, ...... and then offers to pray for your baby. Sometimes I feel patronised when someone I am talking to knows I am non-religious keeps talking about religion or keeps trying to win me over.

[Aimz]

Personally, I don't bring up my belief system unless somebody brings up theirs with me. I am confident enough with my life stance that I can openly and honestly describe my own beliefs without feeling I have offended anyone.

My Uncle once said to me, after explaining my belief system (Humanism) that he would pray for my eternal soul because he feared I would not be accepted into heaven. I politely told him his prayer wasn't necessary.