Atheism As A REJECTION OF--Not Disbelief In--An Evil God (America, churches, atheist)
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Ask MQ if your personal assumption that having to do it on God's terms makes a difference in her belief or the beliefs of the millions who walk away from Christianity. The number of Christians is declining year by year while the number of nones, those who profess no faith is growing year by year. At a steady 2% decline your religion will be gone by by 2100. Tell your god he's doing a lousy job of maintaining your religion and he'd better change his strategy quick before your religion evaporates into the ether. I've tried telling him but he doesn't respond. Maybe he'll listen to you.
and here is more data, from 2018, on how inaccurate it is to claim that the "religious nones" "have no faith"
as the bold above purports to do.
"Seven-in-ten (72%) religiously unaffiliated adults [ the religious 'nones'] believe in a higher power"
"In the U.S., belief in a deity is common even among the religiously unaffiliated – a group composed of those who identify themselves, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or 'nothing in particular,' and sometimes referred to, collectively, as religious “nones.” Indeed, nearly three-quarters of religious “nones” (72%) believe in a higher power "
"Nearly eight-in-ten U.S. adults (77%) think God or a higher power has protected them"
Uhhh....not exactly. I'm a disappointed-theist-turned-agnostic-deist.
If you're a deist, you're a theist. Your god may have died or gone AWOL or not be interactive ... but you believe in it anyway.
If you're an agnostic deist then I guess you don't claim knowledge of this god and your belief is tentative, so in that sense ... you don't FULLY believe.
Agnosticism normally leads people to decline to believe in god because there's no knowledge of god to begin with. I am not sure how "agnostic theism" actually works in practice. Maybe you can help me understand that, if you wish.
That reasoning always seemed upside down to me. I look at it more as: this happened, then this happened, then this happened billions upon billions of times and the world we know is the result.
I've turned this over in my mind lots of time, apostate and I keep coming up with this:
What are the odds of this single protein molecule forming? Remember, all the atoms have to align perfectly for the protein to keep from falling apart. Then remember this forms just a single molecule in your body and your body consists of 1.2×1027 molecules. Then factor in there are 8 billion human bodies on the planet. Given this number what do you think are the chances are of all these molecules coming together just precisely?
regarding bold above the "religious nones" here is data:
"Two-thirds of them [the religious "nones"] say they believe in God (68%). More than a third classify themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious” (37%). And one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day. In addition, most religiously unaffiliated Americans think that churches and other religious institutions benefit society by strengthening community bonds and aiding the poor."
68% believe in God
21% pray every day
most religiously unaffiliated Americans think that churches and relitious institutions benefit society
You realize of course that your figures don't apply to Christians vs non-Christians, but to all faiths. 68% believe in a higher power, not yahweh.
That is irrelevant, Thrill. There is only ONE God, period, whatever is believed about Him or whatever name is assigned to Him (or whatever gender is assigned ).
You realize of course that your figures don't apply to Christians vs non-Christians, but to all faiths. 68% believe in a higher power, not yahweh.
Christianity makes up a third of the world...Abrahamic Religions over half.
The world is 85% Theist, and growing. Most can perceive God.
It is Atheism and Nonreligious that are losing ground.
But some will cite outlier areas of the world that go against the overall trend to assuage their angst about this. But it won't change it.
That is irrelevant, Thrill. There is only ONE God, period, whatever is believed about Him or whatever name is assigned to Him (or whatever gender is assigned ).
That is irrelevant, Thrill. There is only ONE God, period, whatever is believed about Him or whatever name is assigned to Him (or whatever gender is assigned ).
So let me understand this, Mystic: the Muslims worship the same God as Christians who worship the same God as Hindus?
That is irrelevant, Thrill. There is only ONE God, period, whatever is believed about Him or whatever name is assigned to Him (or whatever gender is assigned ).
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
Or not.
The ONLY reason you deny God is because you insist on including things believed about God by humans instead of simply acknowledging that at a minimum the very Source of our existence is God relative to humanity using the least restrictive criteria. That would make the name of your God "Nature" or "Universe" or "Multiverse," since we have no way of knowing what the hell it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
So let me understand this, Mystic: the Muslims worship the same God as Christians who worship the same God as Hindus?
What is worshiped is ENTiRELY dependent upon what the individual INTENDS to worship and why. It has nothing to do with what actually exists to BE worshiped - the Source of our existence.
The ONLY reason you deny God is because you insist on including things believed about God by humans instead of simply acknowledging that at a minimum the very Source of our existence is God relative to humanity using the least restrictive criteria. That would make the name of your God "Nature" or "Universe" or "Multiverse," since we have no way of knowing what the hell it is.
What is worshiped is ENTiRELY dependent upon what the individual INTENDS to worship and why. It has nothing to do with what actually exists to BE worshiped - the Source of our existence.
I don't deny god. I say that I see no significant evidence of god. Therefore I choose a different religion/philosophy.
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