Starboy
My Friends - Atheists or Not?
Posted on: 02/09/2009 21:13
I was talking to my friends about their beliefs, and whether or not God exists. They all know I'm Christian, and that my dad's a minister. Disregarding what the rest of them said for the sake of this blog's topic, one of my friends, let's call him Jason, said that he was an atheist. Now I've been hearing a lot about atheism these days, from media and also a lot around school. Jason thought he was an atheist. Just so you know, I have nothing wrong with atheism at all.
The conversation went as follows:
"Well, I consider myself an atheist."
"An atheist?"
"Yeah. I guess I don't care enough to get up Sunday mornings. God doesn't really exist."
Which is the opinion of the average teenager.
"Do you actually know what atheism is?"
"Uh, yeah, it means you don't believe in God."
I made him look it up in the dictionary. For all of you who don't know the exact definition here it is:
atheism |ˈāθēˌizəm| noun the theory or belief that God does not exist. DERIVATIVES atheist noun atheistic |ˌāθēˈistik| adjective atheistical |-ˈistikəl| adjective ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French athéisme, from Greek atheos, from a- ‘without’ + theos ‘god.’
Which is basically what my friend Jason said. But I don't think that's what he meant. You see, he didn't care enough to believe in God. An atheist cares, cares NOT to believe in God. It's not the disbelief that God exists, it's the belief that God does not exist. You see the difference?
Atheism is being thrown around, people say it to justify the fact that they don't care. It's used so much we don't really know what it means anymore. Now I don't know if this is too controversial or what, but I wanted to share my frustration with people too ignorant to know what they're talking about.
- Jon
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Comments
Arminius
Posted on: 02/09/2009 21:37
Yes, Starboy, atheism, more often than not, is not a-theism but atheistic fundamentalism: an anti-belief belief, if you will—an absolute belief in the non-existence of God.
I throw off my atheistic friends by telling them that I, too, am an atheist, albeit a spiritual atheist.
When they ask me to define that, I say that I don't believe in God, but I feel God.
After all, one doesn't have to believe in good in order to feel good.
People stumble over definitions, doctrines, dogmas, and concepts. But when we come down to what really counts, the experience, then we may find out that we have more in common than we "think."
Starboy
Posted on: 02/09/2009 22:02
an anti-belief belief, that sounds about right. just so you know, your comments have meant a lot to me :D i just got on wondercafe and you've already started talking to me.
WaterBuoy
Posted on: 02/10/2009 09:42
Double negatives will make it any day in my sense of a caring thought. You can't see they or measure them, but do they exist? Some say the mind does not exist ... then how do they know they are here talking to you?
Is that nonsense? I was once told that was the essence of Love in this place ... a God of feeling ... some just have no sympathetic response to para sympathetic signs ... words of request for help.
If we totally give up on socialistic idioms ... what happens to the fabric of humanity that sits on top of the fabric?
If a person doesn't care and makes that statement ... is that someone you would like to hang about with in indeterminate space of the physical. That is the only thing that the soul sees as of value ... what surrounds it as spirit of the soul. That's the environmnet of the atheist in mortal space ... just a desert, wasteland without a thought outside of self! Dead end street by choice?
Arminius
Posted on: 02/11/2009 19:17
Hi Starboy:
The blog section of wondercafe is the quiet corner. Nothing ever happens here. If you want heated discussion, come over to Religion nad Faith.
See you there!
Starboy
Posted on: 02/12/2009 16:09
thanks for the tip!
(hopefully i can find it)
crazyheart
Posted on: 02/14/2009 20:41
Starboy, click on discussion and the different rooms will come up. Visit them all.
franota
Posted on: 02/16/2009 13:16
Starboy, keep blogging too. Don't let Arminius tempt you away (grin). I do enjoy your posting, and I don't often get over to where the real "stuff" is happening....but maybe see you in both places. And thanks for this very accurate and thoughtful post here too.