Since coming into these forums it's actually the first time I have discussed in any detail my non religiousness. I explicitly didn't use 'Atheist' because to some (mostly Christians) still wrongfully believe Atheism is a religion. Saying you are an Atheist could imply you have a belief system, therefore I'll use the term non religiousness. Share your thoughts, what does it mean and what are the implications of your non religiousness.
It is in my opinion definitely is a much simpler way to live because you are not restricted by some beliefs. But I do feel like there are no adequate words yet to differ between those who don't believe in a God. I see people who are actevists and who do the kind of crap which was one of the reasons I turned away from religion in the first place, or you have Atheists who wouldn't blieve in God but then blieve in UFO abductee stories. Something I feel is quite hypocritical. To me being an atheist means that you think for your self what morrally is right for you and how to live your life. I think that this way you come to the conclusion that you want to enjoy and improve (at a bare minimum) your own life as much as possible, and improve the life of those around you. Humans are social beings after all and we seek confort and approval among our own.
As you know the definition of the word "religious" is contextual so for the sake of argument I will assume that you are speaking of a theological context. As a Deist I believe in God but say that Deism is the antithesis of religion as religion is a function of dogma while Deism rejects dogma.
I am Non-Religious. I consider myself an Agnostic as anyone who fllows the Scientific Method worth their salt would be. I feel Ancient Religious Texts and Books such as the Bible, Koran and Tanakh discuss the existence of a GOD that really makes no logical sense. Of what I know and the things I have seen and experienced and especially my vast knowledge of how these ancient books were put together for me it is OBVIOUS that these are simply the writtings of ancient man trying to make sense of their reality. The more you know about Cosmology, Quantum Mechanics, Multiversal Theory and many other things the even more obvious it becomes that things are much more complex than anything written in such books. As well if a GOD exists...it would be NOTHING as advertized in such books. AboveAlpha
Atheist......"a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods" https://www.google.com/search?q=Ath...ome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8 Any religious (or otherwise) who believes that atheism is a religion is just denying that fact that there are some who just do NOT believe in their "higher power". I'm an atheists......and IMO there is not and never has been a "higher power".......period. I worship NO god. I need NO god or threats from that imaginary god to be moral. Fire and brimstone be damned..............
Its an absence of faith or belief in those extraordinary stories based on stuff other than reason or convincing evidence. I don't buy into Bigfoot, or ghosts, or spirits, heaven, angels or God. Even if you lead my brain to the water, nobody can make it drink, including me. Its the way my mind is built.
I don't care about the idea of a god. It's like denying a source for a claim because the source itself is bad. When was the last time someone trusted a source if they knew it had a bias or the method was wrong? So for me, it's about philosophy and trying to make myself a moral person by upholding my own beliefs.
` 1 - Not having to go to church, 2 - No tithing, 3 - The positive feeling of being unencumbered by spiritual rules promising eternal damnation if I disobey them, 4 - Being able to ignore and pass by religious squabbles about whose version of the bible (or similar holy book) is the bestest, in all the land.
To me non religious simply means not affiliated with any particular religion. I would consider myself an Atheist because although I believe there is a possibility of some sort of higher power I don't believe in it because I have seen zero evidence for it. But Im not the type of Atheist who bashes on religion because I have no idea who is right or wrong and neither does any other living breathing person on this planet in spite of what each camp tries to convince themselves. Nothing religious offends me and I really don't care what religious folks do.
I consider myself to be non-religious. Now, I don't consider myself an atheist for semantic reasons, but even if I were, I would have no problem with atheism being a religion. Religion is not very well defined, and one could consider a definition of religion which includes atheism. This would just be a word game and should not influence our understanding of atheism. However, many atheists assume it does and that kind of knee jerk reaction based on obscure connotations is one of those things one often criticises religions of. The debate should be centered around the idea of allowing "just making stuff up" to be valid arguments, not about which concepts happen to fall into the box with the "religion" label. People are trying to discuss reasonable things with the "atheism is a religion" arguments, like the ideological inbreeding within certain parts of atheism. I believe atheism is quite capable of addressing these issues head on, but for some reason, we get stuck in nomenclature and fail to even understand the arguments. I have no particular will to call it either way, but I'm getting quite annoyed at the time, effort and brainpower wasted on an issue which has little or no impact. I would think that avoiding this issue but jumping to the next word is merely delaying the issue.
What does not eating taste like? I'm not convinced "not being religious" really means much in practical terms, especially given the massive range of things that "being religious" means to different people. The fact is that I do/don't do many of the things religious people do/don't do due to their religion, just for different reasons (or dare I suggest sometimes with a clearer view of the real reasons).
Google defines dogma as the following "noun a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true." I have seen no evidence that would lead me to believe that God has presented a set of principles to anyone nor have I seen evidence that God has ever spoken to anyone let alone with any authority... thus my view of God is not dogmatic.
