There are no Atheists [Sept. 1934]

CERC ^ | The Catholic World (September 1934). | JAMES M. GILLIS, C.S.P

[JMJ333]

Moderators: I put this on the news forum because of the current flap with the pledge. If you feel it not appropriate please move it to the other forum. =)

[nofriendofbills]

Excellent, book marked for future reference.

[South40]

[Raymond Hendrix]

The Blind Atheist

John Locke didn't have much room for atheism either.

[JMJ333]

Thanks!

[keithtoo]

I've always said that Atheists are really people who believe in God but are either too proud to admit they have something to answer to, or those who HATE the God they do believe in. Or, of course there are always the idiots.

[thinktwice]

Assuming there is a God, of what importance is it to believe in God?

Similarly, assuming there is an afterlife, why would belief in God have anything to do with getting there?

[FormerLib]

Great post!

A bump and many pings.

[JMJ333]

The Psychology of Atheism

[parsifal]

Atheists may be just people who don't believe in the Judeo-Christian manifestation of God---A dude in a white robe surounded by a gazillion singing angels marking down every transgression in a ledger.

Personally, I think the idea of a "creator" or "creator force" is imminently more reasonable than human attempts to shoehorn "God" into some sort of cross between a oriental potentate and Murray, the martinette accountant.

I think Christians do themselves a great disservice by imagining their God not much more than a human king in his court of sycophants. Do you really suppose that if there is a God and he created trillions of galaxies, that he sits around listening to dull church music and peering down to earth to see who is eating pork chops on Sunday or who can't prounouce Sibboleth, Sitboleth, Stickholabeth, oh heck, you know that word. parsy.

[JMJ333]

Assuming there is a God, of what importance is it to believe in God?

I made a good case based on material evidence of history for the existence of God in the link on post 9. You may find it interesting.

[desertcry]

It's just amazing how much one great picture can say. Thanks

[HassanBenSobar]

I've always said that Atheists are really people who believe in God but are either too proud to admit they have something to answer to, or those who HATE the God they do believe in. Or, of course there are always the idiots.

I'm an atheist. It is not an easy thing. I must accept that my existence will permanently end at some point. It would be NICE to believe in a God that might grant me some way around my mortality--but to me, wishing isn't going to make it so. I'd be happy to 'answer' to some god in exchange for extended (eternal?) life. And since I don't believe in God, I don't hate him. I don't hate religion or religious people, either (well, except maybe certain Islamofascists).

I was for many years a very religious person, but gradually came to believe that the foundation for faith (of any type) was lacking. Very long story, I won't go into it here. It's my personal view, and I don't bother to convince others of it. I don't look down upon those who disagree, either. Furthermore, I hardly agree that statements like 'under god' in the pledge of allegiance *establish* a religion. Atheists like Newdon (sp?) are an embarrassment.

I am a scientist, but I am not an expert in evolution. I have heard all the arguments for the existence of god, and I'm not convinced by the argument that the "order" we see in the universe implies an intelligent designer. (Even if I conceded a designer, my view is the designer has such limited interaction with humanity as to be meaningless--but that's another thing altogether). We observe that nature behaves in certain ways, but to interpret that behavior as 'orderly' and therefore intelligent doesn't carry much weight with me. Sorry.

You may conclude I'm stupid. Doesn't bother me. Stupidity is not the exclusive domain of atheists.

[keithtoo]

I dont think there are really ANY human attributes that pertain to God. I do believe that God became human in the form of Christ, and that he left eternity to enter the dimension of time for His own purposes.

As for Him demanding that we follow his rules, it seems you are giving Him human attributes, not me. If God is holy, ie: sinless and perfect, we cannot abide with Him unless we become holy. What His commandments show us more than anything else is that Holiness is a gulf between us and Him that we cannot bridge on our own. Thus, the necessity for a "perfect man" in the form of Jesus Christ, to die a substitutionary death for others. Death being the proper penalty for our (mine anyway) choice to live out my will apart from God.

At the end of the day, accepting Christ's gift of salvation and forgiveness is a very freeing experience. Anyone who thinks all the good things in their life are of their own doing is duped. An honest appraisal of my own life shows much more good given to me than I deserve. I say that not out of guilt, because, I really dont feel any guilt. I do have fairly clear 20/20 hindsight though. And I believe that one day I will have a perfect vision of what my life was about and who directed it. I'm sure I will see that, thankfully, I handed over the reigns to Christ and let him drive.

[tophat9000]

The 9th court will be over turned..

First look at what was they state in the ruling

"A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical ... to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,"' Goodwin wrote.

But the statment above is false

Jesus, Vishnu, Zeus. are proper names of a god a supernatural god

But the word God is not a proper name... it is a title

The term god is generic, look it up

It is the title for what anyone believes is the ultimate truth .. that is there god

It does not even mean a supernatural god

God (a. & n.) Good.
God (n.) A person or thing deified and honored as the chief good; an object of supreme regard.
God (n.) Figuratively applied to one who wields great or despotic power

Atheist have a “god” an ultimate truths they believe in

Part of there “god” is that there is no Supreme Being

They "would claim" they follow a humanist moral code and honored as the chief good; an object of supreme regard.

So the judges ruling was fundamentally wrong because he assumed the word "God" called on a particular supernatural god but it does not

[parsifal]

If there is a God, I don't think he does a lot of commanding and rule making and I figure he gave me a brain for a reason. Those who believe in the Bible seem to think different. They want to reduce religion to a set of rules. One of the things that makes Christianity a logical possibility to me is that Jesus was so far out of character in his approach to religion and rules. Kinda of strange to find that perceptive a person in the dungpile of the Middle East 2,000 years ago. parsy.

[thinktwice]

Regarding post 9 -- thank you.

Meanwhile, for those that missed it, there's a thread about atheists improving society at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/698289/posts

[Physicist]

It is not an easy thing. I must accept that my existence will permanently end at some point.

Why is that not easy? Where were you before you were born (or at least conceived)?

[HassanBenSobar]

I see what you're saying, but before I was born I had no consciousness. Now I am conscious that I am alive, and will someday die, nad have no more consciousness. I'm not afraid that death will be unpleasant--I just prefer to live, that's all.

[Lessismore]

I dont think there are really ANY human attributes that pertain to God. I do believe that God became human in the form of Christ, and that he left eternity to enter the dimension of time for His own purposes.

Believing in God as an abstract entity that created the universe is pretty easy, i.e. the cause behind the Big Bang. Believing in God as a still abstract entity that causes the laws of nature to continue on in a consistent fashion throughout time is also pretty easy.

Understanding why the creator and sustainer of the universe would want to mess around with individual humans (each of the 6,000,000,000 of us) on the third planet of a mediocre star in the edge of a sort of average galaxy is a lot harder. It's sort of like trying to believe that Santa delivers presents to all the boys and girls on Christmas Eve in his sleigh with only nine flying reindeer.