"I contend we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours"
-- Stephen Roberts

What if you are Hindu and believe in millions of gods? Only one less would be 999,999 gods...?

Nowhere in that quote does it imply that the ammount of god/gods/diety is a constant. mGod = x, and this statement merely shows where x = 1 and assumes you can figure out the rest. But that is not the point at all, the point shown (from my perspective at least) in the quote is that atheists don't beleive in god because they don't feel (anybody know of a better word to use?) 'Him' which is the same reason (for true religious people, you have to seperate out the people who follow the religion because that is what they learned) monotheists don't beleive in multiple gods or gods of other religions. Which is also the reason 'recruiting' is futile and a counter-positive act (getting people to follow a religion when they dont 'feel' it is simply tricking people into wasting their lives), if an atheist (etc) is going to beleive it surely wont be because someone told him to it will be because he/she/they felt 'god'.

I would truly appreciate the veiws of non-atheists on this concept.

Hey man it's man eat man world out there when tredding the waters of religion...thoes willing to wade in the waters of religious culture must accept the reciprocal of values. Thoes not wanting to taste the waters are denying themselvs a recprocating life. Many choose duality...for its a 50-50. feeling and its always going to be 2 choices. But I live not for duality...thats another topic.
'feeling' for God is a silly thing..unless you want to go into it I'd rather not for its of reciprocating value in the circle o life and is moot.

~Austin

I think that by "feel", Predator means the person believes that God guides their lives, and may even have a relationship with that person. They have a sense of completeness from sharing a relationship with God. They may see this in Nature and "feel" wonderment, or they may feel it when they pray and "feel" a presence. There is a lot of emphasis put in Faith, as God is Spirit and cannot be seen. I believe that this is the reason so many people do not believe, because they want concrete evidence that God exists. It cannot be. You must believe (or have faith) that a Higher Being exists based on your relationship with that Being. The stronger the relationship, whether through Nature, Praying, Studying, or Meditating, the stronger your faith in that Being becomes.

So, Predator is correct. Until an Athiest actually "feels" or has some kind of spiritual relationship with a Higher Being and sees for themselves personally, they will not believe in God. Nobody can show them concrete evidence. It has to be experienced by each individual.

I feel the non-existence of a god. Instead, I feel like I'd rather get over myself that I was created, excuse me, "designed" for a reason, and rather accept the purely logical, satisfying truth that I'm extremely lucky to have been born and survived at an age when I can be a fulfilled atheist. I feel grateful that I'm alive right now, considering the overwhelming number of those who were not born or couldn't survive past their vulnerable childhood years. I want to do my best to enjoy the beauty of life, like listening to Tchaikovsky, reading Shakespeare, and staring at the sky and stars. I also want to do my best to help other people in the most need, which is why my family donates to charities every month, because I get upset when I read or see others suffering.

There's so much mystery, beauty, and wonder in the natural world and Universe already, why do some of you have to ignore it in favor of fairytales we can never know to be true?

So when you are reading Shakespeare, listening to Tchaikovsky, or staring at the sky and stars, you feel the non-existence of a god? You talk about the beauty and wonder in the natural world and Universe, yet feel the non existence of a god? How sad. And quite honestly, just being satisfied with being "one of the lucky ones" to have made it, is not very ambitious. As a matter of fact it is a cop out. You dont even have to be religious in order to feel there is a purpose to each individual life on this planet. Why help others if you do not think their life is purposeful and meaningful, that it counts for something more than just being lucky to be here. Some of the less fortunate, who live in poverty or are down on their luck probably wish they were not as "lucky".

All life has purpose and was designed for a reason, even if it is to be satisfied that they are one of the lucky ones to have survived and leave it at that...

It is the natural world, free from nonsense and fairytales of it being created by a god or gods. If you want to believe it's created, that's your belief, but it isn't a respectable one. The awe of what we can accomplish as human beings in the context of music, art, literature, philosphy, and other genres of intellectually-fulfilling aspects of life are wonderous on their own. The Universe surrounding us is a beautiful enigma, and slowly we understand it more and more. Why bring in magical, fatherly figures decorated as "god" anymore, when we have an understanding of things? It's called science. We don't believe the Earth is flat or that God lives in the clouds. It's ignorant superstition now.



There is no pre-destined purpose for anyone. If you believe that, I'll be as polite as I can informing you there is no purpose and you need to get over yourself. For every living thing, there's a purpose? Do you realize how many spontaneous abortions happen every hour on this Earth? How many kittens didn't survive and died as a few weeks old? Give me a break, we're here as human beings because we survived, just like every living thing we can observe today.

Life can be meaningful on its own. I don't have the time or ignorance to put everything in the context of fairytales found in the Christian Bible or any other self-proclaimed 'holy' text. It's meaningful to adopt children who have no parents; It's meaningful to donate medicine and money to people who need it to survive to watch their children grow up into adults to do the same; It's meaningful for people like Norman Borlaug and Jonas Salk to have lived and achieved great things for agriculture and medicine to save the lives of others they'll never know, far after they've died. You don't need to be scared of a punishment or seduction of a reward to be a good person - anyone who does is an idiot. We're all capable of contributing our lives to good things and to live as good people, but many of us don't because we're selfish - especially those that live in priveleged countries like Western Europe or North America. Don't evoke silly child stories of religion or a warm Santa Claus-like "god" into it - we're alive so let's make the best of it while we're here.

I suppose it can be difficult for some people to sometimes see how others think and believe differently to what they themselves believe. It possibly explains, though I don't really know, why you think it's sad that another person feels a non existance of a god when experiencing such wonderful pleasures in life. But then on the other side, I think it's weird, thought not sad, just weird, how some people can't enjoy life and have such meaninful experiences unless they have that extra aid like having to believe in the existance of a god..

Each to his own... It is said that Murphy was an optimist.

Dingo
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Are you refearing to Murphys Law?