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Why don't atheists meet?


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I was thinking about this before. Every other belief does except atheists. Why is this?

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LOL ... D, you're a hoot!

 

my guess is that they don't need anyone to reinforce their beliefs or "lift them up" because they've got doubts ...

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LOL ... D, you're a hoot!

 

my guess is that they don't need anyone to reinforce their beliefs or "lift them up" because they've got doubts ...

 

So true.

 

I think you have to be really "pro" something or really "anti" something in order to get involved in a cause.

 

I am not anti-religious enough to join a cause.

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shadowofman

Because if we did, we would just look at each other for a couple minutes and then conclude that we still don't believe.

 

Contrary to popular belief, atheism is not a religion. It is the absence of a religion. Therefore holding meetings based on the absence of belief is useless.

 

Are there conventions for people that don't collect stamps?

 

We share philosophies and ideas enough on the internets and in conversation. Mostly just picking on people that believe things. That's enough.

 

"Atheism is a religion like "off" is a channel on the TV."

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astrocreep
I was thinking about this before. Every other belief does except atheists. Why is this?

 

The reason atheists don't meet is that we don't need our non-belief of your religion to be validated by a group setting. There is a reason preachers call their people 'The Flock.'

 

Also, I find it funny that religious people always claim that being an atheist is in itself a religion. That begs the question, If I say pigs can fly and you find that nonsensical, isn't your disbelief a religion?

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Feelin Frisky

1. We don't "need" to 2. "They" might stone us in many parts of the US (or otherwise attack) 3. We are not united in "belief" in anything else and meeting to hate on belief in god or religion in general is a sick waste of time 4. Invariably there will be players who will keep trying to introduce "god" or wishy-washy fence-sitting positions like "deism" and "agnosticism". And real atheists ain't having it.

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Ross MwcFan

Because Atheism isn't a cult/religion.

 

We don't need to all get together and act out primative rituals.

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Ross MwcFan

Atheists getting together would be like people who aren't interested in reading books joining a 'Let's not read books club'.

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I can imagine it now

 

"Welcome to Atheist church. So about this god thing... what a load of nonsense, eh?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"...any other business? No? Let's go home."

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Feelin Frisky
Atheists getting together would be like people who aren't interested in reading books joining a 'Let's not read books club'.

 

Ah-ahahahahahahaha. Great analogy. Can you imagine walking around and saying something like "Hi I'm Ross. So what do you NOT believe in?"

Edited by Feelin Frisky
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SincereOnlineGuy
Why don't atheists meet?

 

Cuz nobody builds them a building, and nobody solicits them in numbers for handouts.

 

 

 

(there's obviously more, but I'd better not...)

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skydiveaddict
I was thinking about this before. Every other belief does except atheists. Why is this?

 

 

I think it's because atheists are confident that there is no life after death. And, based on science and the reality of what we can see, that appears to be true.

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Feelin Frisky

Lots of good reasons in this thread. Anther is that by defining ourselves as atheists we would still technically be defining ourselves by the god we don't believe in. If you simply don't believe in the popular god, why be defined by that? That's like never being able to escape someone else's craziness and still keeping it alive within you. I you truly want to get away from god for instance on the Internet, you don't go to an "Atheists" forum. You come to places like Love Shack and hope nobody ever brings it up.

 

Another thing about atheist societies is that every time a new person joins up you wind up repeating the same processes of going over the things you wish you never had to hear about EVER.

Edited by Feelin Frisky
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skydiveaddict
I think it's because atheists are confident that there is no life after death. And, based on science and the reality of what we can see, that appears to be true.

 

 

I just wanted to make clear, I am a devout Catholic. When I used the word "we" in my previous post, I was referring to the human race in general

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shadowofman

I meet all my atheist friends out and about. You know, the weekly orgy or the biannual sacrifice.

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I think it's because atheists are confident that there is no life after death. And, based on science and the reality of what we can see, that appears to be true.

__________________

"Do the thing you fear the most & the death of fear is certain" -Mark Twain-

 

Seems to me,the biggest reason people are religious is because they FEAR DEATH and the unknown.So it stands to reason that "killing fear" would mean being an Atheist.;)

 

Ignoring science and reality speaks volumes about living in a fear based belief system.

 

The more "devout" the more fearful from where I sit.:confused:

 

I you truly want to get away from god for instance on the Internet, you don't go to an "Atheists" forum. You come to places like Love Shack and hope nobody ever brings it up.

 

I assume this was directed at me as I was the person who posted the Athiest forum.First off,Loveshack does bring it up as we are in a religious sub-forum.Secondly,it's helpful to be able to discuss reality with free thinkers once in a while.

 

Where else in society,can you without fear or judgement find like minded people to validate your lack of belief?

 

No where.I live in the "bible belt" and the second I bring up Atheism,

they start lighting crosses,preaching,praying for me,and trying to convert me.

 

It's awesome to find other rational,free thinkers as opposed to dealing with ignorance and fear.But to each thier own.

Edited by Heart On
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Feelin Frisky
Seems to me,the biggest reason people are religious is because they FEAR DEATH and the unknown...

 

The promise of an after life has been a tool for evil manipulators time immemorial. Most of us have been childhood victims of that institutionalized manipulation by "the church". It's a crime of such proportions that few can even get their minds even partly around it. Look at all the people who blow themselves up or fly airplanes into buildings for promise of immortality. No way those people do those things if not dupes of evil manipulation.

 

When I was a kid in Catholic school the nuns got away with assault on us regularly not to mention the humiliation of having it done in front of everyone else. But we didn't just fear expulsion for fighting back, we fear "excommunication" too and that meant HELL. What a way to get your bearings on the world. What a crime. And how many billions of victims over the eons. Surely this figures too in the twisted minds of those who become priests just to sexually prey on youth.

 

I find this question to be liberating: if you died and found out right away that there is a god but when you meet him in that moment he tells you, yes, it's true, I'm real but I'm sorry, there's no afterlife. Do you throw the life you lived back in his face and protest that it wasn't good enough? Or would you simply be grateful for having been able to live at all?

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http://atheism.about.com/od/theismtheists/tp/WhyTheistsBelieveInGod.htm

 

Some religious theists think it is appropriate to presume to inform atheists about why they really don't believe in any gods rather than simply listen to atheists in order to learn something. Perhaps atheists should instruct theists why they actually believe in gods. Theists offer all sorts of reasons for why they believe in a god but the only respectable reason is one which, if proven false, would at the very least cause them to seriously reconsider their belief and perhaps drop it entirely. I've never seen a religious theist do this, perhaps because the reasons below are more true than they would like to admit.

 

 

 

1. Indoctrination into Religion

Is it coincidence that people tend to stay with whatever religion they were raised in, and this religion tends to be whatever religion is dominant in the community/nation where they live? If people were genuinely convinced by the arguments which apologists offered, shouldn't the distribution of religions around the globe be a bit more even? The high and consistent degree of religious concentrations suggests that people believe their religion because that's the one they were indoctrinated into and which is consistently reinforced around them. People acquire a religion before critical thinking skills and that religion is promoted without most people noticing. That's really not a very good reason to believe that a religion is true, is it?

 

2. Indoctrination into Anti-Atheist Bigotry

If you keep being told that people who don't believe in your god are evil, immoral, and a threat to the stable social order, then you would never dream of dropping your theistic religion. Who wants to be immoral or simply regarded by the rest of society as immoral? This is very much what atheists face, especially in America, and it's hard not to see the constant indoctrination into anti-atheist bigotry as a reason why people stick to their religions. Children learn in public schools that America is a nation for people who believe in God and this message is reinforced throughout their lives by preachers, politicians, and community leaders of all sorts.

 

3. Peer and Family Pressure

 

Religion can be enormously important to families and communities, creating a tremendous amount of pressure to conform to religious expectations. People who step outside those expectations are not simply choosing a different way of life, but can in fact be perceived as rejecting one of the most important bonds which keep a family or community together. Even if this is never communicated in so many words, people do learn that certain ideas, ideologies, and practices should be treated as vital to communal bonds and should therefore not be questioned. The role of peer pressure and familial pressure in maintaining at least a veneer of religiosity for many people cannot be denied.

 

4.Fear of Death

Many religious theists try to argue atheists into believing in a god through the fear of what will happen after dying — either going to hell or simply ceasing to exist. This arguably reveals something very important about the believers themselves: they, too, must fear death as the cessation of existence and believe not because there are any good reasons to think there is an afterlife, but rather out of wishful thinking. People don't want to think that physical death is the end of all experiences, emotions, and thoughts so they insist on believing that somehow their "mind" will continue to exist without any physical brain in an eternity of sustained bliss — or even will be reincarnated in a new form.

 

 

5 Wishful thinking

The wish that physical death isn't the end of life probably isn't the only example of wishful thinking behind religious and theistic belief. There are a number of other ways in which people profess beliefs that appear to be more about what they wish were true than what they can support through good evidence and logic. Many Christians, for example, seem to wish quite strongly that there exists a place of eternal punishment awaiting all those who dare to deny them political and cultural dominion in America. Many conservative believers from many religions seem to wish that there is a god which wants them to exercise unchecked power over women and minorities.

 

 

6. Fear of Freedom and Responsibility

One of the most disturbing aspects of many people's religious beliefs is the manner in which these beliefs make it possible for believers to avoid taking personal responsibility for what's going on. They don't have to be responsible for ensuring that justice is done because God will provide that. They don't have to be responsible for solving environmental problems because God will do that. They don't have to be responsible for developing strong moral rules because God has done that. They don't have to be responsible for developing sound arguments in defense of their positions because God has done that. Believers deny their own freedom because freedom means responsibility and responsibility means that if we fail, no one will rescue us.

 

7.Lack of Basic Skills and Reasoning

 

Most people don't learn nearly as much about logic, reason, and constructing sound arguments as they should. Even so, the quality of arguments typically offered by believers as justification for their religious and theistic beliefs are remarkable for just how atrocious they are. If only one basic logical fallacy is committed, it can be considered an achievement. Given how important believers claim the existence of their god and truth of their religion are, you'd think that they would invest a lot of effort into constructing the best possible arguments and finding the best possible evidence. Instead, they invest a lot of effort into constructing circular rationalizations and finding anything that sounds even remotely plausible.

 

 

Sooo....which one of you Christians would like to admit the TRUTH of why you are a believer?

 

 

The promise of an after life has been a tool for evil manipulators time immemorial. Most of us have been childhood victims of that institutionalized manipulation by "the church". It's a crime of such proportions that few can even get their minds even partly around it. Look at all the people who blow themselves up or fly airplanes into buildings for promise of immortality. No way those people do those things if not dupes of evil manipulation.

 

When I was a kid in Catholic school the nuns got away with assault on us regularly not to mention the humiliation of having it done in front of everyone else. But we didn't just fear expulsion for fighting back, we fear "excommunication" too and that meant HELL. What a way to get your bearings on the world. What a crime. And how many billions of victims over the eons. Surely this figures too in the twisted minds of those who become priests just to sexually prey on youth.

 

I just wanted to express my sympathies for your upbringing.

 

I was lucky in that my 'parents' weren't religious zealots,

they were just alcoholics.;)

 

Thankfully,I never felt that manipulative fear and got the chance

to form opinions early on without some pastor or priest shoving

lies and fear into my brain!(or anything else for that matter)

 

 

I find this question to be liberating: if you died and found out right away that there is a god but when you meet him in that moment he tells you, yes, it's true, I'm real but I'm sorry, there's no afterlife. Do you throw the life you lived back in his face and protest that it wasn't good enough? Or would you simply be grateful for having been able to live at all?

 

"God" didn't give me life,my parents did,so the question would be moot.

I am grateful for the ONE life THEY gave me and the night they had sex.

 

Other than that...my life is what I make of it with my choices.....I have no regrets and no one to thank or blame but myself when things go right or wrong.I am grateful for this life and live it without fear that I will be punished for being human.That's the best I have.

 

Afterlife?

 

Spare me....talk about entitlement issues thinking we get more than one!

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I was thinking about this before. Every other belief does except atheists. Why is this?

they don't want to be identified

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they don't want to be identified

 

That is complete BS.

 

If anything,theists should be the one's

hiding in shame for being so damn gullible and easily manipulated.

 

We are loud and proud and just because we don't have

a building that our tithing pays for,doesn't mean we don't

want to be identified.

 

We are in GOOD company!

 

http://www.chrisbeach.co.uk/viewQuotes.php?QuotePage=1

 

Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one.

 

Richard Dawkins

Edited by Heart On
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Atheists do meet - we meet through clubs and online forums

 

It is always nice to meet with people who have the same worldview as you do.

 

I live in a very religious household so having clubs and forums that are based on atheism and/or skepticism is a relief and a source of comfort.

Edited by Sarabina
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So far as religion of the day is concerned,

it is a damned fake... Religion is all bunk.

 

I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul... No, all this talk of an existence beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life - our desire to go on living - our dread of coming to an end.

 

All Bibles are man-made.

 

To those seaching for truth - not the truth of dogma and darkness but the truth brought by reason, search, examination, and inquiry, discipline is required. For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope.

 

Thomas Edison

 

 

 

Oh the irony of you using an Edison quote,Eve.:laugh::laugh::laugh:

So typical to slant something to your rationalization.

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