Greetings and Salutations

DerKlempner
atheist
DerKlempner's picture
Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-12-19
User is offlineOffline
Greetings and Salutations

I come from a Roman Catholic family, where I was raised to believe in God and the tenets of their religion.  However, as early as ten years of age, I realized that 90% or more of the Roman Catholic mass and related teachings had little or nothing to do with their religion.  It was at this point that I made the decision that if God really existed, then some sort of proof would have to be presented to me in order for me to believe.  Unfortunately, like all of my siblings, I was forced to attend catholic school or catechism classes, attend church, and go through confirmation until I turned the age of eighteen.

Since that time, I have dedicated myself to making attempts to debunk theism and gods.  Nowadays, my family is mostly agnostic, although my parents still consider themselves religious, albeit not fundamentalists (i.e., they believe in evolution, the 4.5 billion-year-old Earth, etc.).  I've found that many theists that want to have rational arguments about the existence of a god do so willingly and without malice (and, unfortunately for them, without many facts to back up their claims).

I am glad to be able to join this community where I can discuss these issues with other like-minded atheists and theists.  I will not pander to irrational comments or lines of thinking if there is no semi-logical thought put behind them, regardless of the viewpoint.

I don't believe that religion in general is a "bad thing", because it's a highly personal subject in which every person is entitled to their opinion.  I believe religion can be good for many reasons; I believe that it is the minority of theists that give their religions a bad name.  My purpose is to open theists' minds to ideas that the basic tenets of religion (i.e., don't kill, steal, or commit adultery, among others) don't need the religion itself to justify the morality of those tenets.  And they certainly don't need an antiquated idea of an all-powerful being to understand them, either.

Cheers, and thanks for welcoming me.

If "God" created man in his image, then why aren't YOU omniscient and omnipresent?

Sci-Fi Bible: Replace the words "Jesus" and "God" with "alien" and "spaceship", respectively. Isaac Asimov couldn't write a better story.


Answers in Gene...
High Level Donor
Answers in Gene Simmons's picture
Posts: 4214
Joined: 2008-11-11
User is offlineOffline
 Well, let me be the first

 Well, let me be the first one to welcome you.

 

My father served in WW2 and reupped for Korea.  If he had not made it out of there, he never would have met my mom.  Sometimes things suck but you have to make the best choice that you can at the time and with the information at hand.

NoMoreCrazyPeople wrote:
Never ever did I say enything about free, I said "free."

=


harleysportster
atheist
harleysportster's picture
Posts: 3359
Joined: 2010-10-17
User is offlineOffline
Welcome

Welcome aboard from one former Roman Catholic to another former Roman Catholic.

Me personally, I overall do feel that religion is a bad thing. Of course, I would not wish to force my viewpoints on people's personal beliefs.But I do believe that people would be better off without it .

I do agree that the best recourse to take is to try and open theists minds to new ideas. But I generally have found that unless the theist is doubting and already experiencing issues with his faith, opening their minds to new ideas is nigh impossible. That does not stop me from trying though.

I think you'll like it here. Lots of different ideas,viewpoints and really in-depth discussions. Have fun.

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno


BobSpence
High Level DonorRational VIP!ScientistWebsite Admin
BobSpence's picture
Posts: 5939
Joined: 2006-02-14
User is offlineOffline
G'day, and welcome.I like to

G'day, and welcome.

Never bought into any religion, thanks to a sceptical father and a mother who, while conventionally inclined to religion, conceded to my lack of interest in buying into it.

I like to point out to Theists that not only do those moral precepts predate the Bible, the Bible does not include rape, torture and slavery as moral evils.

And it endorses the right of an authority figure to punish disobedience, which is NOT inherently a wrong, without limit, and extend the punishment to all their descendants.

And that we don't need to personally atone for our sins by addressing the victims of our actions, if we accept the purely symbolic 'sacrifice' of a god-figure.

It also endorses the Orwellian concept of thought-crime, and treating other human beings (wives and servants) as owned objects.

The Bible is not remotely a worthy source of moral guidelines.

Sorry, I am in a ranting mood, having just been responding to some Theistic silliness...

Of course, I don't go around gratuitously slapping Theists in the face with those facts, but if they bring it up....

Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality

"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris

The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me

From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology