All one needs is patience during tribulations, and you don't need to believe in God to be patient. Belief in God just makes being patient far easier for the obvious reasons.
It is not what atheists think to be the case. It is the case. You have been told there is God and have read about it in ancient texts. There is no evidence whatsoever of a god.
Good advice. As the late Warren Zevon said, "enjoy every sandwich". - - - Updated - - - Good question but I think I'd substitute "faith" for "belief" in your question.
Right. so no need of a god to pray to. no need of a god and an afterlife based on corporeal behavior in this life. no need of believing that one's life is part of god's plan. I happen to agree that there is no need, but regrettably those of faith insist that it is the only path.
I was addressing your comment about "spiritual comfort." What does prayer and the afterlife have to do with that? Belief in God is not a need, but a blessing, and the most important of all blessings at that.
I've pondered that question several times, but here is the straight skinny: The atheist will not allow the Christian to have their own beliefs. They feel compelled to question them; they attack them; they get into never ending whizzing contests over the most trivial of things. Ask them the same question.
That is not what is going on. Atheists just want to make certain that laws are not passed that are religious in nature. AA
You may be right but this seems impossible to prove. I am a practicing Catholic because I love the ritual and respect the institution for its longevity (are there any older institutions on Earth? Which?) and for the sense of order and continuity it offers. There are periodic scandals, as occur in every organization, but they involve a very small percentage of the priests and practitioners. The worst doubt about all this, and I will carry it to my deathbed is this: if Jesus loves the little children of the world, why does he allow them to be abused, sold into sex slavery, and abandoned, sometimes suffering those offenses by their own parents. Can you imagine being sold into sex slavery by your biological mother? Well, it happens. A lot. That and worse. Blaming the devil, blaming bad people, justifying it with an Asiatic belief that the children must have been bad in their own previous life, provides me with no solace at all.
We live in a VERY REAL WORLD...and all the praying and Bible Thumping in the world will not change this. AA
Why would you think that atheists don't think things happen for a reason? There's always a reason, that's basic cause and effect. The only real area where randomness comes into play is with the human psyche. Every single other thing from the motion of galaxies to the bonding of atoms happen for reasons. They are not random. If you're driving your car and you let go of the wheel, it may seem like it goes in a random direction, but really it's all just physics. It's all just the stuff you didn't perceive. But your inability to perceive all the points along a linear timeline do not mean they have the intent or wisdom of an omnipotent being behind them. Coincidences are just the absence of perceiving all the things necessary to actually see the timeline of events that caused whatever the coincidental thing was. Running into a long-time friend you haven't seen in a while at the store did not happen because God willed it, it happened because of the decisions each of you made combined with the effects of all the decisions everyone else made that led to that event taking place. It'd be impossible to detect how everything worked out without basically being able to record every moment of life from every angle everywhere and then rewinding everything to figure out the sequence. So we humans just call it luck or fate or God because that's easier and makes it sound mysterious and cool.
It appears as tho we differ in our understanding of what "spiritual comfort" is. I suggest you google the term. Its pretty clearly laid out in any number of sources as to how belief in god and religious dogma provides the basis for "spiritual comfort" to believers.
So are the worlds 360 million Buddhists all atheists because they don't believe that this world is created and ruled by a God.?
It's either taking comfort in God or any other substitute. God simply provides the best of the available alternatives.
Buddhists nevertheless believe in an ultimate purpose of some sort. They are essentially non-theists as opposed to "atheists."
I'm talking about an absolute reason, an ultimate cause that which all other minor causes refer back to.
I'm sure he doesn't but why ask? He probably meant that the govt isn't supposed to protect your ears from hearing the expression of religious views so why censor all expressions as such?
Yes, the problem of evil has always been a Christian problem. It's suffice to say that Islam offers a sufficient answer to this problem.
Wrong. By definition freedom OF something also means freedom from it. One cannot have freedom OF religion if others are free to impose their beliefs on you therefore freedom from religion is part and parcel of the first amendment. The same thing applies to freedom of speech. You have the right to express yourself or even to listen and hear what others have to say. However no one has the right to impose on others and force them to listen which is why freedom of speech also includes freedom from speech based on personal choice. - - - Updated - - - Christianity offers no answer either.
There can be no State religion under our Constitution. OTOH, America does have an unofficial declared religion (that some atheists have embraced by their tenets of faith.) It is known as secular humanism.
