Why I'm not an Atheist

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So I have a bunch of friends who are Atheists. Some are more into it than others; I tend to avoid the ones who are really into it, because honestly it creeps me out a little.

Maybe it's because I wasn't raised particularly religious, and had almost no childhood exposure to organized religion.

Maybe it's because I was raised in the relatively religion-neutral Pacific Northwest. I don't really have anything to react against.

But I completely don't understand identifying oneself based on something that doesn't exist. I can't even really wrap my head around it. What does it mean? Hey guys I'm not a person who believes in a thing that doesn't exist!

I guess technically I'm an atheist; I don't believe in a god per se, although I do believe in my own existence and the existence of biological systems and therefore I suppose I believe in the great ecosystem of which we are a part, which is, in a sense, god. To me.

I'm not really sure what god is or what it means, outside of the religions which spell out what it means. I don't believe in those. I wouldn't call myself an atheist (because that makes absolutely no sense to me) but I'm not religious. However, I don't generally define myself by what I'm not. There are far, far too many things that I am not than things that I am, and unlike the God that Atheists define themselves by not believing in most of those things actually exist.

One of my friends/rivals, a crazy nascent biologist and slightly scary Atheist dude, is actually taking a class on Atheism this term. I am thinking that maybe I should take that class, it might explain a few things for me, about these people who define themselves by not believing in something that doesn't exist.

[Ben Shapiro]

On a scale of 1-5 (1= God is Real, 5 = LOL GOD) Most Atheists are about 4-4.5 anyone who says they're a 5 I do no business with them. If you're a different shade of Agnostic then that's completely different. You should totally take the class though. Just hope your body is prepared for the smugness that plagues that community.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I see atheism as a positive statement of belief: "I believe there is no God." The safest path, if presented with "maybe there is a God and if there is he wants to to worship him as part of this religion" is to go along with it on the off chance that they're right (assuming there's nothing outrageous about the religion beyond believing in a sky pixie). Atheism means deliberately taking the less safe path, because you're all being ridiculous and seriously, you guys. As obnoxious as loud atheists are, they're not much louder than converts to other beliefs.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I know God exists.  I got my tongue stuck in a printer once.

Anyway, I think the idea of a class on this is either going to be 169% WIN or 169% FAIL.  It will either examine atheism (WIN) or preach it (May as well have enrolled at Liberty University at that rate).

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I'm a little surprised that there is a class on atheism. Lesson 1: God does not exist. Lesson 2: God does not exist. etc. Maybe that's oversimplifying atheism, but I don't see what there is to learn about it. Or why books are written about it, or what have you. Some people don't believe in gods. Cool.

I see what you're saying Nigel. It's like if I were to define myself as a non-extraterrestrial whose profession is not plumbing.

[P3nT4gR4m]

There's a bit of me that thinks maybe there's a god, like a character or whatever. There's an even smaller bit of me (370 neurons approx) that thinks the character might exists and be exactly like he is in one of the books. The rest just thinks it's plain silly and someone who bases life decisions on fifth-hand accounts of what this fellow might be up to is pretty ridiculous and (more importantly) funny as shit.

I used to be an angry atheist, like these assholes were telling me stuff I had to do and stuff I wasn't allowed to on account of god and that pissed me off. And another part of me took offence to the precise level of dumb but then I mellowed and jaded and shit and nowadays I don't tend to get pissed off at retardedness much. There's too much of it and not enough rage. Laughing at any bits I come across is a much more enjoyable way to spend existence.

... or may god strike me down

[Cain]

-

[P3nT4gR4m]

If you asked me my religious affiliation, I would say atheist-agnostic.

However, I don't strongly identify as such because, in all honesty, religion does not have that big an impact on how I live my life.

This might change, since I now live in a far more religious country.  But probably not.  I assign religion a low importance, and since atheism clearly relates to that, it gets a low ranking as well.

This! I sure as hell don't identify myself as anything, hindu, muslim, athiest whatever. Anyone asks me my spiritual beliefs - I don't have any. Simple

[Bruno]

Some people's religion is so awful it should probably be illegal to teach it to children. That is where I imagine most of the really enthusiastic atheists come from. I mean, can you imagine being raised by Michelle Bachmann and Ted Cruz? That's bound to leave some mental scars.

A disturbing number of children are brought up being told that the universe was, in a nutshell, created by a child molesting sky fairy who loves his children so much he will throw them down in his rape basement and sodomize them with his fire cock for ever and ever if they don't love him back hard enough. And also, (little billy/suzie), we love him more than we love you, because he says so.

I imagine some of them have some kind of PTSD or something caused by the childhood trauma of being raised by crazy people. They may even have some underlying genetic disorder. I have had a theory for a while that religious denominations tend to attract people of particular genetic mental predispositions. The beliefs of some of these denominations tend to discourage people from marrying outside the church, so they breed with other people with similar genetic predispositions. The resulting children then inherit this genetic predisposition and hand it down to their children. It's natural selection for crazy.

[Reginald Ret]

I have had a theory for a while that religious denominations tend to attract people of particular genetic mental predispositions.

I wanted to say something else, but when i read this i completely forgot what i wanted to say.
Seriously? genetic mental predispositions? I have a book on genetics you really should read.

Anyway, If asked about my religion i would now say "Go away" or "Leave me alone".

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I identify as an atheist. I am not, of course, completely atheist. It's just that the word "atheist" tends to shut down conversation, which is the fastest way to approximately (though not really accurately) convey the sentiment "nothing you can say to me about your beliefs will mean anything to me, so please don't try." Maybe that's an intellectually violent way to put it, but I'm comfortable enough with my experience with religious people to assume they do not hold any new or intriguing information.

As for what I actually believe, I can only refer to a line of thinking, not to anything like a final conclusion. I know there is more to reality than what I can sense directly. That in fact there are whole universes that I cannot even imagine, let alone experience, as a 3-and-a-half-dimensional biped. It is precisely this fact that makes all human religions seem completely asinine. Why the fuck would a God who transcends everything be even remotely similar to humans? There's no possible way we can quantify such a being, if we're being honest, much less use that quantification as any reasonable basis for our behavior.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I see atheism as a positive statement of belief: "I believe there is no God." The safest path, if presented with "maybe there is a God and if there is he wants to to worship him as part of this religion" is to go along with it on the off chance that they're right (assuming there's nothing outrageous about the religion beyond believing in a sky pixie). Atheism means deliberately taking the less safe path, because you're all being ridiculous and seriously, you guys. As obnoxious as loud atheists are, they're not much louder than converts to other beliefs.

Damning with faint praise? 

I guess the fact that atheism isn't "less safe" in my region has a lot to do with my bafflement. I mean, most people assume that you're not religious unless you say you are.

The idea of going along with religion in case they're right doesn't really make sense to me. People apply that principle to virtually no other aspect of life.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

On a scale of 1-5 (1= God is Real, 5 = LOL GOD) Most Atheists are about 4-4.5 anyone who says they're a 5 I do no business with them. If you're a different shade of Agnostic then that's completely different. You should totally take the class though. Just hope your body is prepared for the smugness that plagues that community.

My body is not ready. I mean, what am I supposed to say? "Congratulations"?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Some people's religion is so awful it should probably be illegal to teach it to children. That is where I imagine most of the really enthusiastic atheists come from. I mean, can you imagine being raised by Michelle Bachmann and Ted Cruz? That's bound to leave some mental scars.

A disturbing number of children are brought up being told that the universe was, in a nutshell, created by a child molesting sky fairy who loves his children so much he will throw them down in his rape basement and sodomize them with his fire cock for ever and ever if they don't love him back hard enough. And also, (little billy/suzie), we love him more than we love you, because he says so.

I imagine some of them have some kind of PTSD or something caused by the childhood trauma of being raised by crazy people. They may even have some underlying genetic disorder. I have had a theory for a while that religious denominations tend to attract people of particular genetic mental predispositions. The beliefs of some of these denominations tend to discourage people from marrying outside the church, so they breed with other people with similar genetic predispositions. The resulting children then inherit this genetic predisposition and hand it down to their children. It's natural selection for crazy.

Somewhere there's a fascinating talk by Robert Sapolsky, who in fact shares at least significant portions of your opinion. It's pretty well-documented that there's a heritable component to many psychological disorders, including schizophrenia, which is relevant because the families of schizophrenics are more likely to hold irrational beliefs and show other signs of what has been named "Schizotypal Personality Disorder". It's not really a mental illness per se, but it does fit into a particular niche where a person is pretty much fully functional, but has beliefs that are clearly delusional. Socially-acceptable, perhaps eccentric, but delusional. The problem, of course, is that there is a spectrum effect and it's really really hard to say "This is where normal ends and schizotypal begins". Sapolsky's hypothesis is that, indeed, religion and similarly delusional beliefs are generated by this sort of mild madness, and then there is a sort of confirmation of popularity effect; you get enough slightly mad but functional and well-respected people believing the same delusional belief, perhaps you get a community leader who is charismatic and visionary (and slightly mad), and other people who aren't necessarily susceptible to delusions will start suspending their disbelief and going along with it, you get groupthink.

This talk is, of course, very controversial for a number of different reasons. It really pisses people off. I'll try to find it.   

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

I'm kinda in a similar situation to OP, in that i don't worship any gods, yet i dont identify myself as an atheist. Despite not worshipping any particular deity(does invoking Eris in order to troll a wiccan circle count?), I recently became a member of the Unitarian Universalists. How do i justify this? My view is, that there is no inherent meaning in the universe, only that which we create from the chaos that surrounds us. each of us makes up a story about how the world is as we go, based on what we think about the stuff we're exposed to. In this view, just about anything anybody believes is probably true to them, insofar as they really believe it and aren't just doing it to fit in.

So gods are pretty much ideas that influence people, and through people, the world. It doesn't matter if there actually is a big bearded guy in the sky somewhere, for as much as it affects what i can interact with, sometimes the belief is enough. Studies have shown that faith and religion can actually have measurable effects on mood; membership in an organized religion has been linked to higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness. So if praying to Odin helps a soldier stay alive one more day in Afghanistan, who am I judge? Why should i take that away, if it works for him? That's what i don't like about certain atheists, those that share that same instinct of OMG I MADE A LIFE DECISION FOR MYSELF AND NOW YOU NEED TO MAKE THE SAME ONE! COME READ OUR INFORMATIVE PAMPHLETS-I MEAN RESEARCH STUDIES!