To the atheists of mx

[I'm blue dabadeedabadie]

When I was 12 or so I heard George Carlin, and I thought he was hilarious, but now that I listen to him years later, he sounds like some cheap, Mencia-esque comic who "tells it like it is," and "says what I'm thinking!" etc.

The reason for this thread is that he, along with many people who believe themselves to be smart, has an unbelievably immature perspective/stereotype against religion.

Now, I'm sort of indifferent to it and don't really think about it because I don't think I'm mature enough yet to actually care about/understand spirituality, but please, this is just idiotic:

Carlin: "Religion has the greatest bull**** story ever told. Think about it; religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man! Living in the sky! Who watches everything you do every minute of every day!"

And he's come to various other stupid realizations about it-- and his arguments also include, "If there's a God, why do we get sicknesses? Why did Hitler exist?"

"War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption... something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed." and also: "If I can see something, it kind of helps the credibility along."

"If there is a god, may he strike the audience dead."

And I realized that most people don't understand the purpose of religion-- either that, or they think that religion = right wing, orthodox, fundamentalist Christianity.

(more to the point):

To atheists, I'm just wondering what your rationale is, how you chose to become an atheist, assuming you weren't born into an atheist family.

So ^that's the point of this thread.

[BassRevelation1029]

perhaps you should change the title to *OFFICIAL atheism thread* before it gets closed.

[I'm blue dabadeedabadie]

Oh, sorry.

[Doop]

Nothing i've ever seen has given me reason to believe in god.

[Scuba_Steve]

My rationale is that I get my spiritual fufillment from a variety of sources, friends, music, hobbies. I simply don't need to joina club where they tell you what you can and can't do because "an invisible man in the sky" says so.

And the purpose of religion is so that there is something people can turn to and mindlessly believe in to themselves feel better. That's all there is to it, and I don't mean this as a bad thing. I know religion has spawned some good people and for that I tihnk it's great. But it has also spawn overly zealous hypocrites, which makes me think it's the worst thing. Balance those two things out and you get an OK.

I also don't like religion because I always find myself second guessing it, it's part of my personality and there's very little I can do to change it.

But hey, if religion works for other people and they don't force it on me or other people that's perfectly okay.

[ihatemybass]

i don't really see a reason why this thread should be closed.

I beleive some people just become atheists because it's easier not to care.

[I'm blue dabadeedabadie]

Originally Posted by Scuba_Steve

My rationale is that I get my spiritual fufillment from a variety of sources, friends, music, hobbies. I simply don't need to joina club where they tell you what you can and can't do because "an invisible man in the sky" says so.

Yeah, I'm not trying to tell you to do anything, but Buddhism sort of revolves around the way you live your life and doesn't add in anything unnecessary to doing that, like Christianity would add in.

I'll also add I'm not Christian so I'm not referring only to religions with a deity, as far as the invisble man thing goes.

[madeyadams]

I just think it's ridiculous to believe in something that no one knows if it exists or not. I also think its just retarded to believe some of the things that religions believe, especially Christianity. Not even spiritually either, just morally.

Originally Posted by Scuba Steve

And the purpose of religion is so that there is something people can turn to and mindlessly believe in to themselves feel better. That's all there is to it, and I don't mean this as a bad thing.

I agree. But I do mean it as a bad thing.

[Bron-Yr-Aur]

My rationale is that I've yet to notice anything that proves a higher being exists. The Bible tends to contradict itself, and all possible chances of seeing God or finding some sort of proof are conviently written out. For me, it's basically the whole thing is suspicious and unfounded.

[MAthiAS]

I don't know if there's a god or not, but the Christian god is not a god I'd worship.

[Der Übermensch]

Athiesm is logical, because the logical conclusion when faced with no proof for the existence of something is to assume it doesn't exist. Its not always correct, but its the logical choice.

[RockAndRoll]

Originally Posted by Das Übermensch

Athiesm is logical, because the logical conclusion when faced with no proof for the existence of something is to assume it doesn't exist. Its not always correct, but its the logical choice.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Seafroggys]

George Carlin was raised in a catholic home. I think he knows what he's talking about.

Do you honestly believe comedians believe in what they say?

[Der Übermensch]

Carlin believes what he says in the very general sense, but I don't think that explaining his opposition to religion in his own real terms would make for very good comedy...

[I'm blue dabadeedabadie]

Originally Posted by Das Übermensch

Carlin believes what he says in the very general sense, but I don't think that explaining his opposition to religion in his own real terms would make for very good comedy...

Well, George Carlin more instegated this question in me, forget about him, I just was looking for a more logical basis on which to deny anything pertaining to any religion.

But, to the other poster, he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about, even if he was raised a Catholic, because he must have been raised in a very fundamentalist and generally bad way.

There's plenty more logical reasons for decrying Catholicism.

[Letto]

To call Carlin Mencia-esque is just horrible. You should at least say Mencia is Carlin-esque, but that would be way too great of a compliment. Mencia is vulgar for the sake of being vulgar; he's not making a statement with his comedy.

[sjada]

Carlins argument is not based at all on religious beliefs, but not all atheists believe in atheism for the same reason.

[The Violent Warrior]

lol i chose to become an atheist for the same reasons carlin is one, but you can go deeper into epistemology and stuff

[badtaste]

Originally Posted by Scuba_Steve

My rationale is that I get my spiritual fufillment from a variety of sources, friends, music, hobbies. I simply don't need to joina club where they tell you what you can and can't do because "an invisible man in the sky" says so.

And the purpose of religion is so that there is something people can turn to and mindlessly believe in to themselves feel better. That's all there is to it, and I don't mean this as a bad thing. I know religion has spawned some good people and for that I tihnk it's great. But it has also spawn overly zealous hypocrites, which makes me think it's the worst thing. Balance those two things out and you get an OK.

I also don't like religion because I always find myself second guessing it, it's part of my personality and there's very little I can do to change it.

But hey, if religion works for other people and they don't force it on me or other people that's perfectly okay.

Pretty much the same for me. I just don't like the idea of having to turn to a book for inspiration or spiritual meaning.

[Danger Bird]

Originally Posted by I'm blue dabadeedabadie

When I was 12 or so I heard George Carlin, and I thought he was hilarious, but now that I listen to him years later, he sounds like some cheap, Mencia-esque comic who "tells it like it is," and "says what I'm thinking!" etc.

The reason for this thread is that he, along with many people who believe themselves to be smart, has an unbelievably immature perspective/stereotype against religion.

Now, I'm sort of indifferent to it and don't really think about it because I don't think I'm mature enough yet to actually care about/understand spirituality, but please, this is just idiotic:

Carlin: "Religion has the greatest bull**** story ever told. Think about it; religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man! Living in the sky! Who watches everything you do every minute of every day!"

And he's come to various other stupid realizations about it-- and his arguments also include, "If there's a God, why do we get sicknesses? Why did Hitler exist?"

"War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption... something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed." and also: "If I can see something, it kind of helps the credibility along."

"If there is a god, may he strike the audience dead."

And I realized that most people don't understand the purpose of religion-- either that, or they think that religion = right wing, orthodox, fundamentalist Christianity.

(more to the point):

To atheists, I'm just wondering what your rationale is, how you chose to become an atheist, assuming you weren't born into an atheist family.

So ^that's the point of this thread.

lol, that has nothing to do with George Carlin at all. In case you didn't notice, he's a comedian, not a philosopher, or The Official Spokesman for Atheism.

I am an atheist because I don't see a reason to believe in God, and I think it's logical to be skeptical of something as a default. why should I believe in it? Because if not, Jesus will bully me into loving him by threatening me with hell? No thanks.