Hi all,

I was born without faith. The Reformed Jewish family I was raised in saw religion as culture and embraced it without following much of it. My obligatory Bar Mitzvah was the last time I visited a temple save for weddings and funerals. As a child I was fascinated by other faiths. Unbeknownst to my family, I went to catholic mass with a friend of mine on Sundays for a while. That these seemingly similar religions didn't approve of each other made them both seem really silly to me. As I learned more about these and other religions I couldn't shake the silliness of it. It formed in me a profound distrust in the whole of society, as it seemed obsessed with these silly and contradictory ideas. I found a haven in science fiction in general, and Star Trek in particular. For me Science fiction took what we "knew" and tried to imagine universes in which logic, critical thought and science might lead to a profound existence.

I'm all grown up, now. I'm a successful business owner, parent and flaming homosexual. I live a wonderful and rewarding life outside any semblance of religion. However, being surrounded by believers in my small Pennsylvania hamlet, I thirst for dialog with others of like mind. I'm not particularly interested in debating the existence of god. It's such a silly topic. Living in defiance of small mindedness and ignorance is not always easy, and it brings comfort to read the ravings of other atheists.

Logic is not the answer. It's the air I breathe.

I wonder why we bother with terms like "agnostic"? It defines us all and therefore has no ability to differentiate.  Were we to think about it, are not every one of us "agnostics". No one has any evidence whatsoever as to the existence of a God or any of the other metaphysical stuff floating around. So, the honest response is: "despite my belief, I really don't know". Trouble is, some people seem unable to differentiate between strong belief and knowledge.

If your are a bible loving person, be careful here. Recall how much emphasis the New Testament  places on "faith". If you have knowledge, you don't need faith. So, if you want to stick fast to the Bible, you may not want to become too knowledgeable.

NWFrank wrote:

I wonder why we bother with terms like "agnostic"? It defines us all and therefore has no ability to differentiate.  Were we to think about it, are not every one of us "agnostics". No one has any evidence whatsoever as to the existence of a God or any of the other metaphysical stuff floating around. So, the honest response is: "despite my belief, I really don't know". Trouble is, some people seem unable to differentiate between strong belief and knowledge.

Welcome to Bnet, NWFrank! Go ahead, start a thread about "agnosticism" vs. "atheism" to see what kind of responses you get! :)

As for me, generally refer to myself as an atheist. Or an agnostic if I think that'll be more acceptable somehow, but when I fully explain my take on theology, I'm actually an agnostic atheist. Agnostic in the sense that I don't know whether or not god(dess) exists (there are Christian agnostics, Jewish agnostics too!) and atheist in the sense that I don't believe a god(dess) exists. If I really wanted to refine my position even further, I suppose I could throw  IGNOSTIC into the mix because first one has to define what god(dess) really is before we can express a lack of knowledge and/or believe in her, don't you think? :rolleyes:

Either way, welcome to the fray!

--- AS

ThirtyThreeAs]

Hello everyone, I'm 33As. I've know about Bnet for a while, and I've been lurking on some of the forums here. However, I've decided to finally make an account here. I'm currently an undergrad finishing up my last term at a community college before transferring to a university to finish up my degree in computer engineering. Despite focusing on engineering, I'm well versed in most of the mechanics of modern day evolution (and just a tad on some of the proposed theories on abiogenesis).

I'm a strong atheist and have been for a good 6 years now. Decided religion wasn't for me at about 12, and made up my mind around 13 (cause all the cool kids are atheists ya know?) Despite being a strong atheist, I've never really had to defend myself. As I've seen here already, it looks like this'll be a great test of "faith."

Hi 33As, welcome to Beliefnet! 'Bout time you "delurked" and introduced yourself!  wrote:

Hi, I am new to bnet .  I am a married male, in my early thirties, and a parent of two preschoolers.  I was raised in the Mennonite church, but spent much of my schooling in fundamentalist Baptist schools (strange story).  After a long process (starting when I was about 20) I now consider myself a weak atheist.  I wished for the opportunity to share in a community of atheists, but, until now, had not made a serious effort to locate one. 

The turning point on my road to atheism, was when I realized, with the help of some books, that I did not need god to act ethically.  I had been told as a child "Without God, People will have no reason not to lie, cheat, steal, and murder because life will have no purpose."  It sounds silly to me now, but as a child that reasoning had a powerful control over me.  It became clear to me that I had never really believed that godless people were more unethical than religious people or that religious people had a monopoly on a life of purpose.  Evidence was all around me.  Very often, some of the kindest, most content people I met were not religious and some of the most unfriendly, neurotic people I knew were devout.   After overcoming the faulty belief that I would become a liar, thief, or murderer without belief in god, there was not much in my way of fully abandoning Christianity, at least intellectually.  I say "at least intellectually" because I still am struggling with admitting to others that I am an atheist because my parents, sister, grandparents, and most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins are Christians who very much believe in a personal Jesus who walks and talks with them and that nonbelievers will burn in eternal hellfire.  Because to be an atheist is not simply an intellectual or philosophical position for me, but also a rejection of a profound part of my family's life going back generations (the Mennonite church is not just a Christian sect, but also, in its own way, an ethnic group), to admit my status feels like I am rejecting my people and walking out into thin air.  However, I can't pretend I believe in unbelievable things, simply in order to hold on to my heritage.

Agnosticspirit, I live in the Northeastern US, not the South, but the area I live in is quite conservative.  Although I don't live in a large urban area, there's a Unitarian Universalist church in the area which we've visited a few times.  Thanks for the link. :)