INSIGHTS ON ATHEISM

[Carl]

BOOGER

Atheists do no believe in a god(s).

Which brings up an interesting question. Exactly what do atheists believe in? They do not believe in God. They do not believe in the soul. They do not believe in an afterlife. A huge pile of negatives here. If the truth is supposed to be good for us, what good comes from the so-called truth of atheism?

I’d love to know. Now remember, you are talking to a former atheist, so please don’t pull that “misunderstanding of atheism” stuff on me that they are pulling in other forums at Catholic Answers.

 

[Carl]

DREDGTONE

Why would anybody WANT to believe that when they die they’re dead… that’s it. It simply happens that our intellect dictates what we believe

Or so you would have us believe. Remember, you are talking to a former atheist. I well remember not wanting God to exist, and formulating arguments to prove my want.

You do the same.

Please don’t con yourself like I did for so many years.

 

[Carl]

It seems to me that I made this point earlier in the thread, but I’ll try it again because it seems even more relevant at this point.

DOES ATHEISM HOPE?

This was the founder of “logical positivism” Alfred Ayer’s position, even as he approached death. Though he had had a near death experience sometime before his death, and though he had seen in that experience a red light that presented itself to him as the governance of the universe, he persisted in his hope that he was wrong about the red light and in his hope that God does not exist. Now in this case you could say there was no demand, and therefore there could be no supply. Wrong. If we are going to introduce an economic motif to the discussion, we have to be consistent. Lack of demand does not mean that Supply does not exist. Each of us has to experience his own demand before the Supply can be experienced. The spigot of faith has to be opened.

But why would Ayer HOPE that God does not exist? Mankind has hoped through the ages that God does exist. Why do atheists go against the yearning in the hearts of mankind as a whole? Now Ayer did not say he THOUGHT that God does not exist. He said he HOPED. This is a strange kind of hope that may be shared by many atheists and may be a key to the psychology of atheism. Why should atheists hope for their ultimate annihilation?

 

[AnAtheist]

Carl:

DOES ATHEISM HOPE?

This was the founder of “logical positivism” Alfred Ayer’s position, even as he approached death…]

But why would Ayer HOPE that God does not exist?

So this **Ayer **hopes, God does not exist. **You **didn’t want him to exist when you were an atheist.
What has this to do with **other **atheists? Nothing. I said earlier atheists are not a homogenous group. There are different opinions among them.

I for my part would be happy with an all-loving god, really. But there is none, it’s just wishful thinking. Call it hope, if you want to.

You cannot use induction on other people’s thoughts.

 

[Carl]

AnAtheist

You cannot use induction on other people’s thoughts.

For the sake of those who are not familiar with your language, I’ll explain that induction is in essence the scientific method of reasoning from particular observations to general conclusions.

Your statement above is false. Psychologists and sociologists use induction all the time. It might be soft induction, but it’s still induction. What I said about Ayer and myself was soft induction. A generalization cannot be hard induction unless it is universal. If you deny that you want God not to exist, I am free to take you at your word or to suspect that you are kidding yourself. I choose the latter. People do kid themselves. They lie to themselves all the time. Haven’t you done that? I have.

Freud and other psychologists, not to mention a gaggle of atheist philosophers down through history, have been free to assign this trait to true believers … the trait of self deception. Freud was notorious for treating religion as a kind of neurotic fantasy, though he certainly could not get inside eveybody’s head to prove it.

“Atheism is a disease of the soul before it is an error of understanding.” Plato

Plato was no slouch as a thinker. Give him credit for having observed and drawn inductive conclusions. Likewise, you should give psychologist Paul Vitz a chance to persuade you that Plato was right and Freud was wrong.

By the way, fundamental to Freud’s discoveries was the fact that most people are adept at finding ways to cover up their true thoughts and feelings. It’s called rationalization.

Too bad he couldn’t apply it to himself.

I repeat, atheists do not want God to exist. Then they invent reasons not to believe in Him. That’s what you are doing in this forum. The real mystery for you is why you do not want God to exist.

Work on it.

The fool in his heart says there is no God. Psalms 14:1

 

[Booger]

Carl:

BOOGER

Atheists do no believe in a god(s).

Which brings up an interesting question. Exactly what do atheists believe in? They do not believe in God. They do not believe in the soul. They do not believe in an afterlife. A huge pile of negatives here.

Atheism is the lack of a god belief. If atheism is the truth (which it may not be), then what good it brings will be up to each individual that realizes their atheism. It isn’t a belief in anything. And so what if it is a pile of negatives? A negative statement doesn’t necessarily imply negative results on a person’s pysche or our would as a whole. Stop making these wild assumptions. Atheism is nothing more than the lack of a god belief. It isn’t a philosophy and it isn’t a religion. Get over it.

If the truth is supposes to be good for us, what good comes from the so-called truth of atheism?

Theism suggests that the truth is good for us, not atheism. Atheism is the lack of a belief in god(s). That is all atheism is. What people do with their atheism varies from person to person. Most atheists don’t care what others believe and would like to avoid uncomfortable confrontations unless they have to. Nobody ever said atheism is the truth. We could be wrong, but the difference between atheists and theists is just that. We are skeptical enough to admit the possibility that we may be wrong. That is why I would probably never make a good theist.

I’d love to know. Now remember, you are talking to a former atheist, so please don’t pull that “misunderstanding of atheism” stuff on me that they are pulling in other forums at Catholic Answers.

If you actually were an atheist, then you would realize why you are wrong. Atheism is the lack of a belief in a god(s). All atheists are different and as an ex-atheist you should know these things. And yes, I do think that you have a HUGE misunderstanding of atheism. I am beginning to wonder if you were one of those “atheists” that was actually a theist because you were mad at god, only to revert to theism once you got tired of pretending. It makes sense to be because of the level of misunderstanding and all that extra junk that you’ve assigned to the definition of atheism. No atheist or ex-atheist should misunderstand atheism that much, unless you are being ingenuous.

 

[Booger]

Carl:

DREDGTONE

Why would anybody WANT to believe that when they die they’re dead… that’s it. It simply happens that our intellect dictates what we believe

Or so you would have us believe. Remember, you are talking to a former atheist. I well remember not wanting God to exist, and formulating arguments to prove my want.

You do the same.

Please don’t con yourself like I did for so many years.

It all makes so much sense now. You were lying to yourself and you know it, so your claim to be an ex-atheist is false. You were a theist that was mad at god and that’s all. You were never an atheist.** Atheists don’t believe in a god(s)**. Only a theist would sit around and wish their gods don’t exist because they still believe that their god does exist. Carl, we are not the same. We aren’t sitting around praying that a god doesn’t exist. We are not sitting around lying to ourselves as you did. Your circumstances do not mirror those of any atheists anywhere. You were not an atheist and are not an ex-atheist.

 

[Anne_Carmel]

Thank you for your participation. Before begining a new thread on the topic of atheism, please be sure your point will not be redundent with points made here.