What do you know about us?

[Hastrman]

Atheists (or nontheists, as is apparently the current weasel word):
Explain to me, once and for all, what Christians (Catholics anyway) mean when we say God. And why do we believe in Him?

I am anxious to see if you actually know anything about us.

 

[Nepenthe]

Well, since I am the usual user of the word ‘nontheist’ that I presume you refer to (and it isn’t weaseling anything, it’s merely to distinguish between the strong-atheist position which is at least as untenable, from my point of view as the theistical and weak-agnostical)…okay, I’ll TRY to answer.

Hm…nope, no idea. I have no idea why you believe in anything you have no reason to do so. Very occasionally I have gotten a few answers to this question that I appreciate, in their sincerity, warmth and honesty…but that leaves me still wondering - why Believe, since I already, as far as I know, experience and comprehend the same matters theists do, yet without the compulsion to tell everyone else who is not ‘in the Believer club’ that they are not only wrong, but intrinsically vile.

I have a few speculations on the matter, but I know they are only that. I have, however, always wanted to know what it is those of Faith feel to be so delightful, and why everyone else must see all things the same very strange way for their joy to be somehow fulfilled.

Why don’t you tell me? I am interested. Why do you Believe? Is it social belonging, or the feeling that you must be on the side of all that is good, or what? Perhaps you think there’s an afterlife with an eternal spanking? What is it?

Oh wait…I should have asked, whom do you refer to when you say ‘us’? Could be anything, throughout the range of cultures and individual sanities.

 

[Publisher]

Atheists (or nontheists, as is apparently the current weasel word):
Explain to me, once and for all, what Christians (Catholics anyway) mean when we say God. And why do we believe in Him?

I am anxious to see if you actually know anything about us.

I consider myself a “non-theist” in many ways…I don’t believe in a “Cosmic Santa Claus” who is sitting upon a throne in heaven, “making a list…and counting it twice…gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…”…I don’t believe that this Mystery who is God is as concerned with our rituals and kneelings as much as this Holy Mystery from Whom all Life stems is concerned about the person sitting next to us on the bus or at the work place.

“God” is the Lover and Sustainer of all things…Who is in and through creation.

There is an Ocean of Light and Love which we are all a part of…and we know God best in the “least of these”…not in the one who would be made great.

God is heard loudest in the Silence and the Voice is drowned out when I try to “speak for God”…that’s my take anyway.

 

[dosdog]

Atheists (or nontheists, as is apparently the current weasel word):
Explain to me, once and for all, what Christians (Catholics anyway) mean when we say God. And why do we believe in Him?

I am anxious to see if you actually know anything about us.

Madalyn Murray O’Hare and FCC Petition

A persistent rumor, one that has being going around for over two decades and just won’t seem to die, is that prominent atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hare has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny broadcast rights to religious broadcasters. Such a petition if granted would obviously put an end to EWTN and other religious stations. It would also violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was on such grounds that in 1975 an actual petition from two individuals, neither of which was Mrs. O’Hare, sought to prohibit the access of religious organizations to public access educational channels. The FCC denied this petition.

Nonetheless, this urban legend continues, notwithstanding the fact that Mrs. O’Hare is dead, the presumed victim of foul play in the early 1990s by one of her associates.
ewtn.com/expert/answers/madalyn_ohare.htm

 

[Mirdath]

The Catholic concept of God is, as the Baltimore Catechism sums it up, ‘a spirit infinitely perfect’. By this is understood that God is uncreated, extant outside time and through it, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, possessed of all good qualities in infinite degree with none of the bad. Further, God is necessary: without his interest and specific action, we wouldn’t be here talking about this.

More specifically, Catholics believe in a triune God, one who is three – the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit subsisting in one divine nature. The person of the Father is the Creator; that of the Son, the Redeemer and Logos, the Word of creation; that of the Spirit, the manifestation of the transcendent love between Father and Son, and sadly the one who gets short billing in the Apostles’ Creed and whose origin is the subject of much contention with your siblings in faith, the Orthodox Churches. You believe the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; they drop the filioque clause, and the world has not heard the end of it yet.

I suppose growing up Catholic and having had to memorize large chunks of the Baltimore Catechism is a form of cheating, but there you have it.

As to why you believe: that’s a tougher question, and certainly not one a non-believer is equipped to answer. The Catechism (the non-Baltimore version) says The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for; but frankly, if that were true there wouldn’t be an atheist or agnostic in the world. So, why do you believe?

 

[dolphinlove]

Sorry to put this thread off the rails, but i cant understand people who dont believe in God.
Ill go and start a new thread…
sorry to derail…