Atheism

[tzikeh]

After all the Rapture!Fail discussion, I've become curious about how many atheists are reading this lj.

Since some/many atheists are not "out," for their own reasons, I am setting the names of the participants viewable to no one but me.

As far as this poll is concerned, "atheist" means "there is no god/are no gods."

ETA: I know there are bunches of options that aren't included in the poll, but all I'm looking for is "atheist/agnostic or not." There's nothing wrong with skipping the poll. *g*

[Poll #1744576]

Comments

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I have no problem saying I am an atheist, but then, in Norway that's no biggie at all. I understand it's not like that in the US.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Right. But a lot of folks in America have very religious family/friends and don't want to deal with the frustration/ scorn / what-have-you.

Hell, you see several post-secrets a year like "I am a pastor's wife. I am an atheist. I am trapped and miserable, but I cannot leave."

It's so unhappy-making.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

hey - to be sure I've done this right - you can't see the answers, right?

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

On one level, I wanted to enter "hard agnostic" (as even Richard Dawkins would do if you caught him on a good day *g*), but I'm guessing the question is actually "Do you believe?" (as opposed to "Does god exist?") and so my answer has to be ix-nay.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get the need to waver on "hard agnostic" and "atheist," and I don't blame people or call them fence-sitters, but for me... not so much.

[vickita.livejournal.com]

Heh heh heh heh... I am... uncomfortable with labels. *g*

I find it hard to believe that this is all that there is, for a variety of reasons particular to moi-self, although I openly admit that I don't actually know what will or won't come next. I'm not particularly afraid of it, *whatever* it is; I figure it's one of those things we're all going to get to find out in due time. I don't really believe in fire and damnation.

I find that a Buddhist-ish outlook is best for my mental health, and so that's how I try to live, although I don't make a fetish out of it. ::shrugs::

So, I don't know what you'd call that, but that's where I am. Maybe a "soft agnostic"?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'll add a definition of atheist as "does not believe in god(s)" to the post, if that helps.

[isagel.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the term "hard agnostic". What's the difference between that and plain "agnostic"?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hard agnostic: There might be, like, a tiny tiny percentage that I'm wrong, okay, but really, no, there is/are no god(s)."

Soft agnostic: I don't believe in god(s), for my own reasons / research / critical thought / whatever, but I figure you can't *really* know, in the end. But again, I don't believe.

[ipstenu.livejournal.com]

Religious Skeptic :) I was a moderate agnostic for a long time, though.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hm! Can you define more specifically?

[xenacryst.livejournal.com]

Meh. I really don't think about it much these days. I'm a non-practicing agnostic. Or some days a non-practicing atheist. And some days, a non-practicing pantheist (I mean, if one entity can be a god, why not everything? right?).

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: I'm not sure what a "practicing" atheist would look like, vs. non-, unless you mean "actively involved in the atheist community" or the like, but okay.

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly an apathetic agnostic. Don't know, don't care, not attempting to figure it out. Though there are some days I'm convinced that the universe is both sentient and having a laugh at my expense. *g*

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I get that. The opposite is the militant agnostic - "I DON'T KNOW AND YOU DON'T EITHER!"

[pocketmouse]

I'm areligious. I grew up Roman Catholic, and I can't shake it enough to call myself something as definite as atheist or agnostic. I'm mainly of a belief that the major religions can't be an accurate representation of any god I'd choose to believe in.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: I should edit the post to explain that yes, lots of options are left out, but I wasn't looking for a spectrum, just an "atheist/agnostic or not," so nobody should feel the need to "choose" if their option isn't there.

[leviathan0999.livejournal.com]

As somebody who approaches large, important questions with the Scientific Method, the only honest approach I can take is agnosticism. I don't know whether or not any deity exists. I find most deeply improbable, but I can't back any opinion up with evidence or data.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: totally understand.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Note that it is quite possible to be both an atheist and a practicing Jew. Kate Fridkis (http://www.eatthedamncake.com/), for instance, is a lay cantor (musical leader) at a synagogue near me -- so not just a practicing Jew but a member of the *clergy* -- who also describes herself as an atheist. This is not all that uncommon, either.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Right--reform Judaism is more a culture and philosophy than a religion and seems not to require belief in any kind of god (though that is *relatively* new, I think), but it wouldn't have any impact on her answer to this poll, should someone like her take it. "Atheist" is the answer. There's nothing up there about any kind of religion qua religion.

[mirandir.livejournal.com]

I believe in an underlying organizing principle to the universe that might as well be called God, but I think the very idea of the Rapture is frakking ridiculous. Also creationism, transubstantiation, religious exclusivity, original sin, absolution via confession, speaking in tongues, any literal interpretation of the Bible, and 99.9% of all miracles.

To Pythonize my response, I'm a member of the "Sensible Deist Party." We find dogmatic Christians incredibly annoying and love making small talk about quantum physics.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, the Rapture... what can one say. Also, it's a concept created by two people in the modern day, and not anything directly defined in the Bible. Dogmeh.

JESUS CRACKERS! NOM NOM NOM.

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

... Uh.

I think I believe in god in the sense that I believe we can feel a connection to something greater than our individual selves, can yearn for and sometimes attain a transcendence that calls us to be our best selves, and that supports and comforts us when we can't. (And for all "us", of course, you can read "me".) I emphatically do not believe in god in the sense that I do not believe that a conscious supernatural entity created the universe, responds to prayer with concrete rewards ("oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV..."), or judges us after we die. I think of God -- when I do -- as an emergent property of humanity.

I don't know where that would put me on the definitions you're using. But I'm ticking "neither."

(Can you tell I'm on my way home from a Unitarian Universalist con?)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

God = deity, beyond humanity. For the purposes of the poll, anyway.

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

I changed my answer from hard agnostic to atheist because that's what most Americans would consider me even while I think I'm a hard agnostic because I can't PROVE the non-existence of a being that could be considered god.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it's not about proof. It's about belief, right? I believe there is(are) absolutely no god(s), it's ridiculous, it makes no sense at all, there's no proof, there isn't even a smidgen of reason to believe it; therefore I am an atheist. A hard agnostic 99.94% ( random choice of percentage because of Ivory Soap) believes there is/are no god(s), though there's always that 00.04% chance that well, it *could* be, I suppose.

[arallara.livejournal.com]

I went with "hard agnostic" because that best describes how I usually explain it to other people. But then I got curious and read the Wikipedia entry on agnosticism, which I've never really explored as a body of thought, and now I think "agnostic atheist" best describes me:

Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not have belief in the existence of any deity, and agnostic because they do not claim to know that a deity does not exist. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism)

I like this because no matter how open my mind is, I just don't actually have any kind of personal belief in any kind of god.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you chose the right definition for yourself, then!

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

I have a terrible time trying to label myself because I don't feel like I fit fully into any one box (nor would I want to!). My personal feelings on the subject are that I believe there is something greater than us out there (I hate the terms "god" and "deity", because that's trying to label something that we know nothing about - could be "energy" or... I dunno!), but I don't know what it is and I don't believe that we *can* know what it is.

I guess it's sort of like agnostic theism...but not quite. I feel like I'm open to anything (including the possibility that there is no "god"/nothing beyond our earthly experience), because we can never truly know the answer, you know? Not quite sure what that makes me! LOL

This is actually a really cool discussion. :)

ETA: I ticked myself off as "neither", since I do believe in the possibility of something beyond our understanding and I think - if I'm reading your definitions correction - that would stick me in the "neither" category. I think. Therefore I am. XD

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

"bigger than us" ≠ "deity."

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

I chose atheist though I sometimes refer to myself as a secular pagan because of my tree-hugger/hippie world view of the interconnectedness of life and so forth. At most I consider deities to be metaphors for dealing with natural forces of the world/universe. However, even should a deity as described by any of the various 'holy' books walk up to me and say "ta da! I exist!" with proof, I still wouldn't be a follower. An entity that has the powers and abilities ascribed to most deities that does not work tirelessly to ease suffering and strife is, in my opinion, evil and not deserving of devotion/respect/etc.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: Right - and I'm talking The Big G, yes or no.

[ecaterin.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* Animist here :) I believe in spirit/energy/teh force....but no deity/deities. My experience of the anima in everything is a literal physical experience (massage therapist heavily trained in energy work), so it doesn't require much 'belief' per se. But my belief extends to 'there's a pattern of life in the universe far too vast for human minds to comprehend' and that does require faith in its way.

No deities means no one to yell at when life is being miserable to you - that's the one big disadvantage of not believing in them that I can see :D

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

No deities means no one to yell at when life is being miserable to you - that's the one big disadvantage of not believing in them that I can see

LOL! Yes.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I've always had this tiny, niggling doubt that I could be wrong. But I've always said I would be happy to believe in God if he'd just show up and tell me to.

Yes, my impression of god(s) is based entirely on Star Trek and Doctor Who, why do you ask?

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

I put atheist because that's how I've always self-defined, but I could tip over into hard agnostic if I wanted to give free rein to my paranoia.

I am convinced that there's no evidence for the existence of a god. Therefore, any god who does exist, and who has the powers commonly imputed to gods, is deliberately hiding its existence. Which suggests that it's probably either up to no good, or shirking the responsibilities its power confers on it, or both. Or, possibly, that it doesn't have the powers its reputation attributes to it, and is lying low lest humanity discover that we've been duped and/or that it is vulnerable.

Basically, any god who can exist in the universe as we observe it is a lying bastard at best and actively malevolent at worst, and it does my sanity no good at all to allow for that 00.56% chance. I'm paranoid enough as it is; straight-up atheism is much healthier for me.

[silveraspen]

Now I've gone and immersed myself in philosophical and theosophical readings, trying to distinguish between varying definitions!

All very interesting, though. :)

[zulu]

Religion has never been important to me. Except, I suppose, in the secular effect of having a Christian prime minister. Basically, Santa comes at Christmas and the Easter Bunny comes at Easter and I've never had to think about belief/unbelief at all.

[ratcreature]

Officially I'm Lutheran, but that is mostly because the graveyard plot my family has been renting for some generations is on a church cemetery, rather than a public one, and afaik they won't bury you there as an atheist.

I actually felt bad that I lied during confirmation because I became a definite atheist during adolescence, while I was open minded before and tried to be convinced, but two years of additional religious lessons had a rather opposite effect. I wanted to believe in a god rather badly as a kid, because it would have been comforting with the whole afterlife idea, but it was just all so ridiculous and illogical even within one religion. On top of that religions don't even agree on the basics of what exactly I'd need to do to get the "decent afterlife" reward, so that made the idea that one or more gods had been really interested in revealing themselves to humans seem even more unlikely, and with the inconsistent and mutually exclusive claims the religions as a behavior instruction seemed worthless, and picking one not likely to give a better chance than if I was just a decent, ethical human.

I guess I might count myself as agnostic, in that I'd be willing to believe in a god if it appeared to me, showed me some proof of godhood, and I was fairly sure to be not in some sort of psychotic break. I would actually prefer not to be an atheist, but I can't pick some belief on faith, and I think getting a sufficiently convincing personal revelation or godly visitation is very unlikely. So I picked atheist.

[lapillus]

I would say I'm a very hard agnostic. I do not believe in any kind of god that we can either comprehend or interact with meaningfully and frankly, in the extremely unlikely event another sort exists, it doesn't really matter.

That said, I think that there is that in human nature that is drawn to religion and that organized religion, like many other forms of human organization, has much to be said both for and against it. I come from a highly ministerially inclined family (my father, two uncles and one aunt are/were ordained, my mom was a campus minister, both my grandfathers were minister, and there are others farther back on my mom's side. And, unsurprisingly, my family have friends who tend the same way - I grew up with dinner party discussions of latest liberal protestant thought on biblical canon.)so I've seen a lot of it, and seen it do a lot of good for assorted folks. I've also seen the effects on friends when it goes badly wrong.

My parents know my (lack of) beliefs and it's not a problem, although occasionally a point of interested discussion. I go to church with them occasionally to see folks whom I like and don't usually otherwise, and to enjoy the music and the ritual.