Quote:
Originally Posted by Tread
Wouldn't this make you more an agnostic, than an atheist?
|
__________________________________________________ ________________
Def. from
The American College Dictionary (applicable parts)
agnostic - one who holds that the ultimate cause (God) and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable or that human knowledge is limited to experiance.
atheist - one who denies or disbelieves the existance of God or gods.
Damn, do I have to pick one.
I am an atheist in the sense that I disbelieve the existance of God(s) as supernatural beings. Having been raised in a primarily Judeo-Christian culture and that history being the one I have studied the most; I have not the slightest belief in the existance of God, Jehovah, YAHWEH, EL-SHADDAI, etc.... As far as I am concerned, the ideas of God promoted by Jews, Muslims, and Christians is fanciful nonsense. Each of these religions would seem to have the God of the patriarch Abraham as their one true god. And yet look at the differances between them. And why would there be any differances if these faiths sprang from the same source. No, it is because these faiths are from the minds of men, and all men's minds are differant and reflect the various influences life has made upon them. Then you have, each faith splintered into so many differant branches; some with so little in common that they may as well be differant faiths. If there was such a god, then he must be a schizophrenic if one was to do a clinical assessment of the evidence of the behavior patterns attributed to him.
I am not an agnostic because I do believe that if the race of mankind survives long enough, we will expand our scope of knowledge to understand the essential nature of things. Look how many things we already understand the cause and effect for that were once things attributed to the gods. We no longer believe the sun is a chariot of fire being pulled across the sky. We know thunder and lightening have nothing to do with Thor, Jupiter or even Susanoo or Chaac. Droughts and plagues are not sent by gods to punish us. People are not possessed by demons, rather they suffer from mental illness. (I would even say they people are not possessed of the Holy Spirit, rather they are suffering a mental aberation.) It is very simple to see why biblical type miracles do not happen anymore (outside of the National Enquirer anyway). Think for a bit about how many things we take for granted as a common occurance would be heralded as a miracle a thousand years ago.
"And the lord NASA did speak to his child NEILA, who had journeyed to the moon in a silvery chariot, and commanded him to return to him, and to convey homeward the rocks he did find there"
FDR said that we have nothing to fear except fear itself. And what is so true for mankind except that we fear most what we don't understand. Ignorance is the prime cause of fear. I don't fear God because I understand. I do fear what paths ignorance and fear may lead us down. I despair of mankind when I see how easily fear-mongering leaders can motivate people to go against the basic tenets of their religious beliefs by using religion to foster hatred against others who are "differant".
Aw hell, I need a break here.