Found On Julie Sweeney's Forum
If someone uses the bible as a basis in trying to convince me ANYTHING, I immediately dismiss it. I listen to what they have to say, but I have marked their input as "deletable" in my minds database. The Digital Soul
Science eventually led me to the inescapable conclusion that the Genesis account can't possibly be a factual history of the origin of our species. It also taught me that the universe is not the orderly clockwork that creationists like to teach it is. It is actually huge and messy and in a constant state of disorder. The only thing that allows us to believe in order is our incredibly short lifespan compared to the motions of the universe around us. Sure, we are going to slam into the andromeda galaxy in 150 million years, but it's easy to not think about that or ignore it when you only live for maybe 80. We are like microbes living on the surface of a cannon ball that's been fired at a wall, and we sit on it living out our microscopic lifespans saying, "Wow! Look how great this thing is we live on! It must have been made JUST to keep us alive!"
While science was teaching me about the 'messy' universe, history was teaching me about human nature. I came to realize that belief, no matter how powerful, has no affect on reality. Human history is filled with people who believed passionately in things that turned out to be nonsensical. Did the power of their belief make Thor and Odin more real?Slash the Berzerker
Lots of people testify about why they chose atheism.
Science eventually led me to the inescapable conclusion that the Genesis account can't possibly be a factual history of the origin of our species. It also taught me that the universe is not the orderly clockwork that creationists like to teach it is. It is actually huge and messy and in a constant state of disorder. The only thing that allows us to believe in order is our incredibly short lifespan compared to the motions of the universe around us. Sure, we are going to slam into the andromeda galaxy in 150 million years, but it's easy to not think about that or ignore it when you only live for maybe 80. We are like microbes living on the surface of a cannon ball that's been fired at a wall, and we sit on it living out our microscopic lifespans saying, "Wow! Look how great this thing is we live on! It must have been made JUST to keep us alive!"
While science was teaching me about the 'messy' universe, history was teaching me about human nature. I came to realize that belief, no matter how powerful, has no affect on reality. Human history is filled with people who believed passionately in things that turned out to be nonsensical. Did the power of their belief make Thor and Odin more real?Slash the Berzerker
Lots of people testify about why they chose atheism.
posted by Flimsy Sanity @ 12:05 PM
6 Comments:
At 1:58 PM,
Graeme said…
Add me to the list. I was raised Christian and gave up on it when I was in my late teens.
(thanks for the link, btw. I will do the same for you)
At 3:03 PM,
Anonymous said…
I am suspicious of Julie Sweeney. In fact, I am suspicious of all who go around evangelizing for money, whatever their beliefs. She forsook religion for atheism - so what? Plenty of people do that every day, without making a business out of it. My beef is with the whole concept of "spreading the word", whatever form that "word" may take. Atheism is just another form of religion, as closing to the mind as any conventional orthodoxy.
At 3:12 PM,
Unknown said…
"Atheism is just another form of religion, as closing to the mind as any conventional orthodoxy."
What an astonishingly ignorant viewpoint. Atheism is a lack of belief, not a belief. Is your lack of belief in Santa Claus closing your mind? Is disbelief in Santa your religion? You have millions of things you don't believe in every day. Are those things also a religion for you?
Closing your mind is when you choose not to believe in something in spite of evidence of its existence. Or, conversely, choosing to believe in something in spite of a lack of evidence.
As soon as someone can show me evidence of a god, I will revisit my position on this topic. In the meantime, god can remain in the same box with Santa, the Easter Bunny, Martians, etc.
At 4:25 PM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
As a comedian, Julie Sweeney lives by her ability to make the everyday ridiculous and I like her because she so gently mocks religion, a very brave thing to do considering the temper of the times. George Carlin has made a living doing the same thing. Everyone has the option of buying her CD's or going to her one woman show. More power to her if she can make a buck out of atheism. Millions make money from religion - as I've mentioned many times, my town of 5,000 has 13 churches (5 lutheran who cannot get along) with speakers way less talented than Julie.
At 6:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
I, too, have laughed at Julie Sweeney. Her comedic routine is well honed. The use of a forum on her website, however, is a means to draw others with similar views, and that I find disturbing. A previous commentator called me "ignorant" for stating that atheism is another belief, just like any religious belief. He/she says atheism is a lack of belief. He/she is wrong. It is not a dis-belief in a god, it is a belief that no god exists. An atheist will believe just as strongly that no god exists, as a Christian will believe one does exist. Yes, I am ignorant, but so are you, previous commentator. The only truth we can be sure of is that no human has the capability to determine whether there exists some higher spiritual being, responsible - or not - for our physical existence here on earth. We are just not that clever, and that includes you, previous commentator, who chooses to disguise your ignorance with arrogance. I have never made fun, or castigated the beliefs of others, only those who trade on those beliefs for their own selfish purposes. Each individual has a right to his/her personal belief system. They have no right to push those beliefs on others, whether that belief is in a god, or in no god.
At 7:05 PM,
Unknown said…
"A previous commentator called me "ignorant" for stating that atheism is another belief, just like any religious belief. He/she says atheism is a lack of belief. He/she is wrong. It is not a dis-belief in a god, it is a belief that no god exists. An atheist will believe just as strongly that no god exists, as a Christian will believe one does exist."
No, I know nothing about you personally. I said that viewpoint is ignorant, as your follow up helped prove. You neatly dodged all my points about all of the many things you do not believe in.
As you probably well know, it is impossible is prove the non-existence of something. The inability to disprove something's existence does not stop us from choosing to disbelieve in things on a daily basis. You probably have thousands of them.
The thing we use to differentiate between believable and unbelievable, in most cases, is evidence. The fact that there is no way to disprove the existence of a god is in no way evidence of his existence. Any more so than your inability to disprove the existence of an invisible hippo living on mars is a legitimate reason to accept his existence as a possibility.
As an atheist, I deny the existence of god in the same way I deny the existence of a hippo on mars. That will change the second I get evidence of either. How is that closing my mind?
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