Introducing Myself: A Summary Of What I Believe

[ihavenobias]

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe I didn't discover this subsection until now (then again it's not like I've been on DU that long). Hopefully we'll have some interesting debate and discussion!

For the record, I'm technically a "hard agnostic". What does that mean? To me that means I'm an atheist for all practical purposes but I realize I can't *technically* disprove God. Here are some bullet points on what I believe:

---I've come to believe that while there may in fact be a Creator of sorts, "it" is far more likely to be neutral about our existence at best, if not malevolent. I'm inclined to believe the former and believe the least amount of evidence exists for showing that "it" is benevolent.

---Why do I say "it" instead of the popular "He/Him"? Because if God exists I seriously doubt "He" has a cock and balls (pardon my crude language but the imagery just doesn't work as well without it). In other words, I believe this entity would in no way bear any resemblance to us (physically or mentally...even those words probably make no sense in relation to what this entity might be like as they define reality as *we* know it).

---I have very little patience for fundamentalism of any kind. While I can't be sure the world would necessarily be better if ALL religion vanished, I'd sure place my bet that it'd be much better off without ALL fundamentalism.

---With that said, I resent the religious right and just about everything they stand for. The idea that progress (or at least debate) on *real* issues like health care, education, etc. is delayed (if not outright prevented) because people are too busy discussing what should be non-political issues (like abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research) really infuriates me.

---I believe in judging a person based on their *behavior*, NOT on their professed beliefs. I can't stand hypocritical Christians (I single them out only because I was raised Catholic and have the most experience with Christians) who like to lecture or judge people when *they* sin as much if not MORE than the average secularist(swearing, sex before marriage and so on). Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with swearing (well, if it's excessive it's annoying but hey) or sex before marriage. Besides, if I did, *I'd* be the hypocrite.

---It's getting late so I'll go with one more topic. I'm happy about the recent surge in atheist books and articles by people like Sam Harris and I hope it frees up other atheists/agnostics/secularists to come out to the world (or at least sometimes to some of it). For some reason it's perfectly fine to rip and judge atheists/agnostics but if you question religion all of the sudden you're "intolerant" or "hateful".

Why is religion off limits? I wrote a post about this earlier today on DU because someone lumped criticizing religion in with racism, sexism and homophobia. That's one area where I sometimes butt heads with progressive atheists/agnostics. Look, I realize there is no reason to go out of your way to be rude and dismissive to someone (i.e. your religion sucks, etc.).

But here is my bottom line on religion and those who believe in religion:

I respect the right for people to believe in whatever they want to believe in, but I do not have to respect the beliefs themselves. There is a difference.

[PassingFair]

1. Welcome to the group, you Godless Monkey!

It's ALL PARTY, ALL THE TIME.

:party:

:hi:

[YankeyMCC]

2. welcome

[Random_Australian]

3. Hello! "hard agnostic" is a new one to me - we already have

implicit/weak/agnostic atheist for "one who lacks belief in God but acknowledges the possibility of such a thing/acknowledges that they cannot disprove it exists"

and

explicit/strong/gnostic atheist for those that believe that there is no God, furthermore they say there cannot be a God.

.... and a couple of different types of agnostic, but going into them all here would take ages.

Most of us here are implicit atheists, and there is a good smattering of agnostics around as well and the occasional explicit atheist around as well, as far as I am aware.

Mind you, you might decide you fit into one of those groups, but I don't mean to pidgeonhole you.

For the rest of the stuff, we are moderately similar, except I've had little experience with moralisers, and that I don't disrespect or respect beliefs. I simply don't care. I do, however, care about attitudes.

Meaning I wouldn't blink if a nice person believed the earth was 6000 years old, and I would do a lot more than blink if an otherwise sensible theist said something unfair about atheists. Or anyone else.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Damn. You = Me.

I am 100% positive that nothing supernatural happens, and that every single "god" ever worshiped by a human is fiction/folklore. Also, I can't rule out some "external cause" for the Universe that maybe, perhaps, sort of, could be considered sentient.

[ihavenobias]

8. See, I love this

and my signature line (courtesy of Kurt Vonnegut). It sums up why forums like this are so important.

[progressoid]

5. Welcome!! You'll receive your initiation packet soon.

Included is a brief outline of our secular war on religion, a "Why we hate America' video, and a "Why can't we be more like Holland" video, and of course, a sign up sheet for our annual 'war-on-Christmas' crusade. Dues are payable directly to my PayPal account.

You'll notice a lot of overlaps between the Atheist agenda and the Gay agenda. While we are aligned with the homosexual community in our quest to destroy America, there are some differences. For example, we eat babies at our meetings but they eat kittens.

Again, welcome to A/A.

p.s. I agree with your definition of a "hard agnostic". But it doesn't matter much because you are going to burn in everlasting hellfire for your sins anyway. Have a nice day! :hi:

[Warpy]

6. Progressoid, you always forget the complimentary

rubber chicken. Honestly, I think you must be hoarding them in case you have to start making Depression Soup before the gang in the White House are finally gone.

As for heaven and hell, I think Mark Twain had it right, "Heaven for the climate, hell for the conversation."

[progressoid]

7. Where are my manners?

Here ya go.



No depression soup (yet). But I did smoke a turkey for a New Years Eve party.