Religion of fellow civvers

[MantaRevan]

What I don't understand is why Atheists are the overwhelming majority on CFC, but are a small minority in real life.

Because of
1. The fact that the Internet demographic is generally non-religious.
2. The fact that the video-game-playing demographic is often irreligious
3. The fact that the civilization demographic is very non-religious.

I see it as a super concentrated atheistic group.

 

[Oruc]

Moderate Christian (cultural Christian?) I believe in God, but not being raised in a religious family I have no church.

 

[timtofly]

A Future Poll: Your Religion?

None
Jew
Christian
Eastern (Old School)
Perfection (Self)
Everything Downtown
Other

 

[Richard Cribb]

(---) Similarly, Marxism is commonly considered a faith because of its strong principles and the prophecy that the workers will one day overthrow their oppressors. It may have more thoughts on politics than most faiths, but what's the difference between "God and the Devil will one day do battle" vs. "The proletariat and the bourgeiose will one day do battle?"

What you write here is untrue and confusing.
As for me, I am an atheist, even if somebody recently believed I was a Christian. Probably because I don't approve of the juvenile antics of Dawkins and the late Hitchens.

 

[Old Hippy]

Because of
1. The fact that the Internet demographic is generally non-religious.
2. The fact that the video-game-playing demographic is often irreligious
3. The fact that the civilization demographic is very non-religious.

I see it as a super concentrated atheistic group.

your drawing a long bow there
don't ignore the fact that CFCOT asks for an opinion to be expressed... in real life many people just don't express political or religious opinions, apart from it being considered bad manners, they just don't want the hassle of arguments and politely nod agreement when people express their religious views, church attendence numbers in large cities would also sugest that religions are a super concentrated group themselves, because in large cities you don't have to play the only game in town to belong to a social group/to be accepted socially

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Mind you, records of "real life" don't have to reflect reality. There's lots of atheist people I know who's parents are religious and are recorded as being catholic at birth, but never could be arsed to change that. Like me.

 

[Ajidica]

I technicaly was confirmed Catholic by the Bishop, but my personal beliefs are agnostic, leaning toward athiesm.

 

[Arakhor]

I was raised a Christian, but given my views on a loving God are so liberal, the more I talk to conservative Christians, the less I want to identify as sharing the same religion as them.

 

[jtb1127]

Non-religious.

 

[Tani Coyote]

What you write here is untrue and confusing.

How so? How can Marxism not be a faith as well?

-Socioeconomic tie ins? Islam has plenty of those as well.

-No God? That doesn't matter. Taoism, Confucianism, some branches of Hinduism, etc. have no gods either, but they are all faiths as well.

Marxism can be very easily be classed as a faith, albeit a secular one like Confucianism.

Plus, its investment of belief into a prophecy mirrors what most non-secular faiths do.

Theoretically, though, any human with some belief in morality is embracing a faith. After all, you can't really scientifically prove morality's validity; you just believe it.

It is for this reason, regardless of whether humans derive their moral fiber from within or it having been passed down by their Creator, that I believe the human race is fundamentally good despite its many flaws.

 

[innonimatu]

I'm agnostic, though regarding the most common (judaico-christian) concept of god I'm atheistic (even if there was one such "creator" I wouldn't worship it).

 

[Integral]

Kierkegaardian.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

I attend atheist mass every sunday.

in my bed

Whoaaw. Do you have such a large bed or is it just one man mass?

I'm agnostic, though regarding the most common (judaico-christian) concept of god I'm atheistic (even if there was one such "creator" I wouldn't worship it).

Or maybe if there was such a "creator" he would have forced you to worship him?

 

[Eukaryote]

I'm transtheist. Of the options listed, agnostic is probably the closest. Of course, I find a lot of the bible to be absurd.

And despite the arguments regarding "whether or not atheism is a religion," of course it's not a religion per se. But haven't you ever heard of a lexical gap?

There is no word that can be used as an umbrella term for all mental positions regarding existence in or lack of existence of a god or gods. Until that lexical gap is filled, "religion" is the closest word we have. If you're mad because people keep calling atheism a religion, don't get mad at the person. It's not the person's fault! It's the lexical gap's fault!

Anyway, I think the term "godview" would be good for eliminating the lexical gap. But that's just my suggestion.

 

[civ2]

Drool
I'm not sure how exactly some people understand the word "religion", as in different from "belief", but I'd say that you for sure can apply at least one of them to the term "atheist" - in the practical sense.
1. Belief is something one BELIEVES, aka has NO "100% empirical proof" of.
Since you can't dis/prove G-d either way, at least if we're talking about G-d, that is BEYOND the physical world, - it boils down to a BELIEF, whether you believe in such a possibility or not.
It's made unprovable by the very definition I just mentioned.
2. Religion, on the other hand, is how one expresses that belief, in practical terms.
In this sense, at least when we're talking about the "aggressive" type of atheism (NOT so common here, thank G-d {}), - atheists DO "preach" their RELIGION of FIGHTING the idea of G-d.
Still, those who do not actively address/harass others on that topic, by keeping it to themselves (or expressing it in the manner of OPINION, not ATTACK), would be harder to qualify as "religionists".
But in truth, even such people DO "have a religion".
It's being typically expressed in such "religiously obscure" actions like blind "belief" in SCIENCE, and even more so, in HUMANITY.
Yes, it starts as a mere belief (in some cases totally automatic/"normal" - thus NOT "religious"), but when people end up "worshiping" the HUMAN being (or rather, its accomplishments), we can end up with:
Double standards like racism (which was "based" on SCIENCE);
"Minority" promoting in the form of FIGHTING/DENYING the "normal" people (I'm not against PEOPLE which have such issues, I'm against when they call THAT being "normal", which is definitely NOT);
Corruption in justice and growing crime rates (based on the LACK of "religious" causes for NOT committing crimes; also the problem of SUBJECTIVE morality), which also ends up with perverting justice even in public (I mean, when it's OBVIOUS who's guilty);
Calling ALL human problems "natural" (I mean, these words are main ones to absolve anyone from behaving wrong/inHUMANe or discriminating others).

 

[Kyriakos]

Atheism can be seen as a religion,since it is so much involved in being anti-theism most of the time.

But agnosticism in no way is a belief, the word itself says it: agnosto= unknown in Greek. It is the view that one does not have enough information to be able to know if there is a god or not.

 

[timtofly]

Atheism can be seen as a religion,since it is so much involved in being anti-theism most of the time.

But agnosticism in no way is a belief, the word itself says it: agnosto= unknown in Greek. It is the view that one does not have enough information to be able to know if there is a god or not.

They do know that there are those who do or do not believe though. They have just "decided" their opinion is the best way to go?

 

[Kyriakos]

Personally i do not think at all of whether there is a "best way to go". I mean even attributing it to something quasi-logical like ethics, is tenuous, for all we know the god (if it exists) is unethical, or non-ethical, supra-ethical, and it does not matter what you do here.
So in the absence of (knowledge) information it is better to shut up, as Wittgenstein put it

 

[peter grimes]

I'm not sure how exactly some people understand the word "religion", as in different from "belief", but I'd say that you for sure can apply at least one of them to the term "atheist" - in the practical sense.
1. Belief is something one BELIEVES, aka has NO "100% empirical proof" of.
Since you can't dis/prove G-d either way, at least if we're talking about G-d, that is BEYOND the physical world, - it boils down to a BELIEF, whether you believe in such a possibility or not.
It's made unprovable by the very definition I just mentioned.
2. Religion, on the other hand, is how one expresses that belief, in practical terms.
In this sense, at least when we're talking about the "aggressive" type of atheism (NOT so common here, thank G-d {}), - atheists DO "preach" their RELIGION of FIGHTING the idea of G-d.
Still, those who do not actively address/harass others on that topic, by keeping it to themselves (or expressing it in the manner of OPINION, not ATTACK), would be harder to qualify as "religionists".
But in truth, even such people DO "have a religion".
It's being typically expressed in such "religiously obscure" actions like blind "belief" in SCIENCE, and even more so, in HUMANITY.
Yes, it starts as a mere belief (in some cases totally automatic/"normal" - thus NOT "religious"), but when people end up "worshiping" the HUMAN being (or rather, its accomplishments), we can end up with:
Double standards like racism (which was "based" on SCIENCE);
"Minority" promoting in the form of FIGHTING/DENYING the "normal" people (I'm not against PEOPLE which have such issues, I'm against when they call THAT being "normal", which is definitely NOT);
Corruption in justice and growing crime rates (based on the LACK of "religious" causes for NOT committing crimes; also the problem of SUBJECTIVE morality), which also ends up with perverting justice even in public (I mean, when it's OBVIOUS who's guilty);
Calling ALL human problems "natural" (I mean, these words are main ones to absolve anyone from behaving wrong/inHUMANe or discriminating others).

I'm not going to refute this point by point, since it's not the intended purpose of this thread.

But I'll at least say that your views on atheism as a religion appear to be quite different from the reality.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

I was raised a Christian, but given my views on a loving God are so liberal, the more I talk to conservative Christians, the less I want to identify as sharing the same religion as them.

I believe in a loving God too.