Athiests are glum, grumpy, godless deviants.

[Blood Valkyrie]

I'm Agnostic, but I know a god is not required for happiness. Babies can be very happy, and they know nothing of gods.

[Agent Cougar Draven]

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Eh, all I can say is that just about every atheist I met was no fun to be around or just did not seem to be enjoying life, while most people I know who are religious of some kind have been great people to know who almost always have a zest for life, even when its not so fun.

We're no fun because life isn't fun. Life is pain. It always has been, always will be. The religious fooling themselves with thoughts of another life to be lived have the unfortunate freedom to ignore the pain of life and be truly careless.

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

[Riviera de la Mancha]

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Eh, all I can say is that just about every atheist I met was no fun to be around or just did not seem to be enjoying life, while most people I know who are religious of some kind have been great people to know who almost always have a zest for life, even when its not so fun.

We're no fun because life isn't fun. Life is pain. It always has been, always will be. The religious fooling themselves with thoughts of another life to be lived have the unfortunate freedom to ignore the pain of life and be truly careless.

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

*Shakes head* Yeah, how could I have missed detecting sarcasm in plain type without context or expression? rolleyes

Haha, "...I dont want to waste it just yet."? Still dont get it...

[Das Mannlein]

This thread's OP (and the discussions I'm seeing herein) are an interesting example of how people from a world predominated by their religion (Christianity/Catholicism) have difficulty imagining that not every religion/person deals with the concepts of god and afterlife in the same way.

There are people who, while being atheistic, believe in an afterlife. One is not dependent on the other. You do not need to believe in a 'Creator' being to suppose that humans have souls that exist after death.

And to the people supposing that religious folk misbehave or don't try hard in their current life because "they get another one" due to the afterlife: for some religions, the point of this life is to STOP being re-born and to ascend so that you, in essence, cease to exist as an individual being. It is highly important to Hindus that believe this, for instance, that they live correctly and well so that they may escape the cycle of rebirth and go "back to Godhead/[the divine]".

Of course, I understand the urge to equate religion with Christianity instantly, and the word "god" with the Judeo-Christian one. Sometimes though, it's interesting to see another viewpoint.

[8-bit Anteater]

yeah, I'm boring, gloomy and whatnot as hell and yes I am an atheist. Anything else?

[Olya]

I absolutely love this misconception.

It is very likely a result of not paying attention in Community Health lecture, lack of literacy, or inability to expand one's horizons.

The myth that people who believe in god are happier and healthier comes from a factual statement that "people who embrace spirituality experience a higher quality of life."

There is no disputing this. However, a good number of people tends to make a leap of logic and equate "spirituality" to "sweet baby Jesus." That is not so. Here is a basic definition of what spirituality is:

"an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; spiritual experience includes that of connectedness with a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm. Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life. It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world." Source: Wikipedia.

So, although spirituality includes faith, it is not exclusively tied to faith. Reading Richard Dawkins and doing yoga is just as spiritual as reading the Bible and praying.

Claims that one cannot know love without being religious is preposterously inaccurate. Most modern religions are quite archaic while the modern notion of love is about two centuries old and has more to do with revival in the interest in "self" and "humanity" as opposed to religion and God.

gaia_angelleft gaia_star gaia_angelright

[Culdra]

Not everyone wants to be a knock off of someone else. I could label anyone for having that mindset of being more miserable.

[Agent Cougar Draven]

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Eh, all I can say is that just about every atheist I met was no fun to be around or just did not seem to be enjoying life, while most people I know who are religious of some kind have been great people to know who almost always have a zest for life, even when its not so fun.

We're no fun because life isn't fun. Life is pain. It always has been, always will be. The religious fooling themselves with thoughts of another life to be lived have the unfortunate freedom to ignore the pain of life and be truly careless.

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

*Shakes head* Yeah, how could I have missed detecting sarcasm in plain type without context or expression? rolleyes

Haha, "...I dont want to waste it just yet."? Still dont get it...

Simple: I'm legitimately a miserable b*****d. I smoke, I'm a recovering alcoholic, my wife left me six months ago (all truth, by the way), taking our daughter and moving 1250 miles away. I'm bipolar and most of the time suicidal, but, and here's the point, absolutely none of that is because I'm an atheist. Yes, I am, but it's concurrent with the above, not the cause of it.

You saying that all the atheists you know are "no fun" is correlative at best, unfounded, and quite frankly insulting. For all you know, all the atheists you know have great lives, that just don't intersect you.

[Riviera de la Mancha]

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Eh, all I can say is that just about every atheist I met was no fun to be around or just did not seem to be enjoying life, while most people I know who are religious of some kind have been great people to know who almost always have a zest for life, even when its not so fun.

We're no fun because life isn't fun. Life is pain. It always has been, always will be. The religious fooling themselves with thoughts of another life to be lived have the unfortunate freedom to ignore the pain of life and be truly careless.

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

*Shakes head* Yeah, how could I have missed detecting sarcasm in plain type without context or expression? rolleyes

Haha, "...I dont want to waste it just yet."? Still dont get it...

Simple: I'm legitimately a miserable b*****d. I smoke, I'm a recovering alcoholic, my wife left me six months ago (all truth, by the way), taking our daughter and moving 1250 miles away. I'm bipolar and most of the time suicidal, but, and here's the point, absolutely none of that is because I'm an atheist. Yes, I am, but it's concurrent with the above, not the cause of it.

You saying that all the atheists you know are "no fun" is correlative at best, unfounded, and quite frankly insulting. For all you know, all the atheists you know have great lives, that just don't intersect you.

I never said it was causational. I simply said that in my experience, the atheists I have met mostly fit the description. You simply assumed I was making a causation argument.

Insulting? How? I pray to God entertaining me is not some standard by which you measure yourself or atheism. I could care less if someone said Catholics are not fun- why do I care what some random dude online says about how 'fun' Catholics are, even if its just those that they met?

Eh, who knows? Could be. Just not what I saw.

[Agent Cougar Draven]

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

*Shakes head* Yeah, how could I have missed detecting sarcasm in plain type without context or expression? rolleyes

Haha, "...I dont want to waste it just yet."? Still dont get it...

Simple: I'm legitimately a miserable b*****d. I smoke, I'm a recovering alcoholic, my wife left me six months ago (all truth, by the way), taking our daughter and moving 1250 miles away. I'm bipolar and most of the time suicidal, but, and here's the point, absolutely none of that is because I'm an atheist. Yes, I am, but it's concurrent with the above, not the cause of it.

You saying that all the atheists you know are "no fun" is correlative at best, unfounded, and quite frankly insulting. For all you know, all the atheists you know have great lives, that just don't intersect you.

I never said it was causational. I simply said that in my experience, the atheists I have met mostly fit the description. You simply assumed I was making a causation argument.

Insulting? How? I pray to God entertaining me is not some standard by which you measure yourself or atheism. I could care less if someone said Catholics are not fun- why do I care what some random dude online says about how 'fun' Catholics are, even if its just those that they met?

Eh, who knows? Could be. Just not what I saw.

It's insulting because you came right out and said that you didn't think atheists had fun lives. That's just degrading to everyone who happens to be an atheist.

[Je Nique vos Merdiers]

I'm not going to read more than a few sentences of this thread; I'm just coming in to say that I cannot even begin to explain the wealth of knowledge I've gained since I stopped wasting my time on the god or no god argument. It's pretty obvious that there's no god, but I don't care if you disagree, because it's so completely irrelevant to anything at all. The existence of god changes precisely nothing, which is really no different from being nonexistent.

I look at it this way: What has modern religion contributed to society in the last 50 years? Nothing that I'm aware of. I can't even say fundamentalism, since it's nothing new.

[no wait when]

You've generalized a population, and subsequently failed. Anything you say after initial fail, fails by default.

[Riviera de la Mancha]

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Agent Cougar Draven

Riviera de la Mancha

Hahaha, kind of prove point, doncha?

Man, you of all people I would have thought would have seen the sarcasm.

I actually enjoy life, because it's the only one I've got, I'd damn well better enjoy it. Sure, I'm still a miserable, quasi-suicidal b*****d from time to time (more often these days), but I'm well and truly alive, and that's the best I've got, so I don't want to waste it just yet.

*Shakes head* Yeah, how could I have missed detecting sarcasm in plain type without context or expression? rolleyes

Haha, "...I dont want to waste it just yet."? Still dont get it...

Simple: I'm legitimately a miserable b*****d. I smoke, I'm a recovering alcoholic, my wife left me six months ago (all truth, by the way), taking our daughter and moving 1250 miles away. I'm bipolar and most of the time suicidal, but, and here's the point, absolutely none of that is because I'm an atheist. Yes, I am, but it's concurrent with the above, not the cause of it.

You saying that all the atheists you know are "no fun" is correlative at best, unfounded, and quite frankly insulting. For all you know, all the atheists you know have great lives, that just don't intersect you.

I never said it was causational. I simply said that in my experience, the atheists I have met mostly fit the description. You simply assumed I was making a causation argument.

Insulting? How? I pray to God entertaining me is not some standard by which you measure yourself or atheism. I could care less if someone said Catholics are not fun- why do I care what some random dude online says about how 'fun' Catholics are, even if its just those that they met?

Eh, who knows? Could be. Just not what I saw.

It's insulting because you came right out and said that you didn't think atheists had fun lives. That's just degrading to everyone who happens to be an atheist.

No, here is what I said, "Eh, all I can say is that just about every atheist I met was no fun to be around or just did not seem to be enjoying life, while most people I know who are religious of some kind have been great people to know who almost always have a zest for life, even when its not so fun.". I never made a general statement. I was specific to the ones I have met.

Again, why do you seem so fixated on meeting my standard of fun?

[tadpolily]

I just can't understand why we can't all get along. Christians keep being stereotyped as crazy, shove down your throat religious freaks while Atheism keeps being stereotyped as a religion of bitter, aggressive, condescending freaks. Does anyone not realize that both religions are responsible for perpetuating and over exaggerating these opposing stereotypes?
People keep on spreading hateful feelings based on the extremist actions of a few.

Christians: Learn to accept
Atheists: Simmer down. Sometimes it seems that many atheists are not really atheists at all. But rather just Anti-Christians with irrational grudges.

Everyone: Learn to respect religion in general. It is important whether you think so or not.

[tadpolily]

Je Nique vos Merdiers

I'm not going to read more than a few sentences of this thread; I'm just coming in to say that I cannot even begin to explain the wealth of knowledge I've gained since I stopped wasting my time on the god or no god argument. It's pretty obvious that there's no god, but I don't care if you disagree, because it's so completely irrelevant to anything at all. The existence of god changes precisely nothing, which is really no different from being nonexistent.

I look at it this way: What has modern religion contributed to society in the last 50 years? Nothing that I'm aware of. I can't even say fundamentalism, since it's nothing new.

Not coming to argue either but I think religion has contributed a lot within the last 50 years and still does today. You may not care whether there is a god or not but the majority of the world does. That proves how influential religion itself is.

Ghandi, MLK, and the Dalai Llama are just a few religious leaders who have made great impacts on society