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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > General Beliefs

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  #1  
Old 21-01-2021, 02:08 AM
PureEvil760
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Atheism is a Religion

To me they're like Christians two sides of the same coin. Spiritual stuff is real I know this factually so atheism has to be labeled a religion which believes in disbelief. Their belief is strong, just like a Christian.. but it is only about belief for both sides of the coin. Both of them only have beliefs and usually do not seek anything beyond that. They will share similar fates.
  #2  
Old 21-01-2021, 03:50 AM
Starman Starman is offline
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Atheism is a philosophical category, while Christianity is a theological category, but atheism is not and organized group like Christianity. There are lots of different types of atheist, and I guess one can also say there are lots of different types of Christian.

The term atheist is a juxtaposition to Christianity, just like Muslims call non-Muslims “infidels.“ Jews call non-Jews gentiles, etc. Every religion has a name for those who are not part of their religion, this goes back many centuries.

But every religion is fractured into many sects or denominations, who practice their religion differently then other sects or denominations of their own religion. It is the same with atheism. All atheists are not the same. It is important to understand that atheism is but one perspective, or cosmological view. Commonly called theism, which is a person’s thesis on life.

Christians are deists, they believe in a deity called Jesus Christ, but there are also monotheists, which is what Jews are, atheists mostly believe in science, while agnostics may say prove that God exists. A pantheists believes that everything is God, while a polytheist believes in more than one God.

There are lots of different belief systems out there. The word religion means “bond” or to bind. To give reverence to God. But I do understand that you are sharing your view and the way that you see it.
  #3  
Old 21-01-2021, 04:37 AM
hallow hallow is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PureEvil760
To me they're like Christians two sides of the same coin. Spiritual stuff is real I know this factually so atheism has to be labeled a religion which believes in disbelief. Their belief is strong, just like a Christian.. but it is only about belief for both sides of the coin. Both of them only have beliefs and usually do not seek anything beyond that. They will share similar fates.
I always wondered, why follow only one belief system? Why follow any set of beliefs? Once you begin to follow you only limit how much you will grow by how others tell you what to believe,.... what they want you believe and there truths. have to find and follow your own. I will never disregard what others believe, they may have a piece of your puzzle. But that puzzle is massive. Your soul is individual to you and personal. It's not text book/one size fits all.
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  #4  
Old 21-01-2021, 05:29 AM
Gem Gem is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starman
Atheism is a philosophical category, while Christianity is a theological category, but atheism is not and organized group like Christianity. There are lots of different types of atheist, and I guess one can also say there are lots of different types of Christian.

The term atheist is a juxtaposition to Christianity, just like Muslims call non-Muslims “infidels.“ Jews call non-Jews gentiles, etc. Every religion has a name for those who are not part of their religion, this goes back many centuries.

But every religion is fractured into many sects or denominations, who practice their religion differently then other sects or denominations of their own religion. It is the same with atheism. All atheists are not the same. It is important to understand that atheism is but one perspective, or cosmological view. Commonly called theism, which is a person’s thesis on life.

Christians are deists, they believe in a deity called Jesus Christ, but there are also monotheists, which is what Jews are, atheists mostly believe in science, while agnostics may say prove that God exists. A pantheists believes that everything is God, while a polytheist believes in more than one God.

There are lots of different belief systems out there. The word religion means “bond” or to bind. To give reverence to God. But I do understand that you are sharing your view and the way that you see it.

Agreed. Atheism is a philosophical category and literally not a belief system. I often wonder about 'beleive in science' as if it were similar to believing in a religious fantasy. Science is a system of hypothesising, and then testing, to find out what is true. Science makes no religious claims because where's the repeatable experiment?' If you don't blindly believe in a religious convention because there is no conclusive evidence. If you want to be right in science, you have to prove to your peers that something works. Measure, test, and repeat. If repeatable, then the principle can be used to make accurate predictions, and on the whole, if it can be captured with mathematical formula, it just ain't science.

I think the Christians referred to non-Christians as 'heathens' or 'heretics'. The religious usually make up derogatory words for those without God(s). 'Heathen' implies savages, barbarians, uncivilised, immoral. Heretic implies someone who is hostile toward or at least against Christianity, and therefore evil. Such words are not used kindly. 'Infidel' is also derogatory - often coupled with 'dog' or some other slur. 'Gentile' seems non-judgmental - a neutral way of factually saying someone isn't Jewish.
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  #5  
Old 21-01-2021, 06:17 AM
Starman Starman is offline
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Originally Posted by Gem
I think the Christians referred to non-Christians as 'heathens' or 'heretics'. The religious usually make up derogatory words for those without God(s). 'Heathen' implies savages, barbarians, uncivilised, immoral. Heretic implies someone who is hostile toward or at least against Christianity, and therefore evil. Such words are not used kindly. 'Infidel' is also derogatory - often coupled with 'dog' or some other slur. 'Gentile' seems non-judgmental - a neutral way of factually saying someone isn't Jewish.

I agree about Christians calling non-believers heathens, etc. Although Gentile in the past was often derogatory as it meant an outsider, removed from the Jewish faith. Not one of us. Today it may be seen as less derogatory and more of a factual reference as you have stated. Atheism just means without a thesis, although many atheists do have a life's thesis.
  #6  
Old 21-01-2021, 07:21 AM
Gem Gem is offline
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Originally Posted by Starman
I agree about Christians calling non-believers heathens, etc. Although Gentile in the past was often derogatory as it meant and outsider, removed from the Jewish faith. Not one of us. Today it may be seen as less derogatory and more of a factual reference as you have stated. Atheism just means without a thesis, although many atheists do have a life's thesis.
To know 'them' is to know 'ourselves', but the whole thing is a fanciful discursive construct. A troublesome one at that.
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  #7  
Old 21-01-2021, 08:11 AM
BigJohn BigJohn is offline
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Originally Posted by Gem
Agreed. Atheism is a philosophical category and literally not a belief system. I often wonder about 'beleive in science' as if it were similar to believing in a religious fantasy. Science is a system of hypothesising, and then testing, to find out what is true. Science makes no religious claims because where's the repeatable experiment?' If you don't blindly believe in a religious convention because there is no conclusive evidence. If you want to be right in science, you have to prove to your peers that something works. Measure, test, and repeat. If repeatable, then the principle can be used to make accurate predictions, and on the whole, if it can be captured with mathematical formula, it just ain't science.

I think the Christians referred to non-Christians as 'heathens' or 'heretics'. The religious usually make up derogatory words for those without God(s). 'Heathen' implies savages, barbarians, uncivilised, immoral. Heretic implies someone who is hostile toward or at least against Christianity, and therefore evil. Such words are not used kindly. 'Infidel' is also derogatory - often coupled with 'dog' or some other slur. 'Gentile' seems non-judgmental - a neutral way of factually saying someone isn't Jewish.

People use names for non-believers apparently to shore up their own weak beliefs.
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  #8  
Old 21-01-2021, 11:10 AM
Godspark Godspark is offline
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Robert Anton Wilson spoke a lot on the subject of beliefs and perception.

He often said having a closed mind meant having a closed perception. By closing your mind, you stay in your box and never see anything that doesn't fit in that box, you never venture out of your comfort zone and never perceive anything that doesn't fit according to your beliefs. So Robert would try to go about life not having any beliefs or any belief system in place, which is extremely difficult and he would even admit that not having a belief system, is a belief system in and of itself!

Opening your mind, allows you to perceive more if you also have an open belief system. It might be a bit difficult to not have any belief system in place at all, as Robert found out. So my base core belief is that anything is possible. However, possible doesn't mean probable, certain things in life may be hard to achieve or perceive from where we currently stand in any given moment, as it might not be a card in the deck of hands available to play at that time.

Religion is based on beliefs, so it follows suit that being atheist is kind of like being religious in a way that you don't believe in God, and believe in your own moral judgment. You are still following a belief system, so technically it's similar to having a religion. Agnostic is a nice kind of belief system, in that its almost like a get out of jail free card because you can just say "I'm not sure what I believe" or "I believe there may be a God, but we as humans might not have the intellectual capacity to fully comprehend it". Robert often advised using words like "may" and "might" without referring to the self as "I believe this or that" as it conveys easier without coming across as a definitive answer, making it much more difficult for people to argue against :)

Personally, I am not religious but I am spiritual. The closest theory to what I believe would be pan-spiritualism. I don't think this is a religion per se, and I'm not entirely sure if everything in the theory fits 100% but from what I've read on it so far, it seems to fit what I believe quite nicely.
  #9  
Old 21-01-2021, 12:26 PM
NoOne NoOne is offline
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If you look at the etymology, Atheist technically means someone who doesn't believe in Zeus. That's pretty much the entire world population.

If you expand the meaning of the latin word "Deus" to mean all deities, not just the Greek storm god, then it signifies someone who doesn't believe in or worship deities in general, which is again, a pretty large chunk of the world's population, especially in the West and in actual fact encompasses most Jews and Christians, who believe in some sort of vague original creator who brought the universe into being, but not in any literal deities.

An atheist is someone who believes it is all hokum and there are no deities, spirits, angels, devils, etc... at all. Christians and Jews are mostly on the same page, but they make an exception for one deity usually, in the case of Catholics, a couple of them actually. The only people on this planet that still believe in and worship deities are Hindus, Buddhists and Animists, though Buddhists only believe that deities exist, not necessarily that they are worth worshipping.

So yeah, I would say that Atheists pretty much represent the mainstream consensus and the Zeitgeist of the day, notwithstanding the fact that I believe them to be wrong. As an ex-atheist, I understand why they think the way they do, but they have to go into some pretty high-level mental gymnastics to ignore the existence of deities and the extensive evidence out there that they really do exist and influence human affairs to a considerable degree.

My theory is that they have very fragile egos and cannot deal with the fact that there are many different forms of life out there that are far more intelligent and powerful than us puny humans and we are really not even close to being to the top of the cosmic hierarchy. It is for the same reason that such people tend to ignore the existence of UFOs, despite, again, overwhelming evidence as to their reality.
  #10  
Old 21-01-2021, 12:37 PM
JustASimpleGuy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NoOne
If you look at the etymology, Atheist technically means someone who doesn't believe in Zeus. That's pretty much the entire world population.
The only people on this planet that still believe in and worship deities are Hindus, Buddhists and Animists, though Buddhists only believe that deities exist, not necessarily that they are worth worshipping.

Clarification on Hindus. Advaita Vedanta would say deities apparently exist but ultimately do not exist. That is they are just appearances - name, form and function - of and within Sat-Chit-Ananda which is the impersonal Ineffable. In other words dieties are no different than us in that respect and Heavens no different that objective reality in a similar respect.
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