Poll: http://www.conservapedia.com - people really agree with this?

[Skeleon]

and that may be your goal in life, but what do you get for it when all is said and done? the satisfaction? if you're right, you won't feel it... you won't have the knowledge, and anyone following will end up as feelingless and as... well, dead as you are...

Well, I'll have the joy and satisfaction while I'm doing it. There won't be anything left of me to remember it, true. Yet my legacy lingers on, even if my children and grandchildren eventually die as well, they too will have left a mark on the world and (hopefully) born new descendants. Which will only be possible because of me and my choices in life.

"finding your meaning" seems like a rather irrelevant statement in a world where everything is meaningless...

This is where our positions are too divergent, apparently. Just because there's no objective meaning of life, I can still see a point in living whereas you seem to feel the need for some "true, real, undeniable" goal.

Life is only pointless if you don't give it meaning. I'm starting to repeat myself, too, now, but I don't know how else to put it.

like it or not, if you're right about the afterlife you're really just biding time until you die... you can fill in the intervening time with whatever you want, but it all comes down to naught... you won't remember, your kids, their kids, etc, etc, all won't remember...

Yes, I won't remember but the world will. The world is still there even when I'm gone and it will be affected by what my family, myself and my descendants did! We, as a species, form this world. And that is not only true for presidents or celebrities but for every single person.

it's like reading a car magazine in the waiting room of a dental practice...

That sounds more like the religious standpoint where life is just a delay before paradise. There is no dentist after the waiting room. Life itself is the dentist (on reflection, I shouldn't stick with this metaphor but whatever).

 

[Smudge91]

hahaha i like how on its logo it is the "trustworthy encylopedia", [sarchasm] ofcourse it is, why wouldit be subjective and biased with the name conservapedia [/sarchasm].
People will twist events/information around to fit in their belief system.

 

[Valiance]

Atheism by meaning is the denial of god btw, it is the denial of any form of god and the belif in the absense of any sort of higher being.

Ninja'd.

Of course, this is the definition that I was going to state...

But if the OP means "do I believe that people are only atheist because they're IN DENIAL that there is a God," then no, I'm not. The question is a bit unclear.

 

[Eisenfaust]

That sounds more like the religious standpoint where life is just a delay before paradise. There is no dentist after the waiting room. Life itself is the dentist (on reflection, I shouldn't stick with this metaphor but whatever).

yeah you really shouldn't... since "why deal with the pain" was one of my first points...

 

[Semitendon]

Let me break it down for you. I can't believe I have to do this, but evidentily I do. Mostly because of the morons on here who go around saying " I am an Athiest" or " I am agnostic" or some weird combination of those two and religion that they somehow thinks makes sense.

So without further ado, the simplest way to understand the terms. ( and don't try any of that " I am both" bullshit.

Athiest: says " there is no God"

Agnostic: says " I don't know if there is a God"

Relgious: says : " there is a God, and it's the one/several I believe in"

Spirtual: " there is a higher power, and I think I know what it is, but I might be wrong"

So, there you have it. If you say you believe in a God, but not in any known religion, you're spiritual. I could give you more examples, but if you're too dense to figure it out on your own, they probably won't help.

Let me say this though, there are NOT variations in athieism. It is the belief that there is no God. Period. No God. At all. Ever.
If you consider the idea that there might be a God, even in the slightest bit, then you are agnostic or one of my other listed possibilities. To say that you consider it possible that there is a God, and then claim yourself as athiest is insulting to the true athiest.

 

[Skeleon]

yeah you really shouldn't... since "why deal with the pain" was one of my first points...

*sighs* It was a joke. Not a statement of gnawing inner doubts.
I don't seem to get my point across.
But whatever. You live your life with your ideals and ideas, I live mine with my own.

 

[Akai Shizuku]

When I first saw Conservapedia, I thought it was just Stephen Colbert pulling a friendly prank on everyone. When I discovered they were serious, I nearly smacked my gob at the retardedness of it all.

 

[traceur_]

I keep thinking, discussing with people, musing over... why is it that if atheists believe that there is absolutely nothing, WHATSOEVER after this life, they are still alive? I'm simply wondering, not ordering you all to go out and commit suicide (please don't)... but if nothing you do here matters, why do any of it? why deal with the pain? etc, etc... seriously someone give me a decent answer...

Why not? Just because something doesn't matter doesn't mean we don't want to do it. And why wouldn't we put up with the so called "pain of life" and other assorted emo bullshit? Life is awesome, it's FUN! Life is not some endless parade of pain and suffering, in life we can explore the world, eat delicious things, laugh with friends and dream fantastic dreams. I see no reason to deprive myself of these things by killing myself.

 

[Agema]

Atheism is a belief that there are no Gods or God. To say that it is "the denial of the existence of God" assumes:

1. There is one God (not many)
2. Atheists (perversely) choose not to accept this fact.

Clearly, this is idiocy. I am a devout Atheist and I prefer to not believe in Supernatural entities. I like Reality. It is enough for me.

Agreed entirely.

* * *

Atheism is just an absence of belief in deities. It exists in two main forms.

The first is a strong atheism, an absolute belief that there are no gods, which in my view must entail some degree of faith. The second is weak atheism, a sort of crossover area of atheism and agnosticism (arguably, all agnostics are atheists): it's a conditional disbelief or extreme doubt that gods exist.

 

[sneak_copter]

I keep thinking, discussing with people, musing over... why is it that if atheists believe that there is absolutely nothing, WHATSOEVER after this life, they are still alive? I'm simply wondering, not ordering you all to go out and commit suicide (please don't)... but if nothing you do here matters, why do any of it? why deal with the pain? etc, etc... seriously someone give me a decent answer...

I eventually came to the, perhaps misguided, opinion that because of this, all atheists are either idiots, cowards, or not really athiest...

again... please don't commit suicide...!

You make it seem that all Atheist's are incredibly bitter and cynical.

Again, there will always be people who are doubtful of a god, wether or not this makes them athiest comes down to a personal definition. There will always be people who believe in God. Wether or not this makes them religious comes down to a personal definition also.

The definitions of "religion" and "atheism" are far to vague to even debate.

 

[Acaroid]

Atheism by meaning is the denial of god btw, it is the denial of any form of god and the belif in the absense of any sort of higher being.

Ninja'd.

Of course, this is the definition that I was going to state...

But if the OP means "do I believe that people are only atheist because they're IN DENIAL that there is a God," then no, I'm not. The question is a bit unclear.

Yes very very true, that is a good point... I wonder how they are putting it across...

 

[Spacelord]

Conservapedia makes me so angry that if you were to cut me right now, you'd get shot in the eye with boiling blood.

(points for reference)

 

[EchetusXe]

What stupid sad fuckers.

 

[Steelfists]

They need to die and die horribly.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown may have played a decisive role in releasing the Libyan terrorist who blew Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland. While 270 people lie dead, and families are outraged, this is just more proof that liberalism is a mental disorder [Their italics]

I'm no hard core Broonite but thats one example of how idiotic those pricks are.
Here's how you deal with people of their ilk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8

 

[Antlers]

Eisenfaust, why ask if you're going to just ignore every answer and say 'well that's not a good enough answer'. I'm afraid the evidence shows that atheists are actually fine with not believing in god and some of them are pretty damn content. So you can argue that this can't be true all you want, but you're wrong. Not 'in my opinion you're wrong'. No. You're actually wrong. So even if we can't give you a satisfactory answer as to why we haven't flung ourselves off a bridge after a short life of misery and despair, the fact is, we haven't. I don't know why some people are so weak-minded as to need an ultimate magic purpose to their life, but I definitely don't deny that they are.

 

[Eisenfaust]

yeah you really shouldn't... since "why deal with the pain" was one of my first points...

*sighs* It was a joke. Not a statement of gnawing inner doubts.
I don't seem to get my point across.
But whatever. You live your life with your ideals and ideas, I live mine with my own.

i... was making a joke... and i wasn't trying to convince you to change your ways, i was simply asking a question... getting someone to clear it up...

 

[Eisenfaust]

Eisenfaust, why ask if you're going to just ignore every answer and say 'well that's not a good enough answer'. I'm afraid the evidence shows that atheists are actually fine with not believing in god and some of them are pretty damn content. So you can argue that this can't be true all you want, but you're wrong. Not 'in my opinion you're wrong'. No. You're actually wrong. So even if we can't give you a satisfactory answer as to why we haven't flung ourselves off a bridge after a short life of misery and despair, the fact is, we haven't. I don't know why some people are so weak-minded as to need an ultimate magic purpose to their life, but I definitely don't deny that they are.

i'm not ignoring every answer, or more precisely, the one answer repeated over and over again, i'm simply looking for a DECENT one... and someone will probably spout some nonsense about how it is a good answer, even though it seriously doesn't really answer the question (and yes, i have philosophy professors who agree with me here... people whose opinions make yours seem like that of a drunk river monkey, though i'm sure you'll spout something about how you know TWENTY philosophy professors who side with you, so i suppose that's pretty much moot)... and calling anyone who is religious weak-minded seems even more misguided than that conclusion i said in my first post (which certainly hasn't yet been debunked... *rolls eyes*)... i actually reckon that most religious people are actually stronger for it, working towards something (shutup) rather than thinking "well there's no point, so i'll do whatever". sigh... i just don't get athiests... and none of you have particularly helped... CONGRATS!

 

[Antlers]

Er... What? You failed to address anything I said and mentioned some philosophers you knew. It's ok. I'm not bothering with this anymore. Everyone else can see what you wrote, so there's no sense in trying to convince you.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

I think atheists are technically supposed to adamantly deny the existance of god. I think this is a particularly stupid definition, Webster or no Webster (although, in the online Webster dictionary it doesn't actually come up as that, unlike the one in my library that I checked after encoutering a particularly infuriating fundamentalist preacher one day). It basically makes everyone who isn't a fundamentalist an agnostic. Boring.

Obviously I'm not 100% sure that there is no god, or any paranormal activity. But I'm as sure as I can be based on my life experience and the complete lack of evidence to substantiate the claim. So I don't believe in god. That's it really. I'm an atheist. I'm damn sure not an agnostic, despite what some dictionaries try to tell me.

That would be a Gnostic Atheist(Which is active denial, Gnostic meaning they know), and there are Agnostic Atheist (which means we don't really know but signs point to no. I think most Atheists are Atheists are Atheists by Default, meaning that they just lack belief and just don't care.