Atheism

Betty White is known to be affiliated with the Unity Chuch a new thought moment within Christianity. She reveals this in her book.

White, Betty (2011). If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) (First ed.). Putnam Adult. pp. 110-112. ISBN 978-0-399-15753-0.

Her Majesty the Queen is the titular head of the Church of England as she is the reigning monarch (the spiritual head being the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the ultimate head Jesus Christ). As a result she is expected to attend Church of England functions and services, and national state religious occasions.

However, she and her husband Prince Philip are also a regular attender at church in her own right, and she has a strong Christian faith, attending frequently the private chapels at her holiday retreats in Balmoral, Scotland, and in Sandringham, Norfolk, and her chapel at Winsor.

I was fortunate to meet Her Majesty last year (and shake her hand!) when she visited my own church on a visit to my home town in the UK. When we spoke, I was aware of a lovely, friendly lady, but one who still, even in her 80s, has her finger very much on the pulse judging by the searching questions she asked. She is certainly a remarkable lady, and 'religious' in the right, Christian, sense of the word.

Simple Answer 1

Every human being is born Atheist. We are taught religion, however, some people may come to the conclusion that we were made by god(s) separate of religion because of lack of scientific knowledge.

Simple Answer 2

Critical thinking and intellectual honesty.

Long Answer 1

Unlike theists atheists and deists are rarely ever indoctrinated. Most atheists were themselves theists in youth and thus realize that indoctrination makes people "believe" things they never concluded for themselves, and thus avoid it in the upbringing of their children.

Most atheists reach the conclusion that gods don't exist independently, and are amazed that there are as many people out there who agree with them.

No churches, no indoctrination, no selfish motive for the belief (heaven, hell etc). Just an honest conclusion.

Long Answer 2

In a way, this question seems to imply that we are all naturally religious and that something has to happen to force one to "become" an athiest. There are many people out there that have the mind set of "I will believe it when I see it." For these people Atheism is a logical conclusion. Religion is a funny thing. I think most would agree that in the huge majority of cases your religion is determined by the religion of your parents. For every Christian out there.....Had you been born in the India you would probably be Hindu. For every Muslim out there had you been born in the US there is a good chance you would be Christian. Yet we all seem to think we have it right. Why is that? When it comes down to it know one really knows which religion is right (or most accurate). There are many people that realize this and choose to focus on doing whats right according to their conscience and leaving the rest to chance.

Long Answer 2

Some people need concrete evidence of things and if they don't have it why should they waste their energy on something that no one knows exists. Instead they put the energy towards themselves. Many atheists are spiritual people know themselves very well because if they don't lean on God like most of the population they know that they have to lean on themselves. They hold themselves accountable for themselves and realize that it is their conscience that they will lay down with when they die so they live accordingly.

Most atheists that I have met have been extremely strong willed people and definitely people to take pointers on when getting to know yourself and how to count on yourself. Not everyone needs to have a belief that someone or something else is always there to protect them. Not everyone needs to have hope in something especially something they cannot see. Atheists know who they are and where they stand and they take care of themselves and their family because they know they can not truly count on a someone else or a greater power doing so.

Long Answer 3

My reason for returning to atheism is that while I believe in the importance of faith, I rationalize that having faith in something concrete like myself and humanity is much more productive and realistic than having faith in something abstract. Many faiths require you to succumb to their god and admit your helplessness without said god. I see evidence that people are powerful, capable creatures. I discovered that morals have nothing to do with your religion, which is evident if you study the behavior of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees earn the respect of their peers for things like breaking up fights and sharing. I also realized that atheists are most often compassionate, educated people, unlike what some religious sects would have you believe. I feel that I was so foolish to invest faith in these things so blindly and I am glad that I have been enlightened.

Long Answer 4

Because they refused to be babes and preferred to be in the side of Wise and Prudent

Luke 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

This Bible verse of course means exactly the opposite to how it has been used here.

Long Answer 5

* Aldous Huxley, himself a well known atheist and author had this to say."I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently (I) assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves....For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political."

Thus wanting to have a philosophical basis for avoiding moral sanctions and/or accountability to a higher being indeed motivates some although they may not be as frank as Huxley was. This is why so many seem particularly keen to cast moral doubt upon certain actions of the God they don't believe in. If He exists and if He is a moral being then they may have to answer to Him. Thus behind much atheism is rebellion, although certainly not all. But as Rocket Scientist Joe Sabeney put it, they "look in the mirror and see their god," thus they will not be accountable to a higher power and can essentially do as they please. Intellectual objections could in these cases become a smokescreen for the real issue, whether the person is aware of it or not.This motivation to get rid of God to avoid accountability is a common theme. Some do it consciously, others unconsciously as they are taught that the universe evolved and has no ultimate meaning and that this is just 'tough luck' and so draw their own conclusions and write their own morality.

This, of course is not the rationale for all who become atheists. Nor to state it does this imply that anyone is being dishonest in claiming any other reason. There are probably quite a number of different reasons. Another could be hurt suffered at the hands of a person or persons who claim to believe in God. Not all who claim His name are true to Him.

Ultimately the point is that it is a personal decision that has been made to go that way. Some would say 'contrary to nature', or else a decision would not need to be made, it would be natural.

The parable Jesus gave regarding the four soils or the sower (God) gives insight into the answer.

Long Answer 6

I can't speak for anyone but myself. I was raised Holiness Pentecostal, in a very religious family. I tried my best to be a good Christian. The problem was that no matter how hard I tried, I just never really bought it. I could wrap my head around the Jesus thing, it was the all powerful creator that I couldn't stomach. As I got older, I learned about all kinds of different religions and came to a realization. If I decided to believe in a man in a pink elephant costume, I had just as much of a statistical chance of being "right" as anyone else does. That, in combination with a great education in science, I decided that the universe was far to elegant to attribute to an invisible man in the sky, and I've been much happier since.

Just because someone is not a Christian or does not identify with any religious group does not make them an atheist. People can believe in god or be spiritual in their own way without being a Christian or belonging to any other religion.

I think in most countries the Christians and/or religious groups out number the atheists though.

Similarly, although different, in many western countries, at least in the not too distant past, it was somewhat fashionable to call oneself a Christian, even if one rarely attended a church and had no practical ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. Persecution did not follow but sometimes social stigma did, although this is now changing.

What also muddies the waters is that surveys rely on what people say and cannot really judge what is the real situation. Since Christian faith is a matter of the heart and of reality, not just outward profession, many may claim to be Christian of one kind or another who are, in fact 'practical atheists', in that God never enters their thinking in any meaningful way, except in some kind of occasional religious observance to appease their conscience (from what they are not quite sure).

Since true Christianity is a heart and soul commitment it is likely that the real figures are therefore much lower. So, even though more people, even many more, may claim to be Christian than atheist, this may not be a true figure, just as the reverse may be possible under the duress of real and active persecution.

In any case, although this is an interesting question, it matters not really in terms of the respective truth of either system of belief how many believe in them. If God is true, and the poster of this piece is among those who know that He is, then it matters not who does or doesn't believe. He still exists and is a rewarder of those individuals who diligently seek Him, as He has been in every age, regardless of what the rest of the crowd is doing.

My best guess would be that there may well be a few more real Christians than atheists. However the figures would seem to indicate a much greater majority overall of Christians. I do not believe these figures for the reasons stated above. Nor would anything coming out of a country which persecutes believers be considered reliable. China is just one example of a country with censorship, where the daily reality of the 60 million plus who are reported to be in the secret house church movement is to face persecution and imprisonment, especially the leaders. In such countries, where to openly practice Christianity may be costly, it is likely that many who are non-commital will opt to be known as atheist for the sake of peace.

Therefore, depending on the reliability of the statistics, Christianity is around three times larger than those identifying at Atheists.

source: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

• Was everyone asked the same questions?
• Did the participants have the freedom to answer honestly, without fear?
• Are all the participants accustomed to answering surveys? (After all, for some people it might have been the first survey that they ever took part in).
• How meaningful and relevant were the questions? For example, a question like 'Do you believe in a life force?' doesn't indicate much.
• Are the results based on actual surveys of individuals, or were representatives of various religious and non-religious organizations simply asked for their best estimates?
• How were 'nominal Christians' - the sort of people who go to church once a year for a sing-song at Christmas - classified?

The British Social Attitudes poll of more than 3,000 people showed 44% said they had no religious affiliation. This compares with less than 10% in the United States. Two-thirds of 18-24 year-olds in the UK also say they have no religious affiliation. However, these figures would include agnostics, as well as atheists.

(Actually 15% of Americans say they have no religious affiliation.)

7.7% of the population did not answer the question, and 0.7% of the population (390,000 people) claimed to be Jedi - making Jedi a larger religion in the UK than Hinduism.

7.7 million people in England and Wales stated that they have no religion - 14.6% in England, and 18.5% in wales).

Most commentators believe that those figures are well below the true numbers, mainly because of the membership of the Church Of England.

The plagues were described by ancient historians, including Herodotus and Diodorus. The Israelite Exodus is mentioned by Strabo, Berosus, Artapanus, Numenius, Justin, and Tacitus. Egypt was in turmoil for decades, as we may understand from the Ipuwer papyri (Professor John van Seters, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology no. 50). This (and further evidence for the Exodus in general) may be seen here: Did the Exodus happen

Evidence of the Exodus

And the wider picture. Archaeology in general:

Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible

And Joshua's conquest:

Evidence of the conquest of Jericho

Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Answer:

Not to mention:

* Taoism * Seventh Day Adventists * Jainism * Confucianism * Shinto * Bon * Mormonism * Zorastorianism * Stocism * Sikhism * Gnosticism * Druze * Native (Aboriginal) religions * Spiritualism * Bahá'í * Shintoism

Since agnostics are not an organized religious group, this can vary a great deal, or it may not take place at all.

Some agnostics may be more atheistic: they may not feel any divine presence, but they refuse consider themselves atheists on the grounds that there is no conclusive evidence that god doesn't exist. This kind of agnostic is not likely to worship any deity in any way.

Other agnostics may be closer to theistic or deistic (a deist believes in an impersonal, distant creator who does not become involved in any way with the creation): these people may feel some kind of undefinable divine presence in their lives, but they refuse to consider themselves theists on the grounds that there is no conclusive evidence that god exists. This type of agnostic may sometimes choose to participate individual or community religious worship.

If an agnostic does worship, which deity do they choose and how do they worship? Since agnostics are not all alike and fall along a broad continuum, the short answer would be "highly variable". It seems that religions with a vaguer concept of the godhead, such as Buddhism and Taoism, are more likely to appeal to an agnostic: but, again, there are no hard and fast creeds or rules for those whose essential religious stance is to take no stance!

For one thing, some people think they don't have any morals. Well, I'm an atheist, and try to make this world a tiny better place. Just like most people, religious or not, I guess.

Answer:

I never knew they were stereotyped. Me neither.

Answer:

When people know nothing about a issue they are generally to lazy to do any investigation into it. To hide their ignorance they adopt an easily learned stereotype (All pitbulls are vicious. All Mexican food is too spicy. All Chinese products are shoddy) and state it with great conviction - as if it is their opinion and result of much study.

How are we stereotyped? Generally we are seen as denying the "truth", afraid or ignorant of the facts, dangerous, immoral, untrustworthy, self centered, unpatriotic, stupid, communists, nihilists, anarchists, a conspiracy ... the list goes on.

Although some showboating atheists (like showboating evangelists) make a lot of noise about their opinions - most are content to in their own knowledge that there is no god - like children who have figured out that there is no Santa or monster under the bed. It is just another fact in a fact filled world. Evangelism is not a big atheist trait.

Atheists in our society have a tendency to hide their opinions - some folks try to convert us, others try to lump us in with Hitler and Stalin, others flat out don't believe our position. Granted this is better than the old response of letting us convert or die. This lack of everyday examples of "normal" atheists leads many folks to have only the stereotype to go by. Since the stereotype is generally so poisonous, many non-atheists would not be seen reading books on, or researching, atheist thinking for fear of being taken for "one of them"

The truth is that many folks you know and respect may well be atheists. We are in all lines of work, come in all colours, both sexes, young, old, grumpy and friendly. Our common bond is that we have independently thought our way through tough questions (Is there a god(s), is there a life after death, is there good and evil) and come to conclusions different from others in our society.

Answer:

Some people even mix up their stereotypes mixing atheists with satanist. with claiming atheists use the imagery of Satan and 666 as a culture shock to religious people. Obviously ATHEISTS don't believe in SATAN or GOD so it is a very stupid stereotype

ANSWER:

They are stereotyped the same way everything else is stereotyped in this country. Through ignorance. I am not an Atheist, but some of the stereotypes i have herd is that they believe in science over God, they ridicule Religious people and things of that nature.

It was suggested above that atheists and satanists are often "mixed" together. I suspect that is true. It is a common tenet of any organized religion or school of thought to put those who disagree with their particular brand of thinking into the same pot. Those who are not with us are against us after all. This is natural human behavior. People are paranoid and separatist or exclusionary by nature. We, quite frankly, are cliquish .

One responder suggested that the stereotype is rooted in ignorance. True to a point. Stereotypes like myths spring from some grain of fact. That is not to say that all stereotypes are true, or even any. This is not a defense for stereotypes either. Just an observation. It would be just as accurate to say that stereotypes spring from stupidity (ignorance is the condition of not knowing, stupidity is the choice to not know or to ignore the truth).

To say that an atheist has no morals is, perhaps, an example of what has been suggested in this answer. To say that, could also be an example of defensiveness on the part of one or some who espouse atheistic thought. Perhaps a little of both. Perhaps neither.

What this boils down to is the second part of the question, why. Well, it goes deep to the core of human behavior; call it instinct. If a member of the pack is presented with anything that is alien to his pack, he will fight it or run from it. Humans arepack animals. We group ourselves according to what we think, what we believe, what we know, how we live, how we dress, what we drive, what we do, and an infinite number of other unimportant and superficial things. We focus on what is different. We obsess about it. And, by doing so, we accomplish a couple of things. First, we ingratiate ourselves with the group to which we want to belong, or attempt to. Second, we avoid looking at the things within ourselves that we do not like and want no one else to see, or, again, attempt to. Neither can truly be successful.

Are stereotypes wrong? Maybe, maybe not. How many examples of stereotypical behavior do you see in the responses above? Maybe, stereotypes are just a thing that people do, and it matters less that people stereotype than it does how others respond to it.

One final thought: consider that every time one engages in stereotyping, he is performing a physical act of oxymoronic behavior; placing a stereotype on another person IS in itself stereotypical behavior.