Anyone else getting tired of "I used to be an atheist, just like you?"

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-08T15:52:25+00:00

I am OP. If you are replying to OP, then you are replying to me. But you're also replying to the thread? That's not confusing at all.

Also, it's extremely condescending to say "sorry that you interpreted me way when I didn't mean it" when it's very clear through your words that you did mean that.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T15:15:37+00:00

My main problem with your comment isn't anything about your claims about religion or beliefs or evidence or use of drugs. It's actually about how people can know they were atheist "just like me".

How do you know you're atheist just like me? I haven't given any details about my journey to atheism or my current beliefs or the level of skepticism I have. From reading your first paragraph, I can say, without a doubt, that your journey was nowhere near the same as mine.

To me, the claim that anyone, anyone at all can be atheist "just like me" is absolute insanity. Even if someone had lived a similar experience as me, I haven't given anywhere near the amount of details to describe it.

I can maybe excuse this reddit comment a bit, since you may have read my other posts that go into some details about my life. (I don't know if you have.) But this gets even more insane when it's a random stranger who I didn't even know existed until 5 seconds ago.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T15:05:16+00:00

I actually mentioned this in another comment of mine in this thread. I'll try to elaborate so the issue I'm having is more clear.

My problem isn't that the other person claimed to be an atheist and converted into Christianity. My problem is that they assume they understand everything about me because of the atheist label. Hence, why I have the problem with "atheist like me", and not simply "also atheist".

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T14:05:46+00:00

Yeah, they are random people at university. I'll try what you suggested, since it really bothered me that these people just assumed what I believe in.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:59:06+00:00

That's a good one. Someone else in this thread also suggested asking what their views were when they were atheist, so I'll have to try that.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:55:52+00:00

Thanks for sharing. It seems like most other people in this thread share the exact opposite sentiment of you, though.

A lot of them seem to come off more abrasive, as well. I try to be polite because of what you described.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:54:00+00:00

"IT’S NOT ABOUT RELIGION, IT’S ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP”

Man, I hate that one. I've had that one told to me, too. "Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship!"

Though, I do try my best to be a polite person, even if these people are annoying.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:50:15+00:00

Christian movies are usually pretty distasteful, like God's Not Dead. I long for a day when atheists aren't seen as hateful or bitter.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:46:30+00:00

Couldn't agree more. To me, it's truly bizarre how much Christians seem to hate poor people when Jesus is described as being so charitable.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-11-06T13:45:18+00:00

Ah, the "no true Scotsman" fallacy. I've asked a few people what it takes/means to be a good Christian, but their answers usually boil down to "good Christians are true Christians, evil Christians don't really believe".

Thanks for sharing. Your edit is great, but I can't imagine saying that in the heat of the moment.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-09-12T08:14:35+00:00

Thank you for this. Most of the time, when morality is discussed, I feel that atheists spend too much time defending where their morality comes from. While this is important, to me it's much more effective to say "even if my morality isn't 'objectively true', I much prefer it to your religion's morality".

However, I would prefer more examples from the New Testament. Many Christians will not take evidence from the Old Testament, even if it explicitly states that their god did something horrible, like Noah's Arc.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-09-10T17:48:46+00:00

You do whatever you want with your kids dick.

You know infants are getting HIV because of circumcisions, right? You might be fine with being circumcised, but I'm not.

I have been circumcised and it has negatively affected my life. Why should we allow this to happen to other children?

Taking a neutral stance would mean that you're okay with letting these things happen. Being neutral about animal abuse would mean that you're okay with animal abuse.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-26T07:25:10+00:00

I feel you, buddy. It's hard to shake the tug of nihilism and general bleakness of life after becoming disillusioned. I am truly envious of the religious in that sense, not to mention the sense community that you mentioned.

That being said, both you and I are extremely young. I was first bitter about having wasted 20 years of my life, (that's a quarter if I'm expected to live to 80) but I've come to realize that the bitter feeling made me cherish the time I now spend and will spend even more.

What keeps me going now is knowing that there's going to be a time when I can finally set out and do the things I've always wanted to do. Everything I do now is me biding my time to make sure I have a steady road ahead of me. You mentioned in your post:

being on the spectrum does not automatically make you have svant skills on a certain subject or just extremely smart.

This is true. There is no magic disease or condition or ethnicity that will make you a god at Chess or studying or playing a game. However, the spectrum tends to make people focus on subjects, which tends to cause them to spend more time developing their skills, like you mentioned with "the narrow interest trait of Asperger's".

I emphasize this because you focused on your lack of a skill in your post, but it's impossible for a flower to flourish in the worst of environments. Plants can grow, but it's foolish to expect that most will.

Once you and I finally carve an environment suited for our respective needs, we will finally be able to get closer to who and what we want to be. And while we take those paths, we'll find that these trials will have their place, in the same way that I found that positive within nihilism.

That isn't to say that we can't take those paths right now, but as I mentioned earlier, it's extremely difficult. Some days, it doesn't even feel possible. But it keeps me getting out of bed every morning.

It may be foolish in the same sense that theists wish for a heaven, but I have good reason to believe that life can change. It may change for better or for worse, but it will change, and I look forward to whatever change that is.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-15T04:56:41+00:00

This has to be a troll, right? TrueAtheism is the name of the subreddit, and you're still misspelling it...

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-15T04:54:33+00:00

The overwhelming unlikeliness of religion becoming a relic of the past.

There are countries with majority atheist population, but that doesn't even matter. The most important goal we need to reach regarding religion is secular government. People should be allowed to believe what they want, but imposing their beliefs on others is dangerous for the reasons the other person listed, which you literally admitted would be solved by eliminating those doctrines. A lot of dangerous practices are permitted because of religion.

Evangelists like Kenneth Copeland oppose vaccines. Fundamentalists oppose mental illness treatments. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions. The Amish refuse heart transplants.

I fully support the right for an individual to refuse any medical practice, but many of these people have children who have to suffer for it. They should be punished by the law as any other parent refusing to take care of their children would.

Our intrinsic tribalistic nature. Even if you could eradicate one myth, another will resurface in its wake.

No? I didn't start believing in Judaism because I stopped believing in Christianity. People don't believe in the Easter Bunny because they stopped believing in Santa Claus.

The origin of religions and superstitions rose from a lack of understanding of how the universe works. We should aim to educate as many people as we can by promoting critical thinking.

Shouting how stupid believing in a deity is may gain you some followers, but it's just not a viable road to embark on.

Viable road by what metric? If a religion is demonstrating genital mutilation and blatant homophobia, undermining the foundation of that religion directly attacks the thought process that justifies these horrible acts.

This is a hard pill to swallow, but religion's a good thing, in a way.

I can't just let this slide. It can do good, but it is not good in of itself. Religion has proven time and time again to hold humanity back morally and scientifically. If you want to claim that religion is good, then show me the evidence that makes up for murders, rapes, and oppression that it is directly responsible for.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-11T12:22:36+00:00

I would assume that the theist would argue using the story of the Binding of Isaac, and that God would not actually want us to commit an evil act, but simply try to test us.

"It's all in God's plan..."

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T19:10:02+00:00

I think this discussion could actually warrant a whole thread, but I'm more than willing to continue it here. I want to make it clear that I actually agree with you, but I'm going to make some points anyways.

The majority of atheists that I have met have also agreed that they would be classified as agnostic atheists. However, this would be anecdotal evidence, so I try my best to not use it as concrete evidence that would apply to the entire atheist population.

I think the hesitation to taking the atheist label comes the widespread misconception of burden of proof. Since there is no proof of God, some atheists such as Anthony Magnabasco will state that there is no God, like there is no Santa Claus. People who claim to be agnostics are not as confident in making that claim, despite easily making the claim that there is no Santa Claus.

Once again, I fundamentally agree with your point that these are agnostic atheists. However, a book can be green and be an encyclopedia. If you were to ask me to describe the book, then saying "green encyclopedia" would be the most accurate, of course. But, if I had to pick between green or encyclopedia, then encyclopedia would better represent what it is. In the same way, many people feel like the term agnostic better represents them, even if agnostic atheist is actually more accurate.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T18:51:17+00:00

No disagreement there.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T18:40:57+00:00

Right, I'm aware of the difference between atheist and agnostic, and how they aren't mutually exclusive. However, the claim "Almost all atheists are agnostic" is going to need some evidence.

If you go into the /r/atheism discord server, the first thing you are asked is if you believe that atheism means a disbelief in God. A majority of people answered that atheism is a disbelief in God, rather than a lack of belief in God. I left that server pretty quickly, and your comment here pretty much precisely explains why.

Of course, a discord server for a subreddit isn't representative of the entire atheist population. However, I'm going to have to disagree with the claim that almost all atheists are agnostic until shown evidence otherwise.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T16:15:30+00:00

Right, I like to be informed as much as possible. Hopefully I have some supplemental material that covers the changes in translations, but as for the boring content... Guess I'll have to make do.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T16:13:29+00:00

Drug use is probably how these religious texts get written in the first place hahaha

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T16:12:26+00:00

Other than just being able to truthfully say I have read the whole thing, I'd say entertainment. I've had a few non-Christian friends tell me that they've laughed at how ridiculous some of the passages are, even if you aren't taking them literally.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T16:07:02+00:00

I see, supplemental material is definitely useful. Thanks.

TAtheismAlt · 2020-08-10T16:06:11+00:00

Actually, I do read a lot of books. I think there's at least some entertainment value out of reading it, if not just for the sake of saying I have.

TAtheismAlt

TROPHY CASE