Bitcoin Forum

It is in estimate order in accordance to Wikipedia. Feel free to not participate in this at all.
As a prediction, I've seen mostly atheist activity in these forums.

Edit: Also, let's try to keep this peaceful.

100% of the voters are atheist! 

No wonder, there's only your vote ;) (or someone else's)

Athiest ;)

While I consider myself an Atheist, I do believe there could be some type of existence after we die.

Atheist

I don't believe in god, but I will not call myself an atheist. More like an agnostic. (I chose the Other option).

Hinduism

though essentially and functionally atheistic

Agnostic by temperament and practice

After a long search, i'm in the agnostic wagon

Ummm.... Agnostic is in the poll  ;)

What about Agnostic Atheism / Atheistic Agnosticism then?    

Not sure about whether I want to call myself an agnostic or not.  ;D

You're not. You're calling yourself an atheistic one  ;D.

Although The Religion I follow is not mentioned in the Polling Options i.e. Hinduism but If I have to choose I'll choose  Agnosticism

Yay, the two least lamest choices are winning.

im a christian but im not really a religious type person there is a lot of wuestion in my mind that even the bible cant explain sometimes i also ask myself why yhey are believing in bible when even the writer of the book is unknown and if the statement there is really happened in real life :D

Warning: Troll detected. Do not feed.

I must say that it is Islam I believe in.Not much practically that's another thing.

And we believe that the lamest choices available here are Christianity and Islam. Intelligent people believe in science, not religion. Come out of your cocoon... and everything will be clear.  ;D

I think you missed something ..! He said "Two Least Lamest Choices" are winning..! and I guess you read it "Two Lamest Choices" .

Oh... shit... my apologies for that.  ;D

Don't apologies to me..! I'm not offended but may be some Christians or Islamist will get offended by your last post :p but then again i don't think you care about them..! 

We're all Satoshinakamotoists and Bitcoin is our god

There's so many atheists nowadays that people say it's a trend. I say it's enlightenment.

The thing is the more you think about it the more you fall for it..! I'm quite sure there is something which is behind all of it..! do He/She/it/They care about us or any other person living naaa I don't think so.. because the universe is way to big..! so i'll say Agnosticism will be the right way forward ..!

LOL

Ask yourself what religion God would be? A believer, agnostic or atheist?

for that first you have to believe on god..! then you can ask any such question to yourself..! otherwise the answer that will pop up will be atheist.

It's a hypothetical question meant to show that you either can't know or show that there's probably no god. It makes believers uncomfortable because they only believe in the one god and don't want to call god an atheist or agnostic, but if they admit even they don't know then why are they believing in things they themselves can't possibly know?

islam.
wow Atheism & Agnosticism are top of the poll ;D
are you iranian?

There the best options lol.

Intelligent or open minded people tend to be involved with Bitcoin  ;D.

well this post really dont offended me fftttttt :D i hate you mr coleman ;D
as i said im not a religious person based on what i see and what i've heard about christianity in my country its really suck believe me even the priest have apologies to the people by taking the cars that philippine charity sweepstakes brought them :D

Yeah, there were cases of priests gambling or drinking away the money people gathered to build or renovate churches. Not to mention cases of pedophilia.

i am wondering also every sunday wednesday and the first friday of the month thousand of people is coming to church and they even ask for donation to renovate the church but that church that i've seen for the last 15 years is still the church that i've seen today

if you don\t know what religion to choose you can do this test
http://www.quizrocket.com/religion-test
the test says that I am catholic!

Were you not a catholic before you took the test?

lol... now my confusion is over:

That is the thing,i am not catholic!

This test clarifies a thing or two ;D

Well I respect every religion, because always must be something bigger who created all that. His name is God. I do not believe that big bang is beginning of all :) That is just not possible, there must be something what can create something, even big bang must have something before, so yes, there must be God. That is my opinion.

Congratulations. With your logic you've just disproven your own theory.

Agnostic only because I want to care the least amount possible.

It's funny how religion is even an option in this day and age.

Atheist.

Not a fan of Islam.

although i call myself agnostic but i don't think there is anything wrong with Islam..! no religion is bad but few people always try hard to defame it through one way or other.!

I believe in Other

No one says the Big Bang was the beginning of everything.  That's just how far we can look back in time.

haha are you calling religion people stupid..? :p choose your words wisely or someone might get offended..! :p I'm not one of those though.!

I'm buddhist about a year back. To be honest, it actually made a big difference in my life. I like it much better now.
My view on humanity is not as dark as before, and I can find peace with most things, situations and scenarios.

I wouldn't call them stupid - but they are ignorant.  To be religious you have to ignore everything you see around you.

And why's that? Seems pretty Islamaphobic just to single that one religion out. If you're going to hate religions you should hate them all equally ;).

Depends on what religion you follow. Not all religions are sects. Actually, to be religious you just have to see things in a different view.
All Abrahamic religions as well I assume? Would be quite islamophobic otherwise.

BUT ALL MUSLAMS ARE TERRORISTS AND HATE OUR FREEDUMS!  ;D

Now, now, let's not start calling each other names. This was mostly just a demographics poll. Let's all respect each other, shall we?

Now that is asking a lot of people in the Wild, Wild West of the Internet, don't you think?

MY $.02.

;)

Well, that is true. I pretty much brought it against myself by having a controversial topic, didn't I?

Edit: Got Jewish in the religion quiz... except I'm not Jewish.

Yeah, in future be careful what you ask for I guess!

LOL!

You are cool in my book!

My $.02.

;)

I am god.  You are too.

Dank stop trolling.

I'm surprised that the majority voted for being an atheist.

I am a more powerful God than you and am calling down Hellfire and Brimstone, hookers infected with evil diseases, plagues of locusts, hordes of rats, herds of rabid deer and troops of enraged turtles on your house.

Suck it up!

My $.02.

;)

I am not the one trolling.  We are conscious spiritual beings having a human experience.

Would you prove for me the existence of what is commonly called a "spirit"?

My $,02.

;)

How would you define existence? What does really exist? What is reality? How would you define a conscious spiritual being? What happens when I die, do I stop existing, even if I'm a spiritual being?
These are just a few questions that I ask from time to time.

Okey, dokey!

Here's one that will keep you busy for a while.

Does it make any difference whether or not there is an external reality?

Have a nice day!

My $.02.

;)

a lot of people say that though.. that's a proverb.

i don't think he's a troll anyways, just probably burned out on LSD or whatever he's taking  :D .. though i'm not disagreeing with his statement.

you forgot the jewish, not that I am.

We can look up this word anywhere:


Another way of putting it: to exist is to have physical, material matter; to be subject to the senses.  What really exists are those things with matter.  Reality is all that which we experience with the five senses; reality is the space wherein things exist.  Anything which does not have physical matter exist as ideas, of which do exist, inside your brain, which is itself matter.  Ideas are physical matter, but what those ideas represent are not; in the same way, a DVD has matter, but the action-packed car scene the DVD streams does not, the images are representations of those things, i.e. the cars do not really exist except when they were filmed in reality.  The film beyond that is similar to your brain; the film exists, but what the film represents does not.

Spirits are defined as incorporeal i.e. without physical material, which as defined prior, must exist as ideas.  A spiritual being, then, is defined as an incorporeal corporeal object; in other words a paradox, it doesn't play ball with the rules we've defined for reality: it must either be corporeal i.e. being i.e. pertaining to reality, or incorporeal i.e. spiritual i.e. existing as an idea.  So when you die, you appear as a corpse to everyone else, but since your brain can no longer function to understand any idea, you become as nothing.  Therefore, the afterlife is arational: it is beyond our comprehension because we cannot experience it.  In other words, if it does exist, we'll never know, as it necessitates being unable to comprehend it to experience it, and since we cannot experience anything when we're dead, it's the same as it not existing.

With this in mind, remember that you have one life, no eternal afterparty and no mulligans, so get busy living ;D

This forum is full of mad atheists.
Sorry :D

What's mad about them?

I'm sure these mad atheists could say the same about all the believers. I know which one to me sounds the most mad and it's not the atheists.

Any tengrists here?

Christianity:

The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat an infected fruit from a magical tree.

My $.02.

;)

Included in the others category. But Jews number far lesser when compared to Muslims or Christians.

This is the proportion of major religious groups in the world.

Christianity   - 31.5%
Muslim - 23.2%
Unaffiliated - 16.3%
Hindu   - 15.0%
Buddhist - 7.1%
Folk - 5.9%
Other   - 0.8%
Jewish - 0.2%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

Now I may ask why Hinduism is not in the polling list when with 7.1% Buddhism is there :P

Many reasons I think. Buddhism is a world religion, but Hinduism is more like an Indian religion. Also, Buddhism is a modern religion, based on a single prophet or preacher (just like Jesus in Christianity, prophet Mohammed in Islam), while Hinduism is a complex set of ancient and diverse beliefs. Buddhism is gaining a lot of followers world wide, through outreach activities. Hindus never believe in any outreach / missionary activity, and are normally against other people joining their religion (with some notable exceptions). Also, most importantly I heard that a Hindu can be an atheist as well.

But how do you know that for example your phone is real? Your parents are real? Are they real?
The world is real, right? How do you know? The question is quite difficult.
Do we or will we ever know true reality? Are we stuck in a world in which the best we can do is be approximately true?

The world is just a reflection of what our senses tells us. Therefore we can change it however we want, and what we feel and experience is real. If you feel your phone is real, it is to you.
It it exist outside your mind is a good question though, but it's not relevant if it's true to you.

Has he just got banned? No idea. Or it is just a title.

Do you mean his scammer tag? He has had it for quite some time.

What makes you think he got banned? Scammers don't really get banned. Spammers and persistent trolls sometimes do though.

I think it is because of the scammer tag. Isn't Dank trolling quite often? I'm not even sure why he keeps using the account since he was marked as a scammer.

Trolls gonna troll.

Most of "Atheists" don't know what it means exactly.

One small lesson and they would be calling themselves "Agnostics".


Oh, btw, I'm an Agnostic.

You should put that in the poll as well :)

Agnosticism is there, but I'm pretty sure most atheists know what it means.

I believe all in one God.  ;)

Is that the God of the Trinity, a bunch of Gods all wrapped up into one or just one single "god".

My $.02.

;)

I'm an athiest and have no idea what it means. Thats the one were you believe in a god right?

No, that's just wannabe trolling, but.

Nah, not gonna waste time talking :D

I know :)

I just wanted to see replies. It was worth of the effort, lol.

More like a joke than trolling. Unless he's getting mixed up with a theist.


Nice try.

It was a joke. I shouldve put a lol on the end to make it clearer .

Agnostic but pretty much an atheist.

I can say the same thing from people who call themselves agnostic, agnosticism and atheism aren't mutually exclusive, as they answer different questions, and I consider myself agnostic atheist, well at least from a deistic perspective.

everyone always asks questions about the belief in "god" but it's never defined.. god is a word that has too many meanings. i don't really know how to answer such a question.

Agnostic then?

What ever religion, you are fucked right?  ;)

that's what i usually tell people.. i'm glad i'm not an atheist, because then i'd have to tell people that i am one. it's become cult-like and they make me cringe as much as the churchgoers.

Haha, that was a good one.  ;D

Atheists seem to be looked down upon a lot by society, at least in the places I have lived. Most of this comes from the fact that many go around saying stuff like "theists are stupid" or "use common sense" or just trying to convince everybody to change their beliefs by insulting their religion (militant Atheists). Luckily, that is just some. I believe most Atheists don't do this, and that people usually generalize against them just because they never hear anything from respectful ones. It's pretty much just racism and prejudice against them.

Agnostics seem to get much more respect, usually.

Actually, I somehow missed Hinduism. I added it to the list.

Lay down in a dark quiet room.  Relax your body.  Let go of all your muscles.  Believe you are moving from side to side without moving, or believe waves of energy are running down your body.  Repeat until you are able to clear your mind and leave your body.  This is astral projection.  Focus on your breath and you may see the proof you seek.

Or stare at the center of your eye for a minute in a mirror.

The proof of something extra dimensional comes from experience, not physical proof that our lower dimensional minds are unable to grasp.


Non existence does not exist.  You will always be and you always have been.  What you experience thereafter is dependent on your beliefs.

like anyone else of a different point of view or faith, i can respect what you believe.. i just get annoyed when people go around proselytizing their beliefs and talking down to other people.

Hinduism.

Seems that its hard to even make a simple poll about something like religion, and not enter some slippery slopes.

i also hit the atheist button. And everytime i come across a poll like that,
Bill Hicks comes to mind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9AyUgkmDiDU#t=168)

Or this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9AyUgkmDiDU#t=117)

No internet forum is complete without a religious debate.

...

I'm an atheist btw.

You were unheard of a century ago.  Considered odd a couple decades ago.  In the minority last year.

But you are accepted now.   :)

i find it funny that someone could believe with such fervor that there is no afterlife when there is no evidence to prove or counter it. just like how there is no evidence to prove or counter a statement like "there is an ominpresent entity-being called god," or "there is with certainty an afterlife." all i know is that i don't know.

Actually atheists might be the largest religious (?) group in the world, if the agnostics are included to their number. In the US and EU, only around 10-20% of the population is actually practicing any religion. So... we are the majority.  ;D

But how do you know?
Higher educated people tend to become atheists these days. Some of our great minds were atheists too (or agnostics).

Can you name a few?

I am agnostic. There is definitely a higher power at work. Karma, anyone?

Where I live people get more surprised if you ARE religious. About 65% are members of the church though, but very few actually believe in god. And religious groups are very respected and not looked down on either.

Which country is that?

Sweden. And almost only old people are religious, and many of them are not. Last year the church lost about 70000 members, and that trend has been going on for a while.

Agnostic, is that when you know something's up but give both organized religion and mainstream science a failing grade with fail sauce on top?

What do you mean 'know somethings up'?

Getting confused here. If they don't believe in god, then why should they maintain their church membership? Is there any advantage of being a church member? Or do the non-members face any discrimination?

Maybe a bit of both.

They probably face discrimination. In my area, most people are members and go to the church. You would be a very big anomaly if you were saying that you're an atheist to everyone. They would probably never look at you the same way. That's actually ignorant. They think that what they believe in (there is a God up there and..) is the only truth. They don't leave room for other possibilities.

Christian

The church has it's secret stash of books and relics hidden away while they push their dogma on the masses.

The mainstream scientists also push their dogma on the masses knowing it's mostly bullshit but keeping quiet so as not to rock the boat.

While I'll leave what the church has locked up in it's basement for other theologians to rant on about. I can say that what the establishment has to offer in terms of science is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.

It's set up so either your with the religious nutcases in their fantasy universe or you're with the scientists and their material universe. One group abuses the left side of the brain the other abuses the right side.

But how do I know somethings up you ask? Well, I've seen UFOs up close in broad daylight. I had to look up to see them. Neither established science nor religion has an answer for these things.

Because if they do they can get married in a church and the get to be buried on a churchyard. Also it doesn't cost that much per year, and most of the money goes to maintaining the churches and charity. Charity for all people, even the ones that's not christian.
Very few people actually believe in god though, and almost none goes to church, so there's no repercussions if you don't.
Over here you will be anomaly if you do go to church regularly. It's funny how big parts religion plays in society depending on where you live.

Oh.. so the situation is very similar to the former USSR. People used to go to church just 3 times in their whole life. 1. for the baptism 2. for the marriage and finally, 3. the funeral.  ;D

Haha, yes, exactly! :D
The big difference is that Christianity is the official religion, and the government doesn't hate religion! :D

Isn't that what happens with most "Christians"?

I'm a scientologist. Give me your money.

Lol, jk, I'm an Atheist! :D

That would fall under Christian.

No. May be true for the Christians in North America and Europe. In most of the regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Christians tend to me more religious. They usually visit the church on every Sundays, and almost all aspects of the life is inter-twined with the Church. Heard that a lot of Catholic congregations in the Europe are actually importing priests from Asia and Africa.

i remember giving church a go when i was in my teens.. they told me i was a lamb of god, and my money was his. they passed around baskets asking for donations. i passed. i am grateful i wasn't raised to be religious.

btw, im certain that there's a fairly large group of guys who go to church to find a chick to hook up with.. i admit, it's a great place to meet people and find networking/connections. the only problem is that it is with the kind of people i don't want to associate with.

Why wouldn't you want to associate with people that believe in an invisible man in the sky that is always watching them? People these days are too elitist.  :P

Anyway, I don't see Pastafarianism in the poll... what about those that believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster))?

EDIT:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Touched_by_His_Noodly_Appendage.jpg

life is about understanding.  chose agnosticism

Jesus "freak" checking in.  ;)

Yes, it would. Roman Catholics are also known as Christian Catholics.

I watched a documentary today that proved a god did not create the universe.  Using terminology and facts you could verify yourself.

This doesn't mean a god didn't evolve on another planet AFTER the creation and is now watching over us, but it showed how it's impossible for a god to have existed before the big bang 14 billion years ago.

What? What documentary is that? I don't see how you can prove[i/] that here is not god (though there's no readon or evidence to suggest there is).

It was on the discovery channel.  I didn't catch the name, but if you want to search, it played on April 26.

It didn't prove there is no god.  It's possible a species evolved on another planet and now is playing god in our little world.  (Yes, it's improbable but not impossible)

It proved that a god did not create the universe.  Basically, there was no time before the big bang for a god to exist.  Time started at the big bang.

I'm not sure you could prove that either, especially not definitively. Maybe our time started then, but multiverses are possible. Maybe the universe has been and gone though several big bangs and big crushes and will keep repeating infinitely. Let me know if you find out the name of this doc. I'd like to see it.

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/tv-schedule.htm

Only shows programming from Sunday on.  Anyone have a link that can show past programming?

It was actually Discovery Science.

But again, the schedule starts with today, not yesterday.  :(

http://www.sciencechannel.ca/Schedule.aspx

Where is sikhism? Add it to the poll

Christian.

There's a lot of religions missing. I for one being a Existential Nihilist feel left out and voting 'other' doesn't quite cut it.

No need to add all the minor religions. Sikhism only has around 25 million followers world wide. For comparison, the Chinese Folk Religions are having an adherence of close to 400 million, and they are not given as a choice here.

otherist
fundamental otherism
radical otherist
otherist dogma
anti-otherist
otherist worshiper

you will be categorized and labeled.

Just vote other.

The Common Good Advocate - I'm the founder.  :)

Yeah, there are way to many religions anyways. This is why the option 'other' was added.

What the hell is that?

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us?" Nietzsche, "They Gay Science"

Nothing against religion, but I really think we shouldn't  try to find meaning to life through religion. We are free and should be responsible by our own actions and try to surpass ourselves because that is the only good thing worth doing, and not because we want to get to heaven or something like that. Strange things have been done in name on religions, because people sometimes just stop thinking for themselves and just get swallowed by dogmas.

Don't post any quotes that mention 'god' in them even if it's not meant to be taken literal as kuroman will come and put it on his list of philosophers and scientists who believe in god  ;D.

I think religion is as such a good thing. Almost all religions has the message "Don't be a douche" as the most important one, even though they can have crazy rules around it. But the "Don't be a douche" rule is a good one. Some people however, stops thinking for themselves and instead only follows "whatever the holy book/script is called". That's not a good thing. Also, the world would be quite a boring place if it wasn't for religions and stuff.

Don't think the bible mentioned douches LOL.

My point is that everything shall not be taken literally in these holy books, but instead we should learn from the essential things, which is "Don't be a douche".

If only it did just say 'don't be a douche'. We don't need to get our morality from the bible or any other religious texts. There's a hell of a lot of immoral things in there that people tend to ignore.

Who is kuroman? xD

Exactly, and that's my point about "people must not stop thinking for themselves". The overall message is usually acceptance and forgiveness, but there's a lot of other weird stuff in there as well.

Maybe don't be douche should be  new commandment.

Haha, a user on here who thinks Hawking, Einstein and Sagan are believers in god (even though they're not).

But you don't need religion to get to that message. If you just try to surpass yourself you don't really need to take advantage over others. You can grow without being a "douche". The thing is, that to really be part of a religion that means that you should obey their rules. Ant they have so many strange things in them. For instance Christianity (and many others) have so many taboos about the body and pleasure. It makes no sense. And some people take it so seriously the they make stupid things about it.
If your goal is to learn, be educated (in an ethic way, not just get a job) you really don't need a religion, because they just narrow your will to grow. (and again grow in a proper way, not take advantage over others)

Maybe thats the only rule we need?

You don't necessarily need a religion, but I believe spirituality is very important for the human mind. The world becomes much more beautiful with that added.

I don't think it does.

Define 'spirituality'. A lot of people seem to use that word and everybody seems to have a different definition (or they don't actually know what they mean themselves when they use it  :D).

We have way too many ignorant people these days. What they believe in, must be true.  ::)

Having a religion is just one of many paths through life. You may choose to be Christian, Muslim, or Atheist, but truth is it doesn't really matter. In the end, the only thing that matters is what you did with your life.

Your spirit. Everything around us. We're all connected in some way. It's important to search for peace within, and peace with the world around us. You don't have to believe in any gods, or in some greater power, but you still have to believe in yourself and that thing that is you. Not only will you feel peaceful and good, you will probably become a "better" person to everyone else.
That's spirituality to me! :)
Have you ever tried it? Otherwise you should totally try it out! :)

My newly created religion the religion for the modern world.  :)

I'm not sure which religion I'd be considered. I DO celebrate Festivus each year.
It's a Festivus for the rest of us!

You've created a new religion yourself? Does the world look like we need more?

It gets a more interesting place the more religions there are! :D
Kopimism is for example a quite new and very interesting one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary_Church_of_Kopimism

You mean they add more craziness to this world? Yeah this is an interesting one, I've heard about it before.

Some does, some promotes peace and understanding. But still, the world would not be as interesting without religions.

wow
bitcoin users are godless creatures :D

With great knowledge comes Agnosticism.  :P

Just looked at the poll. Holy shitballs! I didn't realize there were so many agnostics using bitcoin. I'm impressed!

Mostly atheists and agnostics, according to the poll.

no, more like "mostly atheists and christians."

Atheism and Agnosticism is a bit similar, this is why I've said it.

I believe the main difference is that Atheism is flat out denial of any theism while Agnostics just say that there may be a god, there just isn't any real way to know.

maybe they're both not very theistic.. but here's a good link that explains the difference between the two http://www.diffen.com/difference/Agnostic_vs_Atheist


that's basically it. i'm an agnostic because how the fuck could i be so sure that a "god" does not exist? i try to be objective, and the truth is that there's not enough evidence to point me one way or another. as an agnostic, i see atheists and religious people as the same; they are both people who draw an objective answer without sufficient evidence... so i don't agree with lumping agnostic with atheist.

nah,nah,nah

hold your shibas, it's much atheists :D

atheists outnumber agnostics almost 3x :D

yeah, as i said in a previous post to him.. don't lump agnostic and atheist together. they are not the same thing. coming from an agnostic person, i view atheism to be more like christianity, for example, than it is to agnosticism.

theism = yes
athiem = no
agnosticism = maybe.. i'm not sure.

So it's ok to believe in a god or not be sure, but if you don't believe there is one that's not ok?

Says who? This makes no sense at all. It's the exact opposite.

I was going by this part but maybe I misread him:

I think that is not what he meant at all. He was trying to define what each religion thought of a higher power, not how acceptable it is :P.

He certainly did not succeed in doing this. He's lacking English skills to do so.

This is just my thought exactly. There is no better and simpler way to say what Atheism and Agnosticism is about. And I am agnostic.

mate.. i am neither a religious nor an anti religious person. i don't believe in either.. not sure why you interpret me as only anti atheist.

Wrong!

Theism = belief in a god or gods

Atheism = Lack of believe in god or gods

Gnosticism = Claim to have knowledge

Agnosticism = Claim to have no knowledge

how is what youre saying any different from what i am?

Because agnosticism is not a "maybe"... Or maybe I've misread what you wrote...

if you have no leaning - one way or another - then isn't the default answer "maybe"?

No, if someone has no leaning he has no belief and that's an atheist.

that makes completely 0 sense to me. an atheist believes in something - that there is no god.

see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic

Well, to his point, your quote only states that it is the "absence of faith", not a "faith" that something does not exist.

That is usually called strong atheism or positive atheism, in simple terms atheism is just the absence of belief in some kind of deity.

With 98 votes, we have 53 Atheists + Angostics. That is a simple majority at more than 54%. We can give official minority religion status to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Satanism.  ;D

What about Pastafarianism? The Flying Spaghetti Monster is not pleased... repent sinners, before It reaches for you with his noodly appendages!  ;D

im not an ahtiest but no i dont believe in god. im sometimes afried that maybe i should just pretend i do believe so i will go to heaven if it is true. but then i dont have time for any of that anyways cause sunday mornings im hungover as fuck and my dick balls deep in my gf

If there was a god I'm not sure you could fool him by 'pretending'. Maybe Satan will be balls deep in you when you die now  ;D.

if i were god, i would totally look down at all of you human beings.. and just think "man, fuck this.. i'm not gonna stick around."

Then you can call yourself an agnost. Non-religious was the more accurate term, but it is not given as an option here. So either chose from Atheist or Agnost. An atheist opposes the existence of god, so Agnost will better suit you.

I believe in humanity.  Which option I fall in. :)

I think Atheism is the most humane religion, as there is no hatred for people belonging to other religions. You are not obliged to kill people who believe in a different god, and you don't believe that anyone who refuses to believe in your faith will go to hell once he dies. Well.. if you are not comfortable with the atheist tag, then you can always go for the Buddhist option.  ;D

Not every religion preaches these things, sikh gurus have given their lives to save other religions. You cannot just say all religions are inhumane

May be. But Sikh extremists cut down thousands of Hindus during the Punjab insurgency during the 1980s and the 1990s. So you can't really say that your religion is better than the others.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/23/world/11-hindus-killed-in-punjab-unrest.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/07/world/indian-government-takes-over-a-state-swept-by-religious-strife.html

Extremists are never good for any religion. No religion says to kill anyone of other faith. Actually extremists are the plague which have caused people to divert away from it. I am not saying that my religion is better in any way. All of them teach almost the same things, to lead a life of honesty with pride.

I am amazed how much people hate religion even if they havent actually researched what it is all about. Listening to a single verse of gurbani gives immense joy and wisdom.

Maybe we should set aside our mental walls and gain a little from every religion. Dont be an extremist, dont be a follower of any religion. Just read what every religion says and adopt what looks best in your life

Hmm... that is true. No religion says to kill anyone of other faith. But the problem is with the followers. They sometimes misinterpret what is written in the religious books and kill one another. So better is no religion at all.

Or, we could just stop killing each other and accept all faiths? :)
Sounds like the best idea to me actually!

This indicates much less Muslims are in Bitcoin so far and far too much atheists!

No. This survey indicates that most of the Bitcoiners are from developed nations. And I'd say that the number of Muslims is not bad, compared to that of the Hindus and Buddhists.  ;D

well, muslim people tend to not speak english as their primary language.

Well.. there are close to 3 million Muslims each in the US and the UK. Also, there are some 1 million in Canada, 0.5 million in Australia and plenty more in other English speaking countries such as NZL and Ireland.

so 4 million muslim people in the western world.. that's barely anything, especially considering that much of those 4 million probably don't even speak english or have not assimilated.

IMHO religion is the opium of the people.

4 million? No. There are close to 8 million in the English speaking world itself. Plus millions more in France, Germany.etc. So the total might be around 30-35 million. I don't know if you consider Turkey as a part of the Western World. If so, then the number will rise to 100 million+. Add the ex-USSR, and you'll have more than 150 million.

And regarding the English skills.... 99% of the middle-aged and younger Muslims living in the English speaking world do have native or near-native skills in English, may be barring those Somalis and some of the Arabs. 

numbers are skewed.. even if all 8 million were english speakers, that's still a drop in the ocean. not to mention that muslim people, much like asians, keep their parents with them.. many of them bring their parents over to live with.

Why do you think that? Are you an atheist? Or do you just hate religions overall?

That's more of a cultural thing rather than religious… You take care of your family simply, and I think that's a good thing to be honest.
But I don't get what it has to do with this though?

I don't care how many muslims are here or there. If they refuse to assimilate they should not stay here. That is the problem them. They emigrate and they live like they used to in their new home. This is not the way.

Let's change roles in this scenario. You are forced to flee to a random country, let's say a muslim one with a (to you) weird culture. Once you and your family are there, you're suddenly expected to speak and understand a new language, live according to that culture and just pretend that what you have gone through in your country of origin has never happened, and just let go of everything that you were and knew? Does that seem like a good way to you? Would you do so? I hardly doubt you would. Also, it should be up to oneself to decide how to live, and what culture you follow, not the country you live in.

Lol, shut up. Spoken like a true racist / Islamaphobe. What exactly is 'the way'? Ditch their religion, wear the same clothes as you and come round for a pint and try be your new best mate? People should be able and free to go where they want and do what they want as  long as it doesn't hurt any one else (and your feelings or dislike of their religion or clothes they wear doesn't count). When I go to predominantly Muslim countries I wear the same shit I do at home and if someone had a problem with it: Tough shit. Nobody ever has though.

some people do not possess the ability to assimilate, especially when they emigrate to this country at a late age. my grandpa was an exception; came here in his late 50's and learned how to speak english. but most peopel from poor countries have trouble with this.

It is up to you what are your beliefs. But if you refuse to learn language, even a little bit after spending  10+ years in US is a bad sign. They are coming here and bend rules, not accept them. They impose their laws, soon we will be judged according to Sharia in our own country.

Haha. You think the US is going to implement Sharia Law? I hear it all the time in the UK and it's just typical bullshit racist/Islamaphobic propaganda spread by plebs who know nothing. I wonder how many ex-pat Americans bother to learn the language of their new country? And do you know Native American?

Seriously? -.-
As far as I know there's no law that says you have to speak english to be in America. How do you mean they "bend rules"? The same laws applies to everyone (with maybe a few exceptions on judging depending on religious beliefs and if the crime made was required by it). There are extremely few muslims that actually believe Sharia is the way to go. It's like Christians and Jews would start stoning people because they eat shellfish. Not may Christians or Jews think that would be good, do they?
There are always fundamentalists, but those are extremely few.

in america, if you demand people to speak english first.. it could be that you are a xenophobic white person. america isn't supposed to be about just american culture. don't fear diversity - embrace it.

I think this is probably just the case, but he could be a xenophobic black person. Let's not stereotype  :D.

OK... will agree with that. New immigrants should assimilate to the general population, without creating any animosity from the natives. That rule apply for all immigrants, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists, Animists, Shamanists and even Jedi Knights. I would prefer a melting pot system (like the one in the USA) to the salad system (like what they have in the UK).

well, it's not just a stereotype.. that's the politics of the US. it's one of the reason why the right has become so extreme; they are seeing this country become less white, so billionaires who want their own laws passed send their missive down the pipeline, which is to incite fear and anger towards people who do not look like them. divide and conquer.

I'm proud to be atheist, the history says that religions have brought only wars

Stupid people and tyrants bring wars. Sometimes under the guise of religion and sometimes not. Religion is just a great propaganda tool to get their ignorant masses on your side.

And it has brought unity between peoples as well. And made this life tolerable during hard times with starvation and wars (both those that were not based on religious beliefs, and those based on religious beliefs).
"Religions have only brought wars" is not a valid argument, since that would be like saying something like: "Opinions have only brought wars", which would be a lie. Stupid things has been done in the name of religion, but all major religions preaches peace.

Where's the 'lol religion' option?  :D

there should be a "I don't religion" option :D

Well, that's called atheism right?  :P

Not necessarily. You could be a theist or believe in a god but also believe in 'lol relgions' too  ;D.

What history? Who said that we're being taught the true ways of how things happened?

You should of voted agonism, it is the belief in nothing.

Unless "lol religions" stands for "Lucifer our lord" based religions, I don't see how that could work...  :P

How couldn't it. You think all religions are bullshit but believe in a god, hence 'lol religions'.

Why I'm not at all surprised to see the number of atheist in the community..! I just wanna know is it good for our society or not that more and more people are turning Atheist day by day..!

Why should you be surprised?

Why would it be a bad thing? I'd rather we have intelligent, rational people in society than the opposite.

I suppose you're right; I was going by the broad definition of religion, that is "belief in spiritual beings", but it's probably more correct to consider all the social interactions and rituals that usually come along with it.

I'm sure you are an atheist too... I call myself agnostic ...! but I want to hear a religious persons take on this one... otherwise it will be called a biased judgement..!

Nope. I don't like to put tags on my beliefs, but if I did I'm an Atheistic Agnostic Existential Nihilist  ;D.

So apparently, theists can't be intelligent... Ok.

Although I would be inclined to agree with you, Atheists and Agnostics are two quite different things which shouldn't make up a majority together.

They're not exactly rational though, are they?

Is it rational to think that this life is all there is?  Is it rational to think that everything in our world that is so complex and orderly and beautiful came from nothing or a "big bang?"

I am not sure who the "irrational" ones are sometimes.   :-\

You have to admit, accepting something unquestioningly, something for which there is no evidence and which offers no greater understanding of how the world around us works, does seem a bit irrational.

As for this universe coming from nothing or a "big bang", that is the best explanation science has come up with; but even if it isn't the whole story, contrary to religion, it allows us to make predictions and gain a deeper understanding. In short, it allows us to make more rational choices in relation to our environment. Religion on the other hand doesn't evolve, doesn't adapt to new knowledge.

i put agnostic, but i'm actually a Christian    :D

"Religion" or on a more basic level, the belief in intelligent design gives me the basis in which to see that there is order and a design in which the world operates.  To me a world without an intelligent designer would be as irrational as having a computer operate without any software.  The computer could perhaps have "evolved" from nothing and just be a chunk of metal,  but there had to be an intelligent creator of the software that gives the program the design it needs to operate.  Even changing one piece of code, or taking code out causes the program to fail (kind of like what happens when there is an "error" in our DNA code which causes problems in our bodies with mutations and so on.)

The fact that we have DNA shows that there was some planning or "information" that took place to begin with.  In a way, information in our world and in our structure proves intelligence and a "designer."  So it is logical to think that there was a plan.  Without that the world might exist but we would not have intelligence at all. 

Rationality is all about perspective. Something may be rational from your point of view that may not be rational from mine. That's why I asked about intelligence.

That is not what religion is.

Religion is the belief in a god.

A god can exist - it just migrated from another planet that formed and developed before earth.

Science has proven a god did NOT create the universe.  It's possible a god created earth, but not at all probable.

The order you see is already mostly explained by the laws of physics; simply adding a god to it doesn't help in any way, shape or form, we gain no new understanding, and it limits the questions we can ask about the world, because the answer is an arbitrary "god willed it so".

And what you go on to describe, it basically comes down to the old "Watchmaker analogy", which hasn't been seriously considered ever since the mechanisms for evolution of species were discovered; in no way does it follow that the existence of DNA proves there had to be a designer.

To think that order comes from chaos is problematic and can limit how we see the world and lead to problems in scientific thinking.  Just something to think about.

Isn't that the definition of an agnostic?
Unless you believe in Timothy Leary's vision, in which the few seconds during which a brain still works after we die are perceived as a surreal eternity; I find this an interesting idea :)

Christ got me today.  Just yesterday I was an atheist...  :o

Yet absolute order formed from absolute chaos in the creation of your god?   ::)

getting order from chaos.. is chaos theory. it's the prevailing theory.. that there is even order in random things.

Don't you agree that, in the 4.5 billions of years that the Earth has existed, molecules could have had the time to assemble themselves on their own, through fortunate collisions of atoms? I mean, in that much time, all the possibilities can happen, and as soon as the first cell is formed in a random process and the most basic strand of RNA (precursor of DNA) is formed, replication and evolution would then kick in and make life as we know it appear and change really fast.

i think bitchick doesn't quite understand evolution very well.

Could have been 10 billion years.  It's possible fragments of early DNA were floating through space from some other planet and came to earth via meteorites. 

Actually, it's unlikely that DNA could have survived space's radiation. However, amino acids could very well have come from meteors and that would have indeed kickstarted life. Some ridiculously complex molecules have been found on metorites in the last decades - because of the long amount of time they have to become more complex in space.


To be fair, evolution and the chemical origin of life are, although related, different domains.

I'm not sure what you mean by chaos and order in this context; care to elaborate?

But to further my point in the previous post, and paraphrasing Dawkins: things might look complex at first, and you might be tempted to believe there is no other way for them to have arisen; until you look closer. He goes on to give an example of the laryngeal nerve, which in some animals (giraffes for example) can be detoured by as much as 4.6 meters, instead of going by its most direct route. If anything this should be considered a "design flaw", but it's exactly what you would expect after billions of years of evolution.

For your reference, the video in which he gives this example is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUe0_4rdj0U (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUe0_4rdj0U), at about 21 minutes in, but I highly recommend the whole thing if you have time.

I think evolutionists do not understand the intelligent design of the world very well. ;)

My point is that we do not see order come from chaos. That is not something that is observed in our world.  But we do see great signs of intelligence and planning in how everything operates and works together.  The fact that we are intelligent as humans proves we had to have had someone or "something" more intelligent program us to work the way we do.  It is just logical.  To have intelligence come from nothing is not observable in our world.  

we do see order in chaos.. it's called chaos theory. it's the reason why you can have an approximation of what the weather will be in 3 days.

The whole universe is a proof that order comes from chaos. At first there was the highly chaotic Big Bang, then chaotic galaxies formed, which gave birth to stars, which organized more complex matter, which made unchaotic planets, and so on :)

What would have created the creator?  If intelligence doesn't come from nothing, then he couldn't exist without something creating him, and creating that.  Circular logic

She believes the creator always existed.

Yet mass always having existed, an infinite times more probable, is beyond her understanding.

That's brainwashing for you.

^ that's what i was going to say. in order to solve flawed logic, she is using.. flawed logic.

What can we observe scientifically that shows order from chaos?  A big bang could not have left the universe in an orderly state based on observable science.  Nothing we observe exploding leads to order and creation of anything new does it?  A "big bang" could not have led to human intelligence and the amazing design of our bodies.  There are just too many variables at play for everything to have happened by random chance.   The position of the earth in relation to the sun, water on the earth, the way our bodies work, etc.  There are just too many things that for them to have happened by chance it is mathematically impossible even adding the "millions and billions of years" to the problem.

Where does intelligence come from then?  Could it come from nothing?  Is that something we observe?  Hence my argument about the computer.  We can have a hunk of metal but with someone intelligent designing the software to make it run, it would do absolutely nothing.  Our bodies are far more complex than a computer.  Our brains more complex than any software design. But I am called illogical for saying that it took an intelligent designer to create us?  It is more logical from observation that there was someone intelligent that designed us.  That is all I am saying.

as already stated, meteorology. or peruse this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

Not only billions of years, but billions of planets too! Matter has a tendency to organize itself when the energy that is in it gets redistributed, that's one of the rules of the universe. An explosion is high-energy and chaotic at first, but it ends up creating very finite things.

 Really, by random chances, there's as many possibility of worlds that there are possibilities of bitcoin adresses. Don't get me wrong though, this kind of thinking is not minimizing how wonderful life is; on the contrary. We're incredibly lucky to have the life we have and, imho, the feeling it gives me to think about this is a religious experience.

Also, intelligence's uniqueness is overated; it's simply another way to survive, not objectively superior to, say, being a big and verocious dinosaur. The fact of intelligence does not prove the existence of god in any way, since many mammals have a nervous system similar to ours, the only difference being that ours is just a little bit more complex and thus is able to be conscious of itself.

yeah the more i think about consciousness, the more i get confused.

Yeah, it's amazing how matter managed to organize itself in such a way, to make it able to contemplate itself.

At first, the only intelligence we had was primitive instincts: survive and reproduce.  As evolution advanced us, our brains became more and more complex, allowing us to gain more knowledge.

How is saying that there a omnipotent being that got bored and created a universe any more logical than the big bang?  One has all of science to back it up, one has... *cricket chirping*

The big bang wasn't an "explosion" as such, and based on "observable science" it very likely did leave the universe in the "orderly state" it now exists. Sorry, but you need to read up on it.

And you're looking at the creation of life the wrong way around... the conditions you go on to mention gave rise to life as you know it. It's not that life can't possibly exist in other forms, having started from different initial conditions: it's just that it's the only life we've seen so far, nothing more.

and let's not forget that the new testament, at the very least, was re-written to suit or "convert" romans.. and it wasn't written by "god" but only man who claimed himself to be god.

No, the bible wasn't written by Jesus; the several books that make up the "bible" were written through time, after his death. Then the books that were convenient to the church were chosen and put together, forming the bible we now know.

Many decades after his death, in fact.  Several generations forgot about jesus, then suddenly people were able to remember ever detail about him.  Again -  ::)

I do not care if it rains or freezes...............................................

https://myspace.com/thefishheads/music/song/plastic-jesus-22696809-22497994

My $.02.

;)

i didn't imply that jesus wrote the new testament. im saying human beings did, with their own "interpretation" of it.

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth, but that's what I understood you said from "it wasn't written by "god" but only man who claimed himself to be god".

i can see how you came to that conclusion.. i wasn't clear. what i meant is that people wrote the pretty much all of the bible.. in god's name, so that it could suit whatever the fuck they want. the bible is just a clusterfuck.. if you are a christian and want to justify your actions, just look to the bible.. and interpret it according to your needs.

Yep, pretty much... maybe 40 to 120 years later apparently. This interview with Reza Aslan in The Young Turks goes into some detail about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL6E4eMX-4k (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL6E4eMX-4k).


EDIT:


Yeah, couldn't agree more. And if you are the church and you can define what the "correct" texts that make up the bible are, you can easily define the world view that is convenient for you.

i read reza's book on the jesus.. it was a decent read, since it was, you know, objective. basically their priests = our politicians today.

OK... total votes: 112. Total religious: 52 (46%). Total non-religious: 60 (54%).

The ratio is maintained even after close to 20 new votes. Good.

The thing is, religious people are always pushed to recruit others... they will make up fake accounts just to show they are winning.

Non-religious people, meh, we don't care - we know the truth.

still shocking that 46% of the people here have a religion.. and fyi, buddhism is not a religion.. since there is no god. i don't consider myself a buddhist, but more like a student of buddhist philosophy. a lot of their beliefs complement physics and the known world too.


disagree. there are many atheists who work in the same manner.

Not really, maybe a few. I don't care about the results here either.

it's deception.  aka teh debil.

remember the devil is responsible for all your BAD actions.

No, you are responsible for your actions. You cannot blame anyone else.

Winning?  It isn't about winning or losing.

Could it be we actually care about the eternal state of our fellow man?  If we really believe that God is real, that he has provided a way for us to be saved from eternal damnation wouldn't it be the right thing to share that with others out of sincere love for them?  That is how I see it but I do understand that there is no way I can, or even should force my "religion" on anyone.  But I would like others to at least grasp God's love for them.  That is the goal anyways.

you know how big /r/atheist got on reddit? it was pretty big before the debacle.. and that subreddit was super obnoxious. atheists seem to have that itch they want to scratch, because they have to be absolutely right.


i can dig that.. it's hokum to me, but it's your right. only thing i am against is indoctrination of kids.. whether it be the muslim, christian, or whatever faith.. i'm totally against that.