Atheists: What did you believe before? What do you believe now?

[micometer]

Sorry but this really sounds like a setup for the "Not true scotsman" fallacy. Anyone who is indoctrinated into the christian faith, lives it, upholds Jesus' tenants is a true christian, even if they lose their faith. I can only speak for myself that, prior to my realizing the truth of that the bible really is (not a good book), I was a Jesus believing Christian.

When I realized that the reality we live in is not conducive to the biblical god/Jesus I stopped believing and started thinking.

[TheBardlover108]

I was a born again Christian of the evangelical variety, specifically baptist. And when I say "was born again," I mean I had a testimony of salvation when I accepted Christ as my savior. I feel that the question you're really asking here is "are there any genuine Christians who became atheists." And the answer is yes. I wasn't faking my Christianity. My loss of faith was an incredibly painful and drawn out process, but I can honestly say it's made me a better person.

[zthomasack]

1. I do not believe that any god exists. My belief in supreme beings is similar to my belief that lepprechauns do not exist. I believe that it is possible however and do not claim to know that a god does or does not exist.

2. The ultimate cause or the knowledge of if there is a creator or not. The origin of life. The origin of the cosmos.

3. If there was valid, testable evidence, I would believe. I am a true scientist at heart. Neither dreams nor coincidences would make me convert to theism.

[Nanofuture87]

If you asked me up until ~age 10 I would have said I was Christian, but would not have been able to give any real details. Gradually shifted through Deism to atheism once I was able to reason.

Current view: Weak atheism [i.e. lack of belief in god(s)] is default, with strong atheism [i.e. knowing there is no god(s)] applied to logically inconsistent definitions of god(s). Would believe in god(s) with repeatable scientific observation (personal experiences, including self, are insufficient).

[thekurtman31]

@Nanofuture87 This answer perfectly mirrors my situation as well.

[thomaseshuis]

Atheism is not a belief.

Before I realised I was an atheist, the only things I believed in were things like Santa. But that was mostly during my childhood though.

[IntoxicatedHumans]

Also, atheism is the disbelief in gods as the individual feels there are no compelling evidences for said gods. Nothing more, nothing less. Atheism is NO belief in gods, if you say that "I'm an atheist BUT", then you're not an atheist. If you can circle around it and say you're an atheist but still open to god(s), then you're not an atheist. Atheism is the total lack of belief in gods, is that so hard to comprehend?

[Sigart]

@IntoxicatedHumans No it isn't. Atheism is the belief that no gods exist. End of story. Being open to possible proof that gods might exist, is the proof of an open, critical mind, not that the person in question actually believe such proof might be forthcoming.

[IntoxicatedHumans]

@Sigart It's not a "belief". Just like the classic example: A person not collecting stamps are not a non-stamp collector. Atheism is THE default position, thus it does not fall into the category of belief. And, with the stomping of religion science has brought forth, and the constant backpedaling religion has done to steer clear of obvious fail, there should be more than enough to draw the conclusion that almost every single one of the religions today are merely fairy-tales. <3

[Sigart]

@IntoxicatedHumans Yeah, okay, bad choice of words there, it's more like the faith that no gods exist. Faith here not referring to any religious idea, but rather... hmm, conviction. Yeah, conviction is a better word, yeah?

[IntoxicatedHumans]

@Sigart Conviction is a much better term, yeah. I mean, faith is a good word, belief too (And I understood what you meant :P) when talking about things outside religion. When discussing religion however, faith and belief suddenly jumps back to their original meaning as faith/belief in god X.Conviction on the other hand is a more objective term regarding the evidences leading to that conviction. I just don't want people to make a fallacy regarding atheism as a religious belief. It's just wrong.:c

[Sigart]

@IntoxicatedHumans Yeah... I don't often run into that misconception (tat is to say, never) living in a country where religion is borderline tabu. Admitting openly to being Christian here... it doesn't often happen, you'll be subject to a lot of judgmental views, so most tone it down to "I believe that god exists" with which they mean they believe in a supernatural being with amazing powers (that "he" may or, more commonly, may not choose to use). so yeah, not so used to the discourse :p

[IntoxicatedHumans]

@Sigart Heheh, I can see that. What country btw? I mean, in Norway (though we've become secular like hell), religion is still no taboo or something most people look down on. However, we're kind of being struck with BS new age atm, so maybe that's why religion is left alone lol.

[Sigart]

@IntoxicatedHumans Denmark :P You're from Norway? I should've guessed XDD

[IntoxicatedHumans]

@Sigart Aaaah :P Heheh, why? :P Well, capt the "We" and "Norway" part :P

[Sigart]

@IntoxicatedHumans I dunno. I just feel that I ought to inherently have an ability to recognize fellow Scandinavians XD

[IntoxicatedHumans]

I've never felt compelled to believe in any god(s), the first time I thought that believing in gods is crazy was at the age of 8 after the first lesson about religion in school at the age of 8. Now, I see that better yet, there are no evidences for any god, let alone evidences for one specific. And yeah, if there was a god we would be able to know him. An undetectable god is just like a mirage: It can look like the god you want, but when you get close you find that the truth is something else.

[phantomswordsmen]

Was a Lutheran, studied the bible in bible school, then studied works by the great physicists, Leonard Susskind, Stephen hawking, Micho Kaku and taught myself cosmology and almost all forms of physics. That is when I turned to Secular humanism.

[MrBigEnchilada]

i was an athiest -> now agnostic.

[Naked4Jesus]

@MrBigEnchilada : Agnosticism and Atheism are NOT mutually exclusive. An agnostic merely takes the position that they do not have knowledge of any gods and an atheist takes the position that they do not believe in any gods. Clearly if you don't have any knowledge of gods, you will also not believe in gods since this lack of knowledge prevents you from being convinced that there are any gods. What you know to be true directly translates to what you will believe is in fact true.

[MrBigEnchilada]

@Naked4Jesus my past position was atheist, i didnt believe gods existed and that religion was ultimately wrong, that you could explain the unexplainable through science.

my current position is agnostic, i believe that no one knows whether gods exist. it is impossible to prove that gods dont exist, and so far no one has proven that their god exists and other gods don't, so we can only say that no one come closer to understanding the supposed truth.

[Naked4Jesus]

@MrBigEnchilada : I don't know why you addressed that comment to me since it had absolutely nothing at all to do with anything I wrote or meant. For the record, clearly you can prove some gods do not exist; it all depends on how you define the word god. Do you believe there's still a chance for Zeus or Thor or Odin... how about Cratos... the god of war? You're kidding me right? What you'll find is that you'll be a gnostic atheist about some gods and an agnostic atheist about others.

[MrBigEnchilada]

@Naked4Jesus well you did reply to me saying that i can be an agnostic and an atheist, but an atheist is someone who thinks no gods exist, whereas i believe that no one really knows whether gods exist.

"clearly you can prove some gods do not exist"

unless if god is some physical being that you can physically see, i dont understand how you can prove some gods do not exist.

[Naked4Jesus]

@MrBigEnchilada : Therein lies your error; your definition of atheist is fundamentally wrong. Atheists do NOT say that gods don't exist rather, they say they do not believe in any gods. Agnosticism is a subset of atheism and so is gnosticism. The agnostic atheist says he does not believe because he lacks knowledge necessary to believe and the gnostic atheist says he does not believe because he does in fact have knowledge that a specific god or gods do not exist.

[MrBigEnchilada]

@Naked4Jesus "they [atheists] say they do not believe in any gods.", and precisely how is that different than believing gods do not exist? if they don't believe in any gods, but believe SOME can possibly exist, then why do they find the effort to prove some gods do not exist?

By the definition of an agnostic atheist/gnostic atheist, i am neither, im agnostic, i simply lack the knowledge to decide whether gods exist or not, and i am not impeded by that difficulty in judgement.

[thomaseshuis]

@MrBigEnchilada ""they [atheists] say they do not believe in any gods.", and precisely how is that different than believing gods do not exist?" Because the first statement acknowledges that there could be gods, while the second excludes that possibility, which is rationally and scientifically dishonest.

[thomaseshuis]

@MrBigEnchilada "if they don't believe in any gods, but believe SOME can possibly exist, then why do they find the effort to prove some gods do not exist?" We don't necessarily find comfort in it.

We just acknowledge the fact that it is irrational to believe in things you have no evidence for.

[thomaseshuis]

@MrBigEnchilada "By the definition of an agnostic atheist/gnostic atheist, i am neither, im agnostic" Do you believe in any gods?

If you answer anything but yes, you are by definition an atheist. Otherwise you're a deist or theist.

[PaperSoapy]

I think atheism, in its most accepted form, is the lack of belief in anything. And I don't mean, the 'I believe in my friends" metaphor, I am referring to anything that does not have evidence supporting its existence, anything supernatural. Atheism, instead, makes conclusions based on falsifiable evidence. Anything less than that, I would see as an Agnostic. Then again, as a writer, I see hard definitions of words, as in what they're intended to mean, but respect that meaning changes for people.

[Ital21]

Hmmm why not, I'll give it a try:

I generally don't describe myself as atheist, as that only says what I am not.

I describe myself as a rationalist instead.

Additional to that word, I add "empiricist pessimist skeptic" to complete the self-concept.

As for my current beliefs:

/watch?v=jwjAX_r2kIU

Previous beliefs:

biblical nonsense

[pandstar]

Atheism is not a belief.

Theism is the active belief that a god[s] exists. Atheists are anyone that does not have that belief.

Going from a theist to an atheist is not a conversion, it is a deconcversion.

[shreader12345]

i told my mom i was athiest an hour ago, she yelled at me :(

[link090909]

@shreader12345 don't worry, shreader, it's unfortunately typical. there's nothing wrong with you, in fact you're simply seeing more clearly than before. check this video out: watch?v=kAIpRRZvnJg

also, if you want to see TherimnTrees's response to this, it's here: watch?v=YkExxkrMyU4

lastly, if you want some rational and thought out videos on atheism, check out @QualiaSoup 's profile.

hope this helps :)

[ralph17p]

Julius Caesar was called a god. I'm fairly sure he existed.

Guess that makes me a theist.

[Nixom1334]

I used to believe god was a maniacal asshole, but an existent maniacal asshole. now I realize he's not existent, people are the manical assholes

[matthewtaylorbrown]

As a child I believed that if I was a good Christian I would most likely get into Heaven and live with Jesus forever. I also believed that if I was a bad Christian I would be punished in the worst way possible.

There are no gods. I'm an atheist (not a theist). I dismiss claims of all gods and the supernatural. By god I would consider all the described gods as non-existant, a personal god, Jesus or Ra/Odin/etc... I need no science or proof either way, they just don't exist.

[jimbles100]

i think you confuse atheism with 'not a christian'

[Arkticus]

I call my self an Gnositc Agnostic Atheist (cofusing enough? :p)

Baisically my resoning is thus:

Gnostic: I claim can know if all gods described and defined by humans do not exist. And that they don't.

Agnotic: But that does not mean that creatures/entities/etc. that we could describe as "god" (in its many flavours) do not exist

Atheist: "Godless", and without belief as far as religions and human made cults go.

Before that, the closes thing I was to a theist was being agnostic....

[richo61]

I call myself atheist (never believed) - by which I mean I have no god - that I am god-less - whatever may or may not exist.

I am quite certain many gods are imaginary - others are real/natural beings regarded with superstitious awe - eg the Sun and the Pharaoh definitely exist or existed but I would never make these things my god.

So I disbelieve in all gods - even (or especially ? ) the ones that do exist.

[dechha1981]

Believed before;

There was a magical giant with a beard and a robe living on a cloud, and there was a guy with horns living underground.

What I believe now;

Jehovah does not exist because Christianity is bullshit. Other than that, my belief in other gods varies from "Probably not" to "not a clue" depending on how much I know about the god in question.

Also, "Personnal Revelation" doesn't count. WQhat's the difference between a "Revelation", a dream, and a tumour?

[GluttonForSex]

People are basically born atheists. Atheism isn't "knowing there is no magical sky daddy", it's simply not seeing any reason to assume there is a magical sky daddy.

The fact that religion has to be taught says a very great deal about how artificial it is. Religion isn't native to the human spirit. Asking questions and being curious is native to the human spirit.

As an atheist, I simply view myself as someone who has never traded the curiosity of his childhood for superstitious fairy tales.

[YetAnotherInfidel]

Atheism is used too loosely, I agree.

I believe that it is within practical certainty to assume there are no Gods, however I would never say that any negative claim cannot be disproven and left an option, for example the Russell's Teapot analogy.

I am an agnostic atheist in that I do not believe that a God exists, but a gnostic atheist in referance to the Christian God. It all depends on the God.

Personally, I don't think that anything can be proven certainly, but only within practical truths.

[2LegHumanist]

I believed in heaven, hell, a creator god, that my dead relatives could see me in the shower, that the pope is god's representative on earth, that preists choose the preisthood due to a calling from god, old earth creationism.

What I believe now is that your claim that holding a view that the existence of gods is improbable equates to strong atheism is wrong. it's a bastardisation of Antony Flew's definition which said none of the sort. I hold that view and I hold that I am a weak atheist.

[ezyroller]

Atheism isn't a belief, and it's not a matter of conversion. For me, it was a change in position resulting from critical analysis of the evidence in favour of god and of the institutions which presented it. This change happened in a time of my life when I was reading a lot about what knowledge is and how we come to call it knowledge. I wasn't reading any atheist authors, nor did I have any friends who were openly atheistic. It was a natural process, one that I would say is a part of growing up.

[jerrygreg2]

Congratulations on eliciting such a response from Mr Trees!

[NatureBoyyo]

I was a believer before. I believed in Abraham's God and Jesus. I was a practicing catholic, then a Protestant and then a born again, hard core if I may add. Most Catholics do not read the Bible, they just leave it up to their priest to tell them what the message is for the day. And the messages are always good of course and sometimes terrifying. If you do not have that curiosity in you, you would just leave it at that and submitt. But when I read the Bible I found that it is one crazy bo

[LoverElephant97]

@FrankLightheart *people beyond the age of 6 believe any of it.

[LoverElephant97]

@FrankLightheart That's exactly my experience! I always believed them to be fairytale stories, just like the ones I used to read, and when I found out that people actually believed these stories, my beliefs were really shaken. Another thing that always baffled me was why there were so many religions.Each different,some entirely, and yet they all claimed to be the truth, and that if you chose another, you were condemned to "hell and an afterlife of burning in holy flames".Still baffles me why pe

[FrankLightheart]

Today, I feel pretty comfortable that there is no entity that we might refer to as "God". At the very least I feel certain that none of the established religions today hold any more truth to them than the dead religions that came before them. None of them are "infallible" as we can see where they came from and how they've changed over time. More to the point, each religion calls on us to have faith in their god, with no substantial reason to show how they are more true and accurate.

[FrankLightheart]

I grew up going to a Methodist church. And while I more-or-less accepted that there was a God, I had a very detached sense between the Bible and the real world. For instance I took the stories of Adam & Eve, Tower of Babble, and the Great Flood simply as stories. The funny thing is that back then, I always assumed that everyone else took them the same way. When I finally realized that people took these very seriously, I took my first steps toward atheism.

[julzabro]

I started out as human without any beliefs...an Atheist....then thought I was a Xtian but quickly realized how absurd it was as well as the whole Bible...so I, then, was an Atheist again. I would say I can be Agnostic at times but I lean more toward AntiTheism. I see religion as toxic altho I believe in tolerance.

[gininginin]

What OmfgItsHenu said.

[moonblink]

wow, damn dude. you are difficult to follow. Find a point, argue it. done.

shaving is optional

[winterstellar]

Nobody in my family were believers, nor any friends, and I didn't even hear about religion until I already knew some science. So I never viewed religion/gods as anything other than superstitions. It is understandable for me that primitive, ignorant ancients thought of religions and gods, if I had lived back then and been as ignorant of science as they were I probably would have believed in some religion/god too, but in my real life it has never been an option. It has never even crossed my mind:)

[rykoodasr]

I'm not one to make videos so here goes.

1. I was a Christian though I didn't believe in many of the stories of the bible. I believed in Hell, because I was afraid of going there, and I believed in Heaven, God and Jesus.

2. I don't believe a God of Abrahamic religions exists, or any other religion that describes him as a creator and/or participatory. Old Vedic religions seemed to lean towards God being the universe itself; if this is how God is defined then I do believe.

[rykoodasr]

@rykoodasr I prefer the term agnostic, because I'm not claiming to know he doesn't exist. But I strongly think he/ she doesn't. Why? There is no evidence, it's not needed and it doesn't even make sense.

3. I could be convinced there is a God if I am allowed to test him. This was done many times in the bible e.g. the cloth and dew thing. But he would have to explain to me the bible stories if I am to believe them.

I don't know if I fully answered your question, feel free to ask for more detail.

[mountainmanbear]

I agree, I don't like the term atheist, bc most of the religious types are too stupid, or just don't care, to understand what it really means. As far as my "atheism" goes, I simple find any arguments for a all omniscient being silly. We are humans and to claim you know the greatest questions of the universe bc a book told you so are ridiculous. I have beliefs that I feel most Atheist would not agree with. If you care to know more just pm me. laters.

[Blarghonius]

1) I don't need to believe anything. I've seen many believers use absurd fallacies in their attempts to prove their points while if they were correct, they would not need to do so.

2) Any claim about the physical world can be knowable. Anything outside of that doesn't concern reality.

3) Personal revelations are not evidence of anything. To base one's perception of reality on what one person alone has seen is foolish, even if that person if me.

[SirKickz]

"Would I worship any divine being should I come to the belief that one does?" And my answer to that question is a very emphatic, "no."

[SirKickz]

I was always pretty agnostic. I never really felt sure whether God existed or not. I've been opposed to organized, structured theism from the start, because I believe that such organizations are too exposed to corruption (see: catholic church and islam). As for what I believe, I do not believe that any sort of supernatural or divine being exists, however, not to the point of absolute certainty. I believe though, that a more important question is, (cont)

[GodsArePeopleToo]

most of us gloss over it because it's a vague question. none of us, as far as i know, just decided to not believe something anymore. beliefs evolve to non belief over time. you might get a better idea of what any one of us believed by asking if we ever believed something specific, and as you know, we all didn't believe the very same things as another

[Anonymous247n]

So, at first i believed in an awesome god that does wonders, floods, miracles, etc. Next i believed in a benevolent god, like jesus. Then, seeing all the contradictions, i started to believe in a purpose to life, and the supernatural nature of existence - in souls basically. Later again i turned away from it all because i've noticed that it's just my own belief and since i had no reason to believe all that and since i felt OK not believing in it, i stopped believing in the supernatural.

[Antifaith29]

Next time before making a video, clean yourself up as bit. You look like youve spent the last three weeks in your mothers basement. Then again, perhaps you have?

[Jeffersonwazright]

I was raised in an orthodox Christian home. I stopped believing in god because I stopped fathoming how the creator of the universe could somehow be jealous of his own creation. In certain parts of the bible it talks about how god is jealous when humans do this that, worship other gods etc... Why the HELL would god be jealous about that? If those gods are not real, certainly the creator of everything would know that and calm down a bit. The god of the bible seems like a very childish fairytale.

[Loustrikesagain]

Dude I hate everything about you OMG, listening to you is like listening to a prissy narrator for an audio textbook, only I have to look at your stupid face. JESUS CHRIST MAN. I WANNA SHOOT MYSELF. KEEP YOUR VIDEOS LIMITED TO 3 MINUTES PLEASE.

[Jeffersonwazright]

@Loustrikesagain calm down asshole. Take your pills.

[Loustrikesagain]

@Jeffersonwazright Sorry, I don't usually rage that hard, but I can't say I usually watch videos this bad either.

[Jeffersonwazright]

@Loustrikesagain apology accepted.

[Loustrikesagain]

I've watched up to 3 minutes, and yeah, I get it, you like looking excessively at useless details of classifications, details that few atheists care about, probably to make some pseudo-intellectual attempt at profundity. A lot of atheists are rationalists, and if you want to define god as an alien overlord, the rationalists will continue to lol at god. You're no C. S. Lewis; in the future, I'd go ahead and skip to the bs, cause this is just boring me.

[TheAstrologic]

I lean towards strong atheism, since as far as we know, Gods are just ideas created by men.

Suppose I thought of a new mythical beast and named it a USBDrive-a-beast. Before I put forth my idea, nobody could have claimed "you can't know it exists or prove it doesn't exist." If nobody had thought of god, we wouldn't need to debate anything. Everyone would universally agree that it doesn't exist at all.

[AtheisticTeenager]

I was taught the stories of the bible as a kid, and thanks to my basic knowledge of how the world worked from what I had learned in kidnergarten and 1st grade, I called bs. Told some kids at school i didn't believe in god (didn't know atheisim was a thing at the time) and got harrassed by everyone i told, including some cousins. The idea became dormant, i didn't believe in god but i just never talked about it. About 3 years ago, it became intersting to me. Now i am an "strong" atheist i suppose.

[ionz75]

I was always an evangelical southern-baptist. My thoughts were compartmentalized enough to actually think of Yahweh as loving and vengeful at the same time. I was always bothered by the story of the fall of man, as it offended my sense of justice, but I did my best to ignore it. Prior to my de-conversion, I spent a very short amount of time believing God was basically a sadist, via the argument from evil. I quickly realized that almost none of my beliefs were rational and dropped them all.

[bocckoka]

I never ever believed in anything any organized religion proposed.

[JRBendixen]

yahweh here. I´m finally online. So do I believe in other gods. Well thats a very good question as I cannot know by certain. though I did know some norther european gods some time ago, with which I made a deal about beleavers dancing around trees, some years ago. Then they disappeared and have now come back. Confusing I know, so I suggest you destroy them by my moral argument.

[JRBendixen]

Hi saizai it´s yahweh your god here, excuse me for making our usual and tedious exchanges a little public but you and some others need a little advise. Besides I do not like to repeat myself, so here we go. Saizai I have told you several times that raper murder and violence is the way I want you to roll, so get to my boy, that is unless you want me to grill your ass. Do not let me make another bet with satan. You know how it went with job.

[JRBendixen]

@JRBendixen And saizai if you doubt it is me yahweh, I have taken control of a hardline liberal atheist (JRBendixen) just to show you my power and as you know he could never demand the same things as I´m capable of. By the by do you have a grill because I have been thinking about the future of your children and your devotion to me.

[JRBendixen]

There are is no god or gods, by any understanding, if only for the reason that there is a sepeate meaning of god and gods for every living person. I could just as well say that I personally float upwards and say my god has made everything including people in the shapes of living "Danielson purple headed table spoons by fractural inverse plant fire in the shape of a blossoming printer cartridge".

[htoontube]

Are you Shan?

[CamW30]

There is absolutely no evidence for the existence of the supernatural. There are simple physiologic explanations for one's "feelings" that there is something outside of nature. The reason for believing in god(s) (ie "personal revelation") has past. We now know that the unexplainable (eg lightning, meteors, etc.) do have a natural explanation.

Besides, why would an omnipotent, omniscient being require (or want) to be worshipped? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

[truckcompany]

Was Christian until 23.

[MrMaster90]

1-I was raised Lutheran, but I stopped believing around age 12. I believed pretty much whatever my Sunday school teachers taught me about God and the Bible. I stopped believing because I found that science and religion conflict on many topics, especially evolution, and since science was reliable, demonstrable and helpful, I stopped believing the Bible, and soon stopped believing in God. I saw other reasons not to believe later in life.

[laflugantabastardo]

Second question: I was raised a Jehovah's Witness and believed it until I was 23.

Third question: It's kind of meaningless to ask this question before having defined what "a god" is. The word covers even more than "atheism" does. Yahweh in particular though? Strong atheism. We know where the god came from and how the idea developed - much like, say, the Greco-Roman gods.

[MobileThinker]

strong atheist, i am pretty sure any god is impossible based on the Oxford dictionary definition. i was never part of a religion, the closest is one day at sunday school, laughing in my head about the stupidity of the beliefs of the sunday school teacher. the only way i would be convinced a god exists is direct contact with this god myself, or directly observable act that could not have occured without a being that can break the laws of nature. if you need something more specific, just say so.

[iliveon]

this is 6 months later, and I am a throughout atheist. I will call myself an atheist, until someone who wants to hire me asks my religious practices. haha, which was yesterday. I feel religion is an allusion and simply refer to God as "monotheism" compared to "polytheism" and I know I made the correct decision by seeing that humans are indeed worshipers of literally anything, including animals, ancestors, aliens, gods,dirt, the sun, large stones, etc. Its a human construct and historyconfirms it

[iliveon]

I began to lose my faith without knowing in philosophy class, this was all occurring when I began to understand skepticism. After learning in physics class about conservation, in philosophy the problem of evil, and in chemistry that all obeys laws, I actually watched some videos on pascal's wager (led there by philosophy class) in my spare time by either theramintrees or qualia soup and from there, I accepted skepticism and it all made sense that there wasn't any intervening gods.

[iliveon]

I read the comments of people's religious pasts instead of really watching the video :) lol

[ForYeensSake]

I used to be a christian (Catholic, Only the good stories of the bible (or those that seem good) ), then I turned newageish (freemason, blablabla, I had my own sets of beliefs) due to "spiritual experiences" after which I turned Deist after wich I realised I only believed because I wanted to :P. So Yeah I've walked quite a road in the last few years xp.

[OmfgItsHenu]

was a christian->read the bible->athest.

thats that in a nutshell :3

[ajomez]

strong atheist nigaaaaa

[12InchesUnBuffed]

@saizai My belief before: I grew up as a catholic. was raised a catholic. So i used to believe in the judeo-christian god for 15 years. What i believe now, is that whether god/s exist or not is meaningless to me. It seems that god/s is/are not concerned about humanity or do not wish to have any involvement with humanity's affairs at all. So I dont need to believe in any god/s nor do I need to not believe in any god/s. So god's existence do not mean anything to me as it has no impact to me at all

[xxSilverPhinxx]

2) For example, I don't believe that Thor exists, but if somebody tells me that the lightning he causes is a natural effect of some divine battle against evil in another realm of reality we don't have access to and therefore can't prove or disporve then I would become an antitheist.

[xxSilverPhinxx]

1) I don't believe in any gods, and that's closely linked to my belief that if there are gods or things of the sort, then they are unknowable or at least have not revealed themselves. I would consider myself to be an agnostic atheist. However, I do take strong stances against theistic claims (against their claims, since I see their gods to be false and non existent - something that is impossible to fight) I am an antitheist.

[ullisac]

Raised Catholic/Lutheran. Now a strong atheist. I strongly believe that no god(s) exist since belief in them appears to absolutely no impact on reality and my daily life.

The more I learn about religion(s) and history, human development, animals, and the world around me the more I feel I was able to justify to myself why my faith died. Now, rather than doubt I am confident the god I thought existed, does not.

[slurpeeday]

I was raised Catholic. I think my parents, priests, and many members of the church were agnostic. Very few claimed that one could know that God exists. They taught me that faith was a virtue. Ones faith was simply something everyone respected. Not just faith in God but they easily translated it to everyday life. People who took you at your word and weren't skeptical of the world were part of the 'in' crowd. I really enjoyed that open sort of community.

[slurpeeday]

cont.

It was very comforting and it felt like I had a lot of people who were simply there to be close and not to hang out with. Ever since I stopped going I don't think I've had that sort of people in my life (close without hanging out). I stopped going because of many reasons at first it was during a somewhat rebellious teenage faze and because I didn't really believe. Now I'm believe that one can't know if a God exists but from experience I think people make stuff up and are willing to accept

[slurpeeday]

cont. 2 So, I'm a weak atheist. Back to my previous beliefs, my parish taught that all religions were looking at the same water, but our religion had the clearest water. We were sometimes encouraged to see what other religions do. I am glad I was raised with religion. I think it is part of human nature. At the same it is responsible for many deaths so, yes, lets keep an eye on the extremes. Many atheist focus on the beliefs but it's a culture, unless you're set in your ways you should try it.

[KevinLounsberry]

I am not sure what my label is, but I have seen no evidence which has convinced me there is a powerful being capable of manipulating time and space.  I believe if there were a god, it could not be as described in the bible, quran or polytheistic legends because they have undeniable inconsistencies rendering them untrustworthy and unusable as source of information, They are what describes their god, so their god could not possibly be that way.

[zalmanusa]

I was raised by atheist parents, so they taught me about santa and the tooth fairy, but I figured out they were joking after a while, I've never believed anything and I can't think of any reason to why anyone should.

[slurpeeday]

@zalmanusa I was raised by a Christian family and they told me about santa and the tooth fairy too. Which has always struck me as odd. It seems like the lesson is to show kids that supernatural things aren't real. Unless, some parents are completely aware that God isn't real but are able to choose to believe for a comfort thing.

[triumphantdan]

I used to believe that Jesus was my saviour sent from heaven to abolish my sin and to protect me from evil. I used to believe that I was having a personal relationship with God & him but didn't have a clue what the Holy Spirit was.

I now believe that religions are on the whole destructive and mess with people's heads. I believe that religion keeps people emotionally and mentally stunted. I also believe that religion is claiming some sort of Trademark on humanitarian urges that are universal.

[nactan]

i disbelieve in the deity of the abrahamic tradition because its sacred narrative (creation, noah's ark, hebrews in egypt, etc. etc.) is not borne out by scientific research, but i'm not vehemently opposed to the idea of a non-traditional philosophical god based on abrahamic spirituality. i suppose that makes me a weak atheist.

[SR0Penne0Brillo]

I was raised a Jehovah's Witness. Now, I don't care whether or not there is any higher being as it's not immediately clear to me that any being, other than the people I interact with, has had any input to my life aside from the JW's bible has affected how my parents raised me. But all in all I believe that religion is simply a tool, used to control people in vast numbers, indirectly. It may have a good effect on people, and contribute to communities, but overall encourages unhealthy mindsets.

[Snoot501]

Out of curiosity, why is it important to you that you know what theraminetrees believes about gods?

[saizai]

@Snoot501 Why have conversations at all?

[Pelonetillo]

agnostic atheist; regard gods that are self contradictory as impossible. am open to possibility of gods, but do not believe in any as i have no reason (evidence) to. to oversimplify, id say im 99% sure no gods exist. i dont believe anything is unknowable. that is, anything that actually exists must manifest itself in someway in order to be qualified as existent, and so, must be knowable. i dont believe anything is knowable based on anecdote; what is revealed to the individual is just that.

[ZarlanTheGreen]

My father didn't think that an impressionable child should be taught religion, so...

I have simply never been convinced.

I view strong agnosticism as an unjustified certainty ...of the possibility of a certainty.

I am a strong atheist, towards any god or gods, where that word is useful.

(god is the universe? Why not just say "the universe"? _Sentient_ universe? Strong atheist.)

As to whether or not I am agnostic or gnostic...

Well, it depends on the definition of those words.

[saizai]

@ZarlanTheGreen "Depends on the definition" is *part of my challenge*. Don't use it as an escape from explaining your position.

[ZarlanTheGreen]

@saizai I just missed that bit. Thanks the correction.

I would say that I know there is no god(s).

However, if "knowing" is defined as requiring absolute certainty (which I think would render the word largely pointless, and almost unusable), I can't make that claim.

If gnosticism requires absolute certainty (which, again, would make it fairly useless), I am agnostic.

Otherwise, I'd call myself gnostic.

Saying you're (a)gnostic doesn't really say much, unless you've explained what it means.

[opterigon]

Good to see you uploading videos again, Sai. I notice for lots of atheists on YouTube it depends what god you mean. Catholic Yahweh v deist god and so on. Same for me. Its a mixture of responses cos what people are calling "God" varies so much. I've got to know what they mean before I give my opinion.

[saizai]

@opterigon Defining what gods you mean is part of my question: the challenge is indeed exactly that. Which is why I'm not going to define it for you. ;-)

Make the strongest possible claims (disclaims?) you can, proactively defining what categories of gods they apply to, rather than merely responding to particular claims. Of course, as you point out, you'll probably need more than one category because you'll likely have different attitudes towards different ones.

[Fex13]

Being brought up as an atheïst, I knew the word 'god' from an early age but didn't know what it truely ment. As a childhood intrest I've looked at several religions but none of them sounded true. That childhood thing grew into my profession and now, dealing in the religious sciences, they still don't sound true. Religion has a function for many humans, in that sense it's true, but the fantastic and odd claims they have on the truth? That's truely false. So, I'm a positive atheïst, no gods at all

[ferrett78]

Personally, I usually describe myself as an atheist, because for most people that pretty much covers the important ideas (ie: I dont have a belief in God or Gods - esp. the Abrahamic one). If I had to be specific, I'd say "I dont know" - though I have a strong leaning towards Pantheism (seems kind of silly not to believe in the Universe!), and occasionally I have a soft spot for Panentheism. Though in the case of the latter, I'd have to say "there's no evidence to support that idea".

[deepashtray]

Personal revelations are only guides to insight and wisdom, not evidence or proof.

[reprimand33]

I am a non theist. My family are Protestants and I was raised to believe that their is one ruler above us all who we should fear and love at the same time.

To blindly give money 'although it was scares when i was young' to the church.

To convince oneself to believe in something that really cannot be there, to the point where one might have a personal religious experience.

[dookiecheez]

Are you honestly expecting a proper response in 500 characters?

Atheism: the lack of belief in a god or gods.

I reject or respond with apathy to agnostic definitions, if I cannot know anything about a god even whether or not it exists then it has no bearing on me. Sometimes it is so nonsensical it's reasonable to reject. To pantheism for example I reject that you should refer to the universe as god.

I reject gnostic definitions for not conforming to the available evidence.

[saizai]

@dookiecheez As I said at the end of the video, I'm soliciting primarily *video* responses. Comments are, indeed, not a suitable forum for extended discussions. ;-)

[dookiecheez]

@saizai

I was indeed mistaken, even still I am somewhat disinterested in a video response.

[intruder313]

I was brought up as a Catholic but was a strong doubter from the age of 5 (yes 5) and finally got my family to accept my Atheism at 18. The brainwashing/indoctrination just never took with me :)

I am 100% certain that there is no God and that the Creation Myths are contemptible fantasies.

Is that arrogant: no more arrogant than those who are 100% confident that there IS a God/Gods.

I'm way past the point of feeling the need to justify it further than what is completely obvious to me :)

[saizai]

@intruder313 You say you are 100% certain there is "no God". Do you mean the Catholic Yahweh only, or do you mean that you are sure that *nothing* I might reasonably define as a god exists? If the latter, what's the loosest definition of "god" you can give such that this belief holds, and why do you believe it?

[BlackRaptor31]

Technically it would be impossible to know if a god didn't exist as presumably they would have the ability to keep themselves hidden.

So I think it is impossible to know if any deities do not exist, but I don't believe in any of them and class myself as an atheist (Somebody who does not believe in any gods, not somebody who believes there are no gods btw)

[Error302]

i believe the natural world exists, and that my senses don't generally lie to me.

and i don't believe in any gods, mostly because i'm too lazy to argue the stronger standpoint.

[peronkop]

I think atheist and therefor does not have any religious beleives. Atheism only describes what I DON'T beleive in.

I am a gnostic atheist towards any theist gods and an agnostic atheist towards any deist gods.

[saizai]

@peronkop You say you are a gnostic atheist about theistic gods - I presume (given the ambiguity of the "theist"/"deist" distinction) you mean gods who are interested in / interact with humans. What evidence would you accept for "some god exists"? What evidence would you accept for "Yahweh exists"?

[peronkop]

@saizai First of all I'd like a definition. I can not accept the existance of something nor can evidence be presented until we have established a definition. If we do so I would probably accept a testable manifistation of these beings. If that is to much to ask for than I suppose I'd accept any hard physical evidence of a god interacting with us; either actively or inactively (as long as we can determine that it actually was a god). The same goes for Yahweh.

[TheraminTrees]

Thanks for this very interesting video response Sai — I look forward to replying in kind.