How many posters are actually Atheists?

Sod'o swords

First off i'm sorry if this has been asked before, in my admittedly limited search i couldn't find a similar thread. Also the links towards defection no longer have effect, so here goes!

I'm just curious, how many people here are actually Atheist? The vast majority of people i know what claim to be Atheist are still Catholics but just don't practice.

Especially now with CountMeOut's defection method suspended it seems the only way out is excommunication. I didn't use CountMeOut at the time because i was still young enough and thought i'd wait. Where as now it's too late.

The other thing that bugs me is I don't want to be Catholic, but I don't want to be Atheist. It's not that i half believe in anything, it's just I don't need to belong to a greater group. I just want to be, well, me. I'd rather just when it comes to religion i'd write down, void or draw a rabbit. This seems impossible today people always seem to find a need to categorise you. Also because some Atheist's are almost as Militant as the Church in telling people their views. Which is very counter productive in my eyes.

Here's hoping the poll works to...

liamw

Sod'o swords wrote: »

The other thing that bugs me is I don't want to be Catholic, but I don't want to be Atheist. It's not that i half believe in anything, it's just I don't need to belong to a greater group.

Being atheist simply means that you lack religion, so I don't see why you have a problem with this. It sounds like you have a problem with the public stigma attached to the word 'atheist'.

I'm sure you don't mind being part of the greater group that doesn't believe in fairies. Yes, you are atheist.

sink

Atheism isn't a group any more that not listening pop music is a group. Sure you can have groups that like to listen to non-pop music and even groups that are actively anti-pop music, but you don't have to belong to those groups to not listen to pop music.

liamw

liamw wrote: »

Being atheist simply means that you lack religion, so I don't see why you have a problem with this. It sounds like you have a problem with the public stigma attached to the word 'atheist'.

I'm sure you don't mind being part of the greater group that doesn't believe in fairies. Yes, you are atheist.

No it doesn't.

It means a lack of a belief in gods.

You can be non-religious and still believe in a god and therefore would not be an atheist.

J.Ball

Isn't an atheist someone who believe's that this is it once ya die you rot in the ground. No Religion no gods nothing.

Where an agnostic Is someone who doesn't believe in god or religion but would like to think there might be something other then this but unfortunately theres nothing to say there is. If my thinking is correct most people stamped as atheist are in fact agnostic.

By the way i'm not for religion at all don't believe just in case i made myself sound religious.

Pygmalion

King Mob wrote: »

No it doesn't.

It means a lack of a belief in gods.

You can be non-religious and still believe in a god and therefore would not be an atheist.

Conversely there are many branches of Buddhism which are Atheistic.

OP does appear to miss the point somewhat, the vast majority of people he knows who claim to be atheist probably aren't non-practising catholics, they're almost certainly atheists whom the church pretends are members because they've made it hard to officially be taken off the list.

Also the whole "I don't want to be catholic but I don't want to be atheist thing".
If you believe in a god (or multiple gods) you're a theist of some sort, if you don't you're an atheist, it has nothing to do with wanting to be unique or special, or the catholic church, since there are tons of other religious groups.

Sod'o swords

liamw wrote: »

Being atheist simply means that you lack religion, so I don't see why you have a problem with this. It sounds like you have a problem with the public stigma attached to the word 'atheist'.

I'm sure you don't mind being part of the greater group that doesn't believe in fairies. Yes, you are atheist.

Well i don't really have a problem with the public perception of Atheists. It's just why does everyone have to be put into some form of group due to their believes, or lack of?

sink wrote: »

Atheism isn't a group any more that not listening pop music is a group. Sure you can have groups that like to listen to non-pop music and even groups that are actively anti-pop music, but you don't have to belong to those groups to not listen to pop music.

Well as more and more people become or claim to be Atheist it seems that's changing. Well so i think, mind you this is my view/experience on it so i could be horribly wrong. A large amount of people i've talked to about Atheism almost see it as another religion in itself.

J.Ball

J.Ball wrote: »

Isn't an atheist someone who believe's that this is it once ya die you rot in the ground. No Religion no gods nothing.

Where an agnostic Is someone who doesn't believe in god or religion but would like to think there might be something other then this but unfortunately theres nothing to say there is. If my thinking is correct most people stamped as atheist are in fact agnostic.

By the way i'm not for religion at all don't believe just in case i made myself sound religious.

Atheism = lack of a believe in a god.
So unless you have a positive active belief in some form of god, then you are an atheist by definition.

However atheist can still have other supernatural beliefs including an afterlife.

Agnostism = the postion that one cannot truly know with total certainty whether or not something exists, specifically in the case of god.

You in fact can be an agnostic atheist and an agnostic theist with no contradictions.
Most atheists here are agnostic atheists.

Sod'o swords

Pygmalion wrote: »

Conversely there are many branches of Buddhism which are Atheistic.

OP does appear to miss the point somewhat, the vast majority of people he knows who claim to be atheist probably aren't non-practising catholics, they're almost certainly atheists whom the church pretends are members because they've made it hard to officially be taken off the list.

Also the whole "I don't want to be catholic but I want to be atheist thing".
If you believe in a god (or multiple gods) you're a theist of some sort, if you don't you're an atheist, it has nothing to do with wanting to be unique or special, or the catholic church, since there are tons of other religious groups.

Ah, that's pretty much cleared most stuff up for me. Now i've done gone and made a silly of myself.

nozzferrahhtoo

I find myself yet again wishing I could be given a euro for every thread on this forum that gets derailed into what each person thinks the words "atheist" and "agnostic" actually mean.

To answer the OPs actual post, I am a regular poster and I am one that people would call "atheist" though I never use that word to describe myself unless unavoidable for contextual reasons or smoothness of prose. That so many other people would and do label me thusly however is likely answer enough to the query you are making.

liamw

King Mob wrote: »

No it doesn't.

It means a lack of a belief in gods.

You can be non-religious and still believe in a god and therefore would not be an atheist.

I was going to edit it to 'gods' but I didn't bother.

28064212

Sod'o swords wrote: »

I'm just curious, how many people here are actually Atheist? The vast majority of people i know what claim to be Atheist are still Catholics but just don't practice.

That's entirely subjective. What's your definition of a Catholic? Is there a member's list somewhere? Or is it what the RCC claims? If I set up my own church and claim that every human is a member by virtue of being born, is my membership 7 billion?

I don't believe in the Catholic doctrine, I don't follow their beliefs. How am I a Catholic?

Sod'o swords wrote: »

The other thing that bugs me is I don't want to be Catholic, but I don't want to be Atheist. It's not that i half believe in anything, it's just I don't need to belong to a greater group. I just want to be, well, me. I'd rather just when it comes to religion i'd write down, void or draw a rabbit.

You don't sound like an atheist to me, more an agnostic (and an apathetic one at that)

Dades

Sod'o swords wrote: »

Well i don't really have a problem with the public perception of Atheists. It's just why does everyone have to be put into some form of group due to their believes, or lack of?

Like vegetarians or pioneers?

I think a lot more people are actually atheists than know it as, like you, they have an idea of what the think it represents, rather than what it is. That includes a lot of so-called "catholics" !

Sod'o swords

I went and confused myself in the OP there, what i was originally trying to get at, who's actually left their religion or didn't have one to begin with and still isn't a member of a religion. If that makes any sense...

Ickle Magoo

I didn't have one to begin with - never been christened, baptised, confirmed, married in a church, etc, etc...

finipops

My family was never religious and i'm glad of that fact.

Improbable

I'm with Ickle on this one. My parents were atheists long before I was born so I was never brought up in any religious way. I've never believed in a god and I doubt I ever will.

GlasnevinRed

Oooops, clicked the wrong option! Meant to click Atheist!:o

Galvasean

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

I didn't have one to begin with - never been christened, baptised, confirmed, married in a church, etc, etc...

finipops wrote: »

My family was never religious and i'm glad of that fact.

Improbable wrote: »

My parents were atheists long before I was born so I was never brought up in any religious way.

Ya'all lucky..

Marcus.Aurelius

GlasnevinRed wrote: »

Oooops, clicked the wrong option! Meant to click Atheist!:o

Too late, off to hell with you.

Improbable

Caesar Augustus wrote: »

Too late, off to hell with you.

^^
"Origin of Specious Nonsense" thread.

Marcus.Aurelius

Improbable wrote: »

^^
"Origin of Specious Nonsense" thread.

Strangely enough I was just thinking the same thing, that thread needs urgent sanitation.

Poop all over the place. :pac:

lynski

Sod'o swords wrote: »

I went and confused myself in the OP there, what i was originally trying to get at, who's actually left their religion or didn't have one to begin with and still isn't a member of a religion. If that makes any sense...

Ahh so a totally different question to the one you asked. I did wonder when you were talking about countmeout.
I imagine a lot more people here were inducted as minors into various religions but are now atheist or agnostic.
I would always describe myself as atheist, I am not embarrassed to say so or afraid of the label.

28064212

Sod'o swords wrote: »

I went and confused myself in the OP there, what i was originally trying to get at, who's actually left their religion or didn't have one to begin with and still isn't a member of a religion. If that makes any sense...

"actually left their religion" - what does that mean? Just because the RCC says I was baptised doesn't mean I haven't left their religion.

Brought up a catholic but have a different one now

Not an atheist but I think I agree with them most of the time anyway

strobe

bluewolf wrote: »

Brought up a catholic but have a different one now

Not an atheist but I think I agree with them most of the time anyway

:eek: Well you kept that quiet Blu lol. What are you? (can't think of a non-rude way to phrase that). Buddhist I think you said once, but doesn't that usually mean a nontheist (atheist)?

Gambler

Have never been "inducted" formally into any religious group (not even as a baby when I had no say) so I think I meet all your criteria

Nevyn

Sod'o swords wrote: »

The other thing that bugs me is I don't want to be Catholic, but I don't want to be Atheist. It's not that i half believe in anything, it's just I don't need to belong to a greater group. I just want to be, well, me. I'd rather just when it comes to religion i'd write down, void or draw a rabbit. This seems impossible today people always seem to find a need to categorise you. Also because some Atheist's are almost as Militant as the Church in telling people their views. Which is very counter productive in my eyes.

There are more options then catholic or athiest, not that the catholic church wants anyone to think that it seems.

There are many variants on christianity and if I were you I'd start by popping along to a Sunday service at your local Church of Ireland and do some reading up on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Ireland
http://www.ireland.anglican.org/

Many people when rejecting roman catholicism reject all religions as they still belief it is the only one, it's not. There are many religions and spiritual paths it's not just catholic or atheist. Educate yourself, do some exploring see what's out there, what is in line with what you personal belief and work from there.

If after that you end up back considering yourself to be an athiest and that is what works for you then excellent but there are a hell of a lot more options then just those two.

strobe

strobe wrote: »

:eek: Well you kept that quiet Blu lol. What are you? (can't think of a non-rude way to phrase that). Buddhist I think you said once, but doesn't that usually mean a nontheist (atheist)?

I keep a lot of things quiet :eek:
Yeah, I'm a buddhist and I don't know about the rest. Closest to agnostic, it's really an "I don't know, gods might well exist, but I don't care since I'm not worshiping them anyway"