Atheism doubts?

Whispered · 01-02-2008 03:00PM #1

Hi, I was just wondering if any of the hardened athiests here have ever been in a situation which caused them to wonder - "what if I'm wrong", have you ever witnessed anything which caused you to question your stance on the whole life after death, existance of God etc. Please dont reply with reasons god can't exist etc, I'm aware of your reasoning

but if you have ever questioned yourself I'd be interested to know what was the situation and how did you rectify it in your mind.

Thanks

H

Beruthiel · 01-02-2008 03:09PM

Nope. That's never happened to me.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 01-02-2008 03:10PM

once or twice, but I sobered up.

Whispered · 01-02-2008 03:15PM

MordÜff wrote: »

once or twice, but I sobered up.

LOL

The reason I ask is because some of the things here have caused me to question myself, I still believe in some things which athiests would scoff at but most of them have been questioned (to the point of me loosing sleep, you should be ashamed, I need my beauty sleep!). I was just wondering if it ever happens the other way around. Obviously not from posts here, but from life situations.

toiletduck · 01-02-2008 03:18PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if any of the hardened athiests here have ever been in a situation which caused them to wonder - "what if I'm wrong", have you ever witnessed anything which caused you to question your stance on the whole life after death, existance of God etc.

Nope. I sometimes think about it would be like if God(s) did exit, but it's usually just down to boredom. I don't think I've ever seriously believed in any of that in 6 or 7 years and nothing causes me to question that.

Zombrex · 01-02-2008 03:18PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if any of the hardened athiests here have ever been in a situation which caused them to wonder - "what if I'm wrong"

I think "what if I'm wrong" about everything all the time. Its a healthy to be skeptical of ones own opinions and views.

toiletduck · 01-02-2008 03:22PM

Wicknight wrote: »

I think "what if I'm wrong" about everything all the time. Its a healthy to be skeptical of ones own opinions and views.

Totally. That's why I read lot's of differing viewpoints*, not just confined to religion though.

*Alex Jones ftw and ultimate entertainment.

Myksyk · 01-02-2008 03:24PM

It's difficult Helena to imagine that scenario. I'm generalising here but most atheists arrive at their position through being convinced by a wide variety of ideas in science which nudge, and sometimes shove, God/gods out of the picture.

The decision is rarely an emotional one (although it may have emotional consequences).

Being convinced for example of the evidence for evolution by natural selection has dramatic, unarguable implications for our idea of place in the universe and the nature of any relationship with a potential creator - for me it definitely rules out the idea of an interventionist, personal God. It doesn't naturally lead to ruling out a Deistic position (the idea of an initial starter) but that has far less implications for daily life.

01-02-2008 03:25PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if any of the hardened athiests here have ever been in a situation which caused them to wonder - "what if I'm wrong", have you ever witnessed anything which caused you to question your stance on the whole life after death, existance of God etc. Please dont reply with reasons god can't exist etc, I'm aware of your reasoning but if you have ever questioned yourself I'd be interested to know what was the situation and how did you rectify it in your mind.

Thanks

H

i don't really think about the existence of gods except once in a while to think things would be so much easier if i worshiped one
but easier != best

Zombrex · 01-02-2008 03:25PM

toiletduck wrote: »

not just confined to religion though.

Its a good point. Dawkin's was once asked "What if you are wrong" by a girl in an audience of one of his lectures. He responded what if he was wrong about what? God, Zeus, Thor, Mohammad etc etc.

When people ask "What if you are wrong" they tend to actually mean "What if you are wrong about your rejection of my specific beliefs"

Dades · 01-02-2008 03:27PM

I have never seen, read or experienced anything that would make me seriously consider a god of any religion exists.

On the other hand I have had experiences that have made me desperately want one to exist - or even just to believe one exists. I find those experiences telling in themselves.

robindch · 01-02-2008 03:29PM

I'd imagine that I question whether I'm wrong about the whole thing about as often as most christians seriously question themselves as to whether the islamics have it all right, and vice versa.

If anything ever turned up that suggested that my beliefs were mistaken -- Jesus materializing on the White House lawn, for example, to raise a few of the Iraqi dead and confirm that the Vatican is exactly what it says it is -- then I'd be quite happy to admit that I got it completely wrong. I just think that it's really quite unlikely that this is ever going to happen and my beliefs are correspondingly confident.

And in any case, I'm not quite sure that I can imagine very many things that would convince me that christianity (or whatever) is the right one. The line about the White House lawn might be facetious, but it does suggest that trying to confirm the truth of a religious proposition is not easy.

But, as Dades points out, not believing that something is true, is quite different from occasionally wanting it to be true.

redfacedbear · 01-02-2008 03:54PM

bluewolf wrote: »

easier != best

Likewise, I can conceive of situations where belief could be comforting - after a bereavment, for example, I would imagine it might be comforting to think that your loved one (or part of them) has gone on to something better. However just because you'd like something to be does not make it so.

wishing != being

Thankfully the closest I've come to this kind of wishful thinking is trying to use Jedi powers to bring the Remote Control to me rather than get up off my lazy arse to get it

Zillah · 01-02-2008 04:04PM

Every now and then I have a thought which causes me a moment later to say "Oh thats interesting, if I were a less rational/level-headed person I could have very easily fallen into that trap, how enlightening."

Which is to say, no, I've never had doubts, but I have encountered the sort of situations that I think could cause people to believe in magic.

Whispered · 01-02-2008 04:05PM

Hey, thanks for the replies but I dont mean just the existance of God, I also mean belief in the existance of life after death, telekenisis (sp?) and other things which would be considered unexplainable and unlikely.

01-02-2008 04:07PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the replies but I dont mean just the existance of God, I also mean belief in the existance of life after death, telekenisis (sp?) and other things which would be considered unexplainable and unlikely.

telekenesis? eh... no.

Zombrex · 01-02-2008 04:12PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the replies but I dont mean just the existance of God, I also mean belief in the existance of life after death, telekenisis (sp?) and other things which would be considered unexplainable and unlikely.

Well you see you run into a problem there.

If they are actually "unexplained" then what are we being wrong about?

Dades · 01-02-2008 04:14PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the replies but I dont mean just the existance of God, I also mean belief in the existance of life after death, telekenisis (sp?) and other things which would be considered unexplainable and unlikely.

I assumed with the title "Atheism doubts?" we were solely talking about the beliefs atheists have in common!

Dave! · 01-02-2008 04:49PM

I haven't had any doubts per se for a few years now... The closest I come is frustration really. I have on occassion thought things like "well the universe/cosmos can't just not exist, and then all of a sudden EXIST!", and that slope would eventually lead to deism. It's quite frustrating to now know. I manage to calm myself

by remembering that prior to Darwin there was no explaination for the majesty and complexity of nature, except for that god created it. Now there is! And it's the same with most complicated phenomena. I'm confident that this is just another one that requires alot of time and alot of smart people to understand.

LaVidaLoca · 01-02-2008 05:02PM

Ive certainly never seen any evidence that he exists. I think the only way to beleive he exists is to force yourself to ignore the overwhelming evidence all around you that he doesn't.

That said, I am still prone to beleiving in the supernatural: i.e. stick me in a dark house with no electricty in the countryside on my own, and I might get a little scared of ghosts.

But it passes.

Mr. Incognito · 01-02-2008 05:06PM

My dad died two weeks ago. i believe his energy has been absorbed into the universe somewhere and he is watching over me, but God. No.

Dades · 01-02-2008 05:09PM

Very sorry to hear that, SetantaL. Tough times for you and yours.

Whispered · 01-02-2008 05:55PM

bluewolf wrote: »

telekenesis? eh... no.

Very helpful - thanks

Whispered · 01-02-2008 05:57PM

Wicknight wrote: »

Well you see you run into a problem there.

If they are actually "unexplained" then what are we being wrong about?

No need to pick apart my words, you know what I mean. I am not saying you are wrong - I am asking if you ever doubted.

Whispered · 01-02-2008 05:59PM

Dades wrote: »

I assumed with the title "Atheism doubts?" we were solely talking about the beliefs atheists have in common!

Well we all know it's a big conspiricy

I mean the general dis-belief in certain things.

Whispered · 01-02-2008 06:00PM

SetantaL wrote: »

My dad died two weeks ago. i believe his energy has been absorbed into the universe somewhere and he is watching over me, but God. No.

Very sorry to hear that Setanta.

Can someone explain to me how to quote multiple people in one post?

aidan24326 · 01-02-2008 06:11PM

bluewolf wrote:

telekenesis? eh... no.

helena.ryan wrote: »

Very helpful - thanks

The notion of telekinesis is worthless until someone can provide evidence, real evidence that it can be done. Right now there is no evidence for it whatsoever. Anyone who claims or has claimed they can do it is either a liar/fake/con artist/loony or whatever you're having. That's not to say that it could never be done, just that nobody has ever demonstrated this ability beyond fakery and hocus pocus stuff, and if they have I'd love to know about it.

As for having doubts about religion, I'd have to say no, none at all. Like Robindch said I would need some seriously convincing evidence to change my mind at this stage, and that's extremely unlikely to happen. As for wondering if maybe, just maybe I'm wrong, on the issue of a personal interventionist god I'd be as certain as it gets that I'm right, as for the less personal type of god (created the universe, doesn't intervene etc) I'd allow some possibility of that. Though I think such an entity would be nothing at all like the current primitive human conception of a god and would likely be incomprehensible to us.

toiletduck · 01-02-2008 06:16PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Well we all know it's a big conspiricy I mean the general dis-belief in certain things.

I'm open to "certain things", as long as there's evidence!

Dades · 01-02-2008 07:34PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Can someone explain to me how to quote multiple people in one post?

In every post that has some text you want to quote click the

button to the right of the usual "Quote" button. This turns orange when you click on it. Then click "Post Reply" at the bottom, and every post that you clicked the first button beside is quoted in your draft post.

Enjoy!

Hivemind187 · 01-02-2008 07:54PM

helena.ryan wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if any of the hardened athiests here have ever been in a situation which caused them to wonder - "what if I'm wrong", have you ever witnessed anything which caused you to question your stance on the whole life after death, existance of God etc. Please dont reply with reasons god can't exist etc, I'm aware of your reasoning but if you have ever questioned yourself I'd be interested to know what was the situation and how did you rectify it in your mind.

Thanks

H

Of course I have. And the reasonning out, research, rationalisation and eventual comprehension of what really happened or what is most likely to have happened leads me, unerringly, back to the original position. That there is no god and no afterlife.

MooseJam · 01-02-2008 10:56PM

never had any doubts, never will have any

Atheism doubts?

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