I’m sure I’m about to get trolled for saying that I agree. The universe is mysterious, and athiest have to make assumptions like spiritual people do. Why are we here, what is going on? The answer “the universe is because it is” is not super satisfying. It could easily be a simulation - why are there no aliens, why has no consciousness already colonized everything in the past? There are theories, but no facts
The most honest answer is “I have no idea what’s going on”
I understand where you’re coming from, but as a poster upthread commented, this confuses faith and belief.
The truth is, there are atheists who are religious and atheists who aren’t— just as there are theists who are religious and theists who aren’t.
Religion is about following a social cultural system that includes designated behaviors and usually has related icons and texts.
It’s possible to not believe in an alien being who created the known universe and its laws and also not adhere to a system of belief that such a being doesn’t exist — and it’s also possible to be someone who aggressively self-identifies as an atheist who can quote Dawkins chapter and verse and takes every opportunity to blame theists for all the world’s ills.
Likewise, there are both people who believe in some sort of god who don’t necessarily practice a related religion, and there are those who are religious who don’t actually believe, deep down, that there is a power higher than them.
And this doesn’t even get into the complicated mess that is science and religion.
As for “I have no idea what is going on” — that sums up agnosticism quite well.
Atheists have to make assumptions, yes, but there’s that old joke about how people have thought up thousands of gods, and atheists are almost the same as monotheists—they just believe in only one god fewer. So, do Jews, Christians, and Muslims center their thoughts and religious practices around explicitly, actively disbelieving in, by name, say, Ahura Mazda, Xolotl, or the rainbow serpent? Or are these gods just part of the background noise of believing that there is no god but YHWY/Allah? As far as I can tell, it’s the latter.
Well, for me, anyway, YHWY/Allah is part of that same background noise. An assumption that it doesn’t exist, yes, but not a consequential assumption. It’s as much a religion as not going to Tsogt-Oovo today is a travel plan.
You can be an agnostic atheist, though. Saying you don’t know, and that you reject the claim that a specific god, or gods, exist. Atheism isn’t believing that there are no gods, it’s just an absence of belief in specific god or gods.
I’m sure I’m about to get trolled for saying that I agree. The universe is mysterious, and athiest have to make assumptions like spiritual people do. Why are we here, what is going on? The answer “the universe is because it is” is not super satisfying. It could easily be a simulation - why are there no aliens, why has no consciousness already colonized everything in the past? There are theories, but no facts
The most honest answer is “I have no idea what’s going on”
I understand where you’re coming from, but as a poster upthread commented, this confuses faith and belief.
The truth is, there are atheists who are religious and atheists who aren’t— just as there are theists who are religious and theists who aren’t.
Religion is about following a social cultural system that includes designated behaviors and usually has related icons and texts.
It’s possible to not believe in an alien being who created the known universe and its laws and also not adhere to a system of belief that such a being doesn’t exist — and it’s also possible to be someone who aggressively self-identifies as an atheist who can quote Dawkins chapter and verse and takes every opportunity to blame theists for all the world’s ills.
Likewise, there are both people who believe in some sort of god who don’t necessarily practice a related religion, and there are those who are religious who don’t actually believe, deep down, that there is a power higher than them.
And this doesn’t even get into the complicated mess that is science and religion.
As for “I have no idea what is going on” — that sums up agnosticism quite well.
Atheists have to make assumptions, yes, but there’s that old joke about how people have thought up thousands of gods, and atheists are almost the same as monotheists—they just believe in only one god fewer. So, do Jews, Christians, and Muslims center their thoughts and religious practices around explicitly, actively disbelieving in, by name, say, Ahura Mazda, Xolotl, or the rainbow serpent? Or are these gods just part of the background noise of believing that there is no god but YHWY/Allah? As far as I can tell, it’s the latter.
Well, for me, anyway, YHWY/Allah is part of that same background noise. An assumption that it doesn’t exist, yes, but not a consequential assumption. It’s as much a religion as not going to Tsogt-Oovo today is a travel plan.
You can be an agnostic atheist, though. Saying you don’t know, and that you reject the claim that a specific god, or gods, exist. Atheism isn’t believing that there are no gods, it’s just an absence of belief in specific god or gods.