Freedom and Jesus, the American dream

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I am the 15%.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

So are 85% of the people of amirite.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't understand?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

The percentage is actually much lower than that. It's in the 60's.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Even if that statistic is true, I imagine there are probably a lot of people who say they believe in God because it makes them feel good. Not because they actually do, but because if they say they don't and if he actually does exist, they may be fucked.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's a terrible way to look at peopls and their system of beliefs

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I'm not saying everybody does it. I'm just saying it's possible.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I know plenty of hypocrites to preach their god but perform almost every sin in their bible. It just proves people will be people, no matter what book they hide behind.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Well it's true.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No it's not, it's a narrow minded generalization. Just like if I said Atheists are atheists because they like having the freedom to be such bad people and they're afraid of God.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I'm not saying all religious people are like that, I'm saying a decent amount are. As opposed to what you're saying which is ridiculous because if someone's afraid of God they'd try to be as good as possible.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

A decent amount of religious people are religious because they were raised that way and they've never been motivated to go in a different direction. Very few choose religion out of fear because then it probably wouldn't feel like it count. It's an understood and studied psychological effect that a lot of people choose atheism because they are afraid of god and his might as 'all powerful one' so the high tail in the other direction and have the subconscious thought 'If I don't believe in him I can't fear him' In this sense the community who studies this phenomenon have coined those people 'Closet believers'

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Congratulations, you've earned the SomeDude idiot of the year award. "A lot of people choose atheist because they are afraid of god". This is idiotic. People choose to renounce gods because they realize it's pretty fucking stupid to believe in that kind of stuff. Atheist are free thinkers; we want answers that go beyond "X did it".

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's not my opinion, as stated it's proven fact a surprising amount of atheists choose to denounce god because acknowledging him is to fear his power and fear is uncomfortable. The truth is atheists are usually narrow minded ass faces who over compensate with anger. For example, you sound like you are one who is subconsciously fearing religion so you turn a 180 to stay in control. It's sad but understandable. What if you replace "X" with 'The big bang'? Shouldn't it go beyond that then?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I simply don't believe in him because I find the idea of God preposterous. I believe religion is good though. It creates character and morals but I refuse to believe in God. I don't consider myself narrow minded as I actually believed in God without question at one point. I truly believed that this world's beauty was all because of him but then I decided to defy that belief and expand my mind and learn of other ways how life as we know it is truly possible. I don't see that as narrow minded but open to new ideas instead of just believing what my parents taught me and what I gathered from the bible.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

THIS. That is a good explanation of Atheism and I respect that. Way to many atheists aren't that mature.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I refuse to believe your claim that most atheist fear god unless you can cite a reputable article making the same claim. Fearing god is like fearing Santa, both of which I do not. I accept the idea of oblivion after death. To me, it sounds like the ultimate peace. But I still live my life and enjoy it, without the presence of a false god.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

'Surprising amount' is not most. I would never say most because most would be outrageous. Fearing God is a logical religious by product and, surprise surprise, the by product of a surprising amount of atheists. I don't know why you'd fear Santa, that's kinda weird. Your condescension is why people hate Atheists. I'm not even slightly religious, but religion Is irrational so I can understand why those with faith would be irrational, what's your excuse? Oblivion? That's an interesting idea, I can see how it would be peaceful, but wouldn't heaven logically be a better place because it is 'heaven'?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

If you fear a god then you're not an atheist. Being an atheist means you denounce any god's existence. Saying someone is an atheist because they fear god is an oxymoron.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

The fact of the matter is, the study was that atheists don't know they fear god, that's why I used the word subconscious. They fear the power of said 'God' over them beyond their control and that's why they denounce him. They basically follow a subconscious mind set 'The thought of God over top of me able to smite me at any moment terrifies me, but it won't terrify me if I refuse to believe he exists.' which I'd usually used as an explanation for why atheists so passionately argue their side to the point of anger, while religious people typically say something like 'Well it's your loss if you haven't found God yet, I pity you.' and leave

by Anonymous 11 years ago

When are you going to provide said article? " The thought of God over top of me able to smite me at any moment terrifies me, but it won't terrify me if I refuse to believe he exists.' which I'd usually used as an explanation for why atheists so passionately argue their side to the point of anger, while religious people typically say something like 'Well it's your loss if you haven't found God yet, I pity you. and leave" I'd love to meet a religious person irl that could drop the fact I'm an atheist. I've lost relationships with people I really cared about because of my opinion. The real reason atheist defend their side is because we are a minority in this country. Christians are the majority, so their voice is the loudest. That's why so much of our government has christian dogma associated with it, which I hate. Atheist argue about their beliefs because if we don't then christians will be allowed to trample us with their moral beliefs that abortion and homosexual marriage is wrong. We're not trying to dissolve the christian religion, we just want these rights to be given to everyone even if they're not accepted by a person's belief.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Wow wow wow you are way to off topic. You are getting into stuff that's logical, I understand, and for the most part agree with. Yes religious people have a tendency to not be able to let go that some people won't share the same beliefs. But equally atheists have a tendency to treat anyone without their belief system like idiots when they are really supposed to be above religious fanatics with a 'To every man his own, live and let live' policy.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I'm arguing against your claims that most atheist are only atheist from their fear of a deity. Which I am still skeptical about since you haven't provided that article.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Good god man how many times do I have to reiterate that I never used the word most! Most means more than 50%, I think the real percentage is more like 18, which Is a lot considering most atheists would think it's 0%

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Okay, you used the term "a lot" which is still unacceptable in my opinion. Now please for the love of all that is good, please link me this article you keep standing behind!

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I didn't use the term a lot. I said 'A surprising amount'. For you a surprising amount would be 1 or more. I found that a little less than a fifth of the atheists out there being afraid of God a surprising amount. Ya I'll find it

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yes you did use the term "a lot" "It's an understood and studied psychological effect that A LOT of people choose atheism because they are afraid of god " (I caps lock'd a lot for emphasize)

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I understood the emphasize. A lot may be a correct term, let's say there are half a billion atheists in the world. Wouldn't 100000000 of them being afraid of god be a lot?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There's the thing though. I've met a lot of atheist, from internet forums like r/atheism and real life encounters, and not one of them had a "fear of god". They're atheist because, put bluntly, atheism actually makes sense. Until I see this article I'm going to assume it may have some christian influence to put down atheism.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's why I found the entire thing so fascinating though! Atheists dont know that's why they chose atheism. After choosing atheism they made excuses and rationalizations about why, but they don't know that they fear 'supreme power'. I just found it so interesting that the mind plays tricks on us in ways like that. It was found that with extensive psychoanalyzation certain atheists will be questioned on their beliefs and find many contradictions. Like an atheist will say 'Well I don't believe in God because it doesn't make sense that a man in the sky made all this' but when the interview shifts to a different topic like nature 18% of atheists might say something like 'Its just so unbelievable how this world was created, it seems so beyond just being a celestial mistake, it freaks me out to feel so small in the world' Now that is an over obvious example I just made up but that was the basis of the study. After enough sessions it was seen that 18% of atheists were cross examined and opened up until they admitted/realized they believe in Some sort if diety but are to afraid of said diety to acknowledge it. I think that's fascinating

by Anonymous 11 years ago

But they claimed to believe in some sort of deity. That does not make them an atheist. An atheist is confident in their decision to become an atheist. Someone with doubts should be considered an agnostic.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's the thing! They started out ADAMANT they were an atheist, they didn't believe in god, god dioesbt exist for these reasons, religion Is stupid, whatever. They had all of that and most of the sound reasoning of Atheists. And their entire belief system was destroyed and caused them to have a realization of themselves. They had no doubts, but subconsciously they believed all a long. For that kind of repressed feelings disorder there are a ton of them out there

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Can you please link the article like you said you would? I'm waiting before I make my final verdict.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't believe in Americans

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Why is that hard to believe? I thought it was even higher.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't have trouble believing that. A lot of Americans believe in God but ignore Him and His commandments because they don't believe He plays a role in their lives. They're too busy being wrapped up in themselves.

by Anonymous 11 years ago