+72 It's fairly annoying when some people claim to be atheist because it implies that they know everything about how the universe works, which they don't. Stephen Hawkins, one of the top physicists in the world is agnostic because even he realizes he doesn't know everything. You are not smarter than him so you shouldn't pretend to know for sure about how the universe came to be and criticize other people's beliefs. Amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

atheism is divided into gnostic atheism and agnostic atheism. and even then there are more divisions -- belief in a lack of god and the lack of belief in god.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

In no way does atheism imply you think know everything about the universe. The only thing it means is that you 100% reject the idea of God. Stephen Hawking is not one of the top psysicists in the world, ask any physicist who they think the best in the world is and he doesn't even crack top 20. H'es the most famous, not one of the top. He completley discredited himself with his information paradox of black holes theory almost a decade ago.. Just because Stephen Hawking believes it and he's smart doesn't mean people should be like "well, he's smart, must not be wrong, I'll believe what he believes." I have never met an atheist who was pretending to know how the universe came to be. BTW: Stephen Hawking says there's no God because time didn't exist before the Big Bang. Take your own advise and quit criticizing other people's beliefs, because it's fairly annoying.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I thought OP meant that //some// people who are atheists think it implies that they know everything, not all atheists.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I did mean that. I'm not one to generalize and I did even say "Some people" so I obviously didn't mean all atheists are ignorant.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

This is only true if you also suggest that anyone religious is implying that they know everything about how the universe works.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Exactly. This post basically says if you're not agnostic in your beleifs, it's annoying because being sure of what you believe in means you act like you know everything.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I hate this post it almost means you're allowed to believe in any religion or you can believe that you don't know if there is a god or not but you cant believe that there is no god what so ever

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Well it's more because way more people believe in God than don't so I tried to offend the fewest amount of people possible. Also it also makes you seem a lot less like a know it all when you say "Oh, God created the universe" than when you challenge the views of the majority and say "Actually I am a 16 year old and I know everything about the universe and you are wrong" But you are right in that even religious people don't know for sure. Nobody does.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Well I believe in the big bang. That is most likely what happened to create the earth according to scientists and evolution has been a proven fact.Many atheist use facts to support their ideas while other religions try to deny this fact. We may seem more know it all because we know certain facts while religion their beliefs come from word of mouth or a book, no scientist can back up what they believe

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Atheism is a fad, just like Christianity or any other religion is a fad. There are TONS of kids who say they're Christian but don't truly believe in God or haven't thought too much about it. They've just been accepting it because everyone around them has. There are just as many stupid teenage Christians as they are Atheists. Then there are the ones who have actually thought about this and logically came to a conclusion that suits them.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Some of us simply do not believe in god because we cannot fathom how or why an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent entity can have anything to do with this shit hole of a world. It is purely based on conviction, like any other religious view. The facts to affirm our lack of belief come afterwords. Additionally, religious people are not any better. Simply by firmly believing in the truthfulness of your own religion, you discredit every other religion that exists today. You may not be vocal about it but neither are all atheists.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

One of the things about being an Atheist is admitting we don't know how the universe was born and how it exactly works. Religion such as Christianity has the Bible and supposedly it hold all the answers to the universe but that's just unacceptable to Atheists cause it's impossible.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

This topic has been reposted a ton of times. You can be both an agnostic and an atheist.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Lets clear this matter up quickly and easily. Here's the definition of Atheist: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings. I do not claim to know as you say "everything about how the universe works", but rather I do not believe there is a higher power/ being or whatever that created the universe. This does not imply I believe I am "smarter than him (him being Stephen Hawkins)", but rather we disagree on the origins of the universe.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No way dude, I'm way smarter than Stephen Hawkings. I like taught him everything I know and stuff.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

oh yeah I know you. I was just basically addressing this to everyone except for you since we all know you are above him.

by Anonymous 11 years ago