No, that's the way most people are. They accept what they are told, and they follow it. Their beliefs are not their own, they are what they have been told from other people. Both theists AND atheists are equally as capable of doing this. It is an extremely RARE person who is completely open to all evidence, who does not let bias stand in the way of truth. It is an extremely RARE person who gleans all of their beliefs by themselves. No, this is not the way of the theist, this is the way of humans.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It is much more the way of the theist than it is the way of the atheist. The majority of atheists are former theists. They did not accept what they are told and then follow it. They challenged their beliefs with an open mind and a desire to learn.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Nearly half of Americans change their religious beliefs. They did the exact same thing the atheist did, but it didn't take them to atheism, it took them to a different religion. Even then I would be doubtful in saying that atheists or theists who change/have changed their beliefs came to that all on their own: I would not say they "gleaned all of their beliefs by themselves". It's human nature to believe what you are told, but just because you believe in what your parents raised you to believe, or that you have never changed religions, doesn't mean you are thinking for yourself. You could have just come to the same conclusion.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

doesn't mean that you aren't* thinking for yourself.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I honestly would love to believe in God. The idea of a higher power, of heaven... it sounds wonderful. Most atheists don't reject the idea of God because they've closed themselves off from it... it's because the idea of believing something based on subjective claims and wishful thinking is ridiculous.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

To me believing in a Creator isn't ridiculous because of the base fact that we are here. And I didn't not say that atheists reject that because they close themselves of for it, I'm saying that religious people aren't more likely to close themselves off from truth or new facts. All beliefs are subjective, subjective to the individual's perception. You think believing in God is ridiculous, I look at the world and think it's ridiculous not to.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If you do not believe that theists "challenge their beliefs with an open mind and a desire to learn" just as much as atheists and anyone else for that matter, you really don't know theists at all. Religion isn't teeny tiny narrow view of the world that people follow blindly like sheep because they can't think for themselves. Religious people can be and often are freethinking intelligent philosophers and mystics that try to make sense of the world for themselves through reason, observation, reflection, and study. Religious people are constantly changing their perspectives, challenging commonly held believes, coming up with new ideas, and making discoveries. Religion is never something you just follow like a sheep; it's something you ponder, question, and explore your whole life. So no, I do not believe that atheists are any more questioning or freethinking than relgious people.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

‘Often’ ‘Constantly’, ….? I find it rare. It took like three and a half centauries for the Catholic Church to apologize for what they did to Galileo and admit that he was right. I’ve never seen the encouragement of questioning and exploring outside one’s religion when I went to Sunday school. Just accept it, remain and obey. Many born-again religious people are vilified. Religion is gradually changing because society is changing, individuals change. Not because that the change/progression of certain beliefs is in the nature, a quality, of religion on its own .It’s a reactionary force. It has to update itself or else society will scoot away from it. You do know that in many religions changing your mind about your religion/beliefs is forbidden. This post relates mostly to the organised religions, especially the Abrahamic ones… which the world would be better without. One can be spiritual without religion.To me you sound like you're describing people who had similar beliefs and ideaologies as Einstein, instead of characteristics that a person in an organized religion would posses. What do you mean by new ideas and discoveries?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Non-religious people our more liberated in a sense that they can make their own decisions where as in religion,your more restricted, that was what I was trying to point out. I wasn't implying non-religious people being open to 'all' evidence you'd be opening yourself to impossible endless possibilities (depending on how you put it there). There just more ready to hear out different viewpoints.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I do not believe that it is because of religious beliefs. I believe it is because of their levels of open-mindedness. I believe that anyone who is truly looking for the truth, and not a fast answer, will look for it. But saying that religion restricts you is not true, especially if the religion is correct. I believe my religion is correct, I have not yet been confronted with unassailable evidence, in my opinion, but that doesn't mean I don't look up what other people tell me about, or try to understand it to see if it does or should change my beliefs. I've found both atheists and theists to be bigoted and/or set in their ways. I think that is just human nature. My religion does not restrict my decisions, having a religion is indeed my decision. That's the thing: religion is a choice. Agnosticism, atheism, are also choices. Choices based upon beliefs It is my opinion that it is completely fallacious to believe that religious people are less likely to be receptive of new evidence. If someone is truly open-minded they will consider all evidence and accept it or reject it as true or false. Just because I don't think your proof is true, doesn't mean I didn't consider it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah , a persons level of open-mindedness is a factor that can shape their beliefs but I also think one's religion can contribute to how open-minded someone can be. I see it my family , my brother thinks his atheist science teacher is evil for teaching his class about evolution. He just disregards the topic. The word 'Big Bang' pops up and my mother changes the subject. I see it in society too. When I was religious I was scared shitless when I was having doubts,when I had moments where I was questioning my own religion, in fear of being punished.Religion discourages this type of independent thinking. I do know that there are religious people out there who are open-minded.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Then so does any belief. Someone can be a staunch atheist and never question their beliefs. Religion doesn't discourage independent thinking. You choose your religion. You choose your beliefs. Your independence is this choice. Being apart of a religion just says "these are my beliefs". It is my opinion that Catholicism (because this is what I know most about) asks you to search for the truth, because it believes you fill find it in Catholicism. Everyone has doubts, religion just asks that you try to overcome them and answer them, hopefully through that religion. I have doubts, I just don't nurture them, I try to find the answers to them. What I mean is, when I have doubts and don't say, "oh this changes all my beliefs!" I ask, "Does this change my beliefs? Is there some sort of answer to be found? And if there is an answer, does that change my beliefs?" My whole point is that it's not because religion discourages free thought, doubts, or asking questions, it's because people don't want to have to change their beliefs. Religion believes that you will find the answers through God/through it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well then I think that neans I'm extremely rare, I've decided to be agnostic but if someone wants to tell me what they believe in I listen and see if it makes sense but as of right now not one religion I know of doesn't have one major problem with it so I just avoid religion all together.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Most religious people don't all have identical beliefs. We think and consider and question. Most people don't just take in what they've been told. If everyone did that it would be sad. Some people who were raised as atheists don't question a lot either. We need to think to learn and grow in our spirituality, or else there's no point in believing in what you do or don't.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I am speechless at how intelligently everyone is talking on this thread and no one has dissolved into mindless shouting. In regards to the topic, my parents raised my brother and I to believe anything we wanted. I believed in God when I was younger and as I grew up my faith slowly depleted, leaving me in sort of in-between area. I try and make the effort though to read about other religions and learn about them because they're honestly fascinating. I also find it helpful to know about certain religious topics because then if someone tries to say something negative about them, or use them in such a way as to hurt other people you can speak from knowledge and correct them. In my opinion I think religious classes should be more readily available so people aren't so closed minded of a huge part of history, and society. With of course a focus that the religion is a choice, because a lot of people would reject those classes as trying to brain wash people or something.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Congratulations, you have expressed an ill-considered and hackneyed opinion. I'm what you may call an Atheist, but the fact of the matter is this: your description of Religion is disgustingly unsympathetic and misconceived. Anyone who actually cares to look into the matter will discover that the venerated University tradition, the refuge of your much beloved "Science" which has done so much "good" for us all (it's inspired a lot of brilliant writers; I'll say that much at least), stems from the monastic tradition which preceded it, and which produced an enormous corpus of Theological texts comprising analysis whose rigour easily rivals that of any Scientist, despite the absence of mechanical reproduction, popular literacy or media for mass dissemination, much of which corpus survives and is studied to this day - and that's just Europe! Take a sincere look at the depth and extent of exploration in the Vedic tradition - which has continued to the present day since the Iron Age, by the way (for an unbroken discourse spanning about four thousand years) - and tell me it doesn't boggle your tiny Scientific mind.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Don’t you think, even to a small extent, that religions have this effect of discouraging followers or preventing them to have the opportunity to know of notions that don’t accord to their belief system? You know that people have been sentence to death by the Catholic Church because their ideas contradicted their faith. You know that there have been people out there who have considered other possibilities,have been looked down upon , who’ve ended up abandoning the religion that they have been brought up with,and as a result have been disowned by their parents because of it. Superstitious beliefs have existed since the dawn of men. One of the reasons why religions have existed so long is to help people make sense of events which would have otherwise been seen as incomprehensible. Another reason is because people today are still indoctrinated at a young age, when their minds aren’t fully developed. Memes are hard to defeat. (you probably heard that one before) I know Science can’t answer everything, or it is yet to solve the mysteries that astound as today.I know that religion has benefited the world in a lot of ways, like providing us with great moralistic teachings...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But humanity needs more science, not more religion, don’t you think?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

what will people think of your "science" 4000 years from now? they'll call it primitive mumbo jumbo. they'll look back and say, that was what people believed before there was science

by Anonymous 12 years ago

What are you talking about? Science is constantly changing and evolving. There is not one set of scientific beliefs that we have set in stone and will be considered stupid later on. Scientists set up hypotheses and perform experiments in order to disprove these hypotheses. If evidence arises that counters current theories, they welcome it and examine it. Years from now, scientists won't think "look at what people believed before there was science". They will say "look at how far science has come. Look at the discoveries made way back then, some of which have applications here and now, others of which have been contradicted by later evidence."

by Anonymous 12 years ago

but the ancient greeks considered there religion to be science. they had their own explanations for why certain things happened and that's what science was

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They had no evidence.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

*insert giant philisophical essay that I spent months perfecting in order argue with a bunch of strangers on the internet about religion as well as try to make myself look smarter and more well-educated than I really actually am*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

JJust becuase I'm christian I'm close-minded?

by Anonymous 12 years ago