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Heathen, Pagan, Atheist...

Bu2Bu2 Posts: 1,693
edited May 2007 in A Moving Train
....Freethinker, Agnostic, Wiccan...

For those of you who don't follow any organized religion, what is your chosen term you use to describe your stance? And of the people you've had to explain it to, how many understood and/or agreed with you?

Just curious. I consider myself Agnostic, by the way. And I have to constantly explain it.
Feels Good Inc.
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  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    Astral nurse. I'm sure everyone agrees.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    i am an atheist. i explain it as having no belief in God. at all. not even a hint of doubt. most understand and disagree. some think i'm just full of shit. only 2 people i've come into contact with are in agreeance with me that i know of.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Bu2Bu2 Posts: 1,693
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    Astral nurse. I'm sure everyone agrees.

    Cate, if it isn't too personal a question, were you brought up with any religion or are/were your parents also atheist? I'm just curious.
    Feels Good Inc.
  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    I'm an atheist.
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    Bu2 wrote:
    Cate, if it isn't too personal a question, were you brought up with any religion or are/were your parents also atheist? I'm just curious.

    i grew up in a secular household even though i was christianed catholic, made my first communism and confirmation. not sure about my mum but my father who was educated by various catholic priests is an atheist. i became an atheist at age 11. before that i was agnostic at best.
    none of my own children are christianed or baptised.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • seanw1010seanw1010 Posts: 1,205
    i am an atheist. i have to say this to people a lot, and some people really respond rudely, others dont really care. i cat stand when people resond like "you are going to hell" or some stupid comment like that(people have actually said this in the past)
    they call them fingers, but i never see them fing. oh, there they go
  • AbookamongstthemanyAbookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    I'm agnostic meaning I'm not sure what is out there but I know something is.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    I'm agnostic meaning I'm not sure what is out there but I know something is.
    Back to the chat, you naughty girl! ;) *taps feet impatiently*
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • prismprism Posts: 2,440
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    I'm agnostic meaning I'm not sure what is out there but I know something is.


    really? i'm agnostic meaning I'm pretty sure that there's nothing out there but i can't prove that for sure....ha
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    angels share laughter
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
  • AbookamongstthemanyAbookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    prism wrote:
    really? i'm agnostic meaning I'm pretty sure that there's nothing out there but i can't prove that for sure....ha

    you're the half empty agnostic and I'm the half full :p
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    catefrances wrote:
    made my first communism and confirmation.

    Cool, dialectical materialism, as a sacrament! :D
  • small town becksmall town beck Posts: 6,691
    I have never really given a name to my beliefs. I believe in the possibility of a higher power but not in the sense of a God that traditional religions follow. I don't believe that a higher power would deny us pleasures that hurt no one. But I guess for fun I would call myself a heathen ;)

    btw do people really tell other people they would go to hell? I am constantly amazed at the gall and ignorance of people :(
  • AbookamongstthemanyAbookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    angelica wrote:
    Back to the chat, you naughty girl! ;) *taps feet impatiently*

    *hurries back* :D
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    small town beck wrote:
    btw do people really tell other people they would go to hell? I am constantly amazed at the gall and ignorance of people :(
    They do indeed. My daughter's mother-in-law told her that it made her very sad to think that their whole family would be going to heaven and my daughter would be in hell.
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • prismprism Posts: 2,440
    small town beck wrote:
    I have never really given a name to my beliefs. I believe in the possibility of a higher power but not in the sense of a God that traditional religions follow. I don't believe that a higher power would deny us pleasures that hurt no one. But I guess for fun I would call myself a heathen ;)

    btw do people really tell other people they would go to hell? I am constantly amazed at the gall and ignorance of people :(


    oh yeah they certainly do. both of my sisters have told me that i'm going to hell...though at least one of them finally got smart enough to stop telling me that when i told her that i was fine with that and she needed to be fine with it too because nothing she could say was going to change me. the other one can rot in hell (haha) for all i care.....she's too busy ripping off people in the name of Jesus
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    angels share laughter
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
  • small town becksmall town beck Posts: 6,691
    hippiemom wrote:
    They do indeed. My daughter's mother-in-law told her that it made her very sad to think that their whole family would be going to heaven and my daughter would be in hell.

    Some people :rolleyes: Pretty self righteous. I thought you weren't suppose to judge other people??? This actually got me thinking and I have a very dear friend and when she was two her oldest sister who was 8 was hit by a drunk driver and she was killed instantly. After the funeral someone told her mum that it was too bad that Tracey wouldn't go to heaven. Well if a fucking eight year old can't get into "heaven"??? Who the fuck can? :confused:

    I guess not me with my potty mouth :rolleyes: :p
  • small town becksmall town beck Posts: 6,691
    prism wrote:
    oh yeah they certainly do. both of my sisters have told me that i'm going to hell...though at least one of them finally got smart enough to stop telling me that when i told her that i was fine with that and she needed to be fine with it too because nothing she could say was going to change me. the other one can rot in hell (haha) for all i care.....she's too busy ripping off people in the name of Jesus


    ahhh I love the people who rip of others in the name of religion :rolleyes:. aren't they special? . When my mum was quite ill in the hospital she started asking me why I didn't go to church and then said "what would your grandfather think?" . The weird thing is that she isn't what I would consider religious.. anywho... She only said this because she knows how much I loved him and how close I was to him. so I simply told her that I think he would rather I do what I thought was right than to pretend to believe in something I didn't. I hate lying and fakeness so why pretend??? besides if all they said was true... wouldn't god already know that I don't always have "pure" thoughts ???

    did I kill this thread? :o
  • deadnothingbetterdeadnothingbetter Posts: 2,202
    prism wrote:
    really? i'm agnostic meaning I'm pretty sure that there's nothing out there but i can't prove that for sure....ha
    what's the difference between that and an atheist?
    This isn't the land of opportunity, it's the land of competition.
  • deadnothingbetterdeadnothingbetter Posts: 2,202
    prism wrote:
    oh yeah they certainly do. both of my sisters have told me that i'm going to hell...though at least one of them finally got smart enough to stop telling me that when i told her that i was fine with that and she needed to be fine with it too because nothing she could say was going to change me. the other one can rot in hell (haha) for all i care.....she's too busy ripping off people in the name of Jesus
    sounds like you and your sisters need to make up
    This isn't the land of opportunity, it's the land of competition.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    deadnothingbetter wrote:
    what's the difference between that and an atheist?

    'pretty sure' connotes some degree of doubt. atheists have no doubt whatsoever.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Bu2Bu2 Posts: 1,693
    except that I would like to believe there is something intelligent that created our planet. When you look at the intricacy of a flower, or a seashell, it just seems too beautiful to have been created randomly.

    But when it comes down to a "rational being" who has supremacy over all humans, I can't help but wonder....where the hell is that being now??
    Feels Good Inc.
  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    Athiest, I never explain myself to anybody. My favourite is when a religious client is pleased with me, and tries to attribute my good qualities to religion, and I have to burst their bubble. It's almost like I am daring them to think less of me, but since they have just praised me, it's pretty hard. They have to admit theat athiests can be good people too. It's fun being evil !!
    Music is not a competetion.
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Hard Determinist Anti-theist. But you all knew that :p
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    If I had to label my ultimate sense of purpose, I'd have to say it's "truth". Evil always has dishonesty as an accomplice. I think there are a lot of people who are in search of something "greater", but at the same time they're overlooking what is right beneath their noses.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    sponger wrote:
    If I had to label my ultimate sense of purpose, I'd have to say it's "truth". Evil always has dishonesty as an accomplice. I think there are a lot of people who are in search of something "greater", but at the same time they're overlooking what is right beneath their noses.

    Brettkeane on youtube gets a priest to say that it's God's Law to stone disobedient children and hang homosexuals. Because we are all God's property. But the priest didn't want to say this, it was all he could say to rationalize the text in the Bible. He'd sooner say that it's okay to stone disobedient children than say God's word is flawed. It's seems to me the priest stumbled upon a truth and ignored it.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    deadnothingbetter wrote:
    what's the difference between that and an atheist?

    atheists are as certain that there is no god as you are certain that there is and jesus is his son. agnostics aren't really willing to shut the door on either possibility... god or no god.
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    small town beck wrote:
    This actually got me thinking and I have a very dear friend and when she was two her oldest sister who was 8 was hit by a drunk driver and she was killed instantly. After the funeral someone told her mum that it was too bad that Tracey wouldn't go to heaven. Well if a fucking eight year old can't get into "heaven"??? Who the fuck can? :confused:

    that's an incredibly fucked up thing to say to a mother who just lost her daughter.
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    sponger wrote:
    If I had to label my ultimate sense of purpose, I'd have to say it's "truth". Evil always has dishonesty as an accomplice. I think there are a lot of people who are in search of something "greater", but at the same time they're overlooking what is right beneath their noses.

    arent you supposed to be kicking your coworker's ass on your fishing trip?
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    soulsinging wrote:
    arent you supposed to be kicking your coworker's ass on your fishing trip?

    next week. and that's only if he comes at me first.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • Thorns2010Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    I'm very confident in calling myself agnostic. Although I will be the first to point out my Catholic upbringing as being my moral center......not sure if thats the right word.

    I still haven't figured out what or how my parents raised me to be a 'good' person, but I have had many people say that I am. And the only thing I can think of that caused me to be 'good' is the teachings of the bible.

    My big beef with relgion (aside from God in genral)is, from what has been said in here already, is the constant judging of others. Clearly some people weren't paying attention in church to say the mean spirtited things they said.

    The other thing that bothers me is tolerance of others beliefs. I am of the mindset that if it works for you great. Believe in what you want, I wont hold it against you. But I've had several relationships with girls not pan out because...well, I wasn't Christian/Religous.

    I just don't understand how faith in God plays that big of role in some peoples lives that they choose to ignore people that don't agree with them.
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