FELLOW AGNOSTICS/ATHEISTS: Who/what is your god?

[Bossy Monkey]

My personal sense is that I use music to fill that portion of my brain, and that I may not be the only one. I think this may be the source of the passionate debates about music found here. Feel free to rebut as you see fit.

I haven't listed any deity of any religion, as this is addressed to doubters and non-believers. But there is an Other slot.

If you just can't stand the idea of calling anything god, you can always just answer the question, "Which of these are you most passionate about?" which is roughly the same thing.

[Book Lover]

1. For me, atheist *really* means no gods (nm)

[BurtWorm]

2. Not even Nabokov?

Or Literature? ;)

[Book Lover]

7. Nope!

I came to this conclusion via two trains of thought. The first, slightly snarky one goes like this: If any of the gods posited by the Western world existed, it would be obvious. Why *wouldn't* Yaweh or Rhea make his/her presence clear? Why all the coy disguises? The less snarky one goes a little like this: a long, long time ago, when we first were humans, someone looked into the sky and thought "How?" and "Why?" Someone came to the conclusion that a bigger and more powerful being, both unlike and like we humans, caused all that sky, and consequentally, the whole world, to be. I have a better, truer answer to that question. If only I could go back in time to tell it....

[Guaranteed]

13. What about things that are simply more powerful than people?

Of course, there are so many of them, it kind of defeats the point to call them all gods.

[Book Lover]

34. Well, then, what's a god?

And what kind of power do we mean? For instance, I'm alone in the forest, and I come upon a bear. It is only more powerful than me until I get a shotgun. Do I then become the god?

[alfredo]

23. God is a byproduct of our tribal instincts (genes). There always has to be

a leader to lead.


Somebody asked one day, who leads the leader? The leader not wanting to look stupid, said it is an old man on the mountain. When asked if they can talk to him, the leader says he only talks to him. They ask him if they can see him, and the leader replied that he can only be seen by him.


Not only was God created then, so was plausible deniability.






edited because God told me to.

[Book Lover]

35. I don't know that I completely agree

that we human form tribes because it's in our genes, because the function of the genome is still incompletely understood by us. If it were so, then how could any human even postulate anarchy as a political system?

But, I like your story, especially the end bit. I finally laughed at work today :-)

on edit: I just reread my post and realized that I seem to have run out of sense of humor. I'm going off to watch Monty Python and replenish...

[alfredo]

40. I feel this slipping into a free will discussion.

I tend toward the belief that anarchy and atheism are related. Can either one be treated with Zoloft®?


Glad you had a laugh at work. I am retired, I laugh a lot.

[HEyHEY]

3. My debts

They do seem to have a god-like control over my life.

[Guaranteed]

14. Yeah I'm surprised money isn't on there. n/t

[Bossy Monkey]

19. Heck, I wrote the poll and am surprised I left off Love

Oooops. And that nobody has suggested it as an Other vote yet. Aren't we a dark bunch?

I guess the thinking, such as it was at 2 am, was that so many people say that "God is Love," putting Love on would be like putting God on. But Love would be my actual answer; it's certainly all that's keeping me from jumping off something tall onto something hard at this moment.

[Guaranteed]

22. Agreed

And I'll give ya hug just for the hell of it. :pals:

[moof]

4. Oh for the day when

People stop letting themselves be defined by a term that invokes that which does not exist.

[Melsky]

5. I'm pagnostic

I don't believe in God or gods, but nature is the closest thing for me.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Frank Zappa is as close as I get to a deity....

Really, though, atheism means "NO GOD." I just don't believe in a higher power, sorry. I was raised atheist and am very comfortable with ambiguity (i.e. when I die, that's it.)

[Speck Tater]

8. I'm a Buddhist atheist. And no, that's not a contradiction.

Buddha is not a god, and when asked if god existed he always answered along the lines of "I don't know, and it doesn't matter anyway." Buddhism is a philosophy of life concerned with personal fullfillment and helping others to reach their personal fullfillment. Some so-called Buddhist sects have introduce various deities over the centuries, but pure Buddhism has no god or gods, and doesn't need or want them.

[speckledgator]

16. Hi fiziwig!

nice to see someone else understands the concept of the buddha...it's so simple really, yet so hard to explain to religious folks!

[alfredo]

25. A good book on the subject

"Buddhism Without Beliefs"

http://www.phil-books.com/Buddhism_Without_Beliefs_A_Contemporary_Guide_to_Awakening_1573226564.html

[Beaker]

9. money & television.

just like all the supposedly religious people.

[emad]

10. Isis, mother of creation and subsequent patron of all

patriarchy-induced atheists

[soleft]

11. the process of finding my bliss, at the moment it's softball

I have a suspicion that as much as we fiercely protest otherwise, most people have a white hot terror of death. The notion of no longer existing, for me, is overwelming, and because I experienced this terror at a very young age, it's like any generic anxiety feeds into that fear, and I find ways to metaphorically climb up a tree and hide from the big tiger of death.

Except for a small handful of people, I don't think anyone's solved this human dilemma yet. I don't know if anyone ever will. So my best guess, and I think many spiritual teachings, particularly the eastern ones will back me up on this, the only way to handle this is to be present in the moment, fully engaged in what your doing.

Right now I'm loving playing softball, enjoying the autumn, and making love to my girlfriend as often as possible. The moments in between are very, very frightening. But I'm trying to stay out of the tree.

[Tikki]

12. It has always been.....

so clear to me. The answer is: The forces of nature....

[kodi]

15. sentience

.

[Beetwasher]

17. I Am My Own God

and I write my own bible through my actions.

[blm]

57. Hi Zeus....

where ya been?

;)

[Shigley]

18. Politics

Honestly, my political beliefs are probably my religion. I certainly seem to spend more time on it than your average missionary or monk spends on their religion, and I beleive it just as fevrently :)

[Philostopher]

20. I was raised Evangelical Christian.

And was told God said 'thou shalt have no other gods before me.'

Well, when I realized over a course of several years that I was actually agnostic, I decided I wouldn't have any after him, either!

I'm passionate about politics and music, and wouldn't want to think what my life would be like if I didn't care about either one, but the same goes for my family and my animals, and the time I spend at the animal shelter. It's the stuff that's replaced the time I used to spend in church, and an easy ten percent of my income goes to things in that vein, so I guess those things could be said to have replaced church, if not the higher power itself.

[VermontDem2004]

21. I don't worship anything

but I love politics and sports among other things.

[dolo amber]

24. Definitely music

Nothing else has ever evoked what I suppose a *religious experience* is other than that. And the best part is I can get all of my "god" I want for free on this here interwebby thingy! :P

(Not that I would do such an immoral thing whilst worshipping my "god" as that would make me a republ...er....hypocrite. ;))

[DrWeird]

26. You gorfot the Mary Jane.

All the spiritually and ecstasy of church with out all the human sacrifice, and witch burning and the stealing of monies from old people.

[snooper2]

42. right on!

:hi:

[ironflange]

27. I'm an Atheist for Jesus!

http://www.atheistsforjesus.com

O8)

[VermontDem2004]

29. wtf?

Atheists for Jesus?

[ironflange]

51. Check the link

It makes perfect sense.


O8)

[arwalden]

28. No God. No Ghosts. No Luck. No Spirits. No Curse. No ESP. NO ASTROLOGY!

No Faeries
No magnets.
No ion-magneto bracelets.
No spoon benders.
No divining rods.
No dowsers
No auras.
No Voodoo
No fung shui
No rabbits foot.
No John Edward
No Uri Geller
No astral projection
No AFTERLIFE
No white lights
No out of body experience
No aliens
No UFOs
No abductions
No crop circles
No magic pyramids
No Adam and Eve
No great flood
No Bermuda Triangle
No Atlantis
No Perpetual motion machines
No Motionless Electromagnetic Generators
No acupuncture
No faith healing
No acupressure
No crying Mary statues
No miracles
No bleeding Jesus statues
No milk drinking statues
No reincarnation
No devils
No angels
No haunted houses
No Santa Claus
No Tooth fairy
No sandman
No easter bunny
No Saints
No Energy Crystals
No Telekinesis
No Demon Possessions
No Genii's
No Predicting the future
No foretelling dreams
No tea leaves
No fuzzy caterpillars
No farmers almanac
No prayer
No witches
No warlocks
No soothsayers
No shamans
No mediums
No Ouija boards
No crystal balls
No palm reading
No TAROT cards
No charts
No face on Mars
No Bigfoot
No Yeti
No Abominable Snowman
No Loch Ness Monster
No Polygraph
No Remote viewers
No talking coffee pots
No blindfolded newspaper readers
No Miss Cleo
No Sylvia Browne
No Entrance To Hell tape recording
No mind reading
No Nostradamus
No Time Machine
No Unicorns
No Flying horses
No werewolves
No vampires
No zombies

No no no no no!

It's all bullshit.

-- Allen

P.S. Did I forget anything? Did I insult anyone?

[VermontDem2004]

30. Me

There is too a Santa Clause! :cry:

:)

[arwalden]

33. There, there... don't cry... I was only kidding about Santa.

:hug:

[Bossy Monkey]

37. You're just mad because I put the Olson twins instead of arwalden

Sorry man, I'll try to slip you in on the next poll! :)

[arwalden]

41. Snarf! You Quack Me Up!

Did I sound mad? --- Actually, when it started to become apparent to me how LONG my list was growing to be, I started giggling out loud. I was trying to sound more "enthusiastically emphatic" rather than angry or mad.

-- Allen

[Speck Tater]

43. Not bad. Out of 83 you only got...

...21 of them wrong. ;)

(FWIW: I was a confirmed skeptic too until I spent 2 years living in a haunted house. And no, I can't prove it to you. It was my own experience and could only prove it to myself. If you wnt proof you'll have to go find your own personal experience with a ghost. Don't ask me where because I don't have a clue.)

[WillParkinson]

50. Uh...sorry bud...

But magnets DO exist. I have some on my refrigerator right now.

[arwalden]

55. LOL! -- I Should Have Been More Clear...

... I was referring to the "healing" powers of magnets.

-- Allen

(Still LOL-ing!)

[geniph]

31. I'm a pantheist

I believe all living things together (all life in the universe, not just on this little mudball) form the Divine. And worship of that force is ludicrous. We don't need to worship, we need to respect.

[VermontDem2004]

32. Exactly

We don't need to worship, we need to respect.

[soleft]

44. I think I'm a pantheist too

Which is similiar to Taoism, don't you think? Are you familiar with the Tao of Physics by Capra?

[Beaker]

47. All life in the universe form the Divine...

Are you saying that this is your god?????

[sangh0]

36. Where is the Love?

Isn't anyone interested in Love?

[Bossy Monkey]

38. See my #19 above, and I'm soooooo embarrassed

But then the thing was up almost 12 hours before anybody else noticed it was missing, so maybe I shouldn't be the only one.

[wickerwoman]

39. Other: Myself

which I guess is a branch of secular humanism. I believe that the only thing I can really even try to know, understand or control in the universe is myself so that's what I work on. Chocolate, music and sex are just ritual objects. :P

[info being]

45. The forces of evolution

Don't know if that counts.

[xJlM]

46. Life and the energy in all living things

If you think about it, life really is a great force. I believe that my purpose on this earth is to live, and help others to live. I need to have love and respect for all living things (as hard as that may be). That means, of course, that killing or harming other living things takes away from my life. As to what happens when my life is over, don't ask me. I haven't been there yet...

[Brucey]

48. I chose humanity, though that's not exactly it.

I like learning and thinking and discussing about science, art, music, travel, people, mathematics, and philosophy. I guess that fits the Humanities, but I do not get passionate about secular humanism because it's adherents spend too much time talking about the existence of god. There is no god, at least that would fit what people mean by that word, because it is impossible by definition. There could not be an all-knowing and all-powerful god, not given what we see happen every day. Science has gradually explained all the things that people once thought were mysterious and unexplainable, such as the solar system, laws of physics, gravity, light, the elements and chemical reactions, biology, heredity, etc. As a teen it was fun to talk about god, but I now find it very tedious.

[goobergunch]

49. Politics

I worship C-SPAN.

(Yes, it is scary in RL.)

[Skittles]

52. I have never needed religion

to teach me to be a good person. Or for that matter, to teach me anything.

[jokerman93]

53. I've always been partial to...

SA-TAAAAN!

[jmowreader]

54. You forgot Eric Clapton

..

[blm]

56. Dario Argento.

.