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I am religious and believe in free will

71 (27.7%)

I am religious and do not believe in free will

10 (3.9%)

I am not religious and believe in free will

114 (44.5%)

I am not religious and do not believe in free will

61 (23.8%)

Total Members Voted: 251

[Leafsnail]

As a Christian (Presbyterian) what books and other media do you recommend to learn more about atheist beliefs, and to learn where an Atheist worldview is based off of?

Atheism is defined purely by the lack of a belief rather than any specific movement, so there's not really any way to learn either of these things.  Realistically you could probably work out what some popular humanist movements and writers think.

[Baffler]

I probably wouldn't really recommend Nietzsche to someone curious about atheism, though, roughly in the same sense I wouldn't recommend Dawkins. N's a bit heavier than someone wanting an initial primer probably wants to deal with. There's definitely a few folks that fall under the general umbrella of existentialism (Well, re: Nietzsche, anyway. I forget what dawkins is besides an acerbic atheist and somewhat iffy writer on the philosophy of biology) that could provide some interesting words on the subject, though. I can't actually recall any of them at the moment, but they're out there.

They're also both massive assholes, by all accounts.

[TD1]

Why is it always Helgo that agrees with me?!?!?

Closet right-winger

All you need to do is give Helgo a smaller regard of religion in society and he mirrors my views. Tweak his politics a bit, and I'd probably end up agreeing.

Damn it Helgo, why do you have to be so...amicably agreeable!

[GannonDork]

As before, Humanist/Atheist. If you want to, you can label me "Angry Atheist" or "New Atheist" or "Dawkins Atheist" or whatever. I have no use for the supernatural whatsoever.

As a Christian (Presbyterian) what books and other media do you recommend to learn more about atheist beliefs, and to learn where an Atheist worldview is based off of?

I shall overlook the "belief" bit....

This is not an easy thing to answer, as Atheism is not "centralised" around any set of ideals or figureheads.

Well, anything by Dawkins, Sam Harris, Lawrence Krauss, Hitchens or David G. MacAfee would be a good starting point. Atheism is not like theistic thinking, in that there are no real guidelines, or core dogmatic principles, save for the rejection of gods as a hypothesis. That is the sole world view. Everything else is optional and down to the individual. Basically, for me, my agnostic Atheism is a secondary function of being a rationally sceptical scientific thinker. It is a conclusion based on evidence, or a lack of evidence for competing claims. Maybe hang around on David G MacAfee's facebook page (it is a lot less unpleasant than most other theist/athiest discussion pages, and more concerned with rational scepticism rather than picking holes in any particular religion - you might even find me on there ), or have a look around on YouTube for some of Hitchens' legendary debates. FWIW Dawkins is a massive jerk (yeah, he says a lot of sensible things, but in a really unpleasant manner), but Hitchens had a sort of calm assurance about him that is less off putting.

Thanks for the help man. 

[Bohandas]

Voodoo demons? Bah.

(Seriously though voodoo and its accompanying forms are pretty interesting if you can cut through most of the new age stuff that has recently been rather randomly placed on top. I wrote a paper on it for a final in one of my recent religions class. )

How is it that New Age bullshit keeps getting smeared on absolutely everything? It's a real problem.

[Descan]

It's so fluffy and sticky that it adheres very well to any philosophical, metaphorical, or spiritual surface.

[freeformschooler]

Why is it always Helgo that agrees with me?!?!?

Closet right-winger

All you need to do is give Helgo a smaller regard of religion in society and he mirrors my views. Tweak his politics a bit, and I'd probably end up agreeing.

Damn it Helgo, why do you have to be so...amicably agreeable!

One more amicable post and he'll have us all converted to Catholicism. Be on guard.

Speaking of which, I attended an RCIA meeting this week to find out whether they eat babies or not. Results are inconclusive, but there sure are a lot of Latino Catholics.

GannonDork: If it hasn't been recommended already, Carl Sagan should be on the list as well. Yes, he's not a popular figurehead for New Atheism (whatever that means), and yes, his image is bandied about on le reddit, but he had this wonderful warm, humble manner of speaking. Sagan wrote and spoke extensively on religion, atheism, and metaphysical naturalism, and it would do anyone good to experience some of his work.

[scrdest]

You're glad you're euphoric because of some phony god's blessing?

When did I say phoney?

That was a reference to a meme. 'At this moment, I'm euphoric' etc. etc.

[Helgoland]

Why is it always Helgo that agrees with me?!?!?

Closet right-winger

All you need to do is give Helgo a smaller regard of religion in society and he mirrors my views. Tweak his politics a bit, and I'd probably end up agreeing.

Damn it Helgo, why do you have to be so...amicably agreeable!

The thing is that we actually agree on most issues, except for the importance of the nation and our stance on immigrants. Since both are fairly unimportant in most discussions, they rarely come up.
Did you know that Orwell was quite a conservative chap when it came to little things? He may have been a socialist, but fuck the metric system.

[That Wolf]

Nice reading, seems to go in circles though. One quoting another quoting another quoting a dead guy quoting his mother.
All major "organised religions" are about getting to godhead and being a good person and learning your individual place in one grand entity.
The Bhagavad-Gita is the most, and dare I say scientificly spiritual calm down and logical in the major religions and has some good reading.
Some personal spiritual experiences changed me and my life for the better.
Im very accepting of the fact that our life is finite and my our death is around the corner.
Ive learnt to love life and the creatures in it, I still kill my brothers for sustenence, and you cannot live without killing (even plants and micro organisims live)
Ive felt much in the way of love and despair, and I would suggest some paths for all that believe they are ready. The first is to get people you love, an area you enjoy and psilocybin small dose.
And enjoy the company you are with.

And yes im a normal person and you wouldnt look at me twice if you walked past me...
Well maybe im pretty sexy

[UXLZ]

He may have been a socialist, but fuck the metric system

The metric system is the only system.

Some personal spiritual experiences changed me and my life for the better.

I'm glad that it changed your life better, but what makes events 'spiritual?' What made those events different from others?

[TD1]

I would assume that they had a religious message or figure in them. Or, that they had an emotional feeling which was linked with a religious message or figure.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

(Just speaking for myself)
Events that I would call spiritual are things like when you are almost guarenteeay going to die and something out of nowhere saves you.
Random realizations
(And for some people) visions
Others include just amazing and unexplainable things

[TD1]

Well, unexplainable things like what?

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Things you can't find an explanation to
There's not really any criteria to it
It can be quite a few things

E: things not thinks