What do atheists "believe" in ?

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

A simple enough question, but the answer/s could be anything but simple... 

Now to make things a little more interesting,  .... "non" atheists [that is theists-agnostics ] are also welcome to express their opinions... 

PLEASE NOTE !
Only "mentally mature" people [grown ups] are allowed to comment...This should help to prevent any "childish" behaviour that as a habit of arising in some threads...

Remember many "religious" people also  believe "Faith should be "tempered" by reason!" just thought I'd throw this into the mix... 

Metta Zenda

[umop ap!sdn]

Only what can be demonstrated through the scientific method. Well, and of course a system of ethics.

I've often tried to wrap my head around the notion of there being no afterlife and it's difficult. I mean sure I've been anesthetized and it should be easy to imagine it being like that but I woke up so something came next.... I can't imagine there not being a "something next".

Dàwkbua
Atheist in the godless sense but agnostic about spirituality

[Anatta]

Only what can be demonstrated through the scientific method. Well, and of course a system of ethics.

I've often tried to wrap my head around the notion of there being no afterlife and it's difficult. I mean sure I've been anesthetized and it should be easy to imagine it being like that but I woke up so something came next.... I can't imagine there not being a "something next".

Dàwkbua
Atheist in the godless sense but agnostic about spirituality

Kia Ora Dawkbua,

Nice one I like that...BTW is the writing beneath your avatar "Thai", it looks like it's a southeast Asian language...

Metta Zenda

[Sephirah]

Speaking personally, I don't believe the existence of something beyond death is reliant on there being a God. I believe in the former, but not the latter.

[Lee]

I believe that it's pretty darned amazing how things manage to exist and live without a higher being orchestrating everything.  The mechanics of the universe and their complexity add more than enough wonder to my life.

[tekla]

I believe that most 'atheists' are in fact 'agnostics'.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

And  "Some atheists also criticise the use of the term agnosticism as functionally indistinguishable from atheism!" Now that's interesting.... 

Metta Zenda

[tekla]

I was subjected to 12 years of highly religious schooling, and so I've got a pretty bright line definition between those two terms.  Most of the people I've met who are atheist in the sense that they don't believe in any god as ever described by humans are highly educated people in the sciences, arts and liberal arts, and though they don't ascribe to that notion, they do not dispute the idea that there are no doubt forces well beyond our understanding - and perhaps forever beyond our knowing - existing in a vast universe that we are just beginning to comprehend the extent of .  They are not egoists.  They are just not too much for bronze age stories being taken as eternal truth.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

So this would make them "agnostic-atheists" or if you like "open minded atheism" open minded as in there more to life that meets the eye... Which is what I personally subscribe to...

However, I don't subscribe to the possibility of extra terrestrial intelligent life forms...  I know my mind too well for any notions of this kind to remain a permanent fixture...It just can not accommodate such ridiculous ideas...

Super-natural energies yes, out of this universe no...In other words, I put aliens in the same basket as gods, fairies, angels, unicorns and other supernatural beings = The out basket... I'm no basket case... 

But then that's just "my" mind at work, how others choose to see things is how others see things...And they have every right to do so...

People can view my personal beliefs as somewhat ridiculous, and I don't "mind" one bit, in fact I'd still respect the person if they do...I know what I know and am comfortable with this knowledge... that is "knowledge" that comes from actual experience...

Well I guess that's "me" in a "nut"shell     

Metta Zenda    

[VeryGnawty]

And  "Some atheists also criticise the use of the term agnosticism as functionally indistinguishable from atheism!"

Ludicrous.  Atheism is the lack of belief in gods.  Agnosticism is the lack of proper knowledge to form a conclusion either way.

[tekla]

I never even implied aliens, which would not necessarily be god like, I said forces well beyond our understanding.  That such forces would have cause, or purpose, or senescence or simply exist as forces themselves, who knows?

[Lee]

I would be skeptical of anyone who says "There is no god."  To me the evidence is greatly against the presence of a higher being, but it cannot be completely disproven.  I guess I would fall under "agnostic atheist."  I believe that there is no god, but I accept the possibility that my belief may be wrong.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

"In ancient Greece, the word for "god" was "theos". Obviously, if "theos" meant god, then there would need to be a word that meant the opposite. By putting "a" in front of "theos" the word "atheos" was formed, which means "no god". In Greek "a" can also mean "without", although I think in this case "no" makes more sense. Taken this way a person that says, "no god(s)", is making a denial of the existence of god(s). Any confusion about whether it meant "without belief in god(s)", as modern atheists claim, would not have been a consideration at this point in time. It was simply a denial of god(s) existence.
These two words, "theos" and "atheos" are the root words from where we get "theism" and "atheism": "ism" means; "Greek -ismos; orig. suffix of action or of state, forming nouns from verbs.!"

So you could very well be right VeryG,  after all in ancient Greek language "a" =without and "gnosis" =knowledge

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"However, I don't subscribe to the possibility of extra terrestrial intelligent life forms...   I know my mind too well for any notions of this kind to remain a permanent fixture...It just can not accommodate such ridiculous ideas!"

The paragraph directly above was not an  "accusation" aimed at your scientific friends Tekla,  I was just following on with where I stand regarding my personal beliefs...

But I can see how it could be misread, if one thinks it's all meant to relate to what they have said...

Metta Zenda    

[tekla]

In the book 2001, Bowman, before he vanishes, says: "The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God—it's full of stars!"  People who have been watching the stuff tranmitted from Hubble and Chandra over the last 10+ years has seen the size of the universe increase to fantastic dimensions.

We now know that our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 200 to 400 billion stars (give or take).

The most current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe, each of which has hundreds of billions of stars. A recent German supercomputer simulation put that number even higher: 500 billion. In other words, there could be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way.

The notion that we are alone in the universe is highly doubtful.  But the distances make any contact seem doubtful too, as least in our current understanding of time/space.

[Padma]

I think the fact that people care so much whether there's "anyone out there" (whether we're talking about gods or aliens or "other") is way more interesting than whether there's "anyone out there" .

I don't have a problem believing there are beings of a different order to us in the same way that we're bigger than ants and amoebae and so on - but if such beings exist and any of them think they "made everything", I think they're deluding themselves.

In the end, this is why I'd rather call myself a non-theist than an atheist - because I think it really doesn't matter enough, it's a distraction from the amazingness of even just the observable beautiful complexity of the universe(s), never mind what we can't even see beyond that. My personal belief is that theism is a manifestation of longing for parents to be still running the show once we've grown up. And I hope I'm right, but that's because I had bad parents! Either way, as a friend of mine said once, "For all practical purposes, 'all sentient beings' is whoever you're with at the time" so whether we believe in deities or not is completely irrelevant to whether we live in a way that adds happiness or suffering to the world we inhabit. Or so I choose to believe.

[tekla]

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/galactic/galactic.jpg

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/stephq/stephq.jpg

[Anatta]

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/galactic/galactic.jpg

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/stephq/stephq.jpg

Kia Ora Tekla,

Thanks for that... Those photos just gave me a "flashback" from my acid days 

Metta Zenda

[Padma]

They took me back to my days as a god... good times... .

[Anatta]

In the book 2001, Bowman, before he vanishes, says: "The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God—it's full of stars!"  People who have been watching the stuff tranmitted from Hubble and Chandra over the last 10+ years has seen the size of the universe increase to fantastic dimensions.

We now know that our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 200 to 400 billion stars (give or take).

The most current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe, each of which has hundreds of billions of stars. A recent German supercomputer simulation put that number even higher: 500 billion. In other words, there could be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way.

The notion that we are alone in the universe is highly doubtful.  But the distances make any contact seem doubtful too, as least in our current understanding of time/space.

Kia Ora Tekla,
 
It could all be just an illusion! Just like my acid trip... all in the mind 

Metta Zenda

[Padma]

Kia Ora Tekla,
 
It could all be just an illusion! Just like my acid trip... all in the mind 

Metta Zenda

...like the gods .