I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am an atheist, in the sense that I cannot rationally believe in God. I can't dismiss the idea that maybe there's some higher power that's beyond human comprehension or scientific explanation, but that said, I'd definitely consider myself more atheist than agnostic. That said... I still end up saying prayers from time to time, more often than not prefaced with the phrase, "If there is a God..." And often when something goes my way (like if I'm inexplicably lucky, narrowly avoid a serious injury, something like that), or if it looks as if my prayers have been "answered", I usually say thanks. I can't really explain why I do this, I guess it just gives me comfort even though I don't really think I'm talking to anybody. I was just curious if other atheists/agnostics did stuff like this.
The more atheist I got. The less I prayed. Now at the point where I never do it. In dire situations, I may ask for a little luck/serendipity from the universe, though. I do have moments of deep thought, reflection, introspection, however. Borderline spiritual experiences. They're typically used to bring about calm or enlightenment. I don't attribute anything that happens because of them to mysticism, though. It's all my doing.
Even atheists can't deny that Jesus was real. I was with this girl once who says she's atheist and afterwards I asked why she was saying "oh God" and she looked at me like I was dumb. Just too common of a phrase. I tend to think atheist that start off by saying "if there is a God", aren't FULL atheists...at least yet. There is still doubt in the back of their mind. IMO.
Not really strange at all. When we're confronted with something traumatic or beyond our comprehension, we grasp onto concepts that explain them and bring us comfort. There's an old saying, "there's no atheists in a fox hole"... which isn't an argument against atheism as much as an argument against fox holes.
No, I've never felt a need to pray. I pray with the children and when I've promised to pray for something. But I don't do it for my own sake.
Denying whether he was real or not doesn't have much to do with it. It's denial of whether he was divine or not. Most people accept that such a figure existed at some point. Hell, there's been several dozen Christ-like figures recorded through human history. A group of people that you should be shocked to find believe Jesus existed shouldn't be atheists, but rather, people of an entirely different faith. Been down this road before, but it needs to be said again, Atheism is not the belief that there is no God. That is a common misconception and popular misuse of the word. Even Webster's has it wrong. In other words, bald is not a hair color.
Wouldn't praying as an atheist be related to those religious followers who are only following, just in case.......??? DD
Every once in a while, maybe twice since I've been an atheist (8 months), I will pray out of respect for others beliefs - such as praying for dinner when I'm with my grandpa and he asks if I'll pray for the food. I'll do it simply because I don't feel the need to make an issue of my disbelief. But of course I don't think the prayer is going to do anything. Also, perhaps once a month, I'll do a little "God, if you're there please show yourself to me!" prayer. I really don't think there's a god, but since I'm so surrounded by believers the idea of god is ever-present. I have had many discussions and debates - and sometimes I feel like I'm getting so into it that I would argue away god even if he was real. I don't want to do this. I want to remain open to the evidence. I want to remain open if he does exist. I can't imagine how such a being would ever exist nor do I see any evidence of him (nor have I seen any evidence of him ever in my life), but if God is real in some magical form where he actually is all-loving and all-caring and for whatever reason my mind can't grasp Him, then I sure as hell don't want my mind to be the roadblock. I would sure love to know Him. So yeah, I will do a "if you're real, please reveal" prayer when I feel like I'm being too harsh in my stance in discussions with believers.
http://www.nazarethmyth.info/Fitzgerald2010HM.pdf I won't say that he was real or wasn't real. I just don't know... there certainly isn't 'overwhelming' evidence to suggest he was real.
Can't tell if stupid, or just a little stupid. Who is anyone to say an entire group of people can or can't deny someone is real?
i yell "jesus ****ing christ" a lot when i'm angry... does that count? but that only started when "The Sopranos" hit the airwaves 10 years ago and Tony and Paulie and Silvio used that phrase every 10 minutes. It just sort of seeped into my brain and stayed there as a curse word.
