One cannot be simultaneously an agnostic and an atheist. Furthermore I reject the term atheist for it is Christian in nature. And, pretty incorrect.
Atheists love the world more than religious do and we do it all on our own without mythical forgiveness or mythical Promises of streets paved with gold. The true atheist is in fact just a humanist. We should be more comfortable with that terminology yet atheism simply should be the status quo. There should be no word for it but words describing it such as patriotic, truly faithful, enlightened, joyful. These idiots have had at least recorded history but probably many hundreds of thousands of years before that of doing things there which doctor primal great ape way. It has led to constant ebb and flow of human indecency and travesties based on who was in power and what their faith was.
We are right, for Christ's sake lol and it is odd that even in the Christian Bible when the Pharisees came and said one of the law one of the law Jesus said I have a new commandment for you. It was simply love one another. Jesus it would appear had far less face in his mysticism then the followers who of course perpetuated the travesty established in his name for their own nefarious purposes. And Bing Bang Boom I'm 13 years old sleeping under an intersection because I won't go to church. And ironically this Christian world is not kind to 13 year olds sleeping under intersections. There is not a day of my existence where I do not see someone who claims to be a Christian doing a horror riffic activity. They have had their time and have royally screwed the pooch to put it mildly. To put it in terms of actuality would require adjectives which the human language does not possess that can adequately convey the sadness of such a scenario. The time for understanding is over. The time for Bloodshed is over the time for War is Over. We as the truly faithful now have a responsibility to spread the truth wherever possible and when idiots Christian tries to make everybody pray at the restaurant I'll be damned if I'm not only going to say no I'm going to insist that it did not happen because guess what. Religion belongs in your church and your home if anywhere at all. By displaying such Behavior you are forcing your religion on others and I will not participate. And do not call yourself agnostic just to appease your Christian relatives. What did they ever do for you but laugh at you as if you were foolish or even questioning God. When in reality they are the fools.
This is not a call to war that is their terminology and that is for religion. An atheist knows that we are all we got and to destroy one another is simply ridiculous
Well, to take this in order (for the umpteenth time). One can surely be agnostic & an atheist at the same time. I consider myself an agnostic atheist (among other things). One is a statement of belief (atheism) & the other is a statement of knowledge (gnosticism). I do not believe any of the claims for any god that I have heard, mostly for lack of proof & evidence, but also because the 'stories' of these gods on the whole are abhorrent! I do not know for a fact, however, & cannot prove, that no god exists, tho it sure seems that at the very least none is needed.
The term 'atheist' pre-dates xtianity. It not only is of Greek origin, but was a term actually used in Greece well before the 'life' of a Jesus of Nazareth. Read up on the life & especially death of Plato to get an idea of this.
What is a "true atheist"? Unless you go by just the bare bones definition, which it doesn't seem you do (the lack of a belief in any god(s), period), that seems it would change & depend on each individual's personal definition. & not all atheists are Humanists by any means, tho I personally ascribe to about everything stated in "The Affirmation of Humanism: A Statement of Principles" (Paul Kurtz).
I deeply sympathize for your experiences as a youth. I spent some time homeless, but not at such a young age.
I agree that I would not passively partake of a prayer in a public space like that, but the extent my reaction would be dependent on the occasion being 'celebrated' & the attendees. Ie: if it was after the funeral of a religious friend I likely would be much more muted in my reaction. Context counts, sometimes.
I also agree that the history of religions on the whole have been harmful & negative, & for the human species to truly grow up I think we need to shed superstitions like this or face the very real possibility of destroying ourselves!
While I agree with much of the sentiment you express, I think you really need to check your definitions. Yes, one can be both atheist and agnostic at the same time. Atheism is the lack of belief in deity. Agnosticism is simply the belief that one cannot (at least at this time) know for sure. Those two concepts are not mutually exclusive. The term "atheism" is NOT Christian in origin; it is non-belief in all gods. Finally, it's inaccurate to claim that a true atheist is a humanist. Many atheists are selfish jackasses (just like many religious) who do not embrace humanist values at all. Atheism is a negative in the sense that it rejects gods. Humanism is an affirmation of some pretty specific values.
I agree with you entirely. I prefer to myself a nontheist rather than atheist. Atheist is now used as a derogatory term by some religious types. As I am also a Humanist, that is how I usually describe myself if I’m asked.
I agree. I call myself an atheist most of the time, but I'm really an agnostic and an atheist.