Well, I don’t think we’ve had one of these yet. I searched and didn’t find one, anyway. So, if you have any questions about atheism or atheists in general, I will answer them to my best ability.
(pokes friedo in the shoulder repeatedly) So what makes you “The Atheist Guy” instead of me, huh? Huh? Huh?
Oh, come on now. I had this idea over on the Pizza Parlor at least a year ago. Don’t go claiming credit for other people’s work 
Well, hey, I ain’t gonna back down just cause y’all are too lazy to take the initiative. 
Of course you are welcome to contribute to the discussion.
Yeah, here’s a question: How come you don’t believe in a big invisible bearded old dude in the sky who loves you so much that he’ll burn you for all eternity for not believing that he sacrificed his son to himself to change rules he himself made?
What the hell’s the matter with you? Don’t you have any faith?
How do you explain the following:
Love
Sentience
Free Will
And where do you think your conscienceness goes when you die?
Do you consider Agnosticism to be foolish?
schplebordnik:
I’m not sure what you mean by “explain.” If you’re wondering where I think those things come from, well I have no idea, it’s just part of who we are. Love is probably the most important thing we have as human beings, it brings us together and allows us to feel compassion towards one another. I suppose this is advantageous from an evolutionary standpoint, but I have never searched for an “explanation” of why it exists. It just does.
When I die, I expect my consciousness to cease to exist. Consciousness is a function of our very nifty brains (and a useful function, at that) and it will stop, just like my heartbeat and ability to control my bowels.
Cuckoorex:
Nope, not at all.
I think we atheists would have a stronger religion if we were organized and had bishops and popes and weekly meetings and such. Oh, and if we passed the collection plate and built monuments and churches to ourselves.
Any Supreme Athei-Mullah applicants?
Who or what is this “God” in which you don’t believe? Is it, as Revtim so eloquently put it,
–?
Are there a variety of definitions/description of God such that, if we define God in those ways, you would disbelieve in them?
Is there anything they have in common in order for you to necessarily disbelieve in the God so defined?
Or, contrariwise, if I state that “God” means “the natural universe and the underlying principles and processes that it reveals”, do you thereby become a disbeliever in science?
How do you explain the existence of the Universe?
I mean, what was there before the Big Bang, and how did it get there?
AHunter3:
Of course, every religion describes God differently. However, it doesn’t matter particularly which God (or Gods) we’re talking about. Generally, atheism just means that one does not believe in any being or entity that is in charge of the Universe; in other words, we do not believe in anything theistic.
Also, it is important to address your point about “disbelieving” in God. This is an important aspect of atheism.
it is incorrect to say that atheists believe there is no God, or disbelieve God exists. Both of these being actual beliefs. Rather, atheists do not believe in God. This may seem like a petty semantic argument but it is an important point. The first two indicate a specific belief (that there is no God), while the last one indicates a lack of belief. This is the proper definition of atheism.
Well, if I state that “red” really means “blue” it wouldn’t change the color of my shirt. Remember that atheism is a lack of theism, and doesn’t have anything to do with the specific God of the moment.
schplebordnik:
I’m not an astrophysicist (ask Chronos 
). In short, don’t know, don’t care.
I am an atheist, never been anything else. I contend that there is no discipline “atheisim,” and therefore no one can be an “expert” on it. There is no Bible, no scripture as such. For me it is the non-belief in any deity or Supreme Being. That’s it. An atheist’s core values and beliefs stem from all sorts of things: Education, environment, family, and so on. An atheist doen’t require religion to make moral and ethical choices. Hence, different atheists may have different answers to the sort of basic questions we get asked: How can you not believe in a Supreme Being? What do you believe in? And on and on. There is no “textbook” answer to these questions, because there is no “textbook”. Each atheist is shaped by his/her environment, his/her education, and his/her personality. For example, you may think that agnosticism is not foolish. Fine. But that is just your opinion–it has no meaning in the realm of atheism, because atheism has no dogma, no governing document, no court, no body of elders to say who is right and who is wrong. Yes, I believe that there is an atheist organization out there somewhere but I have no interest in it for the reasons I’m stating here. The moment atheism becomes anything more than merely the non-belief in a Supreme Being or deity, it turns in to something that has beliefs, codes, dogma, or what have you. For example, if you believe that there should be no prayer in school, fine. But don’t lay that on the doorstep of atheisim. Say you are against prayer in school because you think it’s unconstitutional or some other reason.
Case in point: you may not be interseted in how the universe started, but I think that it is a fascinating question. We have in common that we both can’t explain it. But an interest or lack of interest in astronomy or cosmology has nothing to do with atheism!
King Rat I agree with you completely, and that is why I encoourage other atheists to contribute to their own thoughts to the thread.
The brain (consciousness) has been shown to give off energy. Energy cannot be destroyed. It merely continues to exist in a new form.
What do you say to this?
I would say Agnostics do not believe in God and Atheists believe there is no God.
Otherwise what is the difference between Atheism and Agnosticism? What do Agnostics believe if you Atheists have already occupied the “I do not believe in God” ground?
What is the difference between weak Atheism and Strong Agnosticism?
How on earth can you know that there probably isn’t a God?
You sit here on a speck of dust hurtling through an infinite void.
You have no more idea what the f*cks goin on anymore than I or anyone else has.
The idea of a God is actually no madder than the situation we know that we find ourselves in anyway.
You simply do not have enough evidence to arrive at any definite conclusions.
And if you cannot arrive at definite conclusions then you cannot be an atheist.
Websters dictionary defines Atheism as “disbelief in the existence of god”.
There are only three positions to take:
a. either you believe something
b. or you don’t have enough evidence either way
c. or you disbelieve it
b. is Agnostic, c. is Atheist.
But in order to take position c. you need to be convinced by such evidence as there is that the position you have taken is justified.
So what is your evidence to persuade me that I should adopt position c. over position b.?
The body has been shown to give off energy too, just like the brain. They’re both known as heat. It dissipates in the environment, slightly raising the ambient temperature. Do you mean that to be life after death?
I’m not trying to gang up on you, but I respectfully disagree.
atheist: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of God or Gods. (Random House Dictionary)
xanakis-re: the last part of your post–why do I need evidence to disbelieve God? It seems to me that people believe in God through faith, not because of evidence. I do not have faith and do not believe in God. And I would never bother to try and win someone over to my point of view in this matter.
Similarly, a toaster gives off heat. When you turn off a toaster, what happens? Simple–it stops producing heat, and any heat already produced radiates off into the air. Likewise, when you die, your brain stops giving off energy, and any existing energy radiates away.
The heat produced by the toaster is never destroyed. So what? That doesn’t mean that it’s the ghost of the toaster–it’s just heat.
Don’t confuse consciousness with stray energy. Your consciousness is not the stray energy emitted by your brain, any more than a toaster is heat.
The energy that the brain gives off is not heat. Maybe someone else can fill us in on the exact details but it is a form of energy that can be measured - brainwaves.
Belief in God is not entirely reliant on faith. The subject of Natural Theology deals with proofs of God that are independent of faith.
So belief has some independent evidence to support it (which you may or may not be convinced by).
But if you want me to adopt a “disbelief position” you’ll need to come up with some evidence that counters the “belief position”.
And your evidence will need to be so strong that it will convince me to abandon my “not enough evidence either way, the jury’s still out” position.