XPost: sci.archaeology, sci.astro, alt.messianic   
   From: Kenthz@comcast.net   
      
   Mark Isaak wrote:   
      
   > On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:40:57 -0700, Linda Lee wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >>[...]   
   >>Since fear of God (and God's punishment) is the reason many atheists   
   >>reject God, yes, a night spent experiencing the supernatural would   
   >>probably be a very terrifying night for such people.   
   >   
   >   
   > You are greatly ignornant on the subject of atheism.  Fear of God's   
   > punishment could be a reason for rejecting God, but rejecting God does   
   > not equate to disbelieving in God.  In fact, one logically must *not* be   
   > an atheist in order to believe in God enough to fear him.   
   >   
   > On the other hand, rejection of God can lead, over time, to ignoring God,   
   > which can become a sort of atheism by default.   
   >   
   > On the third hand, fear of God's punishment is an extremely rare reason   
   > for rejecting God.  At least, I have never heard of it happening.  A much   
   > more common reason for rejecting God is hatred of God for what he has   
   > done.  Usually this happens when people who are raised to believe that   
   > God is Good have bad things happen to them, despite their sincere   
   > prayers.  The God they were promised was demostrably not there.  Of   
   > course, the problem is more with the promises than with God, but it's not   
   > like "God is good" is a fringe belief.   
   >   
   > Getting back to atheism, there are three main reasons (that I know of)   
   > why people choose it.  The first is similar to the above reason for   
   > rejecting God, except more impersonal.  The theists say that a God has   
   > certain qualities which people can observe, those qualities are not   
   > observed, ergo God does not exist.   
   >   
   > The second is probably the most common.  Quite simply, there is no reason   
   > philosophically to expect a god.  Yes, there are plenty of so-called   
   > proofs of God, but they were debunked centuries ago.  Today, they are   
   > only used by the faithless to try to convince themselves.   
   >   
   > The third reason is the main reason why I became an athiest: the theists   
   > showed me, by their words and actions, that atheism was the morally   
   > superior position.  Consider, for example, Nomen's quote: "I truly   
   > believe someone has to be insane not to believe in God the Creator ..."   
   > I simply do not want to be around someone filled with as much bigotry as   
   > he is.   
   >   
   > Note that I am not saying that these are good reasons, nor am I trying to   
   > convince anyone.  I simply offer these observations in hopes that they   
   > help you understand atheists better.   
      
   Atheists believe in God.  The belief is inherent in the   
   human condition... cognizance demands it.  There is no   
   choice in the matter.  The only choice is in choosing to   
   accept or reject Him.  This is a moral decision based on the   
   strength of the individual's dependence on their base   
   desires.   Those who accept God are prone to be discomforted   
   by those lower desires and would suppress them when they   
   can.  Those who reject God tend to feel discomforted when   
   they are advised by conscience to put limits on expressing   
   those same base desires freely at their own discretion.   
      
   Formal religions are based on the natural defense mechanism   
   that promotes collectivization of like attitudes toward   
   man's imagined perceptions of his own and the world's   
   fallibility.  Some religions make their deity so much like   
   themselves that their adherents see themselves as gods,   
   empowered by the convenient but false tenet of Relativism,   
   to do as they will regardless of any constraints imposed by   
   God's absolute morality.  Among the man is god religions is   
   the religion of Atheism.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)