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Am I an atheist?

Am I an atheist?


  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .

sugnim

Member
Am I an atheist?

I attend church weekly, and am involved in committees and small groups there. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, the ones about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable. I don't believe Jesus performed any supernatural miracles or that he raised from the dead. I feel a deep sense of spiritual connection to other people, animals, and plants. I believe that the universe emanated from a single source, and that everything and everyone is connected in a real and profound way. But, I don't believe there is an external spirit being who exists separate from corporeal, living beings. When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future. And it is this concept of "God" which I believe compels us to care for one another as ourselves. I do not believe there is any being who can hear or answer prayers. And, I do not believe in any kind of afterlife outside of memory, legacy, and decomposition which feeds other life. Am I an atheist?
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
but more seriously

there were Jews who did not believe in resurrection

makes you wonder how any belief in a Spirit could gel

and they questioned the Carpenter about a puzzle they had contrived

do you recall His words?
 

The Reverend Bob

Fart Machine and Beastmaster
You can be both a Christian and an atheist. Look up non-realistic Christian and Christian atheist for your edification
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Am I an atheist?

I attend church weekly, and am involved in committees and small groups there. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, the ones about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable. I don't believe Jesus performed any supernatural miracles or that he raised from the dead. I feel a deep sense of spiritual connection to other people, animals, and plants. I believe that the universe emanated from a single source, and that everything and everyone is connected in a real and profound way. But, I don't believe there is an external spirit being who exists separate from corporeal, living beings. When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future. And it is this concept of "God" which I believe compels us to care for one another as ourselves. I do not believe there is any being who can hear or answer prayers. And, I do not believe in any kind of afterlife outside of memory, legacy, and decomposition which feeds other life. Am I an atheist?
You didn't give enough options, so I couldn't choose one.
  • No, you are not an atheist.
  • No, you are not a theist.
  • No, you are not something that should be dismissed.
You are a lot like me. You care about this stuff. :)
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
Honestly, i think the question is easier to answer framed in this way:

Am I not an Atheist? Meaning... it's easier to tell if a person is a Theist, than it is to determine if a person is an Atheist.

Atheism is a non-belief, so, it's a big tent.
 

siti

Well-Known Member
I think you have elements of several ways of viewing things (which we probably all do anyway) - maybe just avoid trying to label yourself??? However,...

...FWIW - your evaluation of Jesus seems very like Thomas Jefferson's - he was probably best described as a Christian Deist - deists reject supernaturalism and revelation as you do - but often also reject organized religion - which you seem not to do. Jefferson had great respect for the teachings of Jesus but rejected the miracles. You might be aware that he took a knife (literally) to the Gospels, cutting out all the unbelievable bits and ended up with what became known as the "Jefferson Bible".

Your connectedness thing sounds a bit pantheistic - pantheists believe that God is everything that exists - and since you don't have room for an external deity, that seems a reasonable label for that part of your thinking, but also the bit you said about everything emerging from the Big Bang and connecting that with God being part of all of us is more like pandeism - which essentially holds that God ceased to exists as a separate entity by becoming the universe.

You certainly don't sound like an atheist to me. Maybe you can be - if you really want to label yourself - something like a Christian Pandeist...I suspect that particular combo might not have actually been suggested before but there are probably quite a few around who share (roughly) that balance of ideas though - if they think about it.
 

Milton Platt

Well-Known Member
Am I an atheist?

I attend church weekly, and am involved in committees and small groups there. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, the ones about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable. I don't believe Jesus performed any supernatural miracles or that he raised from the dead. I feel a deep sense of spiritual connection to other people, animals, and plants. I believe that the universe emanated from a single source, and that everything and everyone is connected in a real and profound way. But, I don't believe there is an external spirit being who exists separate from corporeal, living beings. When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future. And it is this concept of "God" which I believe compels us to care for one another as ourselves. I do not believe there is any being who can hear or answer prayers. And, I do not believe in any kind of afterlife outside of memory, legacy, and decomposition which feeds other life. Am I an atheist?

If you believe in a god or gods, you are a theist or deist, or pantheist....etc. If you lack a belief in any gods, you are an atheist. It sounds like you are calling physical reality (nature) god for some reason. I see no reason to rename it with a word that carries extra baggage.
 

Unguru

I am a Sikh nice to meet you
When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future.

Sounds like a loose form of pantheism.
 

Unguru

I am a Sikh nice to meet you
I don't believe in the old man on a cloud "God" either.
That is just a cartoon caricature that Atheists spread to mock Theists.
99% of Theists (even Polytheists) don't believe in that. All that is, is the appeal-to-ridicule fallacy projected onto any given theistic religious position.

Monotheist
Deist
Pantheist
Panentheist
Polytheist
Monist

None of them believe in that. I certainly don't either and Monotheism is my life.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Am I an atheist?

I attend church weekly, and am involved in committees and small groups there. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, the ones about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable. I don't believe Jesus performed any supernatural miracles or that he raised from the dead. I feel a deep sense of spiritual connection to other people, animals, and plants. I believe that the universe emanated from a single source, and that everything and everyone is connected in a real and profound way. But, I don't believe there is an external spirit being who exists separate from corporeal, living beings. When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future. And it is this concept of "God" which I believe compels us to care for one another as ourselves. I do not believe there is any being who can hear or answer prayers. And, I do not believe in any kind of afterlife outside of memory, legacy, and decomposition which feeds other life. Am I an atheist?
Most certainly my good sir.

It's the sworn duty of every atheist to be just like God.

For it is written in the good book, Isaiah chapter 45 verse 5.

"I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me".

How no other choice words have been spoken. There truly is no other God apart from me.

Amen.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Am I an atheist?

I attend church weekly, and am involved in committees and small groups there. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, the ones about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable. I don't believe Jesus performed any supernatural miracles or that he raised from the dead. I feel a deep sense of spiritual connection to other people, animals, and plants. I believe that the universe emanated from a single source, and that everything and everyone is connected in a real and profound way. But, I don't believe there is an external spirit being who exists separate from corporeal, living beings. When I talk about "God," I mean the unifying connection that is part of all of us, the fact that we all came from the same big bang and share a common future. And it is this concept of "God" which I believe compels us to care for one another as ourselves. I do not believe there is any being who can hear or answer prayers. And, I do not believe in any kind of afterlife outside of memory, legacy, and decomposition which feeds other life. Am I an atheist?

Although you talk about God as being this or that you do not see him as a Supreme Being with a personality and a mind etc.

Therefore, I'd say you are an atheist
 

HonestJoe

Well-Known Member
Am I an atheist?
Does it matter? What difference would it make to you whether you attributed that label to yourself or not? If someone ever needed to know your position on the existence of gods, a single word wouldn’t really help them (and could well give them an entirely different perception of you). You be much better off giving the kind of longer explanation you’ve given here.
 
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