Hi from England.
Offline Hi, my names Dean, a 44 year old guy from England. I grew up singing hymns in school, saying prayers and doing the normal things you do as a child. Up until a couple of years ago I would have called myself a Christian then maybe an agnostic. I thought I would read the Bible to see what I thought. By the time I got to the last Amen in Revelation I was an atheist. I don't think there is a better book to promote atheism than the Bible when it's read completely. Since then I have read Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and I also love the style of Dan Barker. I have listened to hundreds of hours of mp3 debates and find the whole subject fascinating. I am now a bit of a Bible geek. The Jehovah's Witness's keep coming round to me because they say they learn things. Hoping to learn more, that's why I thought I would join this forum.
Cheers
Dean.
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Welcome to the forum. I am a fan of Hitchens and Dawkins and also a former believer. I think you'll like it here. There is a wellspring of information for all of us Atheists on here. Hope you enjoy it here as much as I do.
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno
I'm not moving to England any time soon, as long as it is ruled by Rupert Murdoch. Yea, like I am one to talk, we have one network here in the states ruling the republican party.
Glad that more and more people are exposing Murdoch as the greedy bastard he and his monopoly are. That man has absolutely no fucking ethics.
You know what I hate about Brits? Same thing I hate about Australians, your accents are too damned sexy. Americans have fucked up ignorant sounding accents. You have your Yo Vinny goodfella accent. Your urban gangsta accent, and our trailer trash redneck accent,
You make me sick sounding like James bond, You could weigh 500 lbs and have a huge beer belly and with that accent still get laid.
Me, no such luck. I couldn't get laid in a whorehouse. But we kicked your ass in the Revolutionary war.
(note to self: Did I think this, or type it)
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
OK everybody lets hear it for Dean, Hi iii Dean ! LOL, were all in AA or NA, just kidding, anyhow,so 'Welcome to the Machine' !
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Hey, welcome, from the other side of the globe (Australia).
Do you have much regret or feeling of those 'wasted' years as a believer?
But hey, better late than never!
I never believed, going from just not taking it much more seriously than Santa or the Tooth Fairy, to "How could any serious, moderately informed person take that sh*t seriously?"
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
Welcome, Dean.
If you like debates, you'll love it around here.
Theists get taken to task rather quickly around here.
It's fun to watch them attempt to justify their beliefs.
It's like 'Reality TV', but without the picture and sound...lol
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
Hi, looking back it's a bit odd. I was never a serious Christian, it was never really talked about by my parents and we didn't go to church. However I got religious stories from my Grandmother and I have early memories of Jesus stories at school. When someone tells you something as a small child is is difficult to throw it away and I think it sits in your subconcious. I have always enjoyed science and think I'm a logical person but I even up to my thirties I felt 'blasphemous' if I said anything against God or the Bible. Reading the Bible cured that feeling.
Ok, so it sounds like it didn't particularly get in the way of you doing what you wanted or following what interested in you.
Even I had apparently some lingering feeling of inherent 'respect' for religious beliefs, which I only felt purged of a few years ago after they were activated by a pleasant and friendly conversation with a believer.
I churned over them for a few days, both consciously and, I suspect, sub-consciously, and finally resolved them in a nearly 'spiritual' experience of finally feeling free of that last lingering anxiety.
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
Actually my lingering uncertainty went last year in a 'road to Damascus' moment. My 18 year old daughter fell off of her bicycle and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. When we arrived she was bleeding heavily from her ear and we were told that she had serious multiple skull fractures. She had a CT scan to see if she had bleeding in her brain and me and my wife had to sit there waiting for the result. At that point it was not clear if she was going to make it.
Theists say that there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. Well this was my foxhole moment. This is when you pray, I was about to and stopped. I remember thinking to myself 'there is no point,there is nobody listening'. My 'road to Damascus' moment.
Luckily she has made a full recovery. One of the doctors said it was 'miraculous'. If I had prayed it would have been all the evidence I needed. I would have been a real pain in the arse Christian.
Welcome Dean.
Total agree with you about reading the bible. The more I read it the more trouble I had with it which the "good" church said I was the problem and needed to stop thinking and pray more. I kept thinking eventually I could force to make myself believe it. FAIL. And that is the best failure I ever did in my life.
My grandmother gave me a bible when I was young and in it she wrote "this book will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from this book".
What a laugh, eh?
That is so funny about the Witness' learning from you. Do you ruffle their feathers at times?
Religion Kills !!!
Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com/
I forget who, but one person on here has a signature that reads "There are no theist on operating tables". Love it.
Why would a believer go to a doctor? Don't they have faith in their invisible sky daddy?
Religion Kills !!!
Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com/
welcome to the forum
I had a couple of JW's come to my door yesterday. It was showing signs of possibly becoming an interesting 'discussion' - I didn't come out and say I was an atheist, but started to engage with their questions about the terrible state of the world, planning to lead them on and then hit 'em with something, but my phone rang, and I had to leave them to go on to their next victim.
Damn...
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
Hi, and welcome. I am not an evolutionary biologist, but I enjoy reading in that subject. So I often take on those debates. I've read a little Dawkins, Shermer, Dan Barker and Robert T Pennock. They were interesting, but I have moved on to different subjects and so I have missed Harris and Hitchens. Too many books, not enough time.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
cj if you don't get time to read Hitchens he is well worth listening to. This link has hundreds of debates as mp3's, most of Hitchens stuff is on there.
http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=50
Just out of interest, what do you guys think of Landover Baptist Church?
Cheers
Dean
No promises, but I will keep him in mind for the next time I'm wondering what I'm going to read next.
Landover Baptist - funny.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
Well, I'm so happy to hear that your Daughter made a full recovery, and it reminds me of the time, when I was talking to a 20 something year old female theist Pharmacist from Pittsburgh and she was ordering my Liver Transplant meds- rejection drugs, and when we were talking, I mentioned that I was a atheist, which seemed to shock her, and then she said to me "of all the people that I know, I would have thought that YOU are in good terms with GOD, I just laugh and said that since I was about 12, religious claims seemed crazy to me, but back then, you never had this type of religiosity, its truly unbelievable today !
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