Confessions of an "ex-apathetist"

[Attila]

Welcome!

I would consider myself something of an "apatheist", as well. I figure there "might" be a God, but I am pretty certain that there is no Abrahamic God who demands my devotion. So, if the existence of God doesn't require me to actually do anything, I don't really care too much about whether "it" exists.

I think scissorlegs might be a bit confuddled because a lot of people here describe themselves according to Dawkin's scale of belief
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_of_theistic_probability

Hi DJ,
I doubt it that there's any kind of deity of the kind the would be of interest/concern for less supernatural beings like us. I agree with your reasoning but being natural naughty I try to push things as far as I can and say, suppose there were an Abrahamic God (AG for short), what material changes would that make in your life, your moral/political/scientific/philosophical thinking? I'm guessing absolutely none. I'm some guy with a beard suddenly appears, walks on water, turns fishes into loaves, and makes pretty sunsets and announces to you,  "don't eat eat hummus!" are you really going to stop eating hummus? Of course not. Suppose some girl with a halo and stars around her head says "Don't drink Ribolla Gialla!" Would you pay her the slightest attention? Of course not. If one is looking for a purpose in life I'd offer (a) have fun (b) gain knowledge (c) share.
ciao,
Attila

[xSilverPhinx]

Welcome!

I'm another who's traveled quite a bit in my youth (and feel like I'm from nowhere). I live in Brazil, though not on any notable border....

Why did you travel around so much?

[Attila]

Welcome!

I'm another who's traveled quite a bit in my youth (and feel like I'm from nowhere). I live in Brazil, though not on any notable border....

Why did you travel around so much?

Hi SP,
Where in Brasil? I've taught at Campinas and Belo Horizonte and gave some lectures in Rio and São Paulo. I haven't been there since the mid 90's though. I move around a lot because I have one life to live and it's a big world out there. Each people have their own charm and are worth knowing.  I also get bored easily.   I travel a lot because of my work (even now that I'm retired I still get around.)
Até logo,
Attila

[Whitney]

I'm an apatheist concerning the deist god and think that all the religious gods are made up.

[McQ]

Welcome to the forum. As my bio describes, I am also an apatheist. Unlike scissorlegs, I agree with you that it is a tenable position, obviously (I find it amusing when someone tries to tell me I "can't be something" because they have a different opinion).

You've got quite the background. To say you've been around would be an understatement! Hope you enjoy our little corner of the webs.

[Sandra Craft]

Hi all,
(An "apathetist" is someone who doesn't give a toss whether there is a god or not.)

Welcome!  I suppose I could be considered a borderline apatheist since my opinion on the existence of a god is "I don't know, and I don't care", except that the emphasis for me is on the "I don't know".  If I did know it's possible I might care.

Another Spooks fan. I can't wait to see who dies at the end of this last series.

I love Spooks but they don't play any of the current episodes were I am, I have to wait for them to come out on DVD.

[xSilverPhinx]

Welcome!

I'm another who's traveled quite a bit in my youth (and feel like I'm from nowhere). I live in Brazil, though not on any notable border....

Why did you travel around so much?

Hi SP,
Where in Brasil? I've taught at Campinas and Belo Horizonte and gave some lectures in Rio and São Paulo. I haven't been there since the mid 90's though. I move around a lot because I have one life to live and it's a big world out there. Each people have their own charm and are worth knowing.  I also get bored easily.  I travel a lot because of my work (even now that I'm retired I still get around.)
Até logo,
Attila

I live in Porto Alegre, but am originally from Brasilia.

Pardon my curiosity, but what did you teach?

I moved around a lot growing up because of my father's job, and I miss all the novelty terribly and have grown bored of this place and people, (who really aren't all they say they are in other areas of Brazil ). I've been stuck in Porto Alegre for a few years now, and yearn for something else. 

[Norfolk And Chance]

Hi all,
(An "apathetist" is someone who doesn't give a toss whether there is a god or not.) I'm looking forward to many stimulating discussions. I'm not sure how to introduce myself since I've lived a somewhat unusual life and perhaps have somewhat strange ideas as a consequence. For starters I was born in one country, left it as soon as possible, was then denaturalised by it, acquired two other nationalities and live in neither of those countries. Probably not the most interesting of stories but it's a start.
ciao,
Attila

I actually re-registered to ask you why, if your position on the existence of god is one of "don't care", you'd be actively seeking debate on an atheist forum? I think you do care?

[Sandra Craft]

I actually re-registered to ask you why, if your position on the existence of god is one of "don't care", you'd be actively seeking debate on an atheist forum? I think you do care?

To toss in my own opinion on this, it's not just about debating (I don't do much debating myself), it a matter of community with the like-minded as well.

[Attila]

I actually re-registered to ask you why, if your position on the existence of god is one of "don't care", you'd be actively seeking debate on an atheist forum? I think you do care?

Hi N&C,
That's quite a reasonable question. If I were immodest I would refer you to my other thread on in the religion section but as I'm not I'll try to briefly answer your query here.

1. Since the existence or non-existence of some god-like entity has no interest nor relevance to me, it is not a point I would wish to debate. Logically then I should not go around calling myself an atheist since that invites discussion on that very topic. I don't want to hear about idiotic pronouncement about "the meaning of life", or beautiful sunsets or the restrained understated strains of the Polish band Behemoth. What is there really to discuss? Since I am a rationalist, I believe nothing on faith and will always adopt a position contrary to mine if the evidence supports it. This is why there can be no dialogue with "people of faith" since they will not admit the possibility that they are wrong. So I'm interested if my position is a known one already or if I am somehow weird (doesn't bother me, I am weird) and the only one who thinks that way. If people disagree, which I enjoy because that's how I learn stuff, then I'm quite keen to hear their position for purely selfish reasons of self-improvement even at my age. 

2. As I've said before I'm quite prepared to debate the issue as to whether there has ever been any deity-human contact (I'll take the negative please  I am persuaded that I could convince any "person of evidence" who has any doubts about the matter. "People of faith", by definition, are not worth talking to about this since they believe they cannot be wrong about it. I did once engage a couple of kids doing a door-to-door about the Jehovah's Witnesses or some such group. They wanted to tell me some good news and I suggested that I had even better news. If they had evidence that their news was better than mine then I would convert but... if I had better evidence that they would immediately renounce their god and be born again as rationalists. At that point they called their supervisor who came in about 5 minutes to explain to me that they were only young beginners and weren't really up to this kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm flattered that you think my mutterings are worth re-registering for. I hope I haven't disappointed you. If my answer is unsatisfactory please let me know (and why) and I'll either be convinced by you or express myself better and more completely.
Ciao,
Attila   

[Attila]

Welcome!  I suppose I could be considered a borderline apatheist since my opinion on the existence of a god is "I don't know, and I don't care", except that the emphasis for me is on the "I don't know".  If I did know it's possible I might care.

Hi BCE,
I am a cat cohabiter (can't say "owner" with respect to cats) and lover too. The problem with the god-question is how you would be recognise it if you came across it. For example, if I convinced you that the Cosmic microwave background spectrum from the Milky Way is actually god purring, what would your reaction be? In fact, there really is this background spectrum so why can't it be god? End of story, right? Do you have any further info about god?

I love Spooks but they don't play any of the current episodes were I am, I have to wait for them to come out on DVD.

Actually you don't.   Nuf said.
Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,
Attila
PD:

To toss in my own opinion on this, it's not just about debating (I don't do much debating myself), it a matter of community with the like-minded as well.

Excellent point but also of community with the un-like-minded. Life would be too boring without debate.
A

[Sandra Craft]

I am a cat cohabiter (can't say "owner" with respect to cats) and lover too.

Definitely not -- dogs have owners, cats have staff.

The problem with the god-question is how you would be recognise it if you came across it.

Which is how we end up going 'round and 'round arguing about it with the religious.  They're convinced they've recognized god and we're convinced we haven't and generally we don't think they have either.

For example, if I convinced you that the Cosmic microwave background spectrum from the Milky Way is actually god purring, what would your reaction be? In fact, there really is this background spectrum so why can't it be god? End of story, right? Do you have any further info about god?

Altho I do like the idea of god being a cat, it's rather mindblowing trying to imagine what evidence you would provide to convince me that the CMBS is anything purring and not just some weird, random effect.  There's an awful lot of weird shit in the universe after all.  However, thinking about the possibility that I was convinced it was god purring, it seems likely I still wouldn't care since the only useful thing to know about a god is what it wants, and it doesn't seem to me any more possible to know what purring cat god wants than what the Xtian god wants, supposing it turns out to actually exist.

I love Spooks but they don't play any of the current episodes were I am, I have to wait for them to come out on DVD.

Actually you don't.   Nuf said.
Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

Are we speaking of pirating because I avoid that on the assumption that I'm the one person who's going to get caught.

PD:

To toss in my own opinion on this, it's not just about debating (I don't do much debating myself), it's a matter of community with the like-minded as well.

Excellent point but also of community with the un-like-minded. Life would be too boring without debate.
A

True, but I pick and choose with debates a lot more than with general chit-chat.  Too many debates seem to me nothing more than mental masturbation and I'm usually not up for that.

[Norfolk And Chance]

I actually re-registered to ask you why, if your position on the existence of god is one of "don't care", you'd be actively seeking debate on an atheist forum? I think you do care?

Hi N&C,
That's quite a reasonable question. If I were immodest I would refer you to my other thread on in the religion section but as I'm not I'll try to briefly answer your query here.

1. Since the existence or non-existence of some god-like entity has no interest nor relevance to me, it is not a point I would wish to debate. Logically then I should not go around calling myself an atheist since that invites discussion on that very topic. I don't want to hear about idiotic pronouncement about "the meaning of life", or beautiful sunsets or the restrained understated strains of the Polish band Behemoth. What is there really to discuss? Since I am a rationalist, I believe nothing on faith and will always adopt a position contrary to mine if the evidence supports it. This is why there can be no dialogue with "people of faith" since they will not admit the possibility that they are wrong. So I'm interested if my position is a known one already or if I am somehow weird (doesn't bother me, I am weird) and the only one who thinks that way. If people disagree, which I enjoy because that's how I learn stuff, then I'm quite keen to hear their position for purely selfish reasons of self-improvement even at my age. 

2. As I've said before I'm quite prepared to debate the issue as to whether there has ever been any deity-human contact (I'll take the negative please  I am persuaded that I could convince any "person of evidence" who has any doubts about the matter. "People of faith", by definition, are not worth talking to about this since they believe they cannot be wrong about it. I did once engage a couple of kids doing a door-to-door about the Jehovah's Witnesses or some such group. They wanted to tell me some good news and I suggested that I had even better news. If they had evidence that their news was better than mine then I would convert but... if I had better evidence that they would immediately renounce their god and be born again as rationalists. At that point they called their supervisor who came in about 5 minutes to explain to me that they were only young beginners and weren't really up to this kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm flattered that you think my mutterings are worth re-registering for. I hope I haven't disappointed you. If my answer is unsatisfactory please let me know (and why) and I'll either be convinced by you or express myself better and more completely.
Ciao,
Attila   

In answer to your question, are you the only person that really doesn't care about the existence or none existence of God? The answer is no. You are not unique, there are others.

I know this to be true because on a football forum I use, on the off topic section there is quite often a religion debate, and one of the members on there will jump on any religion based thread - not to tell us that he is an atheist or a theist, or to discuss the points raised - but to tell us that he simply doesn't care. Every single time. So there you go. I find this odd and have challenged him, like I did you.

See I don't care about Motorbikes, and because of this you'll never see me on a Motorbike forum. I don't care about Rugby, you'll never find me telling a Rugby forum that I don't care about Rugby. I don't care about Tapestry, so you will never find me on a Tapestry forum telling people that I don't want to discuss Tapestry.

As for what you could call yourself, should you care enough to label it, I'd call you an apatheist. You are also an atheist if you care so little about god that you don't claim he is real.

[Good and Godless]

I often used to think that if god DID exist, then it was HIS failure that I didn't believe. I could never accept blind faith and refused to be ruled by it.

Scissorlegs:  I really like this line.  Made me smile.  Thanks!

[Attila]

Welcome to the forum. As my bio describes, I am also an apatheist. Unlike scissorlegs, I agree with you that it is a tenable position, obviously (I find it amusing when someone tries to tell me I "can't be something" because they have a different opinion).

You've got quite the background. To say you've been around would be an understatement! Hope you enjoy our little corner of the webs.

Hi McQ,
I'm having fun already. A great bunch of people here with enough different points of view to keep things lively. Really outstanding.
Thanks for the welcome.
Ciao,
Attila