Are you really an atheist?

[Egor]

I was wondering if anyone in this forum considers God to be an impossibility? I understand atheist do not believe God exists, but do you believe God never existed and never will exist?

Microphone to you...

[Stevil]

I like to see proof before making judgment.
At the moment I would consider the chances of meeting the Christian god on par with the chances of meeting Peter Pan's Tinker Bell.

[Sandra Craft]

I was wondering if anyone in this forum considers God to be an impossibility? I understand atheist do not believe God exists, but do you believe God never existed and never will exist?

How in the world could I or anyone possibly know a thing like that?

[Tank]

One can't prove a negative, so anything you can think of; e.g. the Flying spaghetti Monster, unicorns, faeries etc. could exist on the logical basis that you can't disprove it. So from this point of view and concept of god(s) could exist. So god is not logically impossible.

But is the existence of a god(s) probably? That's the real question. And then what is the probability that any one of the 10,000+ gods then humans have literary dreamt up are actually the right god. Then you have to determine if the god you have placed your bet on is a theistic interventionist god or a deistic non-interventionist god. And then of course it would be completely irrational to believe in a theistic interventionist god without solid objective evidence of that gods interventionalist nature.

So god isn't impossible but is so unlikely that one can happily live one's life confident there will be no surprises when one dies 

[Tank]

I like to see proof before making judgment.
At the moment I would consider the chances of meeting the Christian god on par with the chances of meeting Peter Pan's Tinker Bell.

And I'd much rather meet Tink as she's so cute!

[Too Few Lions]

Yeah, I'm really an atheist, as are a lot of other folk on the forum.
I don't discount the possibility of a deistic god, but I do discount the likelihood of any of the deities of antiquity as actually existing, including the Christian god.
I think you might view atheism differently to me, atheism literally means 'without gods'. I live my life without believing in gods, ergo I'm an atheist.

[OldGit]

I'm happy to state unequivocably that there is no god.
OK, the philosophers tell us you can't disprove an unrestricted negative and that anything might therefore exist.  I say that's irrelevant for practical purposes.  There absolutely and definitely is no god, no headless horseman appears by our village bridge at midnight, Russel's teapot in not up there in orbit.
If I were to make real-world plans not to pass our bridge at midnight just because, philosophically, the headless horseman might be there - they would lock me up, and quite rightly.  The same applies to whichever version of the deity Egor believes in.

[xSilverPhinx]

I would consider myself to be less certain about a deistic god or gods, but the ones described by theists both look too human and too much like the people describing them at times to take them seriously. A much simpler explanation would be that both people and cultures mold these god concepts to suit their own purposes and that if there is a god or gods, then theism is not representative of them.

It's also wholly possible that some sort of god exists that no human has ever dreamed up yet. Can't prove that assertion wrong...

Ultimately, I don't know (agnostic) but I don't believe (atheist), at least until I find that there's sufficient reason to believe.

I may be nitpicking but IMO agnostic and atheist are two different epistemological things, so claiming that one doesn't know and that there is always possibilities does not mean that one isn't an atheist. 

[Sweetdeath]

I am vey much an atheist. While there is no solid evidence to disprove of a god(s) existing, there is no evidence to prove he does.

I live my life as if a god is not there, because in all of recorded history no god has come down from space. I also see the disgusting evils (and yes, I feel it is evil) ways the church allows people to be sexist, racist, prejudice, homophobic, and say it is okay because god hates fags and abortions and whores.

Even in the dellusion of a god, these...lower level humans create disgusting things. I truly believe god is a man made dellusion used as a security blanket, or to control the idiots willing to waste their lives in worship of an invisible being.

[Davin]

I was wondering if anyone in this forum considers God to be an impossibility? I understand atheist do not believe God exists, but do you believe God never existed and never will exist?

The title of the thread and the question you ask implies that you think one needs to accept that there is no chance for there to be a god before one simply lacks the belief in any god or gods. Or you once again might just have your own version of a word. I think you need to clear this up before we can have a useful discussion.

[Whitney]

An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in god; not necessarily someone who thinks it's possible to know with no doubt that a god doesn't exist or never existed.

I don't believe in god.

I acknowledge that some deist or pantheist idea of god is not outside possibility but there is no proof of one either.

So, yes, that would make me an atheist.

I also don't care if you want to label me as atheist or not...it's really not that important to me.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I understand atheist do not believe God exists, but do you believe God never existed and never will exist?

I'm not an atheist, but the question "do you believe God never existed and never will exist" implies or suggests that you are inquiring whether it would be possible for God to exist, and then stop existing, or that it would be possible for God not to exist, and then start existing.  That's sort of a novel concept of God. Is that what you meant to say?

[squidfetish]

Yep, I'm an atheist because I don't believe in god due to lack of evidence. Similarly I don't believe in unicorns for the same reason.  I am an a-the-ist in the same way that I am an a-unicorn-ist.
However, I am willing to consider any new evidence and reconsider my position based on that.

[Egor]

How in the world could I or anyone possibly know a thing like that?

So, what do you base your atheism on? Why not just be an agnostic?

I like to see proof before making judgment.
At the moment I would consider the chances of meeting the Christian god on par with the chances of meeting Peter Pan's Tinker Bell.

Seriously, what would be the proof that you couldn't doubt?

One can't prove a negative, so anything you can think of; e.g. the Flying spaghetti Monster, unicorns, faeries etc. could exist on the logical basis that you can't disprove it. So from this point of view and concept of god(s) could exist. So god is not logically impossible.

But is the existence of a god(s) probably? That's the real question. And then what is the probability that any one of the 10,000+ gods then humans have literary dreamt up are actually the right god.

I don't believe you think that concretely. I think you're too smart for that. Of course there have been many versions of God. I suppose the last being Islam's version. But those are all just revelations of God, some better some worse. But any thinking person knows that God is something far greater and more abstract—even than the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So, tell me, are you really waiting for a burning bush?

I'm happy to state unequivocably that there is no god.

Doesn't that kind of make you the redneck version of an atheist?

I would consider myself to be less certain about a deistic god or gods, but the ones described by theists both look too human and too much like the people describing them at times to take them seriously. A much simpler explanation would be that both people and cultures mold these god concepts to suit their own purposes and that if there is a god or gods, then theism is not representative of them.

It's also wholly possible that some sort of god exists that no human has ever dreamed up yet. Can't prove that assertion wrong...

Ultimately, I don't know (agnostic) but I don't believe (atheist), at least until I find that there's sufficient reason to believe.

Added to which you don't think it's important enough to bother searching. I mean, you're not really searching for God, either, are you?

I am vey much an atheist. While there is no solid evidence to disprove of a god(s) existing, there is no evidence to prove he does.

What about the fact that the universe seems to operate according to hard and fast rules?

I live my life as if a god is not there, because in all of recorded history no god has come down from space.

Do you think God is an alien?

I also see the disgusting evils (and yes, I feel it is evil) ways the church allows people to be sexist, racist, prejudice, homophobic, and say it is okay because god hates fags and abortions and whores.

Well, apparently Jesus cared nothing about homosexuality and was friends with what the church of his day considered sinners, including whores.

Even in the dellusion of a god, these...lower level humans create disgusting things. I truly believe god is a man made dellusion used as a security blanket, or to control the idiots willing to waste their lives in worship of an invisible being.

But you believe in evil. On what do you base that belief? If atheism is true, how can anything be considered evil. Wouldn't you have to say that those evil stimuli you experience are just that, noxious stimuli to you personally as an organism, but not evil. Right?

The title of the thread and the question you ask implies that you think one needs to accept that there is no chance for there to be a god before one simply lacks the belief in any god or gods. Or you once again might just have your own version of a word. I think you need to clear this up before we can have a useful discussion.

Clear up what? I asked if you believe God is impossible.

An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in god; not necessarily someone who thinks it's possible to know with no doubt that a god doesn't exist or never existed.

I don't believe in god.

I acknowledge that some deist or pantheist idea of god is not outside possibility but there is no proof of one either.

So, yes, that would make me an atheist.

I also don't care if you want to label me as atheist or not...it's really not that important to me.

Well of course it's important to you, otherwise you wouldn't be the moderator of an atheist forum. Actually, I don't understand it. If you truly don't believe there is a God, if you are truly areligious, why even bother talking about it. Why not just go your own way as an organism being stimulated by various environmental conditions? Why have a forum. Why work your way into a prominent position in the forum?

Obviously, you have some lack of faith in your lack of faith, yes?

I'm not an atheist, but the question "do you believe God never existed and never will exist" implies or suggests that you are inquiring whether it would be possible for God to exist, and then stop existing, or that it would be possible for God not to exist, and then start existing.  That's sort of a novel concept of God. Is that what you meant to say?

Sure. I suppose. I just wonder whether atheists consider God an impossibility. It would seem if God ever did exist, He couldn't really stop existing without everything else ceasing to exist as well.

Yep, I'm an atheist because I don't believe in god due to lack of evidence. Similarly I don't believe in unicorns for the same reason.  I am an a-the-ist in the same way that I am an a-unicorn-ist.
However, I am willing to consider any new evidence and reconsider my position based on that.

What proof do you need? What proof could you have? Are you saying you don't want to be an atheist, but you just can't see any proof. Because you sound pretty proud of the fact that you're an a-the-ist.

[Guardian85]

I think that the question of wether a god exists or not is a scientific question, and that it is a question that we will be able to answer, in time, as our understanding of science and the universe improves.
But until we are able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt (meaning hard evidence that cannot be interpreted in any more likely way) it is logically nonsensical to assume that it must have been a god and just plain arrogant to assert that it is the god that you by a chance of geography happened to have been indoctrinated into believing.

To sum up, I am open to the possibility of the existence of a deiety, but I am very sceptical of anyone who asserts to have infallible knowledge of one (be it some dude in a chatroom or the pope in Rome). And until credible and irrefutable evidence is presented, I will not commit to one particular belief system. And because I don't believe in a particular god or worship such, I am an atheist.