What do atheists claim to know nothing about?

[Yrreg]

I have come across atheists who insist that they don't know anything about the beginning of the universe.

Is that true, or only for some atheists?


What I know from my readings is that atheists maintain that only matter has always existed and matter behaves in randomness; which matter behaving in randomness led to the existence of human beings who possess conscious intelligence and enjoy free will.


What do you happy atheists say about my thoughts here?


Anyway, if any atheists claim to know nothing about anything, please tell me on what questions do you claim to know nothing about.


 

Yrreg

[skurry]

quick point; the only thing that atheists definitely believe in there is the questioning of existence of god (leaning towards no). There is no book that atheists follow so that question is not able to be answered as cut and dry as you would like. However, most atheist follow science, so if you would like your answer as the scientific community. I'm sure some other board members will fill you in on the evidence science has provided for us. I don't have the wind for it right now.

Atheism is not a belief system.

[McQ]

I have come across atheists who insist that they don't know anything about the beginning of the universe.

Is that true, or only for some atheists?


What I know from my readings is that atheists maintain that only matter has always existed and matter behaves in randomness; which matter behaving in randomness led to the existence of human beings who possess conscious intelligence and enjoy free will.


What do you happy atheists say about my thoughts here?


Anyway, if any atheists claim to know nothing about anything, please tell me on what questions do you claim to know nothing about.


 

Yrreg

What does being an atheist have to do with knowing, or claiming to know, about the "beginning" of the universe? Most people don't even know about current cosmological theories of what happened in the time after the Big Bang, let alone what happened at the beginning (if there was such a thing). In fact, no one knows about it. So why do atheists warrant special attention regarding this question?

[Recusant]

I have come across atheists who insist that they don't know anything about the beginning of the universe...

Welcome to this forum, Yrreg.  Regarding the question of the beginning of the universe, even the most knowledgeable physicists and cosmologists do not have a definitive answer for what exactly occurred in the very earliest moments of the universe's existence.  Are you implying that this gap in knowledge is some sort of fatal failing on the part of those who seek a non-supernatural explanation for the reality we inhabit?

 

...Is that true, or only for some atheists?

I think you will find that only a fairly delusional "atheist" will ever claim to speak for all of those who identify themselves as atheists on any subject other than the non-existence of gods.  Still, a person who professes to have knowledge of the very beginnings of the universe is, in my mind, professing an article of faith, whatever they choose to call themselves.

...if any atheists claim to know nothing about anything, please tell me on what questions do you claim to know nothing about.

  Perhaps you might state this question in a more coherent manner.  As it reads now, I can't make any sense at all from it. It sort of sounds like you're saying that atheism=solipsism, but that's just a guess on my part.

 

What do you happy atheists say about my thoughts here?

I speak only for myself; the answer is an emphatic "Meh."

(EDIT: If I seem to be repeating points made in previous posts, blame it on my slow typing; when I started my response there had been no answers to your post.)

[Whitney]

No one knows how the universe began.  Some people have guesses, some people have beliefs, and some scientists have incomplete ideas about the origins of the universe...but no one knows exactly how it started.

Atheists just don't believe in a god.  That doesn't mean that "atheists claim to know nothing about anything."  Where did you get that idea from?

[Yrreg]

I am glad that the atheists here do not resort to an answer like "I know nothing about something," for example the beginning of the physical universe.

The atheists whom I have come across who resort to that kind of an answer to my question about the beginning of the physical universe, they have the need to not go into the socalled Big Bang where the universe is supposed to have a beginning and therefore it must have some entity to get it started.

What about you happy atheists here, what do you say about the Big Bang?


Back to atheists who claim to not know anything about some questions occupying the minds of mankind, I am thinking of drawing up a list of questions to which atheists generally answer to the effect that they know nothing, so that I need not bother them with those questions, except to say to myself and readers of web forums that atheists generally claim to know nothing about any answers to those questions.


To every happy atheist here, hope that you being atheists and I being theist, we can get along for the purpose of discussing our respective worldviews and enjoy ourselves in the process; because we are both human beings who are curious about many things, like the question of God and what should or how should be our reactions toward God.

And a host of so many questions, like the certainty of God's existence, for you atheists no God is your certain submission just as for me a theist yes God is my certain submission.

Just the same as I said, we are both human beings, and I submit that we can both be happy, you happy atheists and I happy theist notwithstanding that we hold diametrically contradictory worldviews.


This is the first time I come across an atheist web forum hosted by happy atheists.

That only means that I have not met all kinds of atheists.

Good, something new to know and to get better acquainted with.



Yrreg

[hismikeness]

Sometimes when one can't answer a question satisfactorily in his/her own words, it is best to use the words of another. So, to the question of,

What about you happy atheists here, what do you say about the Big Bang?

I resort to this quote from Astrophysicist/Historian Neil deGrasse Tyson:

"We stockpile the discoveries of the most brilliant members of our species, allowing us, however strained and with whatever struggle it involved, to slowly ascend the ladder of knowledge, maybe compensating for the fact that any one of us is just too stupid to figure it all out."

Hismikeness

[Whitney]

What about you happy atheists here, what do you say about the Big Bang?

I can't speak for other atheists (and I am still a bit confused about what atheists you have talked to if you have never met one that is happy), but from what I know about the Big Bang (BB) it is just a point when what we call time started and the universe started to become what we see today.  There is nothing about the BB theory which states that is the birthplace of all that has ever existed and we really don't know what happened before it.  Even if the BB were definitely the start of all that exists, I don't see how that would mean a god exists....we'd just not know how the BB started just as we don't know how everything started now.

Back to atheists who claim to not know anything about some questions occupying the minds of mankind, I am thinking of drawing up a list of questions to which atheists generally answer to the effect that they know nothing, so that I need not bother them with those questions, except to say to myself and readers of web forums that atheists generally claim to know nothing about any answers to those questions.

What's wrong with someone admitting they don't have an answer?  The world would be a lot better place if we were all that honest.

To every happy atheist here, hope that you being atheists and I being theist, we can get along for the purpose of discussing our respective worldviews and enjoy ourselves in the process; because we are both human beings who are curious about many things, like the question of God and what should or how should be our reactions toward God.

People on this forum tend to get along very well with those who are willing to discuss rather than preach

And a host of so many questions, like the certainty of God's existence, for you atheists no God is your certain submission just as for me a theist yes God is my certain submission.

Depending on who you ask (as there is some debate) atheist doesn't necessarily imply strong atheism (claiming to be able to know a god doesn't exist).  In my experience, 90% of atheists are agnostic atheists...meaning that they just don't see a reason to believe in a god.

[skurry]

And a host of so many questions, like the certainty of God's existence, for you atheists no God is your certain submission just as for me a theist yes God is my certain submission.

For me god exists outside plausibility. Science still calls gravity a theory and that's how I personally approach belief in a deity, I can be confident, personally, that there is no god, but who knows. There isn't evidence for me and gods exists outside the realm of anything society has ever encountered. I can't have blind faith in a book written by humans and call it fact. Tangible evidence is what my brain requires.

[Yrreg]

What is really preaching from a theist exchanging thoughts with atheists?

If we understand preaching as trying to convert you to accept and practice a religion or faith, that is not my purpose here.

And how would you come to the conclusion that a theist here is preaching to you, namely, to bring you to accept a religion?

By way of curiosity, this is my third post here, do you feel any apprehension that I am into preaching?


About the Big Bang, what do you know from scientists of cosmology about the Big Bang? and whether mankind can or cannot and thus also should or should not think about what existed before or simultaneously with the Big Bang?

Suppose scientists among themselves are into exchanging thoughts about what they think to have always existed even without any Big Bang having ever taken place, would that be they preaching to each other?




Yrreg

[Yrreg]

I just want to give notice here that I am not into trying to convert anyone here to any religion or faith, for example, the Christian faith.

What I want to find out is what atheists do not believe in, and how they explain why they do not believe in the things they don't believe in.

Why do I want to find out what they do not believe in and why?

Because I am curious, and it is a joy for me to come to the satisfaction of my curiosity, because the satisfaction of curiosity obtains for me information about how other people feel and think about things, and that kind of a joy, namely, to know how other people feel and think about things, that kind of a joy is more delightful than eating, and making love with my spouse, though they belong to different kinds and levels of pleasure.



Yrreg

[Tanker]

I just want to give notice here that I am not into trying to convert anyone here to any religion or faith, for example, the Christian faith.

What I want to find out is what atheists do not believe in, and how they explain why they do not believe in the things they don't believe in.

Why do I want to find out what they do not believe in and why?

Because I am curious, and it is a joy for me to come to the satisfaction of my curiosity, because the satisfaction of curiosity obtains for me information about how other people feel and think about things, and that kind of a joy, namely, to know how other people feel and think about things, that kind of a joy is more delightful than eating, and making love with my spouse, though they belong to different kinds and levels of pleasure.



Yrreg

The only thing all atheists don't believe in is Gods(s). Other then that it is only what an individual thinks is true. Atheists have varied beliefs on all things there are no right or wrong answers, to anything, to be an atheist. The ONLY thing all atheists have in common is a lack of belief (or at least an extreme doubt) in a higher power.

[Yrreg]

Just tell me when you notice that I am trying to convert you to a religion.



I am curious, according to what I have just read, atheists just have no belief in god(s), what do you understand by god(s) which you don't believe in?



Yrreg

[Tanker]

Just tell me when you notice that I am trying to convert you to a religion.



I am curious, according to what I have just read, atheists just have no belief in god(s), what do you understand by god(s) which you don't believe in?



Yrreg

I think that you may be making the assumption that atheists have always been atheists. The truth is most most start out a theist on this forum that would mean most were Christians. A sad fact is many atheists have a deeper understanding of religion, and for this forum, the bible then most Christians. The fact that so many understand so well is a reason that many have become atheists, because we understand all to well.

If you stay true to form I'm predicting no true scotsmen.

[Whitney]

What is really preaching from a theist exchanging thoughts with atheists?

If we understand preaching as trying to convert you to accept and practice a religion or faith, that is not my purpose here.

And how would you come to the conclusion that a theist here is preaching to you, namely, to bring you to accept a religion?

By way of curiosity, this is my third post here, do you feel any apprehension that I am into preaching?

Preaching is when you only post your views and neglect to participate in a discussion of those views...you haven't been preaching.  If you look at our rules, you'll notice the no preaching rule is directed towards both atheists and theists; we don't like preaching from anyone

About the Big Bang, what do you know from scientists of cosmology about the Big Bang? and whether mankind can or cannot and thus also should or should not think about what existed before or simultaneously with the Big Bang?

I already posted the basics of what I know from science.

Suppose scientists among themselves are into exchanging thoughts about what they think to have always existed even without any Big Bang having ever taken place, would that be they preaching to each other?

Then they would just be guessing and not practicing as scientists while having that discussion.  Science is evidence based...not just whatever a scientist happens to imagine.