Hi, I've been reading the forums for some time now, and decided to join.
In terms of Religion, I was raised Roman Catholic, attended Catholic school, and was extremely religious. At one point, I thought I God chose me to be a preist. I dismissed that idea when I enetered Confirmation classes at the age of Fourteen. Our instrustor would ask us questions, and you could probably just answer "Jesus loves me" at any point and he would smile and everyone would clap. It didn't make any sense to me as to why I was being confirmed into the Catholic faith at such a young age. I had little to no knowledge of any other religion apart from its existance. But regardless, I remained faithful.
Then, a few monts ago, I began my grade eleven Christian Ethics class, and I sat next to this girl who claimed she was told be God how the world would end, and she talked about how prophecies from the books of Daniel and Ezekiel would come true. I'm not a fan of doomsday, so I did research about the books, which expanded to Christianity, then to science, and to religion and Atheism/Agnosticism all together, and slowly started becoming skeptic of Religion and it's teachings. While I was constantly thinking about my beliefs, we started a unit in me C.E class about the history of Judaism. On the first day of that unit, my teaching proclaimed the fact that:
"Jesus existed, and you can not argue with me and say he didn't."
Her evidence consisted of 4 "historians" around the time when Jesus supposesdly lived that mentioned Jesus in their recordings. So all I responded with was,
"You say that Jesus existed based on that four men mentioned his name in their recordings, I bet I could find four men that don't mention Jesus, and then come to the conclussion that he didn't exist."
She simply dismissed my point by saying that it was irrelevent, and then she moved on. I was shocked that someone who studied religion at University for four years could only say that to my arguement. It was at that point I stopped participating in prayer, and decided that I was an agnostic, becasue if a very Catholic person like her couldn't defend it, or didn't want to reasure her students in the existence of God and Jesus, then maybe she wasn't all that faithful or knowledgable, and how could I be faithful if the people teachinng me about the Bible weren't.
I haven't actually told any family members I'm agnostic, But anyone that has read this, or ever visits the information page of my Facebook profile would find out my choice.
I'm looking forward to hanging around the forums and talking with some like minded people, and I love a good debate.
Thanks, Cooper20
Thorough introduction! Welcome to HAF!
Welcome!
It's also interesting to know that the few accounts of a Jesus Christ were written years after he supposedly died. Without good documented evidence it's difficult to know if he actually existed at all and if he did, if what the bible attributes to him is actually just him or a bunch of people with distorted facts characteristic of oral legends passed on from person to person - much like a game of chinese whispers - before finally written down in which case it became set in stone. The bible was not written by eye witnesses or by people living during the time Jesus supposedly did. Not one.
Some religious people...*eyeroll*. Saying that because they're claiming it to be true does not make it true.
You say you're agnostic (a=negation and gnosis=knowledge), but that's just a word which describes what people claim they know, not what they believe. 'Theism', 'atheism', 'deism' etc are about beliefs, with atheism being a counter to theism and not a belief system per se. Do you lean more towards agnostic theism or agnostic atheism?
I try and make it a point to point this out to people, because everytime I say I'm an atheist many automatically assume more than the word means.
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on May 06, 2011, 01:03:46 AM
Welcome!
It's also interesting to know that the few accounts of a Jesus Christ were written years after he supposedly died. Without good documented evidence it's difficult to know if he actually existed at all and if he did, if what the bible attributes to him is actually just him or a bunch of people with distorted facts characteristic of oral legends passed on from person to person - much like a game of chinese whispers - before finally written down in which case it became set in stone. The bible was not written by eye witnesses or based on their accounts. Not one.
Some religious people...*eyeroll*. Saying that because they're claiming it to be true does not make it true.
You say you're agnostic (a=negation and gnosis=knowledge), but that's just a word which describes what people claim they know, not what they believe. 'Theism', 'atheism', 'deism' etc are about beliefs, with atheism being a counter to theism and not a belief system per se. Do you lean more towards agnostic theism or agnostic atheism?
I try and make it a point to point this out to people, because everytime I say I'm an atheist many automatically assume more than the word means.
Agnostic atheist. I feel like I don't know enough to declare there is no God, but enough to say that the Gods worshiped today are false.
Hi Cooper
It'll be interesting to see how you get to grips with the recent influx of Catholic members wh have just joined.
Welcome to HAF.
Regards
Chris
Hello Cooper.
Welcome to HAF.
Here ya go, these must be yours, they've got your name on them.
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.business-visas-australia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F01%2Fcoopers-ice.jpg&hash=f63d82ea83544ad0614434ba5ce728455a189827)
Welcome to HAF! :DD
Welcome, Cooper!
Your story is something of a sobering one (in contrast to some of the pictures already shared! :D ) for me, as a Catholic educator. I think sometimes we who teach don't always realize the profound impact, for good or for bad, that our teaching (or lack thereof) can have.
Hello Cooper
Interesting that your convertion was significantly influenced by one person based on one response.
It was probably just the final straw.
Welcome aboard
Quote from: Stevil on May 06, 2011, 08:43:48 PM
Hello Cooper
Interesting that your convertion was significantly influenced by one person based on one response.
It was probably just the final straw.
Welcome aboard
Yeah, pretty much
Hello fellow ex-Catholic Canadian! ;D
Welcome to HAF, I love Canada, I lived in Roseau Minnisota, about 15 miles from the border, and we would go up to canada every summer and camp. It's beautiful.