or: Shouldn't all psychiatrists be atheists?
126806
Well, some psychiatrists do not follow Sigmund Freud, who tried to "explain away" belief in God(s) as a type of mental illness.\n\nJungian psychology might be compatible with some psychiatrists' personal beliefs.\n\nOthers may prefer other schemata.\n\nAs another reply said, psychiatrists are people, too, with tastes and thoughts and personal needs etc.
556430
I know what you mean. In the bible though it says our knowledge is just a fraction of God's knowledge...there are some things the human mind is not ever going to comprehend, which is why science was invented (the big bang theory..Please). I know someone who is extremely atheist/agnostic and its really sad that he's so closedminded. I mean, people say christians are closed minded but then atheists are too, because they won't even open up to the possibility that there is a god. I don't know...they greatest of the commandments is love so I guess thats all we can do.
560269
well.. i suppose you're referring to us atheists.. \n\nwhy be in this category? why spend so much time? because the questions and answers in this category are often tickling my curiosity, and if it hits the right spot - i'll answer.\n\nboth christian and atheist questions are very interesting to read or answer\n\nusually, it's about the need of expressing yourselves. atheisme is not about disbelief, it's about rejection of organized religion and their hidden agendas - it's about the need not to be controlled and the celebration of free will.\n\nwhich is why Q & A's from closed-minded, robotic, conceited religious fanatics always drew a great amount of interest from the atheists\n\nif there is a category called non-religion and non-spirituality, do you think the die-hard christians will not show up there? they will.
463228
Theoretically, if they are saying the phrases you describe then they are not actually atheists. how can someone you don't believe in damn anything? Seriously I don't get especially annoyed by this one thing that atheists do but there are other things such as being illogical and pigheaded which usually bother me more!!
408146
I have schizophrenia and 9 out of my 10 personalities are atheists.  That might be why it seems like there is so many.
147989
There is still an inbuilt discrimination in society against atheists - in many countries it's rampant and institutionalised. Another poster on Answers was recently 'asking' why it is considered intolerant to be Christian but tolerant to be anti-Christian. Seems like a persecution complex to me. To start with, atheists do not follow the teachings of a book that explicitly says theists are evil...\n\nIn an interview, Reagan was once asked to comment on the fact that 90% of Americans believe in God (whatever the percentage was at the time). His response, unremarked upon at the time, was that he wished it was 100%.\n\nWhat an amazing sentence! Imagine if he said that in reference to the perentage of Americans who were white or heterosexual or able-bodied! There would be a (perfectly reasonable) outcry. But about theists? No problem. Business as usual.\n\nFor my part I believe that you could easily make a statement that atheists are more trustworthy as they rely solely on an internal set of morals and ethics (usually established as a reaction to what they see around them) to decide right from wrong, as opposed to theists, who often have a conflict between their personal morals and a set of codes established thousands of years ago in a country far away. Trying to apply different - and even contradictory - codes of behaviour can lead to confusion an anomie.
370010
Lots of atheists in the Religion & Spirituality section use anthropomorphism when they say things like, "If God were real, He would do this. . .," or, "If God were real, He would never do that. . ."  They're ascribing human attitudes and perspectives to Someone who isn't a human being.
496779
It shouldn't even be an issue, other than how it affects his opinions. \nIdeally, because of the separation of church and state written into the Constitution, ALL politicians should be atheists.
398425
yes\n\nThe Doctor of the Atheist Revolution has Spoken!
364102
I would be more worried about a Fundamentalist president than an Atheist one.  Most Atheists operate on logic and reason.  Fundamentalists are f*cking crazy.
675397
I think atheists are often a little defensive when it comes to topics of religion, because they're so often nagged to 'convert' to others' point of view... They may also be a little fed up with so many people reminding them that they're going to die because they don't believe, etc..\n\n...I know I don't appreciate being reminded of those types of 'facts.'
552579
Yes. Among other things, atheists believe in the scientific method, they believe in the material world, they believe only in what they know through their senses, they believe in their own happiness and in societal values (whatever they may be), and they believe religiously in the atheistic article of faith that there is no God.
670133
Whoever wrote that knows nothing about atheism. \n\nI have lifelong experience with atheism; I have read extensively on the subject and know many other atheists personally, and not once have I ever heard anyone claim that they thought themselves into existence.  It's foolish, and it's also out of character for realists, as atheists tend to be.\n\nI have also never encountered an atheist who "worships himself as a god."  \n\nThe writer also drastically misunderstands Descartes.  "I think, therefore I am" is intended as a statement of philosophical proof, not as a description of how one came to be.  It means "the observable fact that I think is proof that I exist," not "I created myself by thinking."\n\nThe writer clearly pulled this mess of supposition and imaginings out of thin air.  I doubt she's knowingly met a single atheist in her life.  I'm hard-pressed to imagine how that answer could be made any less correct and less informed than it is.
365435
Not necessarily.\n\nAn atheist does not have to disprove anything, its a blank.  He chooses to enter the debate of God/gods but "must" does not apply.  Belief in nothing is not a belief system, but trying to disprove faith becomes an avocation.\n\nAgnostics would seem to me to be more engaged in a inner dialogue of an existence of a higher power.  It isn't really sitting on the fence as one said, but perhaps standing at different times on either side of the fence.
580288
Sounds good, an atheist is someone that doesn't believe in God, has nothing to do with religion. Your outlook on God is a refreshing change from the usual dyed-in-the-wool pew sitter.
80236
An Atheist is a believer.  However, they do not believe in the correct religion.
299745
Having read your question and the answers given thus far, I for one find it poor logic to infer that  atheist or any one else, for that matter, are free thinkers. Everyone has a predisposition in their thinking, in one form or another. Most people will not or can not look at both side of an issue objectively.