The asker has no email, and I really want to understand this, so I'm asking you all. See the link, please.\n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AitpNwT9YuP8JhhdvHTjD9rsy6IX?qid=1006041908095\n\nNow, first, the issue of atheists having beliefs...\nI think everyone has beliefs. Beliefs about what is morally right or wrong, beliefs about the best way to do things, etc. I also think that when an atheist says "there is no God", that is a belief, as it cannot be proven as fact. \n\nThe second part is about fact...I do not deny science as being factual, but I do not rely on science to give all the answers, nor do I never question science (or religion, for that matter). I understand that there are some things on which we must make decisions, but I find it odd that a "free thinker" cannot conceive of the possibility that science and God are not mutually exclusive. Some theists can, so how is it that we are less "free thinkers" than atheists - when we allow ourselves to consider both?
125704
An atheist can very well have a belief system.  Being an atheist just means that you lack belief in a god or gods.  An atheist could believe in UFOs, alien abductions, Santa Claus, etc.  \n\nI, however, am a skeptic, an Objectivist, a Bright (depending on the nomenclature you are using).\n\nI try to have as few belief as possible.  I try to hold a scientific worldview.  I take in data/information and try to understand what I am learning.  I make guesses/theories about how the data relate.  When I make up a guess, I then test it to make sure it's correct.  If it fails, then I continue to use that theory until a better one comes along.  If a better one comes along, then I reject the old one.\n\nA good example of this is the sunrise.  Do you believe that the sun rises in the East?  I don't.  I have a scientific theory that the earth rotates and revolves around the sun.  I test my theory every day because my theory PREDICTS the sun will appear on the eastern horizon.  \n\nYou might say that a scientific worldview cannot account for everything in reality.  Really?  Like what?  A soul?  I don't believe that exists either.\n\nI could be wrong.  Before bacteria were seen under a microscope, people believed that disease was  caused by disruptions of the 4 humours.  If I was a skeptic back then, I would have denied the existence of bacteria... until a scientific theory could come about and explain and predict their existence.  So if someone were to present to me concrete evidence of a god... then I would admit that I am wrong and become a believer.\n\n-------------------------------\nAgnosticism and atheism are kissing cousins.  Still, does a agnostic believe in Santa Claus?  Why or why not?  There is no evidence for Santa to exist... but there is always the possibility.  I deny Santa's existence, while a true agnostic could never say yes or no.\n\nBasically, there is a ton of bullhsit out there.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of religions in the world.  This doesn't include ones that have died out or ones that have yet to be created.  I withhold belief until I find evidence for one that is correct.  Sure I could sometimes be wrong with my worldview/philosophy... but science/logic/rational thought has a far better track record in only a few hundred years than all of the history of religions.\n---------\nAlso, I think you have a misunderstanding on what a "freethinker" is.  A freethinker is someone who looks at life/reality without superstition... someone who uses rational thought.  There is no evidence for a supernatural being... so that falls outside of "freethinker".
16781
Atheists are usually people who center themselves completely in reality and to the laws of science. They don't believe in the devil (technically there isn't really a religion of "satan/satanism") but they just don't have a belief system. They might believe there are powers around them or powers higher than them, but most likely, these are people who are mainly focused only in the world of logic they see in front of their eyes. \nThey might give a harsh response if you were to ask them if they believe in god and why they don't believe in a god; but then, how would you feel if someone asked you something and tried to convert you into something you really didn't believe? You can't just think that Christianity/Catholic is the only religion out there and that everyone should experience it.
551996
My question to you is this: Why did you not pose this question to everyone and only American Christians because you didn't give details on Whose households were used to answer. This is bias. Do you actually know who answered this survey and what group or individuals answered? I hope that you don't think believers only answered that. As a former atheist, I never told anyone what I belived and it wasn't out of fear and rejection. I believe that those who see atheists as the most distrusted group of people is because they seem to be the opposite of any thing that reliigous people belive in for instance some atheist are for abortion. Reliigous are against it. Some atheists are against homosexuality and gay marriages. Some Religious people are against. Some atheists are deadset on pushing evolution on anyone that's against it especially on this site. Stem cell research is another issue and some religious people are for it. Let's not forget how some atheists consistently oppose against religious rights. Not every christian want to destroy religious freedom and seek only one religon nor want others to believe as they do. IMO,Hell was created for a reason not every one wants to believe. There are unbelievers in the christian world that label themselves believers and straddle the fence. No one can be trusted if they want to impose their beliefs or non beliefs on any individual that have made theirs up. As for as I am concern atheists are in every group that you have listed such as Muslims,recent immigrants, homosexuals and minorities and let's not forget christians. Think about it!
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!!
54018
I'm not, but I do appreciate having people in this section besides all the christians.  they kind of dominate it.  i consider myself a pantheist - god is all of existence, and nothing more - no divine conscious.  "god is the universe"  Additionally I do zen meditation.  neither of these practices do i really consider to be religious.  Christians would probably call me an atheist, because i don't believe in what they call God or really in anything supernatural.
190600
Do you mean God is the world as a 'collective consciousness'? If this is what you mean then surely this collection of posts would just be a sample of the thoughts within this united being. And why should the one which is picked by the asker be THE word of God (the world in total)? Are not the other opinions just as valid? What if someone else asks the same question and picks a different best answer? When the best answer goes to vote, there is often not a complete 'winner',  sometimes no decision is reached at all. In that case, what would the opinion of your idea of 'GOD' be?\n\nSo no, I don't think they are the word of God, because I can't accept yourr idea of God! :)
85301
I think some people are confused. They don't really realize that many of the people they think of as "atheists" are actually god-fearing individuals.\n\nThey simply point at Hollywood or scientists and assume that these people are godless. They are largely wrong.\n\nI'm coming from a different frame of view. I think that faith divides people and causes them to do terrible things to one another. Worse than that, it justifies these actions. The idea that atheists are immoral is faulty. The idea that one cannot have morals without god is faulty. \n\nThe people who come down so hard on atheism are missing that it truly is a message of tolerance. It's an acknowlegement that there are no rewards or punishments in some made-up after-life, so it is incumbent upon the individual to do the right thing for no other reason than doing the right thing. It is selfless in that sense.\n\nThere is a man in Florida who is trying to start a town for Catholics where abortion (among other things) would be banned. Is it constitutional? I don't know. However, I think that if I were to try to start a town for atheists, secular-humanists, whatever you want to call yourself and the only rules would be "1. No worship of the supernatural and 2. Tolerate everyone" people would go crazy and decry it as a new Sodom or Gomorrah.\n\nAlso, atheists cannot recruit in the traditional sense. We cannot "show you the light." One must reach their own rational conclusions. The further truth is that most atheists do not fault people simply for believing in god. It's when they use their faith as justification for intolerance or violence that we really get up in arms.\n\nDespite our lack of organization, we have something going for us that no other "faith" does. We will never go away. Whether people worship Zeus, Jehovah, or (maybe in 1000 years) The Star Wars Trilogy, there will always be people who say, "This cannot be right."
60299
Here goes...\n\nAtheists along with many modern beliefs are very open and inviting and accept all with any belief you have or want to have. Hmmm that sounds an awful lot like that wide gate aye? \n\nChristians know that Christ is the only way. And that you must surrender all to enter this narrow gate.\n\nHere we have two very different world views. But both have their very own belief. Christians share their belief with others. Atheists share their belief with others. The Atheistic belief that there is no God is non threatening so its okay to share. The Christian belief convicts and demands a response. Unbelievers dont like to hear that someone else believes that they will spend an eternity of absence of God (hell) if they dont serve Christ. Christians dont like the idea of spending eternity rotting in a grave.\nBoth are somewhat offensive outcomes to the one who doesnt believe.\n\nDont they have a right to be intolerant? I mean after all we are going to be in a wonderful place for eternity. And they think that they are going to rot in a wooden box 6 feet under. And we are trying to tell them that it is actually worse than that....\n\n**** Oh and btw.... About statistics, they left out how only about only 14% of Christians say they believe in Jesus' deity, the trinity, the bible... and other things very important to the Christian walk.
85337
I'm not sure he's lying.  I think he may just be that confused.  Given the number of people I've seen on here who are addamently convinced that the fact that they don't understand evolution means it's false, I wouldn't be surprised if he genuinely believes he's found a way to prove atheism is wrong.  I'm don't think it's so much a matter of malice (of course there are exceptions), but rather of ignorance.\n\n_____\nClearpigeon and askeutychus, there's a logical fallacy in there.  It's the part where you say that knowledge of God requires knowledge of everything.  That isn't true.  I know that objects fall towards the Earth, but I don't know all of physics.  Or maybe it only applies to thinks you know to be false.  In that case, I know that 1 + 1 doesn't equal 3 without having knowledge of all mathematics.\n\n_________\n>>>how can you be against something that you don't believe in?\n\nBy not speaking Greek.  In ENGLISH atheist means someone who believes that God does not exist.  There are a lot of words in English that are derived from words in other languages but to not take on the literal meaning of their roots.  It doesn't make sense to define an English word by its literal meaning in Ancient Greek and then expect that defintion to apply to the modern usage of the word.  And even if you did insist on translating it literally, it would be "without god," not "against god."  I think it's quite simple to be without something that doesn't exist.
328452
When a human being wholehartedly believes in what he/she thinks is the truth, automatically tends to believe that the truth he/she found is THE TRUTH, and that everything else is false. Why? Because humans don´t like to make high stakes on something that may not be real. So, if they did make high stakes, the desperately NEED their beliefs to be TRUE, what immediately means that the others´ are not. \nSo they argue, they fight and they even would kill (take a look at history) in the name of their God.\n\nI´m an atheist, but I don´t want to convert everyone. To each his/her own! Even religious people accept that "the paths to God are diverse".\n\nTolerance should be the natural outcome of a little humbleness... which humans tend to lack.
249228
Woo hoo, a comment clearly designed to start a big argument on here, which I don't agree with, everyone has their own opinions!\n\nHowever, I sense that the basis of your point is that there is no real hard evidence to sustain the existence of any god, which is not the same as saying he doesn't exist, but is a definite statement to say that wehave no way of knowing. \n\nSo why everyone doesn't just live their life based upon earthly things, eg looking after and revering the earth around us, rather than pinning our hopes on some concept of a higher being, I don't know. \n\n(by the way, there IS actually hard evidence to suggest that the whole idea of a god stems from a part of the human brain, which operates only to convince us of a higher power, so we feel more significant than we actually are..)
328883
I don't get the way you have phrased your question.  Why does it have to be God OR Science - why not God AND Science?\n\nHere's the deal: It is just ignorant and intellectually dishonest to reject or ignore the work of thousands upon thousands of scientists who are trying to unlock the secrets of the universe.  But considering the origin of these secrets is a philosophical, not a scientific, matter.  So listen to the scientists, who have devoted their lives to study, and learn well what they have to say about our origins and destiny.  But listen also to philosophers, theologians, and others who also have something to say about our origins and destiny.  The "correct" answer - as our limited minds perceive it - is probably a combination of the best that all of these sources have to offer.
639301
Most atheist are like a lot of evolutionist. Their mind is made up before they investigate. They refuse to look at any contrary factual evidence against their belief. They will only engage in debate with people who don't know what they are talking about. Its almost as though they are saying: 'don't confuse me with the facts-my mind is already made up'.
615276
Agreed.  They both can be believed together.  This is another point of evidence that the Fanatics on all sides are the one's making it difficult for others to be open minded.  You have certain Atheists who claim Evolution proves there is no God (Evolution does no such thing... it is not out to prove or disprove the supernatural.)  And then you have those Christians who claim that Creation could not have come about thru Evolution.  Which merely shows me that, though I'm not exactly super-intelligent on the subject of Evolution, but even I know better than to make silly statements such as these.
619147
This is a case where some people don't want to admit the truth, that God exists. Because if God exists, then there could be a right and wrong and a morality which they don't want. True science should not rule out any possibilities, including the existence of a creator. However what we have today are a bunch of them who start off without even considering the possibility of a God. so when the evidence points that way they refuse to see it.
182997
A belief in god and evolution is mainly a problem for closed-minded bible literalists...typically fundamentalists, who believe that every word in the bible is written as god intended.\n\nThe problem you face is this. If the bible isn't taken as a literal document of belief, how do you choose which bits to believe and which bits not to believe? So, is execution right or wrong...because the bible is both "for" and "against". Same for homosexuality (although not in modern terms).\n\nMost scientists I know who are christians accomodate this dilemma by using the bible as a broad belief framework - which is perfectly acceptable - and they talk about how they are able to draw their values from this position, but they keep an open mind about what science discovers and how science can help. \n\nBible literalists have a hard time trying to present their ideas without attacking science, as though science is some kind of enemy - the kind of enemy that will end up saving their lives from cancer or serious accident someday. The greatest disservice these people play in society is to present the idea to children that science is somehow seriously flawed and that nothing can ever be proven - unlike their belief system, however, which has a complete video record of god creating the earth in 6 days (sorry, that was sarcasm...something bible literalists will have a hard time understanding).\n\nTo Vangyblue below - that's the biggest pile of nonsense I've read for for at least 30 minutes. All the evidence of the failure of American education is present in your response.
301070
If there is a god, he is an atheist. He doesn't believe in a higher power.\n\nIf there is a god, he also loves atheists, since we use our brains (given by Him) to analyze His creation, use His rules of logic to test our ideas. We demand evidence for outlandish claims, and reject faith & dogma. \n\nI agree. If a god exists, it would have to favor atheists & humanists.