What impression do you get when you hear someone is an atheist?
494293
WOW!!!! People are crazy and very rude when they apply their beliefs to how they judge others. \n\nWe (atheist) are not sad, lonely imoral people. We did not chose to become atheists because we were angered or felt abandoned by a god. We became atheists through years of thought and understanding. We do not get worried when you say it's our stubborn choice to not believe in your god and that we are going to burn in hell.\n\nPlease quit thinking this.
945934
Atheists have heard your opinions, jelly_bab, many times, but your opinions are not based on facts, just a book which you think is true because it says it's true!  Therefore we reject your views.\n\nChristians get offended because they are typically arrogant, such as JJ.  You don't KNOW anything, or you would be able to PROVE the existence of your God and there could be no argument from the rest of us.  You believe in creation, flying in the face of all scientific evidence which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that life evolved over a very long period of time. You can't prove anything.  If you BELIEVE that there is a God, it is up to you to prove it.  Atheism has nothing to prove; it is just the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified, unprovable religious BELIEFS, not facts.
962995
Well it's good to see that the guy at work is being honest.  He and you are correct; you must be all-knowing to be an atheist.
1047395
if you were an atheist and you went to hell you would deny that you are in hell because you don't believe in it.  I am an atheist, not the most hardcore of atheists, but anyways, I would feel dumb if I were in hell because I would be wrong.
1112551
It does not bother me either way.   Some christians and other theists turn atheist, so it's only "fair" that some atheists turn theist.  :-)   It happens.\n\nPlus, it's their lives.  I don't want to judge them on their choices, even if I might disagree.  Only thing I ask is....will their choice(s) make them a better person than they were before?  If so, I am all for it.
757356
You bet I did. I've probably been atheistic in my beliefs for 10-15 years, but only managed to truly embrace it this year.\n\nI struggled off and on with my doubts fo years, too, since I was a teenager. I grew up in a small Midwestern town of less than 1500 people. Everybody knew everybody else and everybody was either Lutheran or Catholic. Growing up, I didn't know ANYBODY who wasn't either, let alone didn't believe at all. Kids made FUN of those who didn't go to church every week. No, I wasn't one of them, I just knew kids who did.\n\nThe atmosphere here is still, in a way, like things were back in the 50s. People are generally polite, friendly, and trusting, honest folk, God-fearing. People unfortunately also keep some of those lingering prejudices from those days, even those that are my age. For example, my best friend in high school is a devout Catholic. Nothing wrong with that, was never an issue. However, within a year or two of graduation, she was pregnant out of wedlock. This was a gal who, as a teenager, denounced her own parents to me because they had her older brother out of wedlock. She loved her son and the father stayed with her and they eventually married.\n\nBut the point is, they didn't have much money to get married right away. When I saw her maybe 6-9 months after her first son was born and she showed me her engagement band, she told me that her son "would now have a father". Didn't outright use the b-word, but you know damn well what she meant. I don't know ANYONE my age who would still call a child of theirs born out of wedlock a b-strd, nor insinuate it. But she did. So that's an example of some of the outdated things people still have around here and it's worse for atheists.\n\nGrowing up, having another faith besides Christianity was bad enough, it was worse to NOT have faith at all. There was a stigma(and still is to a point) that atheists are selfish, sinful people who like to drink, smoke, do drugs, sleep around, etc. They also have the lovely stigma that atheists are Commies(more proof that people still think like it's 1954 around here at times), worship Satan, sacrifice babies, and burn Bibles.\n\nTo a point, I grew up thinking that atheists were angry, dark, evil, frightening people. When I started doubting, I fought it and I fought it hard. I didn't want to be associated with that sort of stereotype. I didn't want people to think I did those things because there's no WAY I'd do any of it. I'm not that kind of person.\n\nSo I doubted and desperately tried to find faith, find any reason at all to believe in God and like what I was taught. Didn't find it. So, seeing as how I was grown up, in college, had lots of friends from bigger cities who were of different faiths, I tried that. I tried looking into Buddhism and Wicca, hoping that if I couldn't find God in Christianity, I could find it somewhere else. Didn't work either. I was scared of being stereotyped, scared of letting the family down, scared of letting God down if he existed, wondering at times why I was made to doubt if God created me and wanted me to believe in him. The usual stuff.\n\nAfter several years of it, I just gave up caring and trying. I figured I'd let religion find me instead of exhausting myself trying to find it. Figured that sooner or later, if there was a religion for me, I'd find it. Lots of fights with the family, lots of humiliation and strife over me being "not Christian".\n\nThe final "puppet string" as it were, I suppose, was my cousin. Up until this February, I kept it quiet, just didn't care or worry about it. I've dealt with lots of nastiness in the family about being not "good enough", even when I WAS a believer and my cousin and his mother were the two biggest instigators. They were the ones who kept attacking and demonizing and humiliating me in front of the family.\n\nMy aunt,
705218
Unfortunately, a lot of people use the word "God" to describe things that are entirely natural, and then assume that when the atheist says "I don't believe," he is including all these things.  Let's clear that up...\n\nI believe in hope, honesty and trust.  I believe in the goodness of mankind, the promise of a better tomorrow, and the continual progression towards something greater than we are now.  I believe in love and compassion.  I believe in taking responsibility for one's actions and acting with integrity 100% of the time.  I believe we've come a long way, but I believe we have a long ways yet to go.  I believe in Justice and Truth that is binding and eternal, but is enforced by us alone.  I believe in morality, in treating people with respect and expecting that respect in return.  I believe in certain inalienable rights, and I believe in protecting those rights.  Above all else, I believe the Sun will rise, the rainclouds will fade, and the cancer will remit...\n\nI believe all these things without believing in God.\n\n\nIf you're confused, it's your prejudices showing.  Explore atheism some more...it is more than meets the eye.
1130396
Atheists are just free thinkers who do not choose to believe in the specific constraints of organized religion.  Many are open to the idea that a god like creature or creatures could possibly exist.  They just find it very hard to believe that (for example) the Biblical description of the universe makes any sense.
100740
It depends on what the exchange is addressing.\n\nIf you are attempting to convince an Atheist as to the validity of religion or faith, then likely not.  That would be particularly true with an Atheist who stands on a foundation of Determinism.\n\nAny other subject would be fair game and most Atheists I know are open to new knowledge and more then willing to develop new conclusions, but you will have to present arguments bast on solid provable facts.\n\nBy the way, I have been a Deterministic Atheist for nearly 50 years.
760093
None of them. \nI am not impressed with a god who forces me to believe under threats. \nI'm not impressed with the word "love" because it's used in so many contexts that how am I to know if he loves me in a caring way or if he loves me in the same way some people love marshmallows?\nI'm not impressed with the given good things stuff because both believers and non-believers alike have good things and nasty things in life. \n\nHere's what impresses me: a person who can love people and treat them good. You ask them why and they tell you that they want to be good people and believing in God has helped them to be that way. They do this without giving unasked-for sermons. It's exactly that approach that has encouraged me to believe.
320657
I've been on the other side where I thought that people who didn't believe in god must feel lost.  (I was raised to think they are evil.)  So, I can kinda understand why some religious individuals think that non-believers feel some sort of void or are immoral.  However, I also view that stance as an immature belief.  It doesn't take a lot of looking around to realize that agnostics and atheists are very content with their worldviews and live ethical lives.
249487
I am sorry to not be able to offer better company. If it is of any relief, I did meet one guy a long time ago who was a true atheist. His belief was that mankind would be better off the sooner they realized that a higher power was neither existant nor necessary. I was intrigued to find someone of such a like and opinion. Although I do not agree, I did respect his thoughts and beliefs. Unfortunately, the rest of the class overheard and went off on him. I had to apologize for it was not my intention when I first asked. So, no, you're not alone.
301563
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".
565477
I am Atheist. Yes, I do not believe in any God(s), But regardless, I do believe that there are consequences for my actions. I do not feel like you have to believe in any particular religion to have morals and values. The difference is that if you believe in God or any other deity you believe that your punishment is coming from that higher power. I believe it is my actions coming back to me, cause and effect. What ever you do will come back to you, so the best thing to do is to treat people how you would want to be treated, regardless of who they are and where they come from or what they believe in.
983003
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.
632787
I pretty much agree with you. An atheist is sure that God does not exist, and an agnostic isn't willing to commit either way. (Sort of like the dyslexic agnostic who developed insomnia. He kept lying awake at night wondering if there really is a Dog...).
862902
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!!