Part 5: Copenhagen

[chadicus]

So people believe what they want to believe, and if they believe I’m going to hell for not believing in their god, then how could I argue against that?

I mean, if they’re on the fence about the issue, there are plenty of things I could say to assure them not to worry about me facing eternal punishment, but if they’re certain I’m going to hell, what

Comments

[kram006]

I think the biggest reason atheists are cast in a negative light is because of the way they sort of "attack" anyone who is religious. And yes, I know Christians and other religions do the same to anyone who isn't their own. But in the US, for instance, when a large percentage of the population does not question each others' beliefs, when some of that small 3% begins arguing against religion--well--people get upset by this. I guess I don't understand why either side attacks someone else's beliefs... doesn't really accomplish much.

As for the creationism thing, wikipedia says:
"Creationism is the religious belief[1] that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in some form by a supernatural being or beings, commonly a single deity."
I think I'd fall under that category, but that is a BROAD category. I would not say that, for believing that, that automatically means I don't believe in evolution--because I do. My beliefs would probably best fall under "theistic evolution." Meaning God laid the foundation, the very initial microbial lifeforms, and everything evolved from there. I'm sure there are plenty of people that don't think any form of evolution occurs even today (even though, yes, it's a fact that DNA mutates throughout replications), but I would not say that whole 53% believes that, because I certainly do not.

[kram006]

By the way, I was not saying that *all* atheists "attack" religious people, just when there are some that do it, it stereotypes the rest of them. Same goes with Christians/others.

[chadicus]

I agree; it doesn’t accomplish much for anyone to attack another person about their beliefs. It’s unfortunate that there are some ignorant atheists giving people like me a bad name, but that happens with any group of people, and people need to learn not make negative assumptions about an entire group of people based on the actions of one. I think I have a pretty good level of understanding and respect for others’ religious beliefs; which is why I would just ask for the same treatment of my views, but for some reason it seems like it’s just become okay to think of atheists as ‘bad’ people in this country. ‘You don’t want to baptize your children? How awful!’ I know not everyone feels this way, but I get the feeling that the resentment is pretty widespread.

I think it is pretty widely accepted that a creationist is a person who considers evolution to be false and that the Garden of Eden/Adam and Eve story is the true beginning of our existence (see below). I know that was the context implied with the 53% statistic, because along with that it was stated that 31% of Americans believe evolution was guided by God, intelligent design, which is the category you say you fall into. Only 12% of Americans believe life has evolved naturally without the interference of a deity. I’m not writing in here to make up stats or exaggerate anything. I hope any statistic I put in here is valid. My source was Sam Harris’ book A Letter to a Christian Nation. He cites all of his sources, and would think it’d be in his best interest to be accurate rather than risk his reputation and be seen as a hypocrite. The numbers do seem high to me as well, but I guess it’s not extremely surprising when you think of how populous the Bible belt is in this country, and of course, creationism would not be limited to Christians as Muslims and Jews also believe the Old Testament to be the word of God.

From Dictionary.com
cre⋅a⋅tion⋅ism
  kriˈeɪ ʃəˌnɪz əmShow Spelled Pronunciation [kree-ey-shuh-niz-uh m]
-noun
1. the doctrine that matter and all things were created, substantially as they now exist, by an omnipotent Creator, and not gradually evolved or developed.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter ) the doctrine that the true story of the creation of the universe is as it is recounted in the Bible, esp. in the first chapter of Genesis.
3. the doctrine that God immediately creates out of nothing a new human soul for each individual born.

n. Belief in the literal interpretation of the account of the creation of the universe and of all living things related in the Bible.