I think it is ridiculous that people can’t seem to stay open minded and discuss this issue. You can’t make any progress if you can’t listen to other people’s ideas. Oh well. Can’t change the way people are.

Personally, my biggest problem with just about every organized religion I know much about is that they have you tell you have to live your life. I don’t give a crap what the church’s opinion is on gay marriage or abortion. Even when I agree with the Church I still say they have no place to tell us what to think or how to act. If I could find a church that focused only on God and didn’t spend the majority of the time telling me how to live my life I would probably be all for it. Maybe we should just hope people will do the right thing out of their own free will without the threat of sin hanging over them. If you do the right thing only because you are afraid of going to hell does it still count as doing the right thing?

Ryan, that video was awful haha. That guy clearly thinks he is a LOT smarter than he actually is. That was some of the most flawed logic I have ever heard.

I chose not to separate them simply because Atheist and Agnostic are never separate, they are viewed as one when they each have very defining characteristics.

I am technically Agnostic, not Atheist. However, if I say I’m Agnostic, everyone responds with “How do you know no god exists?”, so I stopped differentiating.

Atheists deny all possibilities of a higher power, be it god or simply spiritually.

Agnostics do not deny the possibility, they just have not been given the evidence to believe in it. They’re not opposed to believing in the future, just not at this point in time. Even Clarence Darrow doesn’t seem to know the difference.

I am also like you in the fact that I have my own beliefs, far from the Church and Bible, but unless I out right say I am Christian, I’m evil in the eyes of many people (including certain family members as I’ve been told).

I agree with you on the debating religion thing. Like I said in the blog itself, no one wants to hear that they’re wrong. They surround themselves with people who tell them what they want to hear so nothing ever gets done. I’ve tried to debate it with friends and family but it goes no where. Being Agnostic/Atheist and being the minority of the subject immediately makes it sound like I’m arguing that Big Foot exists and I’m laughed off and considered foolish.

It would be easy to live in a world where everyone tells you how perfect you are, but its not reality. There will always be opposing views to everything, I’m open to everything, as evidenced by me actually doing the research I have.

I actually had a relatively large section about the positives to religion and where it can fit in in our society. But I felt the blog was getting beyond the length anyone would read (it probably still is) so I cut out a few sections.

And yeah, I realize some of those quotes aren’t from pronounced Atheists/Agnostics. I was about to tell you I captioned it “Famous Atheist Quotes”, but looking back I see I did imply they were also quotes by atheists. But you also know the reason a lot of those people were not running around saying they were Atheist or Agnostic is because they needed religion to get somewhere (politicians).

I wish everyone could be as open minded about this as you seem to be. It’s unfortunate some people are so close minded that they can’t accept other peoples beliefs. I’ve tried the religion thing, its just not for me.

I can even go along with you as far as saying the Church and the Bible are for the most part full of shit. I have my own personal beliefs that do not correspond with any church or organized religion. Not even close. I believe in God but I can’t imagine a God that would turn away good people because they believed something different. That is outrageous. I don’t care what anyone believes they do not have the right to force it down anyone else’s throat.

Jesus is regarded by most historians as a real person. It is not whether he was real or not that is debated for the most part. It is whether or not the idea we have of his life are accurate and whether or not he was divine. Most historians (and ALL of the Christians I know who are educated in the matter) agree that Jesus was NOT born on December 25th. From what I have gathered the Catholic church changed the day they celebrate Jesus’s birth to December 25th basically to override another non-christian holiday.

“I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment, to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure. ” – Clarence Darrow. I like this quote. But I would say that being sure can be wrong whether you are positive God is real or you are positive God isn’t. I wouldn’t say I am agnostic but I don’t claim to know the truth either. I have my beliefs but I question them myself. I think it is healthier to accept that what you believe may not be right. I don’t say that anyone else is wrong either.

So, basically, I am not saying you are wrong but I don’t agree with everything you say either. I have my own issues with organized religion and they weren’t necessarily covered here. Too bad more people can’t disagree and debate the subject without taking offense and being close minded.

By the way, some of those people you quoted are not atheists. I think I prove that you can disagree with the Bible and organized religion without being an atheist. Obviously, some of those people ARE atheists as well haha.