BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Atheist Random Thoughts

Thanks Francine for your input about dually-diagnosable or is that self-described Atheistic Agnostics/Agnostic Atheists and about Richard Dawkins and your impression of some of his more extremist adherents/followers. Speaking of adherents/followers, in the distant past I had become involved with two cults, one a Christian-based one that I had done so solely (not soul-ly) to try to learn why my extremely intelligent girlfriend had for years been a member of this group that preached intolerance/hatred to Gays/Lesbians, Catholics and Jews along with advocating/supporting militia-like preparations while supposedly talking in tongues and laying on hands. Needless to say despite my tongue block I never considered joining that cult and would soon part ways with that remarkable young woman. Much more recently I inadvertently became quite involved in a non-religious oriented cult and once I finally realized what that entity was really all about have quite recently voluntarily became disengaged from it. Do any of you have any experience with cults of any kind? NOTE:For some reason this forum system is not recognizing the paragraph breaks or quote marks that I have used-even as a atheistic agnostic, I have knowledge on how to do that!

I suppose most everything is relative and/or a matter of one's perspective. Take the word UNGODLY. The most common mainstream dictionary definitions/usages of UNGODLY include IMPIOUS, SINFUL/WICKED and OUTRAGEOUS. However when this atheistic agnostic hears, reads or uses the word UNGODLY it should literally merely mean that something is REAL (whether MAN-MADE or NATURAL), like all aspects/inhabitants of our planet/universe. For example, where I live the weather today is UNGODLY-it just happens to be drizzly, raw and miserable. Then again, whether it is cold or hot, precipitating or not, humid or dry or windy or still, it is always UNGODLY.

ATHEISTIC AGNOSTIC SYLLOGISM (without knowledge of the ungodly source)- All life forms are of a finite biological nature. Humans are life forms. Humans are of a finite biological nature.

Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stays up all night wondering if there really is a Dog?-anonymous

Dog does not exist...

Dog does not exist...

How the hell did you find me ??

Hehe

-- Burt B.

As of this moment, if one were to go to BellaOnline's Atheist/Agnostic site and click onto the top 10 articles, one would see that at #10 there is an article rather cryptically listed as being Mexico 56457. Clicking onto that, perfectly representing the agnostic credo of WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE you would see a message that begins THIS ARTICLE IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE... See, this is evidence that the reality of the formation of the Universe and the nature of existence is only for the time being inaccessible!

Today I am grateful that Isaac Asimov once inhabited this planet. In addition to being a renowned science fiction writer and professor of biochemistry, he was a thoughtful,self-proclaimed agnostic-atheist. He described his belief system thus- 'I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.' One of the darn wittiest and realistic of his beliefs was that 'I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.'

GAME TO END ALL GAMES? Obviously, the self-anointed Goddess of Codes sees no reason to do so. Not even as an article of faith. Thus, to paraphrase Zager and Evans, 'Now it's seems like ten thousand years, man has cried a billion tears. For what, he never knew, now woman's reign is through. But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight. So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday that games could have forever gone away.'

What is GROUP THINK? A good working definition is that it is a pattern of thought (oftentimes leading to non-individualized action) characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics at the expense of the consideration of other beliefs/options or course(s) of action. GROUP THINK is prevalent in organized (or not) religions, cults and a high percentage of work environments, be they paid or volunteer. Ideally agnostics, some atheists and a vast minority of theists are FREE THINKERS rather than GROUP THINKERS.

Generally speaking, MIRACLES of any nature are not part of the belief system of agnostics and atheists. As of today, 4/6/2013 @1PM EDT, BellaOnline has 150 official site vacancies (approximately 36% of all the, I believe to be, 410 sites)-the highest total that I have seen since I have been following that data. A stated one year goal of ownership has been to have less than 60 vacancies. Since a MIRACLE should not be anticipated to attain that goal, perhaps different strategies in 'volunteer' recruitment, benefits, training follow-up, editor retention/maintenance and site consolidation should be developed and implemented/enforced. You see, much more than a MIRACLE is required! Also, much more than just 'wishin and hopin'! Was Dusty Springfield an A/A?