If I personally ever break my own rules, PLEASE call me on it! I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to be, but I do my best and I hope it's good enough for everyone :)

But to steal Dearheart's words, if my worldview offends you, that is to say, if my opinions offend you, I'm not going to be sorry. These are my beliefs and they are as dear to me as yours are to you. Please respect me so that we can respect each other!

And I've asked KateKicksAss to help me :)

I have the same Philosophy as Lexa, and I'm happy to talk and answer questions, :)

Can I help answer questions? (As an Atheist)

Sure...as soon as we get some questions...

OK questions.

1) Are you simply atheists, or agnostic atheists and

2) If you are simply atheists, what makes you so certain (or why do you feel so sure) that there is no god?

3) Do you consider Atheism to be an utter lack of belief, or do you believe that in your lack of belief, atheism has actually become a spiritual belief for you?

4) Were you raised in a spiritual and/or religious environment?

5) Do you congregate or meet up with other Atheists in an Atheist society, and if so, can you send me a free pirate fish for my car? I meant to pick one up at the booth for the Seattle Atheists at the recent street fair, but I got distracted... :(

1) I am an Atheist with doubts. I admit that there will never be any way of knowing if there is a God or not, but I find the concept unlikely.

2) I's partly a gut feeling and partly the product of turning things around in my head for years. From what I've learned (Big Bang to evolution to adaptation) everything in the creation of the world makes sense except for an omnipotent, fully formed being who started everything. Our universe must have had an uncaused cause at some point, but I think the Big Bang WAS the uncaused case, not God himself.

3) I hold my Atheism very close to me. I would consider it almost as precious to me as God is to many people. So I think it's a spiritual lack of belief. I believe that Atheism is an "anti-religion" but still a belief system that is dear to some people, such as myself.

4) I have three sets of grandparents (divorced and remarried) and they are all Christian except for one set (coincidentally, they're the ones I'm closest with!) My parents were both christened and baptised but distanced themselves from religion over the course of their lives. They both consider themselves Agnostic, as did I for half my life. I have never been made to read holy scripture of any kind but I occasionally attended church with grandparents and friends. I also frequently sing religious songs as part of a choir. Religion and the idea of God is everywhere nowadays, so I find it difficult to NOT be immersed in it, but my household is a very neutral place. I was raised with absolutely no religious teachings or prejudices in either direction.

5) Most of my good friends are Atheists but we're not part of an official society. I wanted to start an Atheist club at my school, but I didn't because I couldn't think of what we could possibly talk about...

Also, I used to have a Darwin fish on my locker, but it was the victim of a hate crime and the legs were cut off...luckily EvolveFish.com sells replacement legs!

All right. I'm not sure why, but your answers to one and two reminded me of the quote, "When you do things right, link

Hmmm, I see the meaning in that quote, and agree with it completely. Honestly, I try to live like that when I volunteer and run projects!

So if there IS a God, he did a great job creating everything, but not the best job sustaining it. Wars and disasters and famine make me sad :(

1) I'm an atheist. Basically, I just don't believe in God. I know there's no way I can know for certain, but I think, as Lexa also said, that it's pretty doubtful. That's another reason I'm not really into religion, since Science, for instance, is falsifiable, but religion isn't.

2) I know that I can't be 100% sure, but I've never had any evidence to the fact that he does exist, and I was raised to be a critical thinker, and not just accept things on faith. I'd be willing to maybe convert if I had proof, but without solid evidence, I can't just accept it. From what I've been taught, there are scientific explanations for just about anything. Evolution, life, etc. Maybe the Big Bang hasn't been explained yet, but I heard that it's being studied, and I know it's just a theory, but to me it just seems like a more plausible explanation than some supernatural being. Besides, Christianity didn't even exist until a few thousand years ago when humans thought it up, and maybe I don't know the whole story, but how could Jesus/God created the world, then been born to Mary and died on the cross? Like I said, maybe I have the story wrong, so don't quote me on that, :)

3) I just consider it a lack of belief. I don't consider it spiritual or anything, that seems as though it would sort of defeat the purpose of atheism.

4) No, I wasn't. I was basically raised without any sort of religion or pressure. My parents weren't saying God existed, and they weren't saying he didn't. Basically, they let me and my brother grow up and decide for ourselves, and they didn't' influence us either way. They always said that they'd take us to church if we wanted to go, and they'd support whatever we wanted to be.

5) No, I don't. My real life friends are all pretty much Christians, but some more devotedly than others. My friend Natalie refers to herself as a "Non-practicing Christian", she believes in God, but doesn't go to church or anything, and my other friend is a bit more religious. We don't really talk about religion or atheism, and I don't really know any other atheists. Sometimes I talk to my parents about relgion, but that's pretty much the closest I come to an "Atheist society".
I'm liking Lexa's idea, to be honest. I'm not sure how I'd go about starting an atheist club at school, but it sounds like an interesting idea.

And I'd never heard of the pirate fish, so I looked it up. I still don't know what it is or means, but it sure looks cool, :P
I checked, and you can actually buy them on Amazon for about five bucks.
And I live in Seattle too, what street fair was it? I didn't know there was any sort of Atheist club around here....

God created us and the world but he didnt create cruelty and hatred, the devil did and he briught that into the world,

That's your belief. It's not a fact and it's not my belief. I believe that we evolved from a concestor.

1) I'm an atheist. I don't believe that there was a 'God' who made us because there's no proof but I think it's unlikely he exists.

2) Well when I was 7, my Mum asked me what I did at school. I remember telling her that we learnt about God making the World. She said 'What about The Big Bang?' and from then on I've never been quite sure if God exists. Until about 2 years ago I made up my mind that I didn't believe in God. There's no proof so I just can't believe.

3) I'd only call it lack of belief. Nothing spiritual or anything.

4) Not really. My parents are Christians but not really serious Christians. We didn't go to Church and my parents never forced me to believe anything. I don't know if they even believe in God, they just have Christian Values. I decided myself to become an Atheist

5) No. I don't belong to any type of Atheist club. Sure, me and my friend like having conversations of why god doesn't exist but its no big organisation.

1) What is the Atheist's belief in how the world started? I've argued with another Atheist, and what I had learned in school is that they believe the world happened all by chance. I said that, and he said that they don't. I'm just wondering, what do you believe? I've heard so many things, that I don't know which is true, and what's false.

1) I can't speak for everyone. The thing with a lack of belief is that there isn't a set thing to think. I personally believe in the Big Bang, which I suppose WAS a little bit of "by chance" but no more than God existing, in my opinion. Atheists have all sorts of different opinions :)

Ok, thanks! :)

No problem! Thanks for asking!

I'm a bit surprised that no one else hold their lack of belief as close as I seem to...

I have a couple questions for you atheists. Have you ever heard about one of the theological theories of St. Thomas Aquinas? Just to explain which I am talking about, it is the one in which he observed that everything in the universe relies on something else to exist (ie kids were born into the world by their parents) but since that is the case, there must be something that doesn't rely on something else to exist, otherwise nothing would exist. Why is it that the theory isn't as accepted by atheists as the Big Bang theory or evolution or vice versa?

Why hello there Poseidon!

1) No I have not heard of those. But now that you explained it, I think you're implying that the world relies on God to exist? If I was to squeeze this theory into my belief, I would say that the universe relied on the Big Bang to exist and the Big Bang didn't rely on anything, just like you presume God didn't rely on anything.

As I said before, there must have been an uncaused cause at some point. I'm content to say that the Big Bang was that cause, while theists often go one step further by saying that God started the Big Bang and therefore GOD is the uncaused cause.

And I'm content to stay like that because everything I've learned about the Big Bang and evolution makes logical sense to me, while adding a fully formed, complex being before the start of everything else makes very little sense in my mind.

EDIT: Conclusion

As an Atheist, I'm a fan of St Thomas Aquinas. Far from excluding Atheism, I think St Thomas Aquinas' works are quite inclusive of it.
My response to that particular theory is that the uncaused something does not have to mean a deity. It could be something we have no knowledge of and probably won't ever have any knowledge of. As NinjaKitten suggested, something like the Big Bang could equally be thought of as an uncaused cause.

What the hell, I'll answer all the other questions too.

Are you simply atheists, or agnostic atheists?'
- I deny the existance of deities, but acknowledge that I could be wrong. I think that puts me down the low end of the agnostic atheism spectrum.

If you are simply atheists, what makes you so certain (or why do you feel so sure) that there is no god?
- I have been informed that my views on this subject are a little offensive, so since this is the Christianity spot, I will simply say that my reasons relate to the politics of god and of religion.
I'm happy to talk more about it, if someone is desperate to hear my views.

Do you consider Atheism to be an utter lack of belief, or do you believe that in your lack of belief, atheism has actually become a spiritual belief for you?
- The only unifying thing about Atheism is, in my opinion, the disbelief in deities. How Atheists disbelieve is extremely varied. I believe in lots of things, I am spiritual about lots of things. My Atheism doesn't exclude me from belief or spirituality.
I don't know if I would say that my Atheism is spiritual. It is important to me, but I reserve 'spirituality' for my encounters with existence, rather than my worldviews.

Were you raised in a spiritual and/or religious environment?
Nope.

Do you congregate or meet up with other Atheists in an Atheist society, and if so, can you send me a free pirate fish for my car?
- I ain't got no pirate fish, but I guess I virtually congregate with other Atheists in the Atheism Spot here on Fanpop. I'm actually not really a fan of this current movement towards organised Atheism (ie conferences etc). Smells too much like organised religion for my liking.

What is the Atheist's belief in how the world started?
- I have no idea. The Big Bang makes sense to me, and is supported by scientific evidence, but it isn't the be all and end all for me. My personal favourite is that we are brains in vats, plugged into this reality, like in The Matrix. Or that everything is in a state of flux and eventually this universe will collapse upon itself and cause another big bang and another universe will evolve. Point is, I don't know, and at a certain point I don't care. Its all speculation.

That's a good point, Missy. I don't really care how the world started either...

We happen to be here and that's all that matters to me...

Very true and I wasn't able to thank you last night for answering my questions. Anyway, thanks!

What is an Atheist's belief in how the world started?

I believe there was a Big Bang.

Not everyone, but I think that's the most common.

^Yeah sorry, I meant thats what I believe, I'll edit

I'm a athiest, but i found a very intruiging question online which i can't answer....

"If theres no god, then how come all planets are spherical? surely that can't be pure coincidence!"

Um, it's not coincidence. It's because spheres are the most stable forms for those planets, gravitationally speaking.

Think of how gravity works. A black hole, in the extreme, or a satellite on the opposite end. Everything that's pulled towards the center of gravity it is done so in a beautiful arc. When the matter coalesces (such as in the case of a blackhole), it smashes together into the tightest possible space, which happens to be a sphere.

Think about it mathematically. If you put a compass at the center of a square, there are places where the perimeter is further from the center than other places. But in a circle, the circumference is always equidistant from the center of the circle. The radius never changes, no matter where you are on the circumference. It's the same with a sphere - all matter is as close to the center as it can possibly get.

Additionally, no planet is a perfect sphere, though all are spheroid.

There's other timey-wimey spacey-wacey stuff about why planets are spherical but I'm too tired.

The larger the mass, the more powerful the gravitational pull. If you start with a speck, and things start flying towards the speck, things will start moving to get as close to the centre of the blob as possible. That means filling in any gaps or holes as the object builds up.

In a shere, every single point is an equal distance from the centre. This makes sense because everything is being pulled towards the centre, therefore keeping it spherical.

So it's not a coincidence at all, AtheistPanda :P

Was my response too technical, d'you think?

Not for me, I love math and science, but maybe for some people. I figured I should answer as well in a different tone :)

Ah, so it was my tone. I often make the mistake of talking to my audience like they have a higher IQ than a banana.

It's an understandable mistake to make.

Yeah, it's just a result of gravity. The earth is kinda more shaped like a football with the ends chopped off (still a spheroid), though, largely due to rotation around the central axis, so the sides are fatter. A better question might be: How are all of the planets in perfect (although elliptical) orbit on the same plane around the sun so that they don't eventually crash into each other or into the sun itself?

I'm not a scientist... *goes off to research stuff*

So here's what I found from a forum online:

As Kolch theorises, it is to do with gravity.

As matter fell towards the centre of the cloud that formed the solar system, the Sun formed first. As it grew, it began to spin and the gravitational field generated, began rotate with it. This had the effect of packing the dust cloud into an "accretion disk". Such disks have been observed in other systems, by various means. Over time, of course, the materials in the disk formed planets.

Copy/pasted from: link

Scientists recently confirmed the existence free-roaming planets, as in planets that don't orbit the sun. Not totally relevant here, but just a fun factoid I thought I would throw out there.

Anyone else want to ask anything?

I don't have a question right now, though I may later. I just wanted to say thank you for posting this forum. I also want to thank you for the respect you show for other peoples beliefs. I used to be an athiest, and I was never as kind to christains as you are! Thank you!