Atheist website is INACCURATE

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 12

My friend emailed me this website listing all the celebrities who are Atheists.

http://www.celebatheists.com/?title=Main_Page

We were astonished to find out that this list is EXTREMELY inaccurate and just plain wrong!!!

But, most of these celebrities on the list who are under the Atheism category are in fact SPIRITUAL. (except for Patton Oswald whom I've met....and is a fuckin' idiot)

Believe it or not, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein do/did in fact believe in a God. (in a spiritual context....not the religious definition)

One of my good friends was fortunate to talk with Bill Gate five years ago in India when Bill explained he was not an Atheist nor did he believe in Religion...but rather, he was a believer in Spirituality.

Furthermore, my boss is good friends with Carl Sagan's son. Even his son has told my boss on numerous occasions that Carl was not an Atheist (or Religious)....but he did believe in a spiritual God. A God that transcends Space, Time, Matter, and Consciousness and can only be found within you.

Hell, even Albert Einstein believed in a God!!! But again, NOT IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT.

The majority of Physicists, Chemists, and Biologists I've talked to do believe in a God. They also consider themselves spiritual and the true free thinkers of this world.....and believe Atheism and Religion are the most harmful to society.

Spiritual philosophers like Buddha and Jesus never preached about Religion. The only main things they talked about where meditation and finding the true kingdom of God (a spiritual state) within you.

My favorite possible Einstein quote is from a possible letter he might have written to Gandhi (if it is real, it was probably written to Rabindranath Tagore, whom Einstein met). In response to the simple question from Gandhi/Tagore, "What do you do?" Einstein's is said to have responded, "I trace the lines that flow from God." He is said to have remarked about atheists that, "I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth." In his book "The World as I See It," Einstein wrote: "A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms--it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man."

Last but not least, I leave you this trailer of a documentary that will be coming out soon. Please watch all the videos of this amazing movie.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810011691/trailer

Graduate Thinker Joined: Mar 26, 2008 Posts: 513

You still REALLY don't know the definition of 'atheist', do you? Atheists are supposed to be completely void of spirituality and religion, right? Wrong. Look at Buddhism.

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:43 pm

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Believe it or not, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein do/did in fact believe in a God. (in a spiritual context....not the religious definition)

Einstein said he was only religious in the sense of reverence for nature. Same with the others as far as the quotes I have seen.
This is stretching the definition of "god" beyond meaning.

Graduate Thinker Joined: Mar 26, 2008 Posts: 513

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A God that transcends Space, Time, Matter, and Consciousness and can only be found within you.

I am getting really tired of this conflating the word 'god' with spirituality. God is a word. It means a creator of some sort. Calling a car an airplane because it goes places doesn't make it an airplane. Who am I to place restrictions on the word god? I'm not. But language has assigned the word 'god' to a specific definition. Get another word for whatever wild all-inclusive definition you currrently assign to the word 'god'.

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 12

Please read this carefully. Thanks Smile

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You still REALLY don't know the definition of 'atheist', do you? Atheists are supposed to be completely void of spirituality and religion, right? Wrong. Look at Buddhism.

An Atheist is defined as "a person who believes that there is no God".

This is because an Atheist defines God through a Judeo-Christian or Islamic context. And NOT through a spiritual context. (this has been the basis of my argument from past posts...obviously someone hasn't been reading them)

Actually, Buddhists do believe in a God. Instead of using the word God, they use words like the Universe or Love or Enlightenment. (it all means the same)

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I am getting really tired of this conflating the word 'god' with spirituality. God is a word. It means a creator of some sort. Calling a car an airplane because it goes places doesn't make it an airplane. Who am I to place restrictions on the word god? I'm not. But language has assigned the word 'god' to a specific definition. Get another word for whatever wild all-inclusive definition you currently assign to the word 'god'.

Society has already placed a restriction by defining God through a Judeo-Christian context. And this is where the problem begins....

A young man starts to ponder about all the suffering, hate, and prejudice in this world and begins contemplating about the God in our dictionary. The God that is supposed to be perfect, omnipotent, a superhuman being having power over nature and human fortunes. And he quickly realizes, wait a minute, this can't be true! If God does exist, then why would he:

- Let humans suffer? (or let alone create them?)
- Create the universe?
- Create space?
- Create time?
- Create matter?
- Manifest consciousness?

And LOGIC tells this man - yup, all this could mean one simple thing. God does not exist. (he couldn't exist!)

Do you see it? This man reads a very one-dimensional religious view on God and quickly jumps to a one-dimensional conclusion.

Because LOGIC told him. And this is Atheists biggest weakness in the search for God.

The true definition or search for God is not a logical question, but rather a philosophical quest.

No one can truly call themselves a spiritual person if they don't believe in a God (Universe, Time, Space, Matter, Consciousness, Love etc.) Spirituality encompasses infinite dimensions to the definition of the word God because God is infinite.

SO WHAT if our dictionary has assigned the word God to mean a creator who is perfect, omnipotent, etc, etc, etc? This doesn't mean the dictionary is correct!!! And this also doesn't mean you have to make the dictionary your bible (as many Atheists do).

Use your own mind and heart to search for God. And start by looking deep within yourself. (either through Transcendental Meditation or LSD...I would suggest Meditation although LSD and Pot are awesome drugs!)

Quote:

Einstein said he was only religious in the sense of reverence for nature. Same with the others as far as the quotes I have seen.
This is stretching the definition of "god" beyond meaning.

Dude, have you ever thought that maybe you're defining God the wrong way? (a.k.a. the standard bullshit Judeo-Christian way)

Think about it yo!

Peace out!

Tyler4Real

Graduate Thinker Joined: Mar 26, 2008 Posts: 513

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An Atheist is defined as "a person who believes that there is no God".

*Smacks forehead*

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Actually, Buddhists do believe in a God. Instead of using the word God, they use words like the Universe or Love or Enlightenment. (it all means the same)

So why did the Dalai Lama call Buddhism "a godless religion"? So why don't they use the word 'god'? Because they don't have to! Universe, love or enlightenment, why do those things hve to be refered to as god? They're all good one way or the other. I don't see any reason to apply the word 'god' to any of it.

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The true definition or search for God is not a logical question, but rather a philosophical quest.

Philosophy requires logic.

Quote:

No one can truly call themselves a spiritual person if they don't believe in a God (Universe, Time, Space, Matter, Consciousness, Love etc.) Spirituality encompasses infinite dimensions to the definition of the word God because God is infinite.

SO WHAT if our dictionary has assigned the word God to mean a creator who is perfect, omnipotent, etc, etc, etc? This doesn't mean the dictionary is correct!!! And this also doesn't mean you have to make the dictionary your bible (as many Atheists do).

I don't see why any of those require the word god. Besides saying 'god', we could say infinite truth, the universe, etc. If god is everything, we should just say 'everything'.

I'm not making the dictionary my bible. In fact, Webster's dicitonary agrees with you. I don't. The reason why I don't use the word god is because I don't like it. I don't like it because of Christianity and because it is nearly always used to describe some grand poobah of some sort. That doesn't mean that all that spirituality stuff is wrong, though. I'm not disagreeing with you about spirituality yet, however I do disagree with a lot of that new-age stuff out there.

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Use your own mind and heart to search for God. And start by looking deep within yourself. (either through Transcendental Meditation or LSD...I would suggest Meditation although LSD and Pot are awesome drugs!)

You might want to stay away from LSD. It has ruined many lives. Pot might not be all that bad; the jury is still out on that drug. LSD definately destroys the mind. It's called 'acid' for a reason.

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 12

Cygnus, dude, I'm kinda confused on your retort.

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So why did the Dalai Lama call Buddhism "a godless religion"? So why don't they use the word 'god'? Because they don't have to! Universe, love or enlightenment, why do those things have to be reffered to as god? They're all good one way or the other. I don't see any reason to apply the word 'god' to any of it.

In TRUE spirituality, the words Universe, Love, Enlightenment, and God mean the same. (this is one of the many reasons I've personally never liked Buddhism since they don't acknowledge God by using the word God...either way, its the same thing)

Your argument here sorta doesn't make any sense to me. I thought Atheists don't believe in a God (as defined through our traditional dictionary). Do Atheists attack the word God or the traditional meaning of it? Because the word God is just a word. It means whatever you want it to mean. (so if you do believe in Universe, Space, Time, and Matter, you can make it mean exactly that)

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Philosophy requires logic.

Wrong again.

Philosophy is a combination of logic and emotion mixed in together.

There are an infinite number of things in this Universe that doesn't make any logical sense. (this reminds me of that dialogue exchange between Jodie Foster and Matthew Mc from the movie Contact about God. NICE! Carl Sagan ROCKS!!!)

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I'm not making the dictionary my bible. In fact, Webster's dicitonary agrees with you. I don't. The reason why I don't use the word god is because I don't like it. I don't like it because of Christianity and because it is nearly always used to describe some grand poobah of some sort. That doesn't mean that all that spirituality stuff is wrong, though. I'm not disagreeing with you about spirituality yet, however I do disagree with a lot of that new-age stuff out there.

Exactly! See, there we go. You don't like the word God because you personally don't like it. Why? Because you always interpret it through a religious context in terms of Christianity or Islam. Dude, even when Jesus was referring to God, he was talking about it through a spiritual context. (read Knowing God by Deepak Chopra....AMAZING!....or The Missing 15 years of Jesus Christ by Elizabeth Claire Prophet....FUCKIN' AWESOME!)

Look, you're right. There is a LOT of new agie crap out there. I totally agree with you on that point. I think what we have to do as humans is to filter through them and find the ones that can truly stand the test of time. (examples: Chopra, Dyer, Tolle, etc...)

My friend (who is extremely spiritual) had this great quote, "There are more fake people in the world of spirituality than in the world of business."

This means, its up to you to find those truly AUTHENTIC spiritual people (whether they are Authors, Yogis, or just plain normal people) and expand your mind rather than constricting it through a finite peep-hole I call Atheism (and Religion).

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You might want to stay away from LSD. It has ruined many lives. Pot might not be all that bad; the jury is still out on that drug. LSD definately destroys the mind. It's called 'acid' for a reason.

Apparently you don't know too much about drugs either. Watch the documentary on LSD on YouTube...TOTALLY RAD!

About Marijuana - I have no idea where you get your facts from...but Marijuana is a million times safer and non-addictive unlike Alcohol or Tobacco. lol...Carl Sagan will be mad at you my friend...

http://www.druglibrary.org/think/~jnr/sagan.htm

Peace out!

Tyler4Real Cool

Grand Poster Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 2505

Who cares

Graduate Thinker Joined: Mar 26, 2008 Posts: 513

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About Marijuana - I have no idea where you get your facts from...but Marijuana is a million times safer and non-addictive unlike Alcohol or Tobacco. lol...Carl Sagan will be mad at you my friend...

I never said "oh yeah, that pot stuff is definately bad". I haven't really heard all that much about it and what I have heard lately has been evidence contrary to popular belief and mostly in favor. Marijuana isn't non-addictive. It's less addictive than tobacco or alcohol- I'll give you that.

Newbie Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 12

Marijuana is as addictive as Sugar.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:47 pm

tyler4real wrote:

Marijuana is as addictive as Sugar.

Sure.

Without sugar, you would die.

On another note. IG. DID YOU GET MY LAST E-MAIL?

Newbie Joined: Jun 16, 2008 Posts: 13

tyler, I'd invite you to read the God Delusion. I'm sure the way Dawkins defines god is the sense that most of us would use as well -- namely, any supernatural creator of the universe character.

By the way, your constantly bolded text annoys me.

Just Arrived Joined: Jun 30, 2008 Posts: 6

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One of my good friends was fortunate to talk with Bill Gate five years ago in India when Bill explained he was not an Atheist nor did he believe in Religion...but rather, he was a believer in Spirituality.

Wow....so your friend said it? It must be true!

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Furthermore, my boss is good friends with Carl Sagan's son. Even his son has told my boss on numerous occasions that Carl was not an Atheist (or Religious)....but he did believe in a spiritual God. A God that transcends Space, Time, Matter, and Consciousness and can only be found within you.

Even better.....you know a guy that knows a guy, that knew a guy(okay, so he knew him well;)), and he has elaborated on intricate details of Sagan's beliefs to him?

I am a fan of his, and I am sure most fans like me could easily see why his love and wonder of the universe could be confused with spiritulism. Happen to have any....um.....real reason to buy this? Like a quote from one of his books?

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The majority of Physicists, Chemists, and Biologists I've talked to do believe in a God. They also consider themselves spiritual and the true free thinkers of this world.....and believe Atheism and Religion are the most harmful to society.

Really? Cause the biologists I know would say the biologists you know are full of shit Laughing

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Spiritual philosophers like Buddha and Jesus never preached about Religion. The only main things they talked about where meditation and finding the true kingdom of God (a spiritual state) within you.

Wow.

I guess we are nitpicking over words here, but claiming that Jesus never preached about religion when his life(and death....and then life again) is the cornerstone of the largest religion the world has ever known.

Ballsy.

You are clearly trying to play up the "Jesus was just a groovy dude that sat around and had insightful thought sessions with his apostles" that people like to have(various points of view....like you for your reasons or the people that just can't beleive thier personal buddy Christ could be the same guy as that nasty Old Testament bully)

Phew, that was a mouthful all to get to the point that Jesus was clearly teaching a religion(or cult..probably a cult).

Inbetween his nifty parables he also....

- Provided the basis for religious rituals like communion

- Predicting the end of the world

- Predicting his resurrection(the bad one, not the good one)

- Jesus is a faith healer, which included exorcism

- Jesus has supernatural powers. He can ressurrect people and call fire from the sky

- Jesus thinks his followers should drop everything and follow him

Sounds more like the resume of a deity(or a very skilled charlatan) then a "spiritual philosopher"

Seems like you enjoy slipping and sliding around the meanings of words and such(by far the most yawn inducing aspect of these philosophical discussions in my opinion) so it's funny you would say something so painfully, demonstrably false....

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:30 pm

I am SO glad I wasn't playing the logical fallacy drinking game when I read the OP. I'd be wasted before I got halfway...

Just Arrived Joined: Jul 07, 2008 Posts: 1

I happen to practice Buddhism and can tell you that there is no creator GOD to be found in it's teachings. Hinduism is a different story. If you take the ritual practice out of Buddhism you'd be left with a very sophisticated philosophical system devoid of religious context. Buddhists DO NOT believe love, enlightenment and the universe mean the same thing. I suggest the original poster actually read the Dhammapadda or the Tibetan Book of the Dead before trying to speak on a subject he clearly knows nothing about.


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