Have you ever changed your opinion?

There's been a discussion in the previous post regarding our beliefs being prejudiced and biased.  I think this goes without saying, as we are the collective of what we are taught, think and observe.

But, have you ever had a deep held belief in which you've turned around on?
What made you change?
If you study a topic you believe in, do you also research/read the opposing opinions?


I was raised Catholic and went to church regularly as well as a Catholic grade school.  God/Jesus was an everyday thing for me. When I became a teenager, like many, I became interested in supernatural subjects like ghosts, ESP, UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle.  The movie The Exorcist came out when I was 13 and I was obsessed with demonic possession.  I read everything  I could on the subject.
I was convinced all these things were real and happening around me.  My parents chuckled and told me to think about these subjects critically.  They asked me to look for actually evidence and to look for other possible explanations to specific events.
They were very patient!
But, over the next 4-5 years, as I matured and learned, I did start asking the questions "Why?" and "How?"  I started learning about the world around me. With a little education, a lot of the supernatural disappeared.
One day I asked my mom why we should believe in a god when the natural world could be explained by natural processes (I probably didn't use those words.  And I most likely just didn't want to go to church.).  She didn't have an answer and gave me the official Catholic Church response.  "Don't ask questions." I found out that when it came to her faith, she didn't practice what she preached.

Long story short, I fell in love with science in high school and religion became less important to me.  I went to college wanting to become a NASA engineer and received AA degrees in Physics and Psychology before deciding that Video Production and Film History was the direction my career would lead.  I became an 'official' Atheist my last year in Catholic college when I took a class called Atheism and Religion.

But you ask, have I changed my mind on scientific subjects?  Yes.

In the past, I questioned man's impact on Earth's climate.  Our environment changes at a fairly slow pace and we have such a small data set of weather conditions over the last 125 years to draw on.  But, as more information is collected and as the amount of change has become (practically) logarithmic, it's became pretty clear that man can have a huge impact on his environment.

I also would like to believe in multi-verses and that idea that more then four dimensions exist.  It would make our 'uni'-verse infinitely more wondrous.  But, alas there is no actual evidence for them (yet).  They only exist in mathematical constructs which, like Zeno's Paradoxes, are open to logical errors.

When I look at the universe without a god, I see a place even more exciting and beautiful then the one I saw with a god!  Having no predetermined 'purpose' or 'meaning' give us infinite possibilities to explore and find our own purpose and meaning!

Morality is a human construct.  We've developed a social order over tens of thousands of years in order to live together and prosper.  Our values have shifted over the millennia.  It obviously doesn't work perfectly but it's gotten us this far.
A world with god and religion is indistinguishable but a world without (apart from the churches of course).  Just as many horrible, bloody acts of violence have been committed by the followers of gods as by those who commit horrible acts to fulfill their own needs.  And just as much good.  You can be good without god.



What's your story?

Hitler, McCarthy and Pastor Mike

What do you do when the ideology of one group conflicts with your ideology?  Well, if you're part of the majority rule, you try to outlaw that group and make them criminals (Nazis, Communists, Medieval Catholic Church).

But, what if you live in a country that holds freedom of speech and freedom of belief to be the highest of it's social truths?  Well, you can only hope to keep track of the rabble 'just in case'.

Enter Pastor Mike Stahl.  He feels that Atheists need to be put on a national registry so "we" can keep track of them.

From his blog;

"I mean, think about it. There are already National Registrys [sic] for convicted sex offenders, ex-convicts, terrorist cells, hate groups like the KKK, skinheads, radical Islamists, etc.."

"This type of 'National Registry' would merely be for information purposes."

"I mean, in the City of Miramar, Florida, where I live, the population is approx. 109,000. My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists! Perhaps we may actually know some. In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism. Or perhaps they are radical atheists, whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh's, in that case, if they are business owners, we would encourage all our Christian friends, as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be "feeding" Satan. "

He seems to be unaware that GOD hardened Pharaohs heart several times after Pharaoh repeatedly agreed to let the Jews leave Egypt.  ;-)

I have to link to the article about Stahls blog because he's made it invite only since it hit the news.

When the lights go on, the cockroaches run and hide.

I'll gladly invoke Godwin's law here.  Pastor Mike's idea certainly mimics Hitler's practices against Jews, gays and atheists, but McCarthyism is a more appropriate comparison.

I really don't have a point to make here, Pastor Mike makes it for me.  I just wanted to shine another light on a cockroach.

Proof

I've been asked by many people over the years, most recently by commenter Edward what proof would I need to accept that the Christian god, or any god actually exists.
Well, I'll tell you, kind of.

Back in collage I took a class where religion and atheism were compared.  We discussed this question frequently amongst ourselves.  Everyone pretty much agreed that if Jesus descended from the skies on a beam of light for all the world to see that would be enough proof.  But we are taught that the lord does not work in such garish ways.  He's not going to show himself in public.  We just have to have faith.

So I thought, If god won't show himself to the masses anymore (he was constantly showing up unannounced in the OT), would he give me a "personal" sign of his existence?  If so, I'm sure he would allow me to pick my proof because I would have to know the sign beforehand so that I knew it was God contacting me.

So I set out to create a set of rules.
1) I had to rule out mental illness as a possibility so it would have to be verifiable by others.  Others would have to be able to see the sign but not need know what it meant.
2) It would have to be something  very personal.  Something only I would understand as a sign.
3) It would have to be something that occurred in the the natural world.  The sun couldn't "dance in the sky", the trees couldn't start talking and the  stars in the night sky could spell out BRUCE IS AWESOME (although that would be nice, and true).
4) I can't tell anyone what that sign would be to rule out the possibility that someone would try to trick me into believing.

I have my sign and have been waiting almost 25 years for a higher power to show it to me.
If/When I see it I will spend the rest of my life trying to convince the rest of the world that they need to praise this god as well.

Atheists, what proof do you require?  Did you believe and now you don't?  Do you have a plan?  Is mine sound?

Believers, What made you believers?  Did you have an experience that changed you?  Could you apply the above rules to your experience?    Are those rules even relevant to your faith?

Atheist Jokes?

My sister ( Buddhist) sent me some Catholic jokes today.  It got me to thinking, I don't think I've ever heard an Atheist joke.

Share 'em if you got 'em.

Deuteronomy 16-18

Deuteronomy 16-18

Deuteronomy 16-18 Skeptics Annotated Bible

Chapter 16 is more rehashing
Chapter 17 tells us that a king will be installed once the Israelites settle in the promised land.
Chapter 18 reminds us to kill witches and others associated with occult like things.

Most interestingly, we also learn that God will raise a prophet up from these people.  Am I wrong or is this is the first solid reference/predication of Jesus (to the believers that is)?
Us Atheists like to call that retro-fitting.  ;-)

Edit: I meant to say force-fitting, not retro-fitting Jesus into the story.