Religion

[Mindbender]

I'm 3:43 into that video and I need to take a break from it. It's too much to process all at once.

So I am an atheist (unlike pantheist absinthe, I am the unsexy kind) and an antitheist too. I do believe the religion is the source of many, many of the worlds ills and little benefit. Of course, theists can be good people and atheists can be bad people...just in case it sounded like I believed otherwise.

i have thought about atheism definitely but then there's that part of me that questions what happens to us when we die.

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here...We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state, from which the vast majority have never stirred."
-Richard Dawkins

Time becomes meaningless as it stretches into infinity. Immortal consciousness would not be fun, it would be boring.

We are very lucky to exist at all, and we should revel in your luckiness. Also, are you bothered my fact that for billions of years before you were born, you never existed? If it doesn't bother you that you weren't alive before you were born, it shouldn't bother you to go back to that same non-existence which was our state for over 99.9999999% of the universe's existence. That's not hyperbole either, I counted the right amount of decimal places assuming you were 20 years old.

It's so unfair how it's so difficult for me to find a fellow atheist IRL to talk to, whereas on the internet it's a good deal more difficult to find someone who isn't either agnostic or atheistic.

I went to meetup.com and found a few local atheist/secular humanist meetup groups and I've made alot of great friends attending meetups. The internet is a great tool for finding any niche group, but you can use it for organiztion IRL meetups, not just communication via message boards. I would recommend it.

Now back to the youtube video.

[RaptorJesus]

ONE REGULAR ONE, ONE INDIAN ONE HAHAHAHAHAHA SUCH A RACIST B**CH!
INDIA IS AN AFRICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA HAHAHAH

[Mindbender]

OK...I'm back from finishing that video. I loved the part at the end. "OK...it was nice meeting you. I actually have to go...my mom...made me...rice...."

Yeah, while it's possible it's fake (as Metalbender suggested that it might be), I really don't think so. If is was, it was INCREDIBLY well acted. These was no ring of irony, no winking at the camera moment, none of that. As an atheist, I'll refer to Occam's Razor. Until I see further evidence, the simplest and most reasonable explanation is that the girls in the video are sincere.

[RaptorJesus]

I wanna see what these girls' marks are in geography

[Mindbender]

Until I see further evidence

Ok, so I click on this youtuber's profile page and saw that she has favorited this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urlTBBKTO68

So, this is a more tongue in cheek video. This lends some credibility to the argument that the girls are acting, but it's also possible that they are just dumb enough to look at that video and go "Yeah, you show him, God! Wow, everything in the video was totally right!"

I was also looking through her friends and subscribers. Anyone can subscribe to your channel, but you have to accept friends. She has 43 friends. One is a 46 year old hindu, Alphanso108. Another had a Hannibal Lector avatar and had tons of subscriptions to atheists channels I'm familiar with, like patcondell and ReasonTV. Another is DarkStar149 (Dark Star likely being a reference to the Grateful Dead song, considering tie dye pot leaf and 4:20 avatar). Another is DarwinDennett (referring to Charles Darwin and Daniel Dennett) who has Bill Maher and Roy Zimmerman videos links on his page. Another is blackgoesgreen, and black environmentalist. Another is MarcusPenix, who has a Richard Dawkins avatar.

So, would the girl (Molly) in this video have all these people as friends? Maybe she just accepts all friend requests, right? Let's just say I'm alot closer to being convinced it's satire.

[Metalbender92]

Yeah, I saw that vid too. And if you look at the last second of the video, molly cracks a smile. That could just be a nervous smile, though.

I dunno if this is real or not. I'd think it was satire if she didn't do the "I love jesus" thing for the rest of her videos.

edit: Saw the other videos, it's a joke.

[absinthe_spoons]

Yeah, it's a joke. Tip: look at the video's tags. Then have a look at this: http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe%27s_Law .
Truly, that was Poe's Law refined to an art.
What amazing actors, though. I would never be able to keep my face so straight for so long. Maybe all those cuts were parts where they all cracked up laughing.

[shifu-yantao]

when i was younger i never know what to believe in and my teacher used to tell me how there are not only one god people believed in...but i believe in taoism and buddhism. my family is all Catholic.


lol @ the athiest and god thing..hmmm that does makes you wanna think about what you believe in and why.

[Sifu Hotman]

I would have to say that I'm an agnostic. I can't prove God exists...but I can't prove he doesn't, either. For all I know, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is really one of God's many disguises...

Seriously, I was raised as a Catholic. I was an altar boy and my great-aunt is a nun. Needless to say, my family was thrown for a loop when I converted to Church of Christ at the age of 18. It wasn't until I joined the Navy and met tons of people from many different backgounds and cultures did I start to question the concept of religion. I was in my early 20's

I do consider myself a spiritual person and (based on family experience) believe in some sort of existence after death. Like Cancer's family, mine has its share of those with psychic or spiritual abilities. I do have some Native American ancestors, so this may be where it comes from (I never got a letter from Hogwarts, so I can't be a wizard.). I've been told that I "have it", too, but I wouldn't know how to tap into it. I will definitely be going on my quest to find my animal guide, so thanks for that, Cancer.

[Jerkbender]

O........M........G......

WHOOO! Finally, more atheists. My dad doesn't know I'm atheist. I can see a future conversation happening here soon. Yes, I am. Thing is there is still the part of me that wonders what happens when we die. Abs. Cancer. I want to be on your show as well. That was so funny. I became atheist when I was twelve, too. I began to notice something. Whenever I asked god for help, the strangest thing happened: nothing!!! I grew up the same way Cancer did with the whole Catholic Hispanic thing. I am also very spiritual. Part of me says there is an after life in Paradise and part of me says that you get reincarnated. When I broke the news to my mom's side of the family, I could have sworn that my die-hard-Christian grandmother wanted to run and get her bible and holy water so she could sprinkle it on me yelling, "The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!" As a matter of fact, I wrote a paper for my advanced English class on why I'm atheist. I titled it "What Blasphemy?" Oh, and I'm a big fan of Phillip Pullman's series His Dark Materials. I know he also wrote a few more books about the world he created. One of them is called Lyra's Oxford. He is also writing a really long book supposedly titled The Book Of Dust. On the subject of spirit animals, I found mine!!! About a week ago, my dad told me about your's, Cancer. Finding that this is much similar to the daemons in His Dark Materials, I was so excited to hear that this could actually be done. The process was so hard but sounded so easy. I tried several times before making any progress. I didn't have any candles or incense but thankfully I could listen to the Echochrome BG music (of exactly 2 violinists, 1 viola player and 1 celloist) on my PSP. This combo makes for really beautiful music. I like classical. Every time i came out of my trance, I had been in the cave. I had no idea how much was actually on my mind. This is what happened when i succeeded:

I am standing in front of a dark cave. I look to my left and right and see pine trees. I start walking into the cave. It gets really dark really quick. I get on my hands and knees and feel my way along the floor of the cave to the nearest wall. I touch the wall and get up. I continue down the cave and to my left. I see faint light. I start walking to it and come upon a wall. I touch it and watch as my hand passes through it. I walk through. I come into a beautiful forest filled with maple trees. I continue down a path and come to the bluest pond ever. I see a boulder and walk over and sit on it staring at my reflection. Something walks up to the pond and starts to drink from it. I look up to see a bison and ask if it is my spirit animal. He says no but says that he belongs to someone I know. He walks away and I stare back at my reflection. Another animal walks up beside me. I see its face in the water. I look up and see a wolf with grayish-brownish fur. He has a scar on his left eye and the Greek letter Sampi on his right cheek. I ask if he is my spirit animal. He says yes. I ask for his name. He says Alethio. I ask what the cave was. He said it represents the area of thoughts that clutter our mind. Then he explains the rest. The wall is the boundary between those distracting thoughts and our literal "happy place." The forest is the area of our minds where we are at peace. The pond is the meeting point for us and our spirit animals. Then he explains his appearance. The scar represents my physical detrement of being near-sighted and needing glasses. Had I not gotten glasses, the wound would have appeared fresh. The Greek letter represents my lust for knowledge and enlightenment. It just happens to be that particular letter, meaning that it could have been any letter or symbol. He said thank you to me for finally meeting and said that now he will always be with me from now on. I asked how that was and he said because he is me.

Then I came out of my trance fully relaxed. I ought to meditate more because it is so relaxing. Tell me what you guys think.