I don’t get it. Why do you have to treat all Atheists as if they are one large group that supports each other? Atheists are INDIVIDUAL people that come to denounce religion for different reasons, very different from religious people who inherit the religion of their parents and keep it.
How do YOU know I don’t understand Qur’an? How did you assume I have never bothered understanding it? This is where I have a problem with “religious” people. You openly discriminate against those who have denounced faith and do not bother understanding why. Why assume we must be dumb or something?..
Not all atheists are alike..some are smart some are dumb and some never care enough to educate themselves about religion…
BTW, problem you have with religious people, I believe its a two way traffic. Non-Religiou people also label everyone with beard and/or top a 'Mullah' and stop listening to what they actually are saying and if that makes sense or not.
Once one does not believe in a higher power everything is meaningless to them. Read Jeffrey Dahmer’s biography , he was an atheist and is known to say that
“If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…” [An interview with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC, Nov. 29, 1994].
It does not mean that all atheist are immoral , serial killers , cannibals or rapists. Religious people have those too. But I think those religious folks are religious for name sake , deep down they have denounced the religion and have a facade of religion to fit in or to hide their heinous crimes they do so.
At one point I became an atheist too because I saw that very religious folks were involved in bribery , adultery, tax evasion , theft, lying , cheating and what not and I thought , may be these guys know there is no God and they are not sharing the information. They know something which I do not.
My point is that once someone has taken a higher power out of the equation or lost the belief that one day he/she will be accountable for his/her crimes then what force will keep that person on the right track , to follow the norms and have high morals.
Most athiests live their lives as christians, muslims or hindus etc
That is what I think so too , specially those who are involved in all kinds of immoral and criminal activities. Islam has a term for them "Munafiq" . Hypocrites.
there have been enough trying times in my own life and in the lives of those I see around me to make me question the existence of a higher power.....but I have always found my way back to the belief that there are too many reasons to believe in God than not.
it is one thing to become disillusioned by those that represent themselves as "religious" be they Hindu, Muslim or otherwise......but it is entirely another thing to stand aside and make a stand based on your own studies, opinions and beliefs.
Mirch.....you have done some really wicked reading....I envy this about you.....wish I could go back to the days of reading for leisure......
So It was the actions of the people around you that made you question your faith. I began with questioning the existence of God. What people did/do never had any effect on my understanding of God or religion.
So It was the actions of the people around you that made you question your faith. I began with questioning the existence of God. What people did/do never had any effect on my understanding of God or religion.
Yes , I have opened a thread on the topic if you remember where I have enumerated the reasons why one will lose their faith.
Questioning the existence of God brought me back to religion. Alhumdulillah. Like Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) questioned existence of God and one day he was ordained with Prophet hood. Mashallah.
There are too many reasons to ignore to not believe in God.
For you God is a theory , for me there is enough empirical evidence to believe in God and Islam and the day of judgement.
I don't know if this derails the thread or not.....but question for you Theorist......why did you begin to question the existence of God? What prompted you to do this?
[EMAIL="^@Mirch[/MENTION]"]^[MENTION=58854]Mirch - that's it! It is a theory to me. :)
@Muzna - I don't know. I just did. Even if there is a God, it probably isn't what's described by most religions. There are so many people who claim to have met angels/God and swear by what they believe. How do I know if any of them are right? but they could ALL be wrong!
I feel what religions confused with God could be anything - E.T. encounter, hallucination, cognitive dissonance, etc etc..
@Muzna - I don't know. I just did. Even if there is a God, it probably isn't what's described by most religions. There are so many people who claim to have met angels/God and swear by what they believe. How do I know if any of them are right? but they could ALL be wrong!
I feel what religions confused with God could be anything - E.T. encounter, hallucination, cognitive dissonance, etc etc..
I have heard it in a lecture from a religious scholar who I respect highly.
Someone said to Hazrat Umar (RA) . Why are you wasting your wealth in the name of a Allah you never saw and have no proof of.
Hazrat Umar said . Even if you are right that there is no Allah then I am not a loser anyway.
Believing in Allah does not hurt me but when we die and ultimately we find out that there is in fact Allah , who will be the loser ultimately ? I or you ? So believing in Allah does not hurt me in any way but it can hurt you if in fact there is Allah(SWT) .
P.S. Now don't ask me how it helps Allah if we believe in Allah , that is a separate discussion.
and this is not the only reason that I believe in Allah(SWT).
I feel what religions confused with God could be anything - E.T. encounter, hallucination, cognitive dissonance, etc etc..
However, No one can see God. It's the faith in Him without seeing Him but feeling His existence all around us in His creations, which matters in Islam. The best that God has been described is by God Himself in Quran. That is, He is light; light upon light.
