10 Questions Atheists Can't Answer!!1!

[Hermit]

3. What if you’re wrong? And there is a Heaven? And there is a HELL!

The Pope recently said, and many Christians agree, that atheists can go to heaven once they are true to themself and are good. Other Christian and Muslim types say I'm going to hell automatically for the crime of non-belief. If believers don't know what happens if atheists are wrong then what hope do I have of working it out?

That is not what the Pope said. He did say: "the mercy of God has no limits if one turns to him with a sincere and contrite heart" In other words, passage through the pearly gates one must cease to be an atheist first. You can't enter heaven before turning to God, and moreover turning to him with contrition.

At any rate, the most appropriate reply to question 3 is laughter.

[Seth]

What irrational rantings are those, troll?

All of them.

[pErvinalia]

How are they irrational, troll?

[Seth]

Who the fuck binned my reply to the OP, why, and by what authority?

I want it put back please.

[Seth]

How are they irrational, troll?

Because you do not state them rationally.

[Hermit]

Who the fuck binned my reply to the OP, why, and by what authority?

What reply? You never posted one.

[pErvinalia]

How are they irrational, troll?

Because you do not state them rationally.

So I'm jimc now??

How are jimc's response irrational? If u can't state how, then we can just dismiss u for the troll u are.

[Sean Hayden]

Who the fuck binned my reply to the OP, why, and by what authority?

What reply? You never posted one.

[Ian]

1. How Did You Become an Atheist?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

It started by my Sunday School teachers refusing to answer uncomfortable questions. I was raised to value honesty and integrity over comfort and tradition, and to not only answer questions but to question answers.
Eventually, it became pretty clear that all religions are just man-made ideas that can't hold up to critical thinking.

2. What happens when we die?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

We start to decompose. Any other answer is based on the comforting thought that we have some magical soul that lives on somewhere else, rather than the honest admission that we just plain no longer exist.

3. What if you’re wrong? And there is a Heaven? And there is a HELL!

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I prefer to take my chances with intellectual honesty rather than wishful thinking.
And whose versions of heaven and hell should I be concerned about? The ones made up by Christians, where St. Whatshisname stands in front of Heaven like a bouncer checking your name on a list? The sort found in Viking paganism, where Hell is freezing cold? The idea that we get reincarnated, perhaps into a field mouse? The muslim version where I get 72 virgins?

4. Without God, where do you get your morality from?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Jeez, I never knew I was supposed to get my morality from God in the first place! Based on what God personally proscribes in the Bible, that's a truly hideous notion of morality.
But to answer the question... I suppose having empathy towards others, as well as some self-consciousness about how others see me.

5. If there is no God, can we do what we want? Are we free to murder and rape? While good deeds are unrewarded?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

When I hear this, I hear people saying they might consider doing things like that... if only there wasn't that threat of eternal damnation. FFS, just be a good person for the sake of being good to yourself, your family and your society.

6. If there is no god, how does your life have any meaning?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

It's sad that some people need an imaginary feudal lord, without which their lives have no meaning. Really?
I do what I can to make the world a better place, and to raise my kids to be good people. And I enjoy watching my favorite football team win. So there.

7. Where did the universe come from?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Fuck if I know. If you're intellectually honest, you don't know, either.
Moreover, nobody does. Mortal humans are not likely to ever confirm an answer to this question. Anyone who claims otherwise without offering evidence is trying to sell you something.

8. What about miracles? What all the people who claim to have a connection with Jesus? What about those who claim to have seen saints or angels?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I've never heard of a miracle that couldn't also be described as either a hallucination, a hoax, or a statistical anomaly. Miracles require proof.
Some people need to construct that personal connection. Some people feel a personal connection to Shakespeare, or Newton, or Charles Manson.
People have claimed to see ghosts, too. And Bigfoot. They get the same response: let's see some proof.

9. What’s your view of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I've never read Dawkins or Hitchens. Harris is okay, I guess; I agree with his notion that religious moderates ought to be questioned and criticized, as they provide insulation and legitimacy for the hard core of truly devout loons.

10. If there is no God, then why does every society have a religion?

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Every society came from a place where they didn't know what the sun or stars really were, or where diseases came from, etc. When people came up with questions, answers were made up to fill the places where real answers were not yet possible. And many societies had rulers which decreed that they had some connection to an eternal overseer, either by divine providence or by claiming they had insight into what the creator of the universe wants you to do with your genitals, etc. And life was harsh, with children and other loved ones dying off at awful rates; we found comfort in ideas of life somehow going on somewhere else, even though our bodies were dead and either burned or rotting. Ancient societies needed to invent religions. But we today can recognize that they are just inventions.

[rainbow]

Atheists can't answer any questions since they don't exist.

[pErvinalia]

Welcome back Ian!!

[Seth]

Who the fuck binned my reply to the OP, why, and by what authority?

What reply? You never posted one.

Yes, I did.

I rebutted each of XC's answers.

[Animavore]

3. What if you’re wrong? And there is a Heaven? And there is a HELL!

The Pope recently said, and many Christians agree, that atheists can go to heaven once they are true to themself and are good. Other Christian and Muslim types say I'm going to hell automatically for the crime of non-belief. If believers don't know what happens if atheists are wrong then what hope do I have of working it out?

That is not what the Pope said. He did say: "the mercy of God has no limits if one turns to him with a sincere and contrite heart" In other words, passage through the pearly gates one must cease to be an atheist first. You can't enter heaven before turning to God, and moreover turning to him with contrition.

At any rate, the most appropriate reply to question 3 is laughter.

Well, maybe the pope's words were misconstrued, but plenty of Christians and other theists (including myself when I was one) believe that God would understand everything about you, including why you believe as you believe, and that once you were a good person you could go to heaven (and hell isn't permanent to many believers), so my point still stands.
When theists agree among themselves about what they believe about the afterlife, then you can ask me if I give a shit.

[Hermit]

...plenty of Christians and other theists (including myself when I was one) believe that God would understand everything about you, including why you believe as you believe, and that once you were a good person you could go to heaven...

Same here. Both my parents were practising catholics, and brought us up as such. We got official and informal sermons by priest, chaplains, nuns and brothers saying the same thing. Although it never occurred to them to mention atheists specifically, the message was clear: No matter what belief system you subscribe to, if you have been a good person on earth you will go to heaven when you die. A bit contradictory with official dogma, which says that this is not going to happen unless you have listed and repented all your sins during an act of confession first, but there you go. My catholic environment was very much on the liberal, enlightened side.

As for your point, you're welcome to it. Stick a silver star on the fridge door for the win. If that doesn't feel good enough, stick it up your arsehole and rotate.

[Hermit]

Who the fuck binned my reply to the OP, why, and by what authority?

What reply? You never posted one.

Yes, I did.

I rebutted each of XC's answers.

Sure you did. Then you clicked on <Preview> and thinking you had despatched another one of your jewels of wisdom and closed the tab.

Having endured 14,000 of your pieces of excrement I can't see why the moderators would all of a sudden start deleting or hiding your smelly piles.