Originally Posted by Arnox

There was no scientific theory at the time, and a lot of people believed in God precisely because no plausible alternative explanations existed that were consistent with a non-god explanation.

Originally Posted by rogueteens

I'm an atheist but it IS a belief system, no-one can totally disprove god, for example some people now think that the universe is an experiment or even a computer simulation, which if so means that whoever created that becomes god. It's even possible that there is a "traditional" god that takes a far further back seat than religion has us believe. I don't believe any of that, I believe in a scientific rationale behind everything but that doesn't mean that I or anyone can disprove god.

Originally Posted by beerptrol

They probably kept their beliefs to themselves for fear of being labeled a heretic by the religious

Originally Posted by rogueteens

I'm an atheist but it IS a belief system, no-one can totally disprove god, for example some people now think that the universe is an experiment or even a computer simulation, which if so means that whoever created that becomes god. It's even possible that there is a "traditional" god that takes a far further back seat than religion has us believe. I don't believe any of that, I believe in a scientific rationale behind everything but that doesn't mean that I or anyone can disprove god.

Originally Posted by editeur

Nope, not believing in something is not believing. See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot

Originally Posted by trevesty

Atheism isn't a belief system. Those "some people" who think the universe is an experiment or even a computer simulation - that BELIEF is a belief system, just like any religion. An atheist who is also a humanist would have a belief system - humanism. Atheism isn't a belief system just like theism isn't a belief system. I'm not sure how logically one arrives at the idea that a word which is defined as "the lack of a belief in a deity" is somehow a belief system. It isn't. A belief system is a system in which morals and other guiding factors for living may be found - humanism, Buddhism, any of the major Abrahamic religions, etc. Atheism is quite simply the lack of belief in any deities - that isn't a belief system - at all - it is simply stating a matter of fact.

Also, anti-theism and atheism are two separate things. I'm atheist as well, but I'm an evidence-based person who relies on hard data rather than feel good shit. If hard, empirical data comes to light that any of the thousands of deities out there exist, guess I better convert.

Originally Posted by DAMNMAN

Atheism is a disbelief system!!!!
If the fucking screwheads would stop talking about god (s), I would stop talking about how stupid they are!!!

Originally Posted by rogueteens

atheists (like me) cannot prove there is no god, therefore it is a belief.

Originally Posted by MaDalton

this is how the flying spaghetti monster got invented.

Originally Posted by MiamiBoyz

There is no need to "prove" that something doesn't exist to "prove" it doesn't exist.

Originally Posted by Hentaikid

Napoleon Bonaparte: "I think the matter that made man was slime, warmed by the sun and vivified by electric fluids. What are animals ?an ox, for example? but organized matter? Well, when we see that our physical frame resembles theirs, may we not believe that we are only better organized matter... The most simple idea consists in worshiping the sun, which gives life to everything. I repeat, I think man was created in an atmosphere warmed by the sun, and that after a certain time this productive power ceased."

Originally Posted by AdultDesigners

The theory of evolution doesn't explain the origins of life.

Before Darwin, as right now, no one knows for sure how life got started.

The theory of evolution states that species adapt to the enviroment, and changes appear due to natural selection, which is to say that the best adapted specimen lives to have more offspings that perpetuate his features.

Also at the time of Darwin, genetics didn't existed, so he struggled to find a way to explain the random variation that appears.

Humans evolved out of a common ancestor as monkeys did, so we are a kind of cousins with monkeys.

The missing link..

Originally Posted by aka123

I don't think you really got it.