Does this guy pretty much sum up the position of an atheist?

I think, for the most part, I would have to agree, but while I agree there definitely are mindless religious robots, there are as well mindless atheistic robots. Which one are you? (Not meant personally. Take it more as rhetorical.) Are you the atheist that says to the best of my knowledge there is absolutely no evidence of a god, or the one who says there is no evidence of god, period, and if you think there is your mind is full of s**t? When I carefully construct five or six paragraphs explaining why I feel that Christianity is full of hypocrisy, falsity and superstition and why I did and do reject it (You can use Islam or any number of others). When I in those same paragraphs say that I find Dawkins' attempt to prove there is no God to be second-rate compared to what I once was well into constructing, and that I spent over fifteen years trying to disprove what I now believe in, then ask someone to read and carefully consider what I have written and in less than five minutes get a response calling me "just another mindless sheep" and "stupid christain" (sic), then to what other conclusion can I come to but that I have run into another (as I put it) intellectual knee-jerk atheist?

I early (age eight) quit accepting much of my Southern Baptist upbringing. Eventually rejected Christianity and then all other religions I studied. And I got into it pretty deeply before the internet had even been thought of. Do you know what Zoroastrians taught? Sabeans? Can you tell my why Urantia is a false religion? I have the two thousand plus page Book of Urantia in my personal library, and most pages full of annotations. I understand it is now on the internet in full. How easy everyone has it now!

Unlike our friend George Carlin, I never, ever tried to believe in anything. I simply went at it feeling that if there was a truth or a true religion, I would find it, and just like many atheists the more I studied, the more it seemed as though there were none. I spent years studying religion on my way to becoming a staunch atheistic agnostic, then well over fifteen trying to prove the one that I now have embraced was just as faulty and man made as all the others seemed to be. I was not looking when I first heard of it. A friend became one and I determined I was going to save her from what I felt was most likely a cult. If there is, indeed, no evidence of a God, what did I spend over fifteen years studying and trying to prove wrong? Comic books? As a Christian, I found it to be something I could no longer believe in and rejected it. In atheism I found something in which I could believe. I became a Baha'i because I found something quit impossible NOT to believe in, and that has made all the difference.

No, he doesn't sum up the position of an atheist.

An Atheist position is that there is no God. Plain and simple.

This guy is anti-religion, regardless of whether he believes in a higher power or not. You can be anti-religion yet still believe in a creator of the universe. You can also be an athiest and believe that religion in its self is a good thing,as it creates a community and a set of rules for that community to live by. Much like any other form of society really.

We set up our society based on a man made government, but we could just as easily have set it up based on a man made deity.

Let's consider some of Carlin's claims.

"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day." Christ is in heaven, but he has a body, which makes him visible. God the Father is the creator of man, and not a man himself.

"And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do." The Ten Commandments include positive requirements: Honoring a holy day and your parents.

"And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!" God provided a means to forgive sins so that we don't end up in hell unless we are consumed by our rebellion. Hell is not a place of literal torture, but of infinite loneliness.

"But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money!" God needs nothing at all. He made the universe, and he owns it all.

"Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption . . . .If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed." War, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, and corruption are direct results of human sin. Disease and death are facts of life; God sacrificed his own life to experience death, and he made it possible for us to live with him forever.

If Carlin represents the best atheism can come up with, he is pretty pathetic, not to mention humor challenged. You would at least expect him to get some of the basic theology right.

Cheers,

Bruce

Myth #1: Atheism is a specific ideology.

Actually atheism is GENERAL ideology that just means "without god(s)". As well as many "open minded", and "free thinkers", atheism also includes many other ideologies including: anti-religious, god/religion haters.

Myth #2: All atheists are open minded.

Atheism is a general ideology. Even a simple sweeping statement like "All atheists are open minded" is assigning attributes to others that they do not necessarily attribute or want attributed to themselves (close minded/fascist). Some atheists are very close minded, proud of it, and resent being told by other atheists (or anyone) how they should think.

Myth #3: Atheism cannot be called a religion because it is a lack of religion.

Many, but NOT all, atheists treat their beliefs in a way that is not compatible with our common conception of (organized) religion in that it requires spirituality and/or a "higher power".

Some atheists are spiritual (eg: Buddhists).

Some atheists are religious but consider their disbelief in a self-aware god to best conform with the term "atheist" (eg: some Pantheists).

Some atheists use their belief in certain scientific theories (beliefs backed with proof, but beliefs none the less) like a religion.

The dictionary definition of religion includes "3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices. 6. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice. "

Some atheists ARE evangelical and actively attempt to convert people to their views. Some even use crude ridicule and insults to do this.

While the answer is yes, that man is an atheist, please don't believe that all atheists are like that. Many atheists do not disrespect religion in such a harsh tone. I am an atheist and I find that many of the principles behind religion are great. However, religious leaders tend to fail in making these principles seem good.

Yes.

It summed up the position of George Carlin, who was an atheist.

It does not sum up the position of all atheists in the same way that the Pope does not sum up the position of all theists.

George Carlin was a douche of common sense in an infected dugout of a world.

Does he "sum up the position of atheism"? I don't even know what that means. Atheism is simply disbelief in God. No other "position" is implied; although certain positions are obviously incompatible with it. Many atheists may agree with the way Carlin framed his particular ideas, but I think he above all others would've objected to being called a mouthpiece.

Personally, I'm an atheist, and I don't consider extreme cynicism to be a virtue in itself. Carlin only had to make the points he did because so many grown adults here in the 21st century still pretend to believe so many crazy things.

I have to say that all atheists believe that to some degree. They don't believe that God exists. But here's what atheists like me believe: although the church takes in millions every year, it is not a big scam. They (should) actually believe in what they say. I respect them for that. Although the theories do sound ridiculous from a scientific standpoint, I can say right now that I trust religious people more than atheists. I believe that all religious people realize that their position is ridiculous from a scientific standpoint. But they still believe, because the belief makes God real for them. Not for atheists, but for their communities. Therefore they have a better concept of the abstract, and better concept of consequence and social morals. They are less likely to divorce. I just choose to be atheist because I feel better if I could uphold the same rules without having to feel a God because it is simply ridiculous for us.

I thereby sum up (hopefully) the position of the atheist.

do not speak ill of george carlin... because he is beyond god now... and no atheists arent at all summed up by that atheists would even take offense to you saying that and then they would clue you in on what they believe and what they belive is just as believeable as any god guy

No.

No one atheist feels the same as another. The only thing they have in common is that they don't believe any God or Gods exist.