I am just curious to know, What exactly does being an Atheist mean?

My understanding that there Is no belief in anything...Also what makes you choose this course of life???

speakign as a former athiest... I believe the majority of people who come to athiesm do so either because they see the harm many people do in the name of god and their religions, or simiply because they find religion of any type to be illogical like believing in a fairy tale or Santa Claus.

I am working on my masters in science and plan to get my phd. Personally almost everyone in my research team including my mentor are athiests. To them religion makes no sense. I can't say I blame them. I can't take every word of the Qur'an as literal I take a lot of it as a guide, or maybe there is a real meaning buried behind certain stories. You'll find a lot of people with higher degrees in science are atheists simply because of how illogical religion seems against science, I mean every aspect of it that is. It's hard to reconcile both. I know a lot of religious people get this negative view on atheists, as though they are all terrible people or something... but its not the case. They are just like any other person they just think differently from us that's all.

Well I didn't say athiests were bad or good. But anyone that does not know or believe in got will not find logic in much of anything. Science is All about fact and can you prove this and that ( from what I've been told ) but how do you claim to be Muslim if you don't believe everything in the Holy Qur'an? That's just the basics of Islam. That's like being color blind, you can see everything, but you dont seeit in color so you can fully enjoy what you are seeing. If you do not understand, believe or submit to Islam as a whole you can not love Allah his Rasul Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam (May the blessings of Allah be upon him) much less Islam.

i apologize i might have written hastely and not made myself clear. first i was not trying to accuse you of calling athiests good or bad, i was just i guess elaborating for the sake of it. i was just adding in an additional point that i dont think people should judge athiests thats all because i know a lot of people who have this impression like they area ll bad people. sorry if i sounded like i was accusing you of that my apologies there

and i wasnt saying i dont believe everything in the quran. i was simply stating that i don't necessarily take every single thing literally. i think there are stories that might have deeper meanings. i think you can read almost any book and often there is a story and you are not supposed to take it on face value but look much deeper and abstract the deeper meaning and usually that meaning carries far greater significance. for example, the story of the man who falls asleep and wakes up 100 years (i think) later or something to see his camel skin and bones and everything around him has changed. do i take it literally that somebody slept for 100 years? of course not it contradicts everything i know about science. is there a deeper meaning in this story i'm sure there is. maybe i don't know what it is.

you can apply it to many things. the Quran tells us to look for the signs of Allah swt in the the sun and moon and natural things around us. this message appears over and over in the quran. i always felt there is something much deeper and significant to this and it was this message that is one huge reason i converted to Islam, i just felt so much peace in this message and i was never sure why.

anyway what i was trying to say was, i think most people, at least the ones i know, are athiests because they see such stories and it seems ludicrous to them. they look at say Christianity, Jonah living in a big fish and a bush on fire talking, a cane turning into snake, the red sea parting in the middle so the Israelites can escape Egypt... many things which obviously will not happen in real life and they say, why should i believe this when science is right in front of me?

An atheist does believe in the rules of society, and while most would find it more comforting to believe in god, they simply don't.

To Chailvr and dexter, if it is lack of belief in God or a higher power, who created all that has been created? From to solar system to the things that are living and grow each day? Is there a heaven or hell? Who or what to we ultimately answer to for our deeds? I am just really curious to what goes on in the minds of Atheists.

The evolutionary system created itself?

I am wondering the same thing Bill. So everything in the universe just evolved from something??? Something else? Eveything already existed? Explain please.....

There is no way to explain because it just doesn't make sense. The whole thought of evolution was whispered to some clown then shaitan carried it through the ages.

You dont believe in evolution?

So you believe man came from monkey???

NO offense... but that's about as ignorant as some redneck who has never met any Muslim claiming all Muslims are just backwards violent people... I make this comparison because I"m saying you obviously don't know much at all about science to make a claim like this... if you don't know about something, instead of just instantly dismissing it, why not inquire about it? Seek other peoples opinions about it? It seems instead of ever even attempting to learn about evolution you have written it off... probably because your parents have... and your community has... and in turn now you will do the same to influence others. LIke the guy on here claiming that intermarriage between first cousins never causes birth defects... it's all a lie right? Why don't people learn for themselves before they speak about scientific topics I'm sorry but it just annoys me.

I hate this idea that people think they must dismiss everything in science to maintain their faith in whatever religion... Muslims are not the only ones guilty of this... Christians, Jews, Hindus... so many... why do people do this? I am a student of science and I am a student of the Islamic faith. I balance both. I use my mind, I keep an open mind when I look into both.

I don't think science can draw a conclusion on religion at this point because we are barely scratching the surface of science. If we viewed technology over the ages on an exponential graph, the curve upwards just began a century (or two) back. For example in my field of nanorobotics, scientist are struggling to create a nanorobot that can move reliably while cells can carry out hundreds of simple and complex tasks. I don't think such a cell could have been created by chance (even over billions of years) when humans with our powerful brain cannot come close (maybe in a billion years we can!). This is one of the many reasons I ruled out atheism.

I have no problem with atheists. They're cool . But I have some questions: Where do you believe it all started (the energy and mass for the big bang) and where will it end? What is our purpose in life?

Please don't take offense, just want to know. Peace

P.S. I think evolution is true up till the part where amino acids where formed by chance. I don't think they could have...it seems a bit shady.

Um, regardless how the person you are addressing feels that post is pretty offensive, more so a personal attack.
Please reread your posts before you hit submit and well, care to think twice before you post or change the manner in which you make your argument.

you are right iamcrazy, i was rude in my post. actually i had meant to apologize at mureed because i kept sounding harsh and pompous in my posts!! mureed you have my apologies i'm sorry if I made personal attacks at you, i just got heated up and didn't think muc before posting!!!

Aww, I'm glad you didn't find my post offensive lol.

It's really east to get heated up and come across as ''ranting'' but insha Allah in teh future, if the subject which you are discussing means something to you, just give your posts a quick read through.

once again your apologies are accepted even though there not needed.


It's funny how there are so many questions posted and none of which have been answered.

Nazia just so you know i do know about evolution and some of it is true, but only by Allahs leave. like animals and plants changing to survive as the climate changes, yes I've witnessed it. As for where man comes from, no one has given an answer according to evolution. That is where my problem lies. just reading a book written by some well known lunatic, deemed an authority on something, from the past doesn't make it fact. it has to also make sense. As for peoples opinion on matters of history or fact really doesn't matter to me, sound kinda weird but think about it ,your opinion wont change history or the fact of the matter.

but once again i'd like to know according to evolution where did man come? from

Atheism is the lack of a belief in a god or gods. The best way to describe it to someone who believes is to imagine how you feel towards the gods other believers worship. You're complete lack of interest in and the default disbelief in the gods of an Hindu, or the Christian God, the Norse god Thor, and any other god but the one you follow is just the same as mine, but I don't believe in yours either.

I'm a New Atheist, so I will remain an atheist until I am presented or find indisputable evidence for a god or gods. I have not found this evidence therefore I do not believe. I also am not attracted to religion (which is different from the belief in a god) for many of the ideas that go along with most religions but to discribe those would take forever. If I was presented with evidence for the existence of a god(s), and I accepted them, this would not necessarily mean I would worship that god(s).

According to evolutionary studies, modern humans evolved from a former Homo species, which a species of the Genus Homo (hence humans being called Homo sapiens) which a grouping of bipedal apes, being one of the two groups of apes the other being group other current great apes (gorillas and chimps) are found. Now extinct species of Homo include Homo erectus. Before that, ancestry can be traced back to the last common ancestor of modern humans and modern chimps. Much, much farther than that there would be the break from apes and monkeys, and then monkeys from lemurs, and on to the beginning of life (remembering that my labelling of monkey and lemur is NOT the modern versions but their family categories in zoology, they would look somewhat like that of a modern version). Attempting to explaining the origin of any species on a forum is almost useless because to fully understand the process and the history would require reading many volumes of books beginning with the basics of evolution, then moving towards the origins of specific species.