Spiritual Forum. Org

I think you're correct: It would be difficult to survive being skeptical at every given thing.  Faith in individuals, groups, governments, self, etc is necessary, even when they've been unproven.  I think the difference between religious faith and secular faith is in the reaction when they fail us.  If our government continuously fails us, we change laws or politicians. If our friends continuously fail us, we cut them out of our lives.  If our gods fail us, it's part of some plan beyond our comprehension.

This is very interesting. Do atheists have the belief in "self"? Basically the thought of , "I can do anything if I put my mind to it", versus the Christian "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

Most Atheists were not born atheist, they once each had their own respective religions, and being an atheist doesn't literally mean not having any faith in anything at all, just not that impressed  with beliefs that is based on blind faith alone which is the same reason why an islamic fanatic decides to blow himself up and taking innocent people with him, your blind faith does more damage than good.

Well, no.  If you say to me that you saw a Lion at the zoo I am specifically, if you want to define it as such, accepting on faith the fact that you saw a lion aren't I?  I know you, you have no history of lying to me, I have seen zoos before, I have seen lions at the zoo, I make the assumption you know what a lion is, I know that you went to the zoo yesterday.  It is still , in a word, faith isn't it?  I am not irrational accepting it even, if in the end, you lied to me.  If you say you saw a ghost or a rabbit wearing a top hat, speaking English, and wearing a watch fob then we have another situation.  Doesn't matter if I know you are honest, doesn't matter if I like you.  The things you are describing are unknown to me, science, or any known biology.  You now need to provide some evidence.  Don't you approach claims in this way?

Ah, so you’re like saying God for atheist are the ghosts or a rabbit wearing a top hat because you can’t simply believe that such things exists unless you saw them with your eyes. Too see is to believe, right? If a person shows you a picture of it, you’ll have doubts because pictures can be edited and proofs are what will make you believe. And yet when you look at these facts, the earth is floating in the universe, and roughly one million earths could fit inside the volume of the sun yet the sun couldn’t even burn the earth or the rest of the planets, how can you not believe that one Supreme Being is not putting all of these in place? Oh well, we could simply say that’s just how things are, right? Be born, grow, study, have job, have friends, have family, laugh, suffer, cry, get ill, get old, die. End of story. How bland.

After going through the range of comments, we must by now know that there is a confusion between atheism and skepticism. If we're not already aware of it, it's time we did become aware of it.

Atheism is lack of belief restricted to religious matters, specifically lack of belief in god. Skepticism is an attitude of disbelief in all matters, religious or secular.

There may be atheists who are quite gullible in other matters. In fact, many atheists try to compensate for the resulting lack of security by believing in other things. This doesn't apply to all atheists, so please don't rise up in arms over this statement.

And there are many religious believers who are actually skeptics at heart. I mean by this that they refuse to believe, or to even listen to, anything that has a hint of contradiction to their accepted faith. And this faith is not a result of thought. It is an instilled faith. Beyond that, everything else is shut out. Again, I'm only stating situations to show the variations and extremes on both sides.

But at least we may consider this much established, that atheists are not complete skeptics.

You bring up a very interesting point. Personally, I think atheists who claim to have no faith or belief in anything are a little full of themselves. As long as there are things that exist that cannot yet be proven or quantified by science like thought or emotions, there is really no reason to base decisions in a manner of having to have proof for everything and anything.

I believe in myself and my ability to care for the people I love and provide a sound, loving
environment for my children. I believe in the amount of immense love I possess and
none of it is connected to any deity; and i believe in the immense amount of love that I receive
from those who love me. I believe in hard work and pride in what I do, and I believe in this
world, all that I have or can depend on is family and death.