Is God Dead?

Atheism is a positive denial of a God. I certainly would clasify myself more as an agnostic, which leaves open the question of whether there is a God. However there are times when I lean more into Atheism.

Atheism is rooted in an array of philsophical systems. Ancient Greek philosophers (Democritus and Epicurus) argued for it in context of materialism. In the 18th century Hume and Kant (not atheists) argued against traditional proofs for God's existence, making belief a matter of faith alone. Atheists such as Feuerbach held that God was a projection of human ideals and that recongnizing this fiction made self-realization possible. Marxism exemplified modern materialism. Beginning with Neitzsche, existentialist atheism proclaimed the death of God and the human freedom to determine value and meaning. Logical positivism holds that propositions concerning the exisitence or nonexistence of God are nonsensical or meaningles.

Personally I relate more to Feuerbach's thinking with recognizing the fiction makes self-realization possible. I am not fully swayed to either side at this point in my young life, but, I certainly do not believe in the Christian beliefs and really have not found a religion that I could give my all too.

I also agree with you that it would be impossible to prove that God is dead or alive. We as humans are very limited in our black and white thinking and often forget that there is more in this world than we realize. The idea of God scares me in many ways. I have seen so many people give themselves to this idea and forget that they must still live there lives each day. I have been told by religous family members that I will not be accepted into Heaven becasue I have not accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour. I have watched my father and brothers join a cult and completely become ostrasized from our community and family. I have seen so many times people wait for God to bring them answers when in fact the answers were right in front of them the whole time..

Interesting discussion and I hope my response is understood in some capacity.

I was forced to be Christian in early primary school, but I grew out of God just as I grew out of Santa Clause. When I was in primary school, you had to pray in assembly (when the whole school got together in the morning) and if you didn't you were punished. When I was about 7 I realised what it really was and a teacher actually hit me in an argument about indocrination (it wasn't that long ago - hitting kids wasn't allowed at this point).

I don't have a massive problem with actual religion, but I don't like indocrination at all. I think it is really "evil" to tell little kids what to believe. I don't like religion as a collective thing either, although I don't have a massive problem with it like I said, but every person who calls themselves religious makes it a little bit more acceptable for faith healers to exist, for crusades to happen and for indoctrination to occur.

Just my thoughts... I am open to all beliefs and can have an open minded discussion about it all.