[discostu]

Sorry, Chesterson doesn't know what he's talking about. I've been an atheist for 20 years and haven't played with any of that stuff. Once again, like in so many of these threads, you have people on one side trying to tell the people on the other side what they think. Well you don't have to wonder. Here's what I think: the only thing I believe in is me, I know what I'm capable of and I know how to make my life work. I don't believe in God, Allah or Baphomet. I also don't believe in the fortune telling powers of the stars, the lines in your hand or the intestines of slaughtered animals. I do not believe in nothing and I do not believe in just anything. I believe in me.

[LiberalBuster]

I'm with you. I'm an agnostic and quite amused by the bashing of all things non-Christian. Thomas Jefferson would have some serious contentions with so-called "conservatives" on FR ... who seem incapable of recognizing that people can practice a non-Christian (or no) religion without being the enemy of America.

[Cleburne]

Ah, but Chesterson was right! You state that you believe in yourself. Of course, I doubt you see yourself as a god, but you do believe in something. And, I suspect, though perhaps you have not had it yet, you will one day find yourself like Casca before Pompey's statue, believing in something very foolsih, but needed under tense situations. Perhaps you shan't. But I believe you will, though you may surpress it. There is One in whom our belief should lie, you know. Though I must ask your pardon of my brothers here who may not wish to show it to you in the finest terms. They do not truely mean harm, I believe.

[Dimensio]

I've been an atheist for 20 years and haven't played with any of that stuff.

Many believers insit on telling you that you have some belief about yourself being a god or being all-knowing or some other such nonsense. Basically they accuse you of arrogance and presume to know exactly how you think and act without ever meeting you.

Cal Thomas did a lovely op-ed on atheists and how foolish they were. A perfect example of mindless arrogant diatribe devoid of logic.

(Note: I am not accusing all Christians of behaving in this manner).

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I've been an atheist for 20 years and haven't played with any of that stuff.

The question is not how you turned out, it is how the great majority turn out. It is a fact that there are hardly any militant atheists on the earth, although there are plenty of agnostics, and even more who don't bother to think about 'First Things'. So it is clear that there is a great deal of evidence that most people do not function intellectually as you do, so your individual story is not of signifigance in analyzing social policies.

[BlackElk]

What a limited imagination! Self-worship is a poor, cramped thing, posing as magnificence when it is nothing but unwarranted pride. How lonely and how sad! Also, if you don't care what others believe, why do feel compelled to share your unbelief with them (us)?

[hinckley buzzard]

I believe what Chesterton actually said was "If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything."

You obviously have fallen for the familiar and banal notion that it is not important to believe in something greater than yourself.

Alas, Chesterton's epigram applies to you more fully than to most people--because you have fallen for the oldest cop-out in human history.

[Tribune7]

Once again, like in so many of these threads, you have people on one side trying to tell the people on the other side what they think.

Do you have a problem with this?