| 4/27/2008 5:56:43 PM | Non- Believers | | 
justme86
Waco, TX
age: 21
| There are many people who don't believe in God/gods/divine authority. My questions to you are what do you think is the purpose of life? What do you look forward to and want to get out of life? Where do you get your background/views on what is ethical behavior?
| | 4/27/2008 7:24:07 PM | Non- Believers | | 
simonsickboy
Guelph, ON
age: 23
| What is the purpose of life? to prevent its cessation. That is, to conitnue to exist - progression of the homo sapien species. Pursuit of knowledge. etc.
What I want to get out of life: to enjoy my time before the ultimate end.
Where do i get my ethics? from logic; I suppose if you took a bit of ulititarian theory and some deontological analysis of rightness and wrongness - this would be in very stark contrast to any morality derived from [holy] scriptures.
| | 4/27/2008 7:39:43 PM | Non- Believers | | 
queenofhearts61
Seymour, IN
age: 62
| I am not a non believer, just an agnostic. I think life is to live and learn and enjoy. Morals come from growing up and finding out what works. Plus I try to think how it would feel if someone did this to me. Humans that live together in a society have always had rules. That did not start with religion.
| | 4/27/2008 7:58:13 PM | Non- Believers | | 
burnkitty
Fayetteville, AR
age: 33
| The individual gives their own life purpose. We do not require a purpose to be set for us. What do I look forward to? The human race is the ultimate story, in my opinion. I would like to see the outcome of that story. Do we make it or do we fall? My only regret is not being able to witness the end due to biological restrictions A.K.A. death.
| | 4/27/2008 8:22:33 PM | Non- Believers | | 
jrbogie
Cool, CA
age: 59
| There are many people who don't believe in God/gods/divine authority. My questions to you are what do you think is the purpose of life?
Easy one. To perpetuate the species.
What do you look forward to and want to get out of life?
Even easier. To live long and flourish.
Where do you get your background/views on what is ethical behavior?
C'mon. Challenge me next time. My ethical behavior is comnon sense. It was golden long before it was called "the golden rule".
[Edited 4/27/2008 8:26:57 PM]
| | 4/28/2008 12:03:17 AM | Non- Believers | |
justme86
Waco, TX
age: 21
| Oh theres more to come. I hope you and the others are up to the challenge. 
| | 4/28/2008 12:14:28 AM | Non- Believers | | 
jewelz5
Monteagle, TN
age: 53
| justme:
There are many people who don't believe in God/gods/divine authority.
You are the only authority, no one or no thing can stand in your place and decide anything for you. Goverments and Religions are in place to take you away from who and what you are meant to be. They are not your friends.
My questions to you are what do you think is the purpose of life?
You are here on this earth for one purpose, you chose to come here to learn about yourself. To grow and evolve spiritually, your life is not about anything else. You are a spiritual being first and a physical being second. You are truly decieved by what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears. You can see more with your eyes closed than you can with them open.
What do you look forward to and want to get out of life?
When you have a greater understanding and closer relationship with yourself, so it goes that you have a greater relationship with the people and the world around you. You should strive to have continuity of consciousness. To live your life in the moment where all your power is. When you can understand that you are 'one with everything' and live in the moment, you can know that you are actually a God spelled with a little 'g' because you are the one who actually has all the power. Your power is not with some authority outside of yourself. Everyone is giving their power away, that is why they are powerless and incompetent to be able to handle their own affairs, because they are giving it away to Jesus, their imaginary friend.
Where do you get your background/views on what is ethical behavior?
Ethical behavior is a construct our societies have set up through governments and religions on purpose that are designed and in place to keep you in a little box to be depressed, oppressed, suppressed and repressed, as a powerful spiritual sentient being.
| | 4/28/2008 12:22:14 AM | Non- Believers | | 
dbsuma
Lakewood, OH
age: 40
| what do you think is the purpose of life?
Life has no purpose.
Man is an animal and animals only purpose is to produce offspring.
So lacking any other greater purpose you are free to make of your life as you wish.
What do you look forward to and want to get out of life?
Nothing really, my life has been pretty horrible.
Just waiting to die at this point.
But I try to keep hope that something will happen.
Where do you get your background/views on what is ethical behavior?
I was raised in a Christian home, though I don't believe in it I still believe in the basic principles, that it is better to be nice to someone if you can than not, etc, etc.
I think Nietzsche said something about that.
That it is important to have religion, it doesn't necessarily matter which one, as long as you learn that there are some rules that you must follow to be a member of a society, before you can transcend them, or something like that.
But realistically, I think most people of my age developed their sense of justice and morality from watching bad 1970's sitcoms. A generation raised on TV where the good guy always won and everything worked out happy in the end.
Sure completely and totally unrealistic but it is an answer to your question.
I think in many ways that TV is the new religion of our day,
it tells you what to think and governs your behavior.
Probably why I don't watch TV much anymore, besides from movies I buy.
| | 4/28/2008 2:58:00 AM | Non- Believers | | 
classicsfan
Charlottetown, PE
age: 51
| There have been some really good answers to your questions above. I'm not sure I can add much.
My questions to you are what do you think is the purpose of life?
The purpose of life is to reproduce. Any animal (or plant, bacteria, or fungus) that has been successful at raising offspring to an age where they can reproduce has been a success. It's as simple as that. That is why and how life has evolved.
We are different from most animals because we have evolved the ability to shape the world around us - for better or worse.
What do you look forward to and want to get out of life?
Some days I don't look forward to much, but that has nothing to do with religion. Despair is not the exclusive province of the atheist. I have accomplished much - I have raised 3 children who are intelligent, talented, and caring. I have family and friends who love me. I look forward to experiencing a lot more sunrises and sunsets; time with loved ones; wind and sun on my face; water on my body; and the chance to help others. Oh yeah, I hope I'm not done having and helping others have orgasms.
I think Camus described it very well in "The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was a character in a Greek myth who was sentenced by the gods to push a rock up a hill for eternity. Each day as he was nearing the top, the rock would roll back down and he would have to start again. Camus looked at it and said that it was not a punishment, the satisfaction in life is in the day to day effort of living.
Where do you get your background/views on what is ethical behavior?
I agree with others here as well, logic dictates much of how we should treat one another. As we age, and see the consequences of different types mistreatment, we try to determine the most appropriate responses. The world is not black and white, there are no easy answers to many questions. Daniel Dennett and Michael Shermer both wrote books recently that discussed the origins of ethics and how religion was created partially as a means of codifying the rules that societies had to put in place as settlements grew above a certain critical size.
Personally, I have spent my life trying to figure out the right thing to do. Situations are always coming up that I haven't encountered before, and I'm still figuring. Basically, I try to treat everyone with respect.
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