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Originally Posted by braisler
As a skeptic, do you find it hard to believe that anyone else is NOT a skeptic? Or do you feel that many people are skeptical about some aspect of thought and overly accepting of another area?
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I believed many irrational things when I was younger. I believed that I was psychic, that the government was concealing evidence of extraterrestrial life, that I could sense ghosts, that evolution was still debatable, and until I was in my mid-teens, I had a compulsive fear that I would be abducted by aliens. I was also devoutly religious, but abandoning religion led to thinking skeptically rather than the other way around for me.
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Have you ever attended a 'Drinking Skeptically' event?
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I haven't found any around here, but once I have more free time I'm going to either find a place I can get to or start my own here.
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Do you feel that scientific skepticism and atheism go hand in hand?
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In no way does skepticism necessitate atheism. I feel that a skeptic should be be either an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist due to the lack of empirical evidence, but that's why I put faith in a category of its own. Skepticism is about what we can know, not what we cannot.
In a roundabout way, it serves to diminish religious faith as "miracles" are analyzed rationally and things that we previously had no capacity to explain become explainable with technology. I feel that the historic and modern influence of religion has been overwhelmingly negative, especially when it conflicts with science and still does over issues like sex education and evolution.
I don't think that people should feel pressured to question their belief in God based on the fallibility of the actions and teachings of other people, but it's none of my business to influence the faith of others.