Opeth fan demographics

[Black Session]

Me! I've been an Atheist my whole life. I'm very interested in Spirituality and visual/reality distortion kind of things though. Does that make me Agnostic? I'm from the US. I've been listening to Opeth for a year and a half. I got BWP then Damnation then Ghost Reveries - Roundhouse Tapes - Orchid - Morningrise - Still Life - Deliverance - MAYH - and finally Watershed (on the day it came out).

no that does not make you an agnostic ...

Hmmm...there's quite a lot in here. Black Session, try me with a philosophical argument against the existence of god, I did read quite a bit and philosophy of religion (+ metaphysics=identity, freedom) are my main interests.
It is true, the belief in god has nothing to do with science ...

hmm, didn't mean to imply that science is futile in the religion discussion since it obviously is, as it has offered us a way out of the need to revert to superstition to explain things in the world and in our lives. yet the discussion about science here was moving into the philosophy of science i meant.

my own reasonings come strongly from my own field of study which is archaeology. if you start to realize how religion developed, changed, was used and abused, and especially how and when it often was invented or originated in mass psychology, then it becomes rather difficult to attach any value or truth to it. this is mainly also how atheism got developed in post-medieval western europe (it existed long before already in many places and times though), because they started to critically study the biblical texts and study their historical value and origin. a similar thing is actually very very slowly starting with the study of the Qur'an, but things are a bit more tricky in that field, for several reasons (mainly because the Qur'an is considered much holier and untouchable than the bible ever was).

anyway this thread is all about introducing ourselves right? or looking at demographics ... not about religious discussions, i tried to stay away from it ...

 

[Vuashke]

That is because not believing in god is only possible if some people state they believe and thus he/she exists. It's argued that the belief in a superior being comes from superstition and superstition is associated to Variable Interval positive reinforcement, that's why pokey machines are so effective, it rewards you sometimes, not all the time and you never know when. If you pray and one day you get what you asked for you tend to think that god heard you and will reward you again...but you don't know when so you keep praying. The concept of karma is very similar, you do good things because you will be rewarded if you do, and you do get rewarded, ocassionally, so you believe it's the act of god when it is coincidence...but you are not sure, so you try again, etc.

no, what i meant was that all humans are born 'atheist', non believer, no knowledge of divinity or whatever. and there has been nothing to disprove that, so people having to state their lack of faith is bullshit, it should just be ASSUMED whereas the religious should assert theirs. it makes sense that way.

 

[Black Session]

no, what i meant was that all humans are born 'atheist', non believer, no knowledge of divinity or whatever. and there has been nothing to disprove that, so people having to state their lack of faith is bullshit, it should just be ASSUMED whereas the religious should assert theirs. it makes sense that way.

then why did it seem so ridiculous to you that i said i'm 100% atheist? ... there is absolutely no need to claim that every option should be considered. If I am eating spaghetti, then I should not wonder that I am actually eating fries ...
This does not mean there is one absolute truth out there for us to discover, this would actually open the window for religion.
Argh ... Opeth forum to discuss about Opeth ... thread about telling about yourself ...
I'll try not to post these kind of things in this thread anymore

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

how many of you were atheists BEFORE you got into heavy metal music?

lol at anyone who changed their religious beliefs as a result of listening to metal. That's the pinnacle of idiocy and ignorance. Oh and I'm 22, atheist and a fan since sl. I would imagine early to mid 20's would be their average demographic.

 

[Risquit]

40 here. Glad to see so many young metalheads. In the United States in the 90s you wouldn't see nearly as many young fans at shows as you do now.

I'm never the oldest guy at the show I go to. And Tony Iommi, at nearly 60, was by far the coolest rock star I saw at any show last year.

 

[Black Session]

40 here. Glad to see so many young metalheads. In the United States in the 90s you wouldn't see nearly as many young fans at shows as you do now.

I'm never the oldest guy at the show I go to. And Tony Iommi, at nearly 60, was by far the coolest rock star I saw at any show last year.

well as Ivar said recently in an interview, metal seems to be gaining immensly in popularity for several years already again ... one day you'll see it falling agian probably as a result of something else

 

[Sisyphus's Struggle]

That is because not believing in god is only possible if some people state they believe and thus he/she exists. It's argued that the belief in a superior being comes from superstition and superstition is associated to Variable Interval positive reinforcement, that's why pokey machines are so effective, it rewards you sometimes, not all the time and you never know when. If you pray and one day you get what you asked for you tend to think that god heard you and will reward you again...but you don't know when so you keep praying. The concept of karma is very similar, you do good things because you will be rewarded if you do, and you do get rewarded, ocassionally, so you believe it's the act of god when it is coincidence...but you are not sure, so you try again, etc.

Superstitious conditioning.

By the way, in the main board of the ultimate metal forum there's a philosophy Forum (The Philosopher).

I was atheist before i got into metal. Now agnostic

 

[BefriendedUnit]

BTW you realize Vuashke turned this thread into a debate about religion 2 or 3 pages back and you let him.

 

[Sisyphus's Struggle]

Everyone have their own opinion. And it's Vuashke, i don't want to reach 1000 posts in a month arguing with him.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

I didn't mean you personally.

 

[Sisyphus's Struggle]

:Smokin: misinterpretation error number #56839343

 

[RollMyCoaster13]

hey lets get back on track:

18, male, been a fan since i heard still life in the 7th grade (actually i hated it the first time i heard it because it was too heavy...but obviously, they grew on me...a ton...)

 

[Black Session]

BTW you realize Vuashke turned this thread into a debate about religion 2 or 3 pages back and you let him.

yeah i know ... i tried to not get into it by not actually giving my opinions on the topic, but he kind of attacked me with his first post in this thread ... should have known better. I apologize for contributing to turning this thread into that ...

 

[CorpseDeception]

I'm a 21 year old male Opeth fan since BWP. I am Christian and studying Aerospace Engineering.

Cal Poly?

17. Female. Lesbian. Future major: aerospace engineering. For lack of a better term, atheist.

 

[staveoffzombies]

23. Male. Christian. Been listening since BWP in 2001.

 

[L0bster]

22, fan since Black Water Park, ca 7 years back. Seen Opeth live almost too many times, a good guess would be 16x

 

[TheCrown]

26 and addicted since GR

 

[baarg]

then why did it seem so ridiculous to you that i said i'm 100% atheist? ... there is absolutely no need to claim that every option should be considered. If I am eating spaghetti, then I should not wonder that I am actually eating fries ...
This does not mean there is one absolute truth out there for us to discover, this would actually open the window for religion.
Argh ... Opeth forum to discuss about Opeth ... thread about telling about yourself ...
I'll try not to post these kind of things in this thread anymore

Yea, this topic is moving to another arena.
Vuashke, you confuse me, what is exactly what you believe and think? Or you just like to argue? You seem to contradict yourself. Read your posts and you'll see what I mean.

 

[baarg]

Superstitious conditioning.

By the way, in the main board of the ultimate metal forum there's a philosophy Forum (The Philosopher).

I was atheist before i got into metal. Now agnostic

1 - thanks, didn't know about that forum
2 - why did you become agnostic after listening to metal?

 

[Vuashke]

Yea, this topic is moving to another arena.
Vuashke, you confuse me, what is exactly what you believe and think? Or you just like to argue? You seem to contradict yourself. Read your posts and you'll see what I mean.

or you could point out the contradiction, unless you just invented it yourself

i dont believe in any god or gods or deities