Atheism : Love it or Leave it?

[Bubonic]

What are your views on Atheism?

Are they admiration, disgust, pity, fear, indifference, curiosity, or something else?

Do you shut yourself off to Atheist rhetoric, or do you find there is more then ample justification supporting this worldview?

Is faithlessness necessarily connected to immorality? Many make that connection, are they wrong?

Would you find a Godless world one not worth living in? Or is the vast complexity of life more then enough to keep you in awe of everything, and the concept of a Godless world with no afterlife encourages you to live your life to the fullest?

Personally I'd be interested in answers, and debate to these and more. Hopefully people will make a concerted effort to keep things respectful and on topic.

For those defending atheism, don't get condescending. For those defending faith, try not to get to emotionally driven, and take it as an opportunity to challenge yourself and your faith.

 

[Danalys]

i think the opening post is full of mixed messages.

 

[Bubonic]

Such as?

 

[Danalys]

admiration, disgust, pity, fear, indifference, curiosity, or something else?

severe value judgements

"Is faithlessness necessarily connected to immorality?" as worded seems to imply immorality as the default assumed position. which i don't like.

you'd probably be better of just reading about the subject yourself and keeping an eye open for evidence of any of the aspects you are intrested in.

 

[Bubonic]

I didn't mean to lead, although from what I know many people do make that connection, and I'd like to know why, as personally I don't believe atheist are inherently immoral simply because they are Godless.

As for the value judgements, I'll edit that as your right, any of those are heavy stances... And I rather people not censor themselves, but if they are going to say they pity atheist, or admire them, justify it, walk us through the logic, and don't be blatantly rude or mean spirited.

 

[unstoppable]

eh Atheist are atheist can do nothin' bout em

 

[Danalys]

okay i'll give you some views on atheism. it's hard to talk about athiests as a group really since they are only connected to each other by a lack of belief in something. to question the effects of a lack of belief is really to question the effects of belief. a question such as are athiests moral? begs the question is belief all that keeps believers moral?

 

[Logan's Runt]

Atheism is not the lack of belief in anything at all. Its the lack of belief in one specific thing.

 

[Danalys]

Atheism is not the lack of belief in anything at all. Its the lack of belief in one specific thing.

i may have missed something but who implied any such thing.

 

[Logan's Runt]

I was simply clearing up a common misconception. It is ignorant to tie morality exclusively to religious belief, yet it often happens.

 

[Bubonic]

eh Atheist are atheist can do nothin' bout em

Why should anything be done about them?

As for your response Danalys, I agree there isn't as organized a cohesion amongst atheist as between the patrons of any religion. This comes about because many atheist are shunned into secrecy, and don't share rituals.

I don't think belief is all that keeps believers moral, and if it is, that would be pretty shallow grounds on which to be moral. It be disingenuous and show a great lack of conviction in their belief of an omniscient God.

People are moral for biological as well as cultural reasons.

 

[Danalys]

ah i get it. i normally wait for the misconception to arise before debunking it but preemptive debunking aint so bad, unless it's a strawman.

 

[Eggyman]

I'm an agnostic

 

[Logan's Runt]

Your posts are hard to read, Danalys.

 

[Danalys]

I don't think belief is all that keeps believers moral, and if it is, that would be pretty shallow grounds on which to be moral. It be disingenuous and show a great lack of conviction in their belief of an omniscient God.

yeah that's why it's so strange when people ask that question. they are insulting themselves to an extent.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

I'm an agnostic

Eggnostic*

 

[Danalys]

Your posts are hard to read, Danalys.

well i could have used an extra comma. i often have to spend more time thinking how to express some thoughts than i do actually thinking them. some of my thoughts just aren't easy to structure in a way that's easily understandable.

 

[Bubonic]

I don't see it as insulting to oneself, so long as I understand what I was trying to put forward.
Especially now that I've further explained it.

The disbelief in supernatural beings does not make a person more likely to be immoral, and indeed the vast majority of the most immoral things are committed by people of faith, and even in the name of faith.

Yet when atheist do commit atrocities it garners much more attention, and is used to further the conception that atheist are immoral and without boundaries.

 

[C.F. Kane]

I usually group myself with atheists, but I dislike the term. "Atheist" only describes what I don't believe.

I don't really think that atheism can even be defined as a religion in the classic sense. The word "religion" has the same root word as "ligament": it literally means "to bind together in a belief". All the religions of the world have a unifying mythology and set doctrine for people to follow. Atheism is the antithesis of that; they tend to believe that people should make their own personal peace with the universe instead of following a specific doctrine.

 

[Danalys]

you were only asking of others if they would ask that question.

 

[Logan's Runt]

I've never heard atheism referred to as a religion before.

 

[Eggyman]

Eggnostic*

Hahahahahaha!

 

[Danalys]

i can't remember if on the last census i could just put none for religion or not. which reminds me, why the heck is religion on a census anyway? do they call them censuses in the US?

 

[Bubonic]

Pretty sure they do, they're called censuses in Canada anyways, and I can't remember if there was a selection for none on ours either.

It certainly isn't a religion, but deserves some sort of recognition as a fundamental part in a growing number of peoples lives, a personal philosophy I suppose, which is seemingly more rational and less harmful then the status quo.

 

[Danalys]

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293

well that seems to suggest there was an none option in the last british census. came in at a very far off second place to christianity.