Why Atheism?

[naomi24]

“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” Isaac Asimov

[mibn2cweus]

Genesis 1,1 The willingness to swallow that assertion sets the stage for believing everything that follows. If that one verse isn't enough to raise a red flag, be prepared to waste a whole lot of time trying to make sense out of any of the rest.

[grasscarp]

Hi Clanad - Hope all well and pleased to see you.

[Mosaic]

Oh, why not? It's such fun.

[naomi24]

Clanad, ‘birdlimed’ suggests that you have been subjected to an attack here on a personal level as I have. That isn’t something I recall happening to you from anyone contributing to this thread - but nevertheless, it’s clearly an approach you applaud when it’s aimed at someone who opposes, not you, but your beliefs. Your philosophy may have been ‘birdlimed’ - but you personally, no. Two very different things, but patently for some the fundamental disparity between the two remains elusive.

[Khandro]

Self-righteous atheists remind me of the man who murdered both his parents and pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.

[naomi24]

Self-righteous atheists? Who would they be - and why do they remind you of that man? (Who is he anyway?).

[jomifl]

/Self-righteous atheists remind me of the man who murdered both his parents and pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan./
You will have explain that Khandro, is it a biblical parable?

[RATTER15]

Khandro, what a very strange view of Atheists you have!!

[agchristie]

Book of I sigher?

[mibn2cweus]

Another Lincoln quote - “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.”

[ludwig]

// Self-righteous atheists remind me of the man who murdered both his parents and pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan. //

What do self righteous religious people remind you of? The orphan who invented two parents and sued them for neglect?

What a nonsensical metaphor.

[Khandro]

“When I do good, I feel good..." So it's all about you is it? How certain are you that when you feel you are doing "good", you actually are?
Would you not agree that most of the word's despots believed they were doing good?

[naomi24]

Khandro, //“When I do good, I feel good..." So it's all about you is it?//

That appears to have been about Lincoln. That said, religion is ultimately about the believer.

[Khandro]

napmi; //That said, religion is ultimately about the believer.//
I beg to differ, religion is connecting to a greater spiritual community and a shared sacredness, a basic human need which today's evangelical atheists are blind to. Humanity without a sense of the sacred would have died out long ago.
I can't put it better than Roger Scruton: "The sacred place is the place where vows are made and renewed, where suffering is embraced and accepted, and where the life of the tribe is endowed with an eternal significance. Humans with the benefit of this resource must surely withstand the storms of misfortune rather better than the plain-thinking individualists who compete with them".

[naomi24]

Khandro, if religion is ‘a basic human need’, it follows that it’s about the believer – as I said. It can hardly be claimed to be about anything else.

[Khandro]

naomi; 'human need' refers to the collective and the universal, - humanity.

[naomi24]

If collective and universal humanity doesn't relate to humanity, what does it relate to?

[DTCwordfan]

It relates to humanity through the higher levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The human pursuit of religion does serve a function for some in our lives. For believers, there is a purpose or goal to being religious be it
the goal of salvation or enlightenment, comfort and guidance for living a moral life, or any of a number of other “higher” purposes in life.

Religion, whatever faith can encourage us to move beyond a life motivated by self-centeredness and pure animal instincts for mere survival and hence humanity at large be it for the benefit of society or at a personal level.

Having said that atheists too can demonstrate such characteristics at this higher level through their deeds and thoughts, again to move to this life beyond basic satisfaction and our animal instincts. So both groups can happily co-exist together, even if organs like AB lead to debate and sometimes untoward behaviour and dogma.

Alongside religion, one can place values such as creativity, morality, problem resolution spontaneity, a lack of prejudice and acceptance of fact. It is in this that atheists balance their hierarchy against their lack of a need for spiritual 'guidance' and all the rest that goes with religion.

[naomi24]

Altruism is inherent in many human beings, but unlike atheists, the religious believe they will reap reward – hence there is a greater incentive.

[DTCwordfan]

You may be correct naomi, but there are plenty of atheists who are altruistic as well!