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Anyone think Atheists had a negative impact on the world?
- Thread starter Ketchup Boy
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I wouldn't say atheism is depressing but being religious is comforting. I wouldn't call myself an atheist but being honest to myself I'd have to say I do not believe that there is a god which is cool for the moment. I mean I can get a lot of comfort from reason and science. I think it's ten times more satisfying being a good person out of reason or conviction than out of fear of hell or something. But ultimately the big question remains: What's in for me after I've died?
My father once said he went to a secular funeral and it was the most depressing thing. Zero solace. He didn't exactly turned to god afterwards but he became a Hospitaler now, probably just to be save.
My father once said he went to a secular funeral and it was the most depressing thing. Zero solace. He didn't exactly turned to god afterwards but he became a Hospitaler now, probably just to be save.
shanshan310
Member
jaxword said:
huh? I'm talking about an afterlife.
Also I've seen a lot of atheists "preaching" about how deluded people who believe in an afterlife are (That gaffer who told a widow dying of cancer there was no heaven springs to mind). They refuse to listen to anything (related to religion or not) you have to say after that. Is it really so bad to think that you can see someone who has died again? Its not hurting anyone, and it gives you piece of mind. Honestly, who really cares if its not true (or you don't think its true). It is making someone happy and at peace.
shanshan310
Member
Casp0r said:
In my experience that has been true also. But I have a feeling people are going to get into a rage because you've called atheism a religion.
eh this universe is so boring....
our planet holds nothing of mystery - who cares what's at the bottom of our oceans? what's the deal with finding out how life evolved and all the life yet to discover? it's just....drab. the universe in all of it's undiscovered glory is just really boring, who cares? man life is depressing.
wait a minute...
finally.... life has meaning.
our planet holds nothing of mystery - who cares what's at the bottom of our oceans? what's the deal with finding out how life evolved and all the life yet to discover? it's just....drab. the universe in all of it's undiscovered glory is just really boring, who cares? man life is depressing.
wait a minute...
finally.... life has meaning.
Always-honest
Banned
AceBandage said:
Exactly.
World is FULL, FULL with dumbass people. And it will always stay that way.
Salacious Crumb
Junior Member
shanshan310 said:
I'll let them believe in heaven when they allow gay people to get married
MorisUkunRasik
Member
Casp0r said:
On Gaf, probably. In the world, definitely not.
Casp0r said:
Unfortunately, this is a complete lie.
You only have to look at the political clout of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism to realize you're completely wrong, and I doubt anyone on the internet could be that media-blind.
Just say what you really mean: You don't like atheists. It's alright if you're being honest.
DeathIsTheEnd
Member
Looks like duck poop on the camera lens to me.Chinner said:there's a ghost in that picture.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Stalin and Mao, perhaps? Ever heard of them?Melchiah said:
Melchiah
Member
Bulbo Urethral Baggins said:
Crusades, inquisition, witch hunts, Third Reich, Pol Pot, the Darfur genocide, Jim Jones, David Koresh, 9/11 and muslim terrorists, ever heard of them?
No-one in their right mind can ever argue, that more wrong would have been done in the name of atheism, than in the name of god.
MorisUkunRasik
Member
Bulbo Urethral Baggins said:
Yes I have heard of them, it seems you should research them a bit better.
Casp0r said:
How many stories have you heard of atheists disowning their kids because they were religious?
How many atheists are there in Africa trying to convert Africans while telling them that using condoms is a sin and that they help spread aids?
How many atheists go door to door trying to "save" religious people?
How many atheist only countries exist?
quickwhips
Member
Religions have caused more wars than atheists so far. Also sounds like you want to believe again. Change your name to Mulder.
One could also say that certain claims about Santa are meant to be taken metaphorically. He doesn't actually climb down chimneys physically. Or that he only did that in the olden days when everyone had chimneys. And that now he works through friends and family as the spirit of christmas.UrbanRats said:
There is no atheist doctrine which could justify the slaughter of millions. Murder, destruction, discrimination etc. fill the pages of certain holy books however.Bulbo Urethral Baggins said:
Animals don't need reasons to have empathy and be nice to their own kind. It's only humans that do. And a lot of that hatred in humans (and wars) is based on religious differences. So no. The world would be a better place if civilizations would quit inventing punitive gods to worship.
Religious people think of the world through a religious lense. Atheism must be a belief, and Mao and Stalin must be the murderous reseults of the belief. Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins must be prophets, etc...
Atheism is the lack of religious belief. Anything else the person does depends on their moral compass and judgement.
Atheism is the lack of religious belief. Anything else the person does depends on their moral compass and judgement.
Quick point about logic and theism -
I don't think there is anything too wrong with people being religious, even using the silly religious books we have available to us now - the issue lies mostly in what people do with the messages they receive. Regardless, I know religious people who pretty much keep that shit to themselves, and don't discriminate. But this doesn't make them logical. They can't just be logical because they are not hurting anyone, or because I like them, or because they want to be. And let's be honest, everyone lacks some logic - but I think the best way to say it is, being theistic in itself is illogical. The same way throwing salt over your shoulder is.
At best, you can get away with being a Deist - and honestly, even then, you're sort of reaching, the logical conclusion is "I am unsure about whether or not there is an obscure idea of some sort of deity that may or may not have had any impact on human life, but unless anything points to it being the case, it probably didn't happen".
Now - not being logical -all- the time isn't inherently bad I don't think, sometimes it definitely is, but everyone has their little thing. But, if being told your belief is illogical offends you greatly, I am sorry, you should probably just come to peace with that. The god(s) of the Qu'ran, the Torah or the New Testament are not gods that make any logical sense, these are pretty silly stories when everything is said and done.
I don't think there is anything too wrong with people being religious, even using the silly religious books we have available to us now - the issue lies mostly in what people do with the messages they receive. Regardless, I know religious people who pretty much keep that shit to themselves, and don't discriminate. But this doesn't make them logical. They can't just be logical because they are not hurting anyone, or because I like them, or because they want to be. And let's be honest, everyone lacks some logic - but I think the best way to say it is, being theistic in itself is illogical. The same way throwing salt over your shoulder is.
At best, you can get away with being a Deist - and honestly, even then, you're sort of reaching, the logical conclusion is "I am unsure about whether or not there is an obscure idea of some sort of deity that may or may not have had any impact on human life, but unless anything points to it being the case, it probably didn't happen".
Now - not being logical -all- the time isn't inherently bad I don't think, sometimes it definitely is, but everyone has their little thing. But, if being told your belief is illogical offends you greatly, I am sorry, you should probably just come to peace with that. The god(s) of the Qu'ran, the Torah or the New Testament are not gods that make any logical sense, these are pretty silly stories when everything is said and done.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
... and who killed the most people.ReBurn said:
I agree. Such a pointless argument.
Barberetti
Member
Ketchup Boy said:
From what I gather, being in Heaven basically consists of blindly worshiping God for all eternity. Doesn't sound much like fun to me.
I was always more interested in cool things that actually do exist, like black holes and Lamborghinis. Sure, I find a lot of mythology interesting, but that's about it. It doesn't bother me that none of it is real, when there is a shit load of stuff that is cool and real in the universe, including the universe itself.
I remember the first time I watched a documentary about Gamma Ray Bursts, and that was fucking mind blowing. Big Foot? Nah, not so much.
Alpha-Bromega
Member
mysticwhip said:
morals reinforced by the value of the human experience are worth more to me than values based on omniscient ominpotence deeming it so.
it's what made Jesus so kind of revolutionary in his context, the guy almost seemed to be valuing human beings in a way that you could almost distance it from 'only love people cus God says so'
I love the very idea that we have a thread asking if atheism is causing a negative impact on the world, for the simple reason that we annoy and depress theists. Yet we live in a world where because of religious doctrines women are abused and denied rights, children are being killed for the crime of witchcraft and opposing religious zealots are hoping for and even attempting to create a full on armageddon in the hopes that their promised redeemer will return if we fuck this place up enough as prescribed in some old texts.
Oh, but then we get the "hurr durr Stalin and Mao", which is practically like the why we got monkeys argument in evolution debates.
Oh, but then we get the "hurr durr Stalin and Mao", which is practically like the why we got monkeys argument in evolution debates.
Alpha-Bromega
Member
Narcosis said:
abso-fucking-lutely spot on
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Yet, we live in a world where two of the biggest mass murderers/criminals/torturers/killers//abusers in history were not following a religious doctrine.Narcosis said:
And, we get posts like this.
Now, how should one respond to such an idiotic religion-bashing post other than to point out that the world's largest mass murders/torturers/abusers/criminals were not religious?
shanshan310
Member
tiff said:
I'm pretty sure that religious people were persecuted and specifically targeted under Mao. It wasn't just "Mao is atheist look at how bad atheism is!!11!!"
But that wasn't even the OP's point. I think he's more talking about the "ignorance is bliss" factor (not that atheism is the truth, but its seen as the more logical road). Why all the negativity towards theists? Even people who keep to themselves? I don't understand it.
gutter_trash
Banned
I think the Sharia-lawers are having more of a negative impact
everyone who thinks that the rebellions happening will lead to freedom are kidding themselves as soon as Shariah Law replaces military dictatorships.
everyone who thinks that the rebellions happening will lead to freedom are kidding themselves as soon as Shariah Law replaces military dictatorships.
Just after my head was recovering from the facepalming and table-banging from hearing the "logic" of a creationist the other night. (The 6 days God took to create everything wasn't actually 6 days btw, it was however long scientists think it took for the earth to form - it's just days are different to God. Oh and also scientists haven't proven that the earth is older than 5000 years old, also evolution is all bad science - I wasn't aware of that but there you go.)
In response to the (pointless) mention of Stalin and Mao, how about God? As Hitchen's said Heaven is nothing more than a celestial North Korea, God is arguably the biggest tyrannical dictator of them all.
In response to the (pointless) mention of Stalin and Mao, how about God? As Hitchen's said Heaven is nothing more than a celestial North Korea, God is arguably the biggest tyrannical dictator of them all.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins said:
They were not religious, but their policies were little different from the doctrines imposed by religious dictators and tyrants. They did not kill people in the name of some atheist doctrine, but did so to eliminate any competing schools of thought that did not idolize them. They portrayed themselves in the place of the gods, figures of omnipotence and benevolence:
shanshan310
Member
Raist said:
The argument is silly, yes. But to imply that Mao's responsibility for the death of all those people had nothing to do with religion is also.
me five minutes ago said:
Yes I know it wasn't because he was atheist. This argument is ridiculous.
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