So what is a humanist? Are you saying that it can only exist as a secular belief? I await for the day the folks aren't deluded. Athiests and non secular folk alike. Especially, these athiests; who remind me more of the Spanish Inquisition rather than the Italian Renaissance. I am pretty sure there is a mental disorder in thinking that others crazy and not yourself. I should correct my statement I do not follow a religion; though I am very spiritual. Humanism is more of a philosophy than a religion. However, it has secular and non secular tenets. One of which is respect for fellow human's belief. I assume that once you hear anything about god you stick your fingers in your ear and "sing la la la la I can't hear you". Well that is fine, friend. You should look up Pascal's Wager before you so definitively claim there is no god and all who are religious are.... Though I must admit You never said you never belived in a god you just said religion is a disease. On that fact I can partially agree with you. Religion is diseased it isn't the disease. I find religion existing somewhere between history and legend. There are a lot of facts that are trying to be conveyed in religious texts; however, it does get shouted down by the emotional aspects of pursuing spiritual truth.[video=youtube;zKIKKXm6Mlk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIKKXm6Mlk[/video]Humanism is NOT a religion, as a humanist i find that degrading. there is no dogma in humanism, or any of the ludicrous brainwashing material you find in religions. I await the day people realise the mental disorder that IS religion. its a mental disorder, plain and simple. it makes individuals circumvent so much of their logic and reasoning for a false idea or false sense of reality, and just witnessing the cognitive dissonance makes in otherwise reasonable healthy minded individuals is painful.
Love APC!....[video=youtube;xZJCfl0i9Eo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZJCfl0i9Eo[/video]Fave xmas carol vid.
Pascal's wager is a false dichotomy, it assumes a zero sum loss for believing in god if it turns out god doesn't exist, which isn't so. There's a huge loss associated with believing in god when god doesn't exist.. You should look up Pascal's Wager before you so definitively claim there is no god and all who are religious are.... [video=youtube;zKIKKXm6Mlk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIKKXm6Mlk[/video]
By that logic everyone SHOULD be an athiest. Please explain what you would lose if you were to believe in god and god turns out to not exist? If anything, the belief in a higher source or deity serves as magnetic north for our moral compass. Though I know you will undoubtedly point out all the violence caused by religion; so allow me to retort preemptively. Religion is evil! God (or whatever the fuck you call it), faith, hope, and spirituality are the positive manifestations in our collective consciousness. In order to fully understand consciousness one must at least entertain the existence of a higher power or source dimension. This is why in order to join the masons you have to believe in a god. Their theosophical ideas are lost upon minds whom believe in the huge loss associated with faith in a god. So, again, please explain to me the "huge loss associated with believing in god when god does not exist".Pascal's wager is a false dichotomy, it assumes a zero sum loss for believing in god if it turns out god doesn't exist, which isn't so. There's a huge loss associated with believing in god when god doesn't exist.
Wow! I don't know what god YOU were believing in or what your concept of god is; but I feel no burden nor do I live to please anyone. I simply seek to exist in harmony with my surroundings. I always enjoy folk like you throwing up the word "delusion". I think there are a lot of deluded religious folk (I follow no religion) there are probably an equal amount of deluded atheists. You might enjoy your life without believing in a higher power. That really doesn't give you privilege to call people delusional just because they won't side with your beliefs. I will never call any atheist deluded but I will say that asserting god's non existence is just as delusional as expecting the son of a Jewish carpenter to make you immortal. Translations: Atheists are apparently as fanatical in their beliefs as non-secular or religious folk.there is no loss in not believing in god,Only the loss of delusion,Believing in god and trying to please god is more burdensome than imaginable to the believer,the worst part is they happily go on with their burden......
I really appreciate your oberservations, Not all religions have the "engaged diety" viewpoint. I would like to point out that the stark majority of religions that share that concept are all western religions. I would like to preface your statement that humans cannot help but personify god. I agree and disagree with that statement. A lot of eastern "philosophical" religions have a rather detached concept of God. In Buddhism for example; the main purpose is to understand about the nature of life, death, and the roles of suffering, relief, happiness, sadness, etc. Through these understandings, Buddhists believe they can free themselves from the cycle of life death and rebirth. Daoism is similar with more happier undertones. I really don't think any concept of god can carry with it loss of consequence. I think you might mistake that for a humans natural ability to eliminating the feeling of responsibility and moral duty by using religious dogma to justify their decisions in life.MurshDawg, the way I see it, humans cannot help but personify the God-concept. Even something as unbounded as cosmic consciousness or oversoul is, if you remove enough layers, anthropomorphic. We're incapable of imagining a truly nonhuman awareness.
The concept of the divine can be divided into two basic categories.
1) Engaged. (Judeo-etc. traditions are a prime example). God cares about what we do and has a nonzero influence on this world.
All religion derives from this basic idea ... how we behave in the sight/presence of the divine matters to a slight or great extent.
2) Not engaged. Imo this has deep philosophical difficulties, like requesting the weight of a shadow.
I cannot see how an option-2 God can affect one's moral compass ... disengagement carries with it a loss of all consequence.
If I'm missing something basic, let me know ... cn
How about the propagation of false beliefs? Wasted time, money and resources? Murder in the name of god? Condemnation of science, and systematic attacks on scientific theory? Just to name a few.By that logic everyone SHOULD be an athiest. Please explain what you would lose if you were to believe in god and god turns out to not exist? If anything, the belief in a higher source or deity serves as magnetic north for our moral compass. Though I know you will undoubtedly point out all the violence caused by religion; so allow me to retort preemptively. Religion is evil! God (or whatever the fuck you call it), faith, hope, and spirituality are the positive manifestations in our collective consciousness. In order to fully understand consciousness one must at least entertain the existence of a higher power or source dimension. This is why in order to join the masons you have to believe in a god. Their theosophical ideas are lost upon minds whom believe in the huge loss associated with faith in a god. So, again, please explain to me the "huge loss associated with believing in god when god does not exist".
How about the propagation of false beliefs? Wasted time, money and resources? Murder in the name of god? Condemnation of science, and systematic attacks on scientific theory? Just to name a few.
I was responding to Mursh...No, you re wrong. If this is addressing the previous question posed by mursh. I have not wasted money, murdered, condemned science, or systemic attacks on science. Propagation of false beliefs is retarded to say because everyone is bound to have some sort of false beliwf, believing you have no false beliefs, is a false belief.
That's what a secular society promotes. People with religious affiliations are fine, just keep it private; that's all. People's religious belief (necessarily) spills over into public life where it's not welcomed by all. Then the people who are made to feel uncomfortable by being forcefully exposed to unwanted religious dogma feel the need to speak out about having the right to belong to a non-denominational public society. In turn, religious people feel discriminated against because they can't pollute public space with their personal beliefs which in many cases is an actual requirement of their religion.Lol, I just came from another forum where black people still blame whites for all the problems caused and continue to cause. Why cant people just live their lives?
I know what you mean. As a Christian I can tell you the same thing happens to me each day too, just in a different way. I could complain about all the forcefully uncomfortable stuff that I have to put up with, at work, or the media or whatever, but to be honest, I think life will just always be uncomfortable. I mean, I am a Christian and I smoke weed. Most weed smokers dislike Christians and most Christians dislike weed smokers, how is that for uncomfortable lol?That's what a secular society promotes. People with religious affiliations are fine, just keep it private; that's all. People's religious belief (necessarily) spills over into public life where it's not welcomed by all. Then the people who are made to feel uncomfortable by being forcefully exposed to unwanted religious dogma feel the need to speak out about having the right to belong to a non-denominational public society. In turn, religious people feel discriminated against because they can't pollute public space with their personal beliefs which in many cases is an actual requirement of their religion.
We can all live our lives once people keep their religion/spirituality to themselves. I guarantee once public policy stops being influenced by religion, atheists will stop attacking the religious and their ideals.