And nice to find something we agree on : ) Are you quite a bit closer to the 'Deist' position than I've realised perhaps?
Ren, I'd have to consult Jefferson's thought some more (I can't think for myself). But for an immediate answer, no, I don't think so. I'm more in line with Schweitzer's thought on this, with some pickings from Tolstoy. If they were deists, then I suppose it's a possibility for me too. Solzhenitsen is also another source, and I don't think he's a deist, not from what I've read.
I blogged my tweezers. I agree also that heaven and hell are man made. It is a way of controlling man through fear and reward. People are generally scared of dying and the idea that dying is not the end makes people feel less scared.
Miss Taken wrote:I'm adding to that my idea that a 'lack of belief in one particular 'god', is still a belief. Atheism is a religion, a way of viewing the how's and what's and where's and why's of this world.
How is atheism a religion? What beliefs define the religion of atheism? What precisely are the "how's and what's and where's and why's of this world" under atheist belief?
Miss Taken wrote:I'm adding to that my idea that a 'lack of belief in one particular 'god', is still a belief. Atheism is a religion, a way of viewing the how's and what's and where's and why's of this world.
How is atheism a religion? What beliefs define the religion of atheism? What precisely are the "how's and what's and where's and why's of this world" under atheist belief?
A way of viewing and understanding the world could be termed a philosophy. A way of viewing and understanding the world that depends on acceptance of something supernatural or divine is a relgion. The whole "lack of belief is still a belief" is a misunderstanding on many levels. Is my indifference to religion still an interest in it? Perhaps it is the recent advent of popular works discussing atheism (Dawkins, Harris, etc.) that has created the misunderstanding that there is a codified body of "beliefs" termed "Atheism" to which all "unbelievers" subscribe. While there are various approaches to atheism and some writers and thinkers have addressed it on a philosophical level, I think for most people the term just means they don't care about religion/god etc: they find it unteneble and irrelevant to their lives. I don't believe in god, a god, any god. The idea strikes me as ridiculous. I spend little to no time contemplating this or justifying it. That's why I rarely enter into threads on this topic---its a non issue to me.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
Miss Taken wrote:I'm adding to that my idea that a 'lack of belief in one particular 'god', is still a belief. Atheism is a religion, a way of viewing the how's and what's and where's and why's of this world.
How is atheism a religion? What beliefs define the religion of atheism? What precisely are the "how's and what's and where's and why's of this world" under atheist belief?
A way of viewing and understanding the world could be termed a philosophy. A way of viewing and understanding the world that depends on acceptance of something supernatural or divine is a relgion. The whole "lack of belief is still a belief" is a misunderstanding on many levels. Is my indifference to religion still an interest in it? Perhaps it is the recent advent of popular works discussing atheism (Dawkins, Harris, etc.) that has created the misunderstanding that there is a codified body of "beliefs" termed "Atheism" to which all "unbelievers" subscribe. While there are various approaches to atheism and some writers and thinkers have addressed it on a philosophical level, I think for most people the term just means they don't care about religion/god etc: they find it unteneble and irrelevant to their lives. I don't believe in god, a god, any god. The idea strikes me as ridiculous. I spend little to no time contemplating this or justifying it. That's why I rarely enter into threads on this topic---its a non issue to me.
I agree with everything you say above. I do however enter these threads and always chime up when atheism is being equated to a religion or a belief system. It's not. Most atheists I've known don't read Dawkins, don't post on bulletin boards about it, are totally indifferent, don't care too much about evolution or any of the other stuff often prescribed to atheists. They are all over the map in their views of the world created from their own interests.
I'm interested in the topic of atheism just because I find it interesting that some want to prescribe a dogma to it.
Ray A wrote:Would the world have been better off without Christianity?
Imagine - no religion, no God.
Would we now all be living in peace and harmony?
It would be fun if we could do the its a wonderful life thing.
If I recall Bart Ehrdman discussed this some in one of his books. His thoughts were more along the line of what if one of the other competing sects of Christianity won out rather then the one that became the Orthodox faith. I believe he felt that what became Orthodox Christianity made the world a much better place then what it would have been. I will have to dig out his comment.
Miss Taken wrote:Atheism is a religion, a way of viewing the how's and what's and where's and why's of this world.
If you think that atheism is a form of religion, then you also think that infertility is a form of parenthood.
"Finally, for your rather strange idea that miracles are somehow linked to the amount of gay sexual gratification that is taking place would require that primitive Christianity was launched by gay sex, would it not?"