Autonemesis

Atheism is not a way of looking at the world. But if I discovered that the world was purpose-built it would take away all the "magic." Life, then, becomes nothing more than fitting in with someone else's purpose. There can be no wonder at all if there is a reason for existence.

sunspark

Indeed. If there is an after-life, what is the point of this one? Seems to me that is a very cold, dead way to look at the world.

Intentional Pariah

I'm really really laid back, I have an off-color sense of humor, I'm easy to amuse, and it doesn't seem to bother me that I'm a small thing on an infinitesmal dot which orbits around one of millions of flea-speck stars within a galaxy that appears as a microscopic dot on a map of a universe in which my existence is all but irrelevant, probably mainly because I wouldn't feel comfortable with the attention of something as large as the universe and am glad that I don't have it. That's how. I would have thought that this would be fairly plain.

Jobar

Helo, atheism isn't a complete worldview, by any means. It's only an element of a worldview- it just means that we lack belief in god(s). Even when we call ourselves atheists, we aren't saying anything about our sense of humor, or politics, or lifestyle, or morality. We on this board span an amazing range of types and temperaments.

Tell you what. If you think atheists are necessarily cold and humorless, go to this thread and follow some of the links in it. (Be careful that you aren't drinking or eating anything, and aren't anywhere loud laughter will get you in trouble!)

J-D

Until you tell us what you think it's different from, and how you think it's different, that's an empty statement.Can you indicate the things that you think there are no scientific explanations for, and why you think that? If not, what foundation do you have for supposing that there are scientific explanations for almost everything, but not for everything?If you're on different ground, then it's not the exact same thing. Between any two examples, there are always similarities and differences, so inevitably there are both similarities and differences between what scientists do and what theists do (never mind that lots of scientists are theists). Until you tell us what you think the significant similarities (or differences) are, this is another empty statement.

Queen of Swords

I take it that you have no answer to make to my request? I asked what "real real leaps of faith" you think people should make, but you provided none. Perhaps you have not thought this matter through very well.

seebs

Hmm. I think more at the worldview level; for instance, the question of whether or not you should care about people. Getting married is, IMHO, a leap of faith; even if you have some evidence that you like someone, I don't think marriage can be justified on available evidence that exists prior to the first decade or so of marriage. What happens if your spouse figures out eleven years in that he/she is actually transsexual? What happens if there's an affair? Shit happens, and marriage is a pretty big gamble.

Adopting nearly any moral system or system of values involves taking at least one value proposition which is, by definition, unsupportable. If you have evidence about your "values", then you're looking at the implications of a foundational value judgment. It may seem totally unexceptional to adopt a value judgment such as "I want to be happy" or "I want to make other people happy" -- but given the huge difference it makes which of those you pick, I think it's a pretty big deal.

What is or isn't a question of faith may vary from one person to another. For me, the notion that other people actually have internal state is pretty close to faith. I don't read expressions well, and I have nearly no native empathy. I choose to believe that these things ("other people") are fully real even though I don't have the perceptual experience of them that I am assured is normal. My colorblind friend takes it on faith that people are telling him accurately whether things clash.

One occasionally sees advice like "live as though your choices will make a difference". I think this is a kind of faith, and a very useful one.