rebelnerd

I'm sure a lot of this is already been said, but these are the reasons I'm an Atheist.

I believe all religions are now and have always been based on the root cause of death fear. Who wants to die? I don't. About six months ago my son (age 11) had "the thought." He realized that he was mortal.


I remember too my own time of having "the thought" at about his age. It occured to me that humans would go to just about any lengths to avoid this fear. What could I do to avoid this fear?

Religion offers a chance to avoid having to have these thoughts. It dangles the carrot of an afterlife in front of a mind and says "You don't have to be afraid of death, just follow the carrot! You will live forever if you just follow these simple rules...."

To me this is the ultimate worst form of intellecutal cheating to one's self. By belief in
religion, one can dodge the "thought bullet" of death. And also get off the hook of a lot of morality based issues by being "saved" or praying one's self out of damnation.

I have yet to experience or see anything to convince me that there is any kind of omnipotent or otherwise diety(s).

To me anyone who's morality is derived from a religious source is not to be completely trusted. How can you completely trust someone who is not intellecually honest with their own self? I believe true morality is based on one's own judgment of what is right and wrong and the values needed to co-exist peacefuly with other humans.

Anyway, there is a small rant for the amusement of others.


Filo

Hayden

Absolutely! Also, people often argue that religious people do good works in the community (which nobody will deny) but I wonder aoub their motivation. If someone does you a favour simply because they want to, as opposed to someone who performs the same favour "knowing" that this will make them look good to their god, who does the greater favour?

On morality, if humanity needs a book to tell us not to kill each other then we deserve extinction.

excreationist

I think another main part of the religions is about justice - people want to believe that good people are ultimately rewarded for their behaviour and evil people are punished even though this doesn't always happen on earth.

And it's not just about comforting your own fears about death - it also would help comfort those who have lost loved ones - they can believe that they'd be reunited somehow.

Also, I think a feeling of coherence or "connectedness" is very important. And believing that you are certain about the big picture (i.e. knowing who the creator is and how to exploit him, etc) makes people feel that pleasure. Atheists crave it as well and satisfy it through things like socializing, community service, art, environmentalism, science, maths, etc.

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: excreationist ]</p>

Perchance

One thing I don't understand about the desire for immortality...

Why would you want it at all?

I think that life would lose meaning and value if it lasted forever. There wouldn't be as much reason to cherish and value, say, those one loved- unless those people weren't going to live forever, in which case the immortal would have to bear an almost intolerable burden of sadness. Eventually, such a person might stop loving altogether, rather than risk the sorrow.

I also think that immortality would get boring after a while, at least for someone raised in today's culture who wants novelty all the time. Surely a year would come when the immortal would realize that there weren't any sincerely "new" diversions for him to try; the ones that existed would just be variations of the old ones. And then what would such a person do?

Yet somehow eternal life in Heaven is going to be glorious forever?

I don't know; it sounds boring to me.

(This isn't to say I wouldn't like a few more years than I am probably going to get. But I wouldn't want eternity).

-Perchance.

excreationist

nevermind...

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: excreationist ]</p>

Radcliffe Emerson

To me, what happens after death is another thing we just don't know about.
Even if there is no god, who knows? Our energy force might continue on, and we might even be conscious of it.
Or we may just end.

excreationist

djm59:
What is our "energy force" exactly? It's just that I'm a materialist/physicalist and I only really believe in physical matter and things like gravity and electromagnetism.

On the other hand it takes quite a long time to explain how physical matter and energy can be conscious of itself... I don't know if I'm up to that at the moment.

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: excreationist ]</p>

rebelnerd

Perchance

(This isn't to say I wouldn't like a few more years than I am probably going to get. But I wouldn't want eternity).

I agree, I certainly know I would like to see more of the future than my mortal existance will allow. I would like to see what type of world my son inherits, my grandchildren inherit etc..

What boggles my mind is thinking of how many people over time have had these same thoughts. It's not to hard to see why religions are invented.

I would also like to see how and if humanity will progress. Will we colonize other planets? Will we decide once and for all that war is a bad option? And on and on.

I would like to thank everybody for their posts so far and would like to add that I pretty much agree with and/or have had similar thoughts to what has been posted so far.

I thought I would use this post as means of introduction and would like to add that I enjoy the Secweb.


Filo

Radcliffe Emerson

Who knows? Maybe our minds continue on. I don't know.

Pitshade

This belongs in Misc. Religion.