SecularFuture

• Why do theists believe in a god?
• Why do most theists fight so hard to defend their beliefs?


My personal theory is this:
Most theists believe in a god because they fear living in a world that is without some sort of governing force behind their lives. When you really think about, reality is quite scary. You only have control over yourself, and everything else around you is out of your control. Someone could walk up to you and shoot you without warning, or a storm could come and destroy your house, or an asteroid could come and destroy the entire planet. Through religion, you don’t have any reason to fear or have concern with the world around you because it is all under the control of a perfect deity who loves you. And no matter how much pain you and your family and friends may endure now, everything will have a happy ending in a perfect heaven, as long as you have faith in the deity. The more faith you have in the deity, the more it will protect you from the ”evils” of the world around you. It’s all very childish and annoying.

Even in the face of hard scientific theories and facts, most religionists refuse to bend or question their interpretations of our naturalistic world. And in all honesty, I don’t blame them. Why should they want to give up the perfect fantasy for a belief in a world without order, and the belief that a person’s life will eventually disappear from existence? This is why they fight so hard against atheism.

Transhumanism is both comforting and realistic. It combines Secular Humanism with a greater appreciation for science, medicine, and technology, the three things we will require a greater knowledge of for our survival in the future. Transhumanism is a complete package, all wrapped up in one word. Practically everything you need for a better now, and a better future can be found within the definition of this word.


Adherents of Transhumanism philosophy believe that:
1. Some (perhaps all) limitations of human nature are undesirable.
2. Science and technology, steered by human values, could enable us to transcend our limitations.
3. Transcending the current limitations of human nature will lead to remarkable reductions in human suffering and marvelous improvements in human freedom, happiness, and potential.


Unlike straight atheism and Secular Humanism, Transhumanism promotes the idea of “transcending our limitations” so that we -- our species -- may continue to survive for a very long time, if not forever. And, unlike religion, it puts all responsibility on the human race. If we want progress, it is all up to us, and not some magical deity that most likely doesn’t exist. Transhumanism takes Secular Humanism to another level, and makes religion irrelevant.


Transhumanism is DEEP.
I highly recommend these sites for further reading:
http://www.transhumanism.com/
http://www.transhumanism.org/
http://www.extropy.org/

http://www.changesurfer.com/
(a huge database of audio files)

SecularFuture

Link To The Original Transhumanism Thread
I posted a response for each response there.

Aradia

I posted a response in the other thread (page 3, 2nd post) as a response before I noticed your message about wanting to move. If you wish to reply, feel free to post the reply in this thread.

In addition, I have one other question regarding comments you have made earlier:

What purpose is there in making humans "better"?

Hubble head

There are hundreds of reasons theists believe.
For some its because they just can't go against their mother's teachings and wishes.

For others its a fear of death. Pascals ignorant wager for the cherry pickers. Some of us are prone to anarchy while others must have structure. It makes them feel more superior. Its a social thing and they just go along with it because there really isn't inything esle to do for friendship in their neck of the woods. Some must have some kind of answers were none exist, even if those answers were archaic wild guesses of drunken monks.

To defend their beliefs is to defend themselves as a person and ego - their existance as they see it. Not many will admit they have been living a lie -subconcious denial is much easier to deal with than overt denial. Others just want to live forever. But others have been so brainwashed to think anyone not like them is evil that they cannot see being anything but part of that religion those they love and respect are also part of. Religions are cults and involves some pretty hardcore brainwashing.

Our minds are clay. The person who can shape a mind wields a great power.

Hubble head

That's easy and I'm not even a transhuman.

To improve the quality of life for all of us silly. More love, less stress. More comfort, less hardship. And so on.

Aradia

Except I want to get an answer from SecularFuture, so I hope you won't mind if I wait for him to answer before I continue.

SecularFuture

Aradia
Gotcha.

When that philosophy promotes magical thinking before critical thinking.

Why not? Or would you rather for humanity to remain the same, flawed and not entirely sufficient?

SecularFuture

Tarnaak
And why is that?

If there is no god, someone needs to play him. If there is no god up in the sky governing our existence, we need to stand up and take control over ourselves.

How do you know if there is a god or not? Because of a few books? Those books could have been written by anyone with a little spare time and imagination? And, unlike real history books, bibles make unfounded claims for the existance of worlds (supernatural realm) that can only be believed, and not seen.

What do you think medical research is doing? If you're against "playing god" (as you say), well then.... you should stop taking medicine. Its unnatural.

SecularFuture

ju'iblex
Anything that makes way for improving the state of humanity.

Its very difficult to change a person’s way of seeing things, and when it is changed (improved / etc), in my opinion, that is a very big deal.

This is an unsupported opinion. There is no way to predict if religion will “always” exist or not.

Hehehe – Good point, but still… If science keeps growing at the rate that it is growing now, one day we might not need to make shit up.

SecularFuture

bjklein
Immortalism and Transhumanism are, essentially, the same. I may be wrong. This is just my opinion.

Oh! I remember you! You do EXCELLENT work over there @ http://www.imminst.org
Please keep it up!