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There's a reason I'm an atheist...
15 years ago
"MORELS taste good in omelettes..."
...and articles like these only seem to back up my choice:
My feeling/assertion that religion is a psychological factor- not always a good one (IE: things I consider delusionary being attested to as being real, from the belief in angels to beliefs in the Reptilian Conspiracy- it's all tin-foil hat stuff, as far as I'm concerned)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....1005092302.htm
This one backs up my theory that religion could potentially be at fault for people not taking responsibility for their actions (regarding the lessened anxieties related to making mistakes or potential mistakes. The anxiety is there to both warn us of the error and to encourage us to fix it and NOT DO IT AGAIN... Religion can short-circuit that)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0304160400.htm
Violent religions beget religious violence- 'nuff said (well, actually, it's just violent passages that are the culprit, especially ones where "god" sanctions attacks on others in his name)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0223143009.htm and
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0305202614.htm
And the root of all evil is fear: extremism may have anxiety at it's base (gee, you THINK?)-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0706103404.htm
And, lastly, to counter my slagging of faith (though there is a cynical hint that religious "do-gooders" are only doing it to enhance their status in a community, most of the article points to the positive aspects of having faith in a deity)-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....1002172013.htm
Yeah, as if I needed any kind of scientific/psychological study to tell me why I've gone atheist after so many years of having a religious life, but it's nice to see it corroborated by the scientific community.
I'll say it again- I do not hate religion or religious believers. There is much to respect in the religions of this world. The charity, honesty, and overall goodness to others that religions at their heart encourage always gives me a smile when I see it. But, when people use their faiths as an excuse to oppress others, to rip away basic rights *coughsamesexmarriagecough*, to justify violence against those not of the same belief or race, I want to wipe them off the map. All of them.
It doesn't matter if I think someone's beliefs in angels or space-ship gods is silly and most likely a result of sub-pathological mental-illness. If having those beliefs helps them function in our society- and it obviously does, for a great many- then, by all means, believe in those things. If you need a faith to dictate your morals and ethics to you (or simply to reinforce them), then fine. I just wish folks could learn to think for themselves, though. I know how hard it can be to be the gentle person who wants to help the guy in need of a good meal and place to sleep, and how often those generous people will actually be sneered at or mocked for wanting to help so so "worthless" (not my view, trust me- I despise people who look down on the poor and destitute like that).
Religious folk will help them because their religion tells them to, regardless of their personal opinion that the homeless guy is at fault for his predicament, that he's likely a drunk or an addict. Either way, the unwashed homeless guy will get a place to sleep and a meal, maybe a shower. Who cares why the person is helping, really? As long as an unfortunate is shown he can have a better life, does it really matter the reasons behind the help? Yeah, it can. See, my only beef with some religious institutions extending charity to the downtrodden and unfortunate is that they often do it with an implied price: "believe in our God, and He'll feed you". To me, that's nothing more than extortion and repulsive. Feed the guy, don't put fucking conditions on what he must do to get it! He deserves to be healthy, well-fed and happy as much as anyone else! But, there are quite a few charities and outreach groups that don't put conditions on their aid, which is fine by me. Help those who need it, but not at a price.
When someone tries to get me to believe in religious things, then the problems start- I'm not receptive, let's just say. To me, it's all crazy-talk, tin-foil-hat rantery and a waste of my time to listen to it. I can no more believe in a mysteriously-powerful, invisible abusive father in the sky any more than I'd believe the moon was made of green cheese. Just ain't gonna happen, Jack.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster touches us all with His noodley appendage, and His tomato-sauce moistens us all in His tasty love. Ramen.
Oh, man does that ever sound wrong. *giggle*
My feeling/assertion that religion is a psychological factor- not always a good one (IE: things I consider delusionary being attested to as being real, from the belief in angels to beliefs in the Reptilian Conspiracy- it's all tin-foil hat stuff, as far as I'm concerned)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....1005092302.htm
This one backs up my theory that religion could potentially be at fault for people not taking responsibility for their actions (regarding the lessened anxieties related to making mistakes or potential mistakes. The anxiety is there to both warn us of the error and to encourage us to fix it and NOT DO IT AGAIN... Religion can short-circuit that)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0304160400.htm
Violent religions beget religious violence- 'nuff said (well, actually, it's just violent passages that are the culprit, especially ones where "god" sanctions attacks on others in his name)- http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0223143009.htm and
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0305202614.htm
And the root of all evil is fear: extremism may have anxiety at it's base (gee, you THINK?)-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....0706103404.htm
And, lastly, to counter my slagging of faith (though there is a cynical hint that religious "do-gooders" are only doing it to enhance their status in a community, most of the article points to the positive aspects of having faith in a deity)-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release.....1002172013.htm
Yeah, as if I needed any kind of scientific/psychological study to tell me why I've gone atheist after so many years of having a religious life, but it's nice to see it corroborated by the scientific community.
I'll say it again- I do not hate religion or religious believers. There is much to respect in the religions of this world. The charity, honesty, and overall goodness to others that religions at their heart encourage always gives me a smile when I see it. But, when people use their faiths as an excuse to oppress others, to rip away basic rights *coughsamesexmarriagecough*, to justify violence against those not of the same belief or race, I want to wipe them off the map. All of them.
It doesn't matter if I think someone's beliefs in angels or space-ship gods is silly and most likely a result of sub-pathological mental-illness. If having those beliefs helps them function in our society- and it obviously does, for a great many- then, by all means, believe in those things. If you need a faith to dictate your morals and ethics to you (or simply to reinforce them), then fine. I just wish folks could learn to think for themselves, though. I know how hard it can be to be the gentle person who wants to help the guy in need of a good meal and place to sleep, and how often those generous people will actually be sneered at or mocked for wanting to help so so "worthless" (not my view, trust me- I despise people who look down on the poor and destitute like that).
Religious folk will help them because their religion tells them to, regardless of their personal opinion that the homeless guy is at fault for his predicament, that he's likely a drunk or an addict. Either way, the unwashed homeless guy will get a place to sleep and a meal, maybe a shower. Who cares why the person is helping, really? As long as an unfortunate is shown he can have a better life, does it really matter the reasons behind the help? Yeah, it can. See, my only beef with some religious institutions extending charity to the downtrodden and unfortunate is that they often do it with an implied price: "believe in our God, and He'll feed you". To me, that's nothing more than extortion and repulsive. Feed the guy, don't put fucking conditions on what he must do to get it! He deserves to be healthy, well-fed and happy as much as anyone else! But, there are quite a few charities and outreach groups that don't put conditions on their aid, which is fine by me. Help those who need it, but not at a price.
When someone tries to get me to believe in religious things, then the problems start- I'm not receptive, let's just say. To me, it's all crazy-talk, tin-foil-hat rantery and a waste of my time to listen to it. I can no more believe in a mysteriously-powerful, invisible abusive father in the sky any more than I'd believe the moon was made of green cheese. Just ain't gonna happen, Jack.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster touches us all with His noodley appendage, and His tomato-sauce moistens us all in His tasty love. Ramen.
Oh, man does that ever sound wrong. *giggle*
But yes, nice collection of articles there, hun. *Heaps more internets onto you*
Think about that for a minute.
*looks for the button*
Never let it be said that I'm afraid of silliness. Especially wriggly Cthulhu silliness.
"And now, on Favourite Recipes of Doom, Cthulhu alla carbonara... for this you will need sixty thousand eggs, ten tons of ham, the entire linguini output of Calabria and one Elder Death God, of the sort you can probably find at your local supermarket. And, for garnish, a sprig of basil..."
Cthulhu saves! In case he gets hungry later.
"AAAARRRGHHH!!"
"Yup, your liver is where it's supposed to be... Hey... are you supposed to go that colour when I pull on that?..."
Yeah, "A slight mistranslation" has a LOT to answer for. *evil chortle*
Um, the rest of your statement was so incoherent and misspelled I couldn't figure out what you were talking about. Seriously, dude, use spell-check! "Mankind" actually did mean both men and women, as a group- it's just an old term for humanity as a whole- it wasn't a sexual reference. Sorry, that bit makes no sense- not sure how you came up with that.
I don't follow any kind of scripture myself- I don't need any to tell me what is right or wrong and how I should live my life. I've pretty much been able to find that out on my own.
I thought about what makes sense to me about spirituality, and I just kinda went with it. It doesn't rule my life, or even influence it for the most part. And while I'm happy to explain it to anyone who's curious, I NEVER tell someone who doesn't want to know, nor do I push it down anyone else's throat.
...it's funny tho. I only EVER pray for realistic things that I NEED... but when I do, I always seem to get it X3 I've never had a prayer come back as a 'no' when I do that.
Not like it falls out of the sky into my lap or anything. It just seems like suddenly my luck improves 1000x for reaching that one particular goal. I still gotta work for it, but all the things that are out of my hands just seem to line up for me XD
Now I'm not saying there's a real 100% proven causality there. I'm a scientist first and foremost. However, there is a strong, statistically significant positive correlation between me following those circumstances and me getting what I need. Conclusive results will require more research.
There just might be a thesis in that, if anyone were interested in the idea.
See I'm of the belief that we made the gods, not the other way around - that the collective will of sapient beings spawned entities in and of themselves - manifestations of our primal drives, if you will. I tend to pray to the one formed from the base positive emotions. ^.=.^ I quite literally worship love, and frankly, the idea tickles me to no end <3
:3 but having no proof of anything I've just said, I would be a madman and a fool to discount your view as anything but equally valid. See avatar for example.
I'm pretty much in agreement that our thoughts can have consequences, like the creation of thought-forms. We've been building our own gods for thousands of years- 'tis a pity so many of them are violent, blood-soaked bastards. Yeah, let's build up a better god: Love would be a great one. I REALLY like the idea of worshiping love. What a cool concept!
Scientific it isn't, but who cares? I love logic, certainly (as it's something I'm not very good at, and there is much in this world that I admire for the same reasons), but mystery, imagination and dreaming are also important aspects of our minds and how they work. Building an altar to Love might just be a wonderful antidote to all this violence and cruelty in this world. Let's make Love the next, great God!
In reality I have a ditheistic belief system, with two deities. One from all the positive emotions and thoughts, one from all the negative. I actually worship both (tho let it be known I pay far more attention to the positive one).
This is for 3 reasons:
1) I am a creature of balance. I do my damned best not to ever allow anything in my life to go to dangerous extremes. There are examples all around us of people who bottle up their dark sides in an attempt to deny them altogether and end up shooting up a mall somewhere. Instead of denying that I'm not a goddamn saint, I channel all my negative thoughts/actions into harmless venues, or else cancel them with positive actions immediately thereafter.
2) Dichotomies exist by contrast. Positives cannot exist without negatives, and vice versa. Therefore, if nothing else, the negative 'deity' of my personal religion is responsible for the positive one's continued existence, which is certainly reason for at least grudging appreciation. "A star shines that more brightly for the blackness of the night", and all that.
3) Without negative thoughts and actions from both ourselves and others, we would not be able to learn the hardest and sometimes most important lessons in life. Our first conditioning for the trials and rigors of the 'real' world COMES from the negative actions of others. If it wasn't for playground bullies, you'd be rather stymied the first time you were met with adversity as an adult, and you wouldn't know how to handle it. The negative toughens our mental skins, so to speak.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tr.....s-serbia-gays/
religion + nationalism = trouble.
This bit is just my opinion/me talking out my butt: there is a real problem with skinhead youth in Europe, from the stuff I've been seeing in the news the last several years. They see no futures for themselves, IE jobs, they see immigrants coming in by the thousands and assume all of the available jobs are going to "those foreigners", and wrongfully blame them. The anti-gay nonsense is just a hand-maiden to the real reason these kids are making such violent waves: they're scared for their future and are looking for any reason other than maybe the political corruption, for their ills.
I need to find this video I saw a while back that compares belief in a god to battered wife syndrome...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew3x4L-2b2s
I figures that when I first posted this YouTube would be doing maintainance and have the subscriptions page inaccessible (and then I guessed wrong on which channel I subscribe to did the video and ended up using search to look for it anyway 9_9 )
I believe there is a "God" and what religion has the right "God" who knows ... I just pick to believe in the christian God
There for any of the many religions could have the right "God" that governs us
Mind you, I don't think there is any god ruling over us at all. I have some real trouble stomaching the idea that some otherworldly, invisible sky-being is not only watching me pick my nose, but that he might take exception to this act and give me a catastrophic hemorragic nose-bleed...
Therefor any of the many religions could have the right "God" that governs us.
Aaaaand any and all of the religions could be nothing more than the rantings of the local village schizophrenic. You ever wondered how these things started?
Mind you, on the other hand, knowing what evil is also prevents us from being abused by a god who thinks he could do anything he wanted under the auspices of "I commanded it, so it is good." Kind of under the idea that if they don't know any better, I can ask them to do anything I wished, even die for me. Someone who could possibly torture his creations for his own entertainment is not any kind of diety I'd like to be associated with, thanks.
I learned long ago that fear was at the bottom of almost everyone's actions and thoughts. I added it to my little list of personal proverbs: "so much of what we do is based upon what we're afraid of- learn fearlessness."