Are Atheists /Agnostics /Etc Alike?

[Guess Who!]

Edited Opening Post:

So maybe we could have one thread where all, or at least a few, of the atheists and agnostics on this board answer questions to see where we have different perspectives on certain issues people are interested in. We're certainly not a monolithic group!!


You *might* even get an argument from us... though that may be unlikely

[Kait]

Why are you atheists so competitive? Is it because you have no hope or happiness in your life?

[xiao]

Why are you atheists so competitive? Is it because you have no hope or happiness in your life?

It's because we don't have God-measuring contests to fall back on anymore.

[Guess Who!]

Why are you atheists so competitive? Is it because you have no hope or happiness in your life?

Yes, this is exactly why! Hence, we must hold parties where we compete with each other seeing who is the LEAST hopeful and LEAST happy because that person is obviously being the BEST atheist.

It's a very competitive sport. Involves lots of chocolate.

[jasonjannajerryjohn]

We should have an atheist thread here specifically for all three of us to answer questions. And than we can debate each other on our answers. Would be cool.

[xiao]

We should have an atheist thread here specifically for all three of us to answer questions. And than we can debate each other on our answers. Would be cool.

I don't know why we haven't thought of this. I think there are more atheists on this board as well.

[Guess Who!]

it would! but whenever we disagree, I'll have you know, it's because YOU TWO ARE WRONG! *Kait's described atheist competitiveness comes out*

seriously though, it would be interesting to see our different perspectives on stuff.

[jasonjannajerryjohn]

Go ahead and make this thread that thread. And let's do it. Make an attractive title or something. I think we're scaring people away. >_>

[Guess Who!]

MAYBE I edited it correctly?

-- 05 Nov 2012 10:00 pm --

From other thread:

Do you think that humans are inherently good, or inherently evil? Is it possible for everyone to live in peace and harmony with one another?

I don't think humans are either inherently good OR inherently evil. Also. That's assuming quite a bit because we haven't yet defined what good and evil actually ARE. But. Let's go to your second point, is it possible for everyone to live in peace and harmony with one another, probably not in the *most* extreme sense in that we live on a rather small planet with rather fewer resources than we *all* would like, and close quarters will always make for SOME arguments. Plus, some personalities don't always get along, so, yes, we can't do away with people occasionally getting mad at each other and yelling about all the dirty dishes in the sink.

ON THE OTHER HAND, we certainly can do better than we currently do at not, actually, KILLING each other and hurting each other actually *badly* other than things like, leaving out dirty socks or putting away all the papers on the table so thoroughly that the electric bill got lost for the month...

An interesting source for that part of the discussion would be Stephen Pinker's book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels ... 0670022950 where he consolidates evidence showing that we are actually gentler and less violent to each other now than we have through any recorded historical period, and it has been getting progressively better.

I believe we can do better still! We have the capacity for empathy, we have the capacity for cooperation, we ALL do better when we are empathetic and cooperative, and I think people are in general smart enough to recognize this fact. So yeah, we can do pretty well, but let's not lose sight of the fact that we're *already* doing pretty well, when it comes right down to it.

[jasonjannajerryjohn]

MAYBE I edited it correctly?

-- 05 Nov 2012 10:00 pm --

From other thread:
An interesting source for that part of the discussion would be Stephen Pinker's book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels ... 0670022950 where he consolidates evidence showing that we are actually gentler and less violent to each other now than we have through any recorded historical period, and it has been getting progressively better.

Ya, that's not saying very much.

But your idea of humans trying to NOT kill each other brings up an interesting fact. And that is, the world is getting smaller and smaller. We are very quickly running out of resources. People being secure in the knowledge that their child will most likely not die in child birth coupled with people living to be in their eighties, nineties, and even into the hundreds is relatively new for humanity. Our population is enormous right now, over 7 billion. It's risen tremendously in the past hundred years. And the way of life that developed in that past hundred years is unsustainable. There's no way that our massive globalization and consumption/consumerist society has a chance to survive for another hundred years because there's just not enough resources to go around. If people stopped killing each other and tried to help people survive, our population would shoot up even more. I don't have a point to make here, I'm just saying that our resources are insanely scarce. If we keep growing at this rate, we're going to be starving to death relatively soon because there are to many mouths to feed. Especially if we don't have a well funded space program to go out and look for life on other planets or to look for other planets to colonize. -hint hint-

[Guess Who!]

oh goodness. Maybe you are right. I was googling for a story I found earlier about the UN's recent report on global food supplies (found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-develo ... is-warning)

I got this site, instead: http://moneymorning.com/tag/food-shortage/

Gah. I just. People see prediction of global food shortages and their response is, yippee, PROFIT?!!

Ok. I give up.

I'm usually very optimistic though. Give me a bit of time to recover from this google discovery, and I'll probably be optimistic again, and find all the positive data showing we may, still, have a way out of this fix

[Jesus' Princess]

MAYBE I edited it correctly?

-- 05 Nov 2012 10:00 pm --

From other thread:

An interesting source for that part of the discussion would be Stephen Pinker's book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels ... 0670022950 where he consolidates evidence showing that we are actually gentler and less violent to each other now than we have through any recorded historical period, and it has been getting progressively better.

Ya, that's not saying very much.
For the record, I didn't say that, I think the quotes got messed up

[Guess Who!]

oh, sorry Jesus' Princess. I guess the quotes did get mixed up.

[jasonjannajerryjohn]

You're right. I messed up the quotes. My bad.

[John Chrysostom]

Random question: Is there anything you miss from being a Christian?

[Guess Who!]

um, actually, sometimes the singing. The hymns that are very familiar, the group where everyone's doing the same thing. Plus the church I went to most had a pretty great organ.

Also, I guess, I was a christian through my childhood, so sometimes I'll be nostalgic for the group outings and stuff I'd do with the church group, but I think that's more or less the same as anybody's nostalgia for childhood and doing fun things, not really from "being christian" per se.

[jasonjannajerryjohn]

Great question. I'd have to say that now, no I don't. Sometimes I'll feel like that emotional crutch was a nice thing to have, but ultimately, I don't need it. It's actually very nice to be able to not have to think inside this limited world view. When I was a Christian, I had my set beliefs and I tried to make the world fit those beliefs. Now, I do just the opposite. I look at the way the world works, and try to make my beliefs fit the way the world works. And that is a very refreshing breath of air.

[xiao]

Random question: Is there anything you miss from being a Christian?

Yes. I miss the communal aspect of it - it was also a blanket of safety for so many issues that I had to relearn how to deal with once I accepted reality. For example, grieving loved ones. You have to learn how to grieve, basically. It's like you've never truly done it before, always letting some hope of an afterlife distract you from the hard truth. In ways, I miss the feeling of thinking I was communicating with a supreme, natural force, although to be honest, looking back, I'm not sure if I ever believed in Yahweh.

However, everything I miss about Christianity doesn't really have much to do with Christianity itself. It is nothing compared to what I have gained giving it up.

[Guess Who!]

Actually I feel like I manage grieving better now that I'm an atheist than when I was a Christian... but that could be just time and experience and perspective rather than beliefs per se, I don't know.

[John Chrysostom]

Did any of you consider or explore other religions besides Christianity?