Nobody thinks our current understanding is perfect. But, just because we don’t know everything, doesn’t mean we need to entertain wild ideas without a lick of evidence. Sure, there could be supernatural explanations for things. But any other time we’ve previously thought something was caused by the supernatural, it was proven to not be. Every. Single. Time. Why bet on the horse that’s lost 1,000 races?
Spirituality, God, and Religion are all separate things. And if you have any research on when and why any of those concepts were created I’d love to read them.
You have to understand that the problem here is bad people, not bad ideas.
I currently live in a society where trans and gay rights are constantly under attack by religious folk simply because a ‘holy book’ supposedly says they’re sinners (despite it never mentioning trans people). Forgive me for not feeling sorry for the religious.
Besides, you’re in an atheist community. What do you expect us to talk about?
I’m not here simping for religion, I promise. The concept of god can and does exist separately from religion.
Yeah, I know horrific things have been done in the name of big G God, but those things were done by people. Not a god, or God, not spirituality. Allowing that to narrow your worldview to only things we can directly observe and quantify is leaving an entire realm of understanding on the table.
I know where I am, I’m just wondering why other people are here.
Imagine I created a community around my belief that flying pigs didn’t exist and all the content was shitting on the people who did… What do I get out of that other than putting people down? It literally widens the division in the name of scoring meaningless points against “the other team.”
Religion isn’t a cohesive group, and judging everyone who participates because certain sects are deplorable isn’t very “enlightened.”
I still don’t see any reason to believe in things I don’t see any evidence for. If you want to believe in ghosts or spirituality or Bigfoot or whatever, have at it. I don’t agree with you, but I don’t really care either. I only take issue with people that have, and act according to, beliefs that cause direct harm to others. Religions, crystal healing, antivaxxers, etc.
Sure, a community based around not believing in flying pigs might not make sense to you. Why build a community around not believing something? But you’re missing the same point a lot of religious folk do when they say, “why do you hate god if you don’t believe in him?” See, what if you lived in a world where 90% of people believed in either flying pigs, flying sheep, or flying cows, and all around the world, people in power are making laws based around these things that directly hurt, suppress, and ostracize the lives of others? Suddenly, making a community around it makes more sense.
What do we get out of it? Well, we get a sense of community and belonging for one thing. We all have something in common, and many of us have even been directly hurt or oppressed by the beliefs we stand against. And besides, we’re not perfect human beings—sometimes it’s just fun to poke fun at things we find ridiculous with a group of like-minded individuals.
Nobody thinks our current understanding is perfect. But, just because we don’t know everything, doesn’t mean we need to entertain wild ideas without a lick of evidence. Sure, there could be supernatural explanations for things. But any other time we’ve previously thought something was caused by the supernatural, it was proven to not be. Every. Single. Time. Why bet on the horse that’s lost 1,000 races?
You don’t have to bet against it, though.
What do you gain by putting down other belief systems?
Other belief systems have caused death and despair.
Science has, too. Splitting the atom had some pretty harsh consequences.
It wasn’t science’ s fault though, was it? No. It was people using science to hurt others.
Sure seems like an awful lot of people use religion to hurt others. Almost like it’s their main tool, or like religion was purpose-built to harm.
Spirituality, God, and Religion are all separate things. And if you have any research on when and why any of those concepts were created I’d love to read them.
You have to understand that the problem here is bad people, not bad ideas.
I currently live in a society where trans and gay rights are constantly under attack by religious folk simply because a ‘holy book’ supposedly says they’re sinners (despite it never mentioning trans people). Forgive me for not feeling sorry for the religious.
Besides, you’re in an atheist community. What do you expect us to talk about?
I’m not here simping for religion, I promise. The concept of god can and does exist separately from religion.
Yeah, I know horrific things have been done in the name of big G God, but those things were done by people. Not a god, or God, not spirituality. Allowing that to narrow your worldview to only things we can directly observe and quantify is leaving an entire realm of understanding on the table.
I know where I am, I’m just wondering why other people are here.
Imagine I created a community around my belief that flying pigs didn’t exist and all the content was shitting on the people who did… What do I get out of that other than putting people down? It literally widens the division in the name of scoring meaningless points against “the other team.”
Religion isn’t a cohesive group, and judging everyone who participates because certain sects are deplorable isn’t very “enlightened.”
I still don’t see any reason to believe in things I don’t see any evidence for. If you want to believe in ghosts or spirituality or Bigfoot or whatever, have at it. I don’t agree with you, but I don’t really care either. I only take issue with people that have, and act according to, beliefs that cause direct harm to others. Religions, crystal healing, antivaxxers, etc.
Sure, a community based around not believing in flying pigs might not make sense to you. Why build a community around not believing something? But you’re missing the same point a lot of religious folk do when they say, “why do you hate god if you don’t believe in him?” See, what if you lived in a world where 90% of people believed in either flying pigs, flying sheep, or flying cows, and all around the world, people in power are making laws based around these things that directly hurt, suppress, and ostracize the lives of others? Suddenly, making a community around it makes more sense.
What do we get out of it? Well, we get a sense of community and belonging for one thing. We all have something in common, and many of us have even been directly hurt or oppressed by the beliefs we stand against. And besides, we’re not perfect human beings—sometimes it’s just fun to poke fun at things we find ridiculous with a group of like-minded individuals.
You make a lot of good, valid points.