Atheism: An Empty Shell of a Life

[Cooky]

What might feel "lacking" to you, Landon, isn't necessarily the same for anyone else.

And more to the point, for those of us who do not (and cannot) believe in the existence of deities, it would feel false and dishonest to pretend we were having some sort of relationship with them. Surely can you see that that would be living an inauthentic life, and surely you don't see that as being a good thing.

Or maybe you don't know what you're missing, and you *think* of your life as fulfilling.

...Again, I've seen too much militant Atheism (whatever it is) lately to not be harsh. It's time for equalization, and I'm here to fulfill that role.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

People shouldn't attempt to spread their non-belief... Because it hurts other people.

Then people shouldn't attempt to spread their beliefs...because it hurts people who believe otherwise. So let's get all those street-corner preachers and mullahs off the streets. No signs saying "Jesus Saves!" or "Surrender to Islam gives Peace." They must all be banned, because they disagree with what others believe.

Is that what you're saying, Landon?

 

[Cooky]

Then people shouldn't attempt to spread their beliefs...because it hurts people who believe otherwise. So let's get all those street-corner preachers and mullahs off the streets. No signs saying "Jesus Saves!" or "Surrender to Islam gives Peace." They must all be banned, because they disagree with what others believe.

Is that what you're saying, Landon?

It's what I normally believe. But today I would rather be unfair, to compensate for the imbalance lately on RF.

...Once this is finished, I can return to normal again.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Its how I would feel as an Atheist... And you would do that to me.

Rubbish -- if you were and atheist, you wouldn't be YOU. And thus you have no idea how you would feel.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

It's what I normally believe. But today I would rather be unfair, to compensate for the imbalance lately on RF.

...Once this is finished, I can return to normal again.

Really? Imbalance? You haven't noticed all the Baha'i, Christian, JW, Muslim and other posters taking me on -- often at ridiculous length? (You would be right to say, "look who's talking about ridiculous length here...I'm guilty.)

Trust me, as one who reads all those posts -- including your own, by the way -- I have to tell you it is not nearly as unbalanced as you suppose.

 

[Cooky]

Really? Imbalance? You haven't noticed all the Baha'i, Christian, JW, Muslim and other posters taking me on -- often at ridiculous length? (You would be right to say, "look who's talking about ridiculous length here...I'm guilty.)

Trust me, as one who reads all those posts -- including your own, by the way -- I have to tell you it is not nearly as unbalanced as you suppose.

Your thread about the ten commandments triggered this in me. And of course, there is @ChristineM being @ChristineM.

...I never insulted your Atheism, but you sure did go after multiple religions there! All being "the enemy"... Jew, Christian... Didn't matter.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

You think I've never we exprienced your side. I have, and it feels like despair.

...And you want that for me..?

Now this is clearly wrong. If, as you say, you have experienced "your side" (meaning that you have experienced being an atheist), then I have to tell you, if it felt like despair, you were not actually an atheist, but only pretending, for whatever reason of your own. That feeling of "despair" can only be the result of having abandoned something that you truly need.

Thus, you have never experienced atheism. We have no such need.

 

[Cooky]

Now this is clearly wrong. If, as you say, you have experienced "your side" (meaning that you have experienced being an atheist), then I have to tell you, if it felt like despair, you were not actually an atheist, but only pretending, for whatever reason of your own. That feeling of "despair" can only be the result of having abandoned something that you truly need.

Thus, you have never experienced atheism. We have no such need.

You have no such need. There is no "we" in Atheism. You're on your own with it.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Mostly, it's just my interpretation of what it would be like for me. Possibly for other religious people as well.

Then what you say is this: "I would be a worthless, good-for-nothing empty piece of skin-bag garbage if it weren't for my religion." Do you see how I used the word "I" (speaking as if I were you) to delineate who I would have been referring to there? That's how you manage not to insult entire swaths of humanity. YOU feel that your life would be meaningless without your beliefs. YOU feel that you would be an empty shell if someone hadn't told you how you should behave or strive for meaning. YOU feel that way. YOU. And that's where you have to assume it ends unless someone else expresses the same things.

Perhaps I was hasty for for not being more courteous, but I didn't see the need for it considering how militant many are toward the religious.

Eh... you're only as bad as the next wannabe bigot I suppose. No big deal, right?

...It's a learning lesson for every individual. My goal is that we all have something we can take away from this.

What do you think I have learned except that you are perfectly willing to criticize behavior in others and then just turn around and perpetrate the exact same behaviors yourself? Seriously now.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Your thread about the ten commandments triggered this in me. And of course, there is @ChristineM being @ChristineM.

...I never insulted your Atheism, but you sure did go after multiple religions there! All being "the enemy"... Jew, Christian... Didn't matter.

Perhaps my thread about the ten commandments was meant to trigger some thought about what it really means to live a moral -- and a good -- life. That is, after all, a large part of the subject of philosophy.

Landon, I'm a Humanist. (I used to be, but am no longer since my friend the president died, a member of the Canadian Humanist Association).

I have Humanist friends who still have some religious feeling in spite of being freethinkers, but who understand why it is best to reject obviously false ideologies that are untrue, but sometimes they, like you, wonder what will fill the void. They wonder what you’re supposed to…believe in once you truly shed all superstition. And this is somewhat ironic, isn't it? The question of once you stop believing in superstition, what will you base your life on, or what will give it meaning? And I'll tell you, anyone who can't get past these questions will continue to cling to a tidied-up version of the faiths they were imbued with as children.

But here, just for a brief intro, is something that most secular humanists would affirm without question: "We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality."

And you know, that's not bad.

 

[Polymath257]

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