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Is there a benefit to atheism?
- Thread starter Jeremiahcp
- Start date
Atheism can be put into contexts.
Jumi
Well-Known Member
Yes, there's not much in common to atheists except not believing in gods. Everything else is something people personally equate to it. I must have read your post which I replied to wrong.
Well, that is the one that counts.
Jeremiahcp
Well-Known Jerk
By all means, please do.
Excellent.
Jeremiahcp
Well-Known Jerk
Adjective are modifiers of nouns, and while part of context is not the sum whole of it. In fact nouns are also part of context and typically stand by themselves better than adjectives.
I am not a grammarian but I do have a degree in writing, and I do know what context is. I also know that you can very well supply that context yourself. I am interested in your views, so feel free to fill in the blanks all by yourself. I don't understand why some of you have such a hard time grasping that concept while so many others seem to do it without any problems at all.
***EDIT: Your example is actually syntax, btw (which is also part of context).
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I choose to believe in God because I think that I am something more than a cosmic anomaly whose only purpose is to occupy space!
You choose to believe in the God who's so irrelevant that we can't even detect him?
BTW: what does a god have to do with a person's purpose? Why would you be incapable of finding a purpose for yourself without a God?
In fact, since you think you have a purpose and you also say the existence of God can't be conclusively proven, then it seems you're saying that your personal purpose doesn't depend on God. Or am I missing something?
ThePainefulTruth
Romantic-Cynic
It supports a negative personality, which you could call a benefit if you like having a negative personality. Yes this is a reach, but I think it works. Ask somebody who's negative, like Stephen Hawking..
Jumi
Well-Known Member
That was quite a negative statement. Do you think there's anything positive about Stephen Hawking or do you just hate his views?
PureX
Veteran Member
Yes, but dropping the toxic religion is what achieves this, and that still allows for the benefits of faith in a different god-concept. So it's not atheism that's producing this benefit, its dropping the toxic religion. What benefit does atheism, itself, produce? I can't think of one.
PureX
Veteran Member
I am somewhat familiar with Steven Hawking through various media documentaries, and I don't see him as being negative at all. In fact, I view him as being stunningly positive given his life's circumstances.
Depends on the form of theism that one would choose as an alternative to atheism. If one were to trade atheism for Christianity, for example, one is subjected to a lot of bad ideas and bad habits of thought, the more susceptible to which one is, the more damage is done.
This does not mean that there are not Christians who are undamaged or relatively undamaged, just that they are the ones who have been least transformed from what they would have been like had they been secular humanists instead. These less damaged Christians essentially share the same values as their humanist neighbors. They're not homophobic, they respect church-state separation, the are not interested in imposing their religious views on others not in their religion, not hostile to science or sending their kids to public schools or universities, and most importantly, haven't failed to learn critical thinking skills.
Some of the worst thinking we see here comes from people trying to reconcile their belief that God is good and the creator of the physical world with a book that describes that god as immoral and the march of science that contradicts their scriptures. If they choose to believe the book, they can become quite damaged by the faith based confirmation bias that often follows.
So, the benefit of atheism is avoiding that kind of thing, and turning to the values of secular humanism instead.
These problems don't seem to be an issue with the people posting as Baha'i, for example, or most of those choosing one of the dharmic options judging by what I've read from them so far. They seem to be educated, gentle, thoughtful, contemplative people, so I don't see any advantage to atheism for them.
The list hidden in the following SPOILER is something I generated several years ago at a time when I equated religion with the worst of Christianity, and which charts my own experience transitioning from Christian to secular humanist - a huge benefit of adopting atheism.
BENEFITS OF IRRELIGIOSITY AND SKEPTICISM or
WHY I EMBRACED ATHEISM
[1] Hope for man and the world. When I was a Christian, I thought we were all goners. It was always the end times, and we were all praying for Jesus to come again and destroy the earth. But now, I know that it is possible that man can go on until he evolves into something better, and then again.
[2] Freedom from fear of damnation. Freedom from fear of hell. Freedom from fear of Satan. Freedom from fear of demons and devils. Freedom from fear of my own thoughts.
[3] Freedom from the illusion of being constantly watched by an infantilizing nanny god - an angry, judgmental, authoritarian, smiting, overlord.
[4] When a cute little doe-eyed girl dies of leukemia sometime later today (and one will somewhere), you'll have the comfort of knowing that it was just rotten luck, and not something caused by or allowed to happen by any ghost.
[5] Respect for mankind, life, earth and the universe. Christianity teaches that animals are soulless meat bags to be exploited as man sees fit, and man a constitutionally diseased creature. Then it teaches that the whole material world including earth is made of a base substance - matter - which is only transitory. Christianity demeans mankind enough to make the phrase "the flesh" derogatory, and the material world enough to make the word "worldly" an insult.
[6] Freedom from an inferior intellectual system that despises science and erudition, and robs the victim of the sense of the sense of mystery, grandeur, awe and connection to our world that a scientific education affords.
[7] Freedom from an inferior ethic that defines love in terms of torture and crucifixion, or a pardon from eternal torment by an infinitely evil devil created by an allegedly loving god. The moral structure is deformed: Faith, obedience, worship and piety are not virtues. Autonomy is a virtue, not submission. Becoming educated in the liberal arts is a virtue, not learning the Bible. Courage is a virtue, not meekness, Christianity has no use for most of those.
[8] Respect for mankind. Christianity teaches that man is unworthy, inherently flawed, retched, unworthy, worthy of punishment from birth, and lucky as hell to be tolerated by the god. Christianity demeans man enough to make the phrase "the flesh" an insult. You can cast that gloom away.
[9] Relief from thousands of hours pointlessly wasted in churches, praying, and reading the bible. I have learned much more reading unknown numbers of better books than that one. What's that worth?
WHY I EMBRACED ATHEISM
[1] Hope for man and the world. When I was a Christian, I thought we were all goners. It was always the end times, and we were all praying for Jesus to come again and destroy the earth. But now, I know that it is possible that man can go on until he evolves into something better, and then again.
[2] Freedom from fear of damnation. Freedom from fear of hell. Freedom from fear of Satan. Freedom from fear of demons and devils. Freedom from fear of my own thoughts.
[3] Freedom from the illusion of being constantly watched by an infantilizing nanny god - an angry, judgmental, authoritarian, smiting, overlord.
[4] When a cute little doe-eyed girl dies of leukemia sometime later today (and one will somewhere), you'll have the comfort of knowing that it was just rotten luck, and not something caused by or allowed to happen by any ghost.
[5] Respect for mankind, life, earth and the universe. Christianity teaches that animals are soulless meat bags to be exploited as man sees fit, and man a constitutionally diseased creature. Then it teaches that the whole material world including earth is made of a base substance - matter - which is only transitory. Christianity demeans mankind enough to make the phrase "the flesh" derogatory, and the material world enough to make the word "worldly" an insult.
[6] Freedom from an inferior intellectual system that despises science and erudition, and robs the victim of the sense of the sense of mystery, grandeur, awe and connection to our world that a scientific education affords.
[7] Freedom from an inferior ethic that defines love in terms of torture and crucifixion, or a pardon from eternal torment by an infinitely evil devil created by an allegedly loving god. The moral structure is deformed: Faith, obedience, worship and piety are not virtues. Autonomy is a virtue, not submission. Becoming educated in the liberal arts is a virtue, not learning the Bible. Courage is a virtue, not meekness, Christianity has no use for most of those.
[8] Respect for mankind. Christianity teaches that man is unworthy, inherently flawed, retched, unworthy, worthy of punishment from birth, and lucky as hell to be tolerated by the god. Christianity demeans man enough to make the phrase "the flesh" an insult. You can cast that gloom away.
[9] Relief from thousands of hours pointlessly wasted in churches, praying, and reading the bible. I have learned much more reading unknown numbers of better books than that one. What's that worth?
syo
Well-Known Member
a benefit atheism has is that it weakens dangerous religious cults.
Do you speak for all atheists?
osgart
Nothing my eye, Something for sure
an atheist is someone who recognizes reality for what it is, nothing more. The advantage is you are free to understand life, and make clearer judgments.
a truth authority sounds nice, but it has to be right beyond opinion, and for the sole purpose of benefiting innocent life.
atheists are free from unwise judgments on humanity. free from impossible demands and doctrines. and I assert religions have immoral practices, but I am hoping someday that there will be a true form of religion, founded in reality, but with good aspirations. Science is horrible on matters of human experience, just dreadful. Religion must dump history, and start over and redefine itself.
a truth authority sounds nice, but it has to be right beyond opinion, and for the sole purpose of benefiting innocent life.
atheists are free from unwise judgments on humanity. free from impossible demands and doctrines. and I assert religions have immoral practices, but I am hoping someday that there will be a true form of religion, founded in reality, but with good aspirations. Science is horrible on matters of human experience, just dreadful. Religion must dump history, and start over and redefine itself.
You're probably referring to the STEP study, which demonstrated no benefit to intercessory prayer in patients blinded as to whether they were receiving prayer or not just before and for two weeks after cardiac surgery, and was associated with far more complications in the third group who were told that they were being prayed for:
Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer.
Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, Lam P, Bethea CF, Carpenter W, Levitsky S, Hill PC, Clem DW Jr, Jain MK, Drumel D, Kopecky SL, Mueller PS, Marek D, Rollins S, Hibberd PL.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
METHODS:
Patients at 6 US hospitals were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 604 received intercessory prayer after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; 597 did not receive intercessory prayer also after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; and 601 received intercessory prayer after being informed they would receive prayer. Intercessory prayer was provided for 14 days, starting the night before CABG. The primary outcome was presence of any complication within 30 days of CABG. Secondary outcomes were any major event and mortality.
RESULTS:
In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). Complications occurred in 59% (352/601) of patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer compared with the 52% (315/604) of those uncertain of receiving intercessory prayer (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28). Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications.
Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, Lam P, Bethea CF, Carpenter W, Levitsky S, Hill PC, Clem DW Jr, Jain MK, Drumel D, Kopecky SL, Mueller PS, Marek D, Rollins S, Hibberd PL.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
METHODS:
Patients at 6 US hospitals were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 604 received intercessory prayer after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; 597 did not receive intercessory prayer also after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; and 601 received intercessory prayer after being informed they would receive prayer. Intercessory prayer was provided for 14 days, starting the night before CABG. The primary outcome was presence of any complication within 30 days of CABG. Secondary outcomes were any major event and mortality.
RESULTS:
In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). Complications occurred in 59% (352/601) of patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer compared with the 52% (315/604) of those uncertain of receiving intercessory prayer (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28). Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications.