tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post4726754378014885412..comments2024-03-26T22:46:36.621-07:00Comments on Religious Deviant: Why I Am an AtheistLausten Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06784935133094816365noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-77718436290223179162012-03-01T20:10:33.352-08:002012-03-01T20:10:33.352-08:00I don't see my blog as a place to fight, so yo...I don't see my blog as a place to fight, so your thoughts are welcome. I struggle with the "religion is necessary" thing. I know some people who found help there when other things failed. <br /><br />I usually tend toward fixing things even if it means giving up what I currently have. Except with girlfriends, but that is a different story. Unfortunately that makes me appear to have a very negative outlook, although I see it as forward looking. <br /><br />I like your ideas about exploring and shedding light. Evolutionary biology is a new science and a little beyond my ability to comment at the moment. But I do have some notes on it.Lausten Northhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06784935133094816365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-18725979168879181682012-03-01T19:58:38.993-08:002012-03-01T19:58:38.993-08:00I try to avoid labels, but people put them on you ...I try to avoid labels, but people put them on you anyway. I figure it is best to embrace it. And with this, explain explain what it is that I am against.Lausten Northhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06784935133094816365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-17232060284892891052012-02-29T20:40:34.218-08:002012-02-29T20:40:34.218-08:00Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Interesting stu...Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Interesting stuff. I don't want to fight, so please don't read this that way, but just as a little light-hearted "push-back" on your dramatic final paragraph. Specifically, in re your comment that "Every purpose that [religion] once served or currently claims to serve is better served by another discipline," here are a few purposes that religion once served or currently claims to serve:<br /><br />- not only explaining how our universe came to be an existent one, but why<br />- not only directing us to love one another, but answering the non-trivial question of why we should love and why other people are worth it, even when loving them comes at great cost to ourselves or sets back the prosperity of society<br />- shedding light onto why we all fail to live up to our own moral standards; I don't think evolutionary biology can explain why no moral system, particularly if they're all just man-made systems arrived at pragmatically, is actually able to be followed perfectly by anyone<br />- providing a place for the billions of people who intuitively believe in God to explore that notion together (thus making religion necessary for them, even if it doesn't seem so for you)<br />- offering an explanation (that doesn't lead one straight to the edge of a cliff) of what happens to the human soul/spirit/consciousness after physical death<br />- presenting a coherent worldview; non-religious worldviews seem bizarrely impossible to live out, e.g. the moral nihilist is offended when wronged<br /><br />Anyway, I'm only trying to say that religion is necessary to some people. Even if you have well-reasoned rebuttals to all those bullet points, I can at the very least say that it's necessary to me.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581712062565733745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-36565765028125370732012-02-29T13:18:08.545-08:002012-02-29T13:18:08.545-08:00You've pretty much summed up my thoughts, alth...You've pretty much summed up my thoughts, although I would not hang the title "atheist" on me just yet (but those George Carlin videos on YouTube have me leaning that way lately!) I have found it interesting how Christians feel the need to indoctrinate their children; if Christianity were the one true path, would people not find it on their own?Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07879771115420282834noreply@blogger.com