Article in Salon
"Recently an “educational” pamphlet designed for Christian children made its way around Facebook. It warned God’s little lambs to avoid sour unhappy people called “atheists.” A private school curriculum called Accelerated Christian Education includes cartoons in which the atheist characters are rude, mean and drunk; and bad things happen to them.
Stereotypes like these get echoed sometimes even in Christian books and lectures that are targeted at adults. I once attended a successful megachurch on the Sunday before Easter. The pastor wanted his audience to be clear that the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t merely some spiritual metaphor. “If the resurrection didn’t literally happen,” he shouted, “there is no reason for us to be here! If the resurrection didn’t literally happen—there are parties to be had! There are women to be had! There are guns to shoot! There are people to shoot!”
You caught the subtext? Atheists (and even liberal Christians) have no basis for morality. Nothing—and I mean nothing!—stands between a godless person and debauchery or lechery or even violence.
Population demographics suggest otherwise, of course. Atheism is far more common among elite scientists and some of the most peaceful and equitable societies on earth are also the least religious. But believers persist in fearing that godless people are amoral, that unfettered by religion the world would descend into the anarchy and bloodbath depicted in the Left Behind movies.
In reality, when asked about their moral values or what motivates them in life, atheists use words that sound downright spiritual, very much like the words religious people use in fact, with a few noteworthy differences. To create his book, A better Life, Photographer Chris Johnson asked 100 atheists about what gives their lives joy and meaning. To some Christians the question is equivalent to asking an elephant where he gets his chocolate ice cream. The answers might surprise them even more. Themes include love and connection, compassion and service, legacy (leaving the world a little better), creativity and discovery, gratitude, transcendence, and wonder—all heightened by a sense that this one life is fleetingly transient and precious.
Here are 20 short quotes from Johnson’s assemblage, each of which is crushingly at odds with the standard stereotype of the angry, selfish godless scrooge.
· "Knowing there is a world that will outlive you, there are people whose well-being depends on how you live your life, affects the way you live your life, whether or not you directly experience those effects. You want to be the kind of person who has the larger view, who takes other people’s interests into account, who’s dedicated to the principles that you can justify, like justice, knowledge, truth, beauty and morality." – Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist
· "In the theater you create a moment, but in that moment, there is a touch, a twinkle of eternity. And not just eternity, but community. . . . That connection is a sense of life for me." – Teller, illusionist
· "We are all given a gift of existence and of being sentient beings, and I think true happiness lies in love and compassion." – Adam Pascal, musician and actor
· "Being engaged in some way for the good of the community, whatever that community, is a factor in a meaningful life. We long to belong, and belonging and caring anchors our sense of place in the universe." – Patricia S. Churchland, neurophilosopher
· "Joy is human connection; the compassion put into every moment of humanitarian work; joy is using your time to bring peace, relief, or optimism to others. Joy gives without the expectation—or wish—of reciprocity or gratitude. . . . Joy immediately loves the individual in need and precedes any calculation of how much the giver can handle or whom the giver can help." – Erik Campano, emergency medicine
· "Raising curious, compassionate, strong, and loving children—teaching them to love others and helping them to see the beauty of humanity—that is the most meaningful and joyful responsibility we have." – Joel Legawiec, pediatric nurse
· "Anytime I hear someone say that only humans have a thoughtful mind, a loving heart, or a compassionate soul, I have to think that person has never owned a dog or known an elephant." – Aron Ra, Texas state director of American Atheists
· "I find my joy in justice and equality: in all creatures having opportunities for enjoyment and being treated with fairness, as we all wish and deserve to be treated. . . . While I enjoy the positive feelings of self-improvement, this fire pales compared to the feeling of joy that comes from having contributed something to the greater good." – Lynnea Glasser, game developer
· "You’re like this little blip of light that lasts for a very brief time and you can shine as brightly as you choose." – Sean Faircloth, author, lawyer, lobbyist
· "Play hard, work hard, love hard. . . .The bottom line for me is to live life to the fullest in the here-and-now instead of a hoped-for hereafter, and make every day count in some meaningful way and do something—no matter how small it is—to make the world a better place." – Michael Shermer, founder and publisher, Skeptic Magazine
· "I hope to dissuade the cruel parts of the world from their self-imposed exile and persuade their audiences to understand that freedom is synonymous with life and that the world is a place of safety and of refuge." – Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar, writer
· "I look around the world and see so many wonderful things that I love and enjoy and benefit from, whether it’s art or music or clothing or food and all the rest. And I’d like to add a little to that goodness." – Daniel Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist
· "I thrive on maintaining a simple awe about the universe. No matter what struggles we are going through the miracles of existence continue on, forming and reforming patterns like an unstoppable kaleidoscope." – Marlene Winell, human development consultant
· "Math . . . music .. . starry nights . . . These are secular ways of achieving transcendence, of feeling lifted into a grand perspective. It’s a sense of being awed by existence that almost obliterates the self. Religious people think of it as an essentially religious experience but it’s not. It’s an essentially human experience." – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, philosopher and novelist
· "There is joy in the search for knowledge about the universe in all its manifestations." – Janet Asimov, psychiatrist
· "Science and reason liberate us from the shackles of superstition by offering us a framework for understanding our shared humanity. Ultimately, we all have the capacity to treasure life and enrich the world in incalculable ways." – Gad Saad, professor of marketing
· "If you trace back all those links in the chain that had to be in place for me to be here, the laws of probability maintain that my very existence is miraculous. But then after however many decades, less than a hundred years, they disburse and I cease to be. So while they’re all congregated and coordinated to make me, then—and I speak her on behalf of all those trillions of atoms—I should really make the most of things." – Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics"
20 comments:
"Themes include love and connection, compassion and service, legacy (leaving the world a little better), creativity and discovery, gratitude, transcendence, and wonder—all heightened by a sense that this one life is fleetingly transient and precious."
The list of human traits in the statement above, interestingly, are not the product of natural selection. Natural selection is focused on raw survival and not advanced intellection. Atheists have no mechanism for explaining the traits above. That is why Dr. Thomas Nagel, a noted atheist philosopher and emeritus professor from NYU, wrote his book "Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False".
Atheism is the declaration of nothingness. It is the declaration of meaninglessness. It is the odd and sad celebration of emptiness. The atheist can then react to this bleak emptiness by calling on human traits, endowed by a source that Thomas Nagel knows is not evolution, to engage in all kinds of pretenses to give life a godless value.
In this sense, atheism is the act of a poor thespian who has found his script to be not about what is real but about what is the shadow.
Dennis
You're back with your articles. For a while there, I thought we had broken your spirit and had given up on us. Onward Christian err, I mean, atheistic soldiers ..
I am a better husband and father since I left armstrongism and became an atheist. I am also a better employee on my job because I am an athiest. No one can tell me that my life is going down toilet because I no longer believe in god. I know otherwise.
644
It's been a week of reflection since my Church of God (WCG/CGI), sister was killed in an automobile accident. Truly a study in "If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans".
NEO evidently can't rest unless he has missed the point and explained why those outside his box can't possibly have a meaningful life of love, compassion, awe and discovery without being created by magic.
My personal freedom from religion and losing faith in mere faith is liberating to me personally and a good grasp of what we have learned about our origins and that of our Universe in my lifetime is far more inspiring to me than a concocted idea that "we are to become God as God as God" or other foolish mythologies gone literal and wild.
A day on Mt Hood, Mt St Helens or in the Scablands of Eastern Washington studying the effect of Ice Age Floods far longer ago than my former belief system allowed is a wonderful day spent. Beats church. I collect meteorites all of which are 4.5 billion years old and the oldest thing a human can touch as it is the leftover debris of our solar system formation and came to me from an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Holding it is more spiritual to me than sitting taking notes on some sermon based on speculation and if by a COG minister, ignorance of the history of the Bible.
I have two great Megaladon teeth 2-20 million years old depending. They speak volumes to me of all that has gone before and makes a better reality than any Adam and Eve tale that is told.
I don't mind being stardust. I have proven the facts of the evolution of our Universe, Solar system, earth and me to my satisfaction. I am more fascinated by being a hairless conscious ape than something else that can only be speculated on and then only because we are afraid to only be hairless conscious apes.
It's all good. Each to their own. Life is short, even when long. Live, laugh and love beats "trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey" as I grew up singing with gusto as a kid.
oxymoron...
I get both Dennis and Neo.
A truly atheist society has never been accomplished. The Soviet empire did not last longer than a generation and othodox churches like before are more popular than ever. Even Dennis's "atheism" is within a context of "christian culture" and the morals of his youth.
I liked the article on the Danish who like the germans would not admit to being christian, but maintain a "tithe" system WITHIN the tax system. Like other nations who do that through deductibles. Acknowledging the social value of religion.
Since from the beginning of "the word/speech" and therefore the imaginative, religiuous part of the brain was activited man has not created a society without religion or some kind of belief system for cooperation and social construction, I think it is possible to co exist with the odd true atheist.
Within a society they might function as independent thinkers from the shaman. But are like the non vaccinated child whose parents claim that it is ok to not vaccinate but are actually "free riders" whose life depends on the majority of kids who are actually vaccinated.
Like gays. Who perform many important functions like entertainment in a society. But do not necessarily feel the need to procreate with a woman.
For the rest there is "the golden rule" as the standard of all morality.
Nck
Nck
Spot on. Many atheists claim that it's possible to be moral without belief in God, but ignore, or are not aware of the fact that they are heavily influenced by the surrounding Christian culture.
Not forgetting, Nazism, communism and todays left wing with their accompanying political correctness, are religions as well. What we have in the west is left wing theocracies, with politicians being the equivalent of Islamic Mullahs.
I don't agree with those who say that only religious people can be good or that without religion there is no basis for morality. There is something called Natural Law, which transcends time and culture. We all know what is right and what is wrong. Even Paul said in Romans that those who are without the Law know right from wrong (Rom. 2:14). These are universal standards that apply to all mankind throughout all time. I have a small book entitled, ONENESS, Great Principles Shared by All Religions, by Jeffrey Moses. Many of the ethical teachings that we associated with Judeo-Christian teachings are also found in most other religions. How can it be that they have so many similarities? Because all people know the basic ethical teachings, they are written in our hearts (conscience if you like).
On another point, many who are non religious were once religious, they left the churches, but didn't leave the faith. They are sometimes called "dones." They are done with organized religion. They are oftentimes the most mature Christians who feel that they have no place in many churches today. They find outlets for their desire to serve others through other means, non-religious charities. There are many fine, caring, loving people who are repulsed by organized religions. The churches, meanwhile, focus on maintaining their tradition and keeping the machinery of ministry in place, but they accomplish, in some cases, very little.
Anonymous: "I am a better husband and father since I left armstrongism and became an atheist. I am also a better employee on my job because I am an athiest."
You guys do not understand atheism. Atheism is the interpretation of reality that says there is no god. Humanity is a product of mindless evolution which focuses on survivalist natural selection. Human behavior should be about nothing but competition and survival. There is no inherent good and evil, morality, compassion or love.
You cannot say "because I am an atheist, I am a better person." If you are an atheist you do not believe in "better". Better has no meaning. If you are an atheist you believe in nothing except that there is no god and you are the product of materialist evolution. Being a "good" father or doing a "good" job is not supposed to exist in your reality. If you claim there are good things for you in your life, that is nothing but a meaningless and arbitrary illusion that you have concocted - you could have just as easily decided to be a serial killer of children.
If you espouse that there is good and bad and you are better because you are an atheist, you do not have an internally consistent atheism. But the atheist bloggers above seem to believe that there is good and that good, in fact, is something that people have already agreed on - something that supports the existence of god. As HWA said: "Brethren, you just don't get it."
11:42
they might function as independent thinkers .. But are .. actually "free riders"
Like HWA who eschews orthodoxy, but is dependent on it and its canon.
NEO, I don't think you are stupid, so I assume you are being willfully obtuse.
When Anon says he is a "better" father, just translate this as his way of saying, "in the competition for survival of fathers, I win that competition as an atheist, far more than I ever did as a Jesusite."
The detail you seem to be missing is that atheists can and do perceive "better" and "worse." The difference is that atheists have objective standards of what wins the competition and produces the best results, unlike god-botherers whose standard of "good" changes by the whim of some imagined deity (who is often the cynical invention of more powerful men).
An atheist might say, "As an atheist, my wife is happier with me because I am attentive to her needs instead of putting her needs in second place behind the imagined needs of an ancient Canaanite weather deity." Of course, the Yahwist would consider himself a better husband because he neglected his wife in favor of Yahweh," but the only others who would agree would be fellow Yahwists.
Yes, an atheist would tell you that he is "better" at human relationships, precisely because his success or failure depends on the reactions of actual human beings, and not on the imagined reactions of different gods who have their own different standards of good and bad.
8:50
I agree on NEO not understanding.
The golden rule is obvious also for atheists. Atheists know that it is not GOOD to kill someone at random and get caught because they have seen in millions of years of evolution that society at large will demand retribution. Exactly because history has shown that people who randomly kill are a menace to a greater society that has been created for the survival and benefit of all.
The same goes for other rituals and symbols like not to take the wife of another without the proper rituals. It might just get you killed hiding under the bed.
Or the many many taboos to define BAD. People might have noticed the risks of intermarrying in one village with one family after an extended period of 150 years. The lessons learned at that cursed village 15000 years ago evolved into a taboo and later a religious precept.
Djenghiz khan was a "good" father by the standards of go hence and multiply, since 60 percent of the current central asian population is descended from him.
Nck
In support of anon 7:58, stats show that athiests and agnostics have lower rates of suicides, devorce, unwed pregnancies and abortions then evangelical Christians. If athiests are so unable to be morally upright you would think the stats would show the opposite results.
Blogger DennisCDiehl said...
644
It's been a week of reflection since my Church of God (WCG/CGI), sister was killed in an automobile accident. Truly a study in "If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans"""
Sorry to hear about your sister Dennis.
Kevin
8:50
Atheists can and do say all kinds of things about what is good and what is bad. But if there is no god and man is the product of materialistic evolutionism, the concepts of good and bad should not exist. The limited number of behaviors supported by natural selection should not be given value judgements like good and bad. There is just effective for survival or ineffective or survival. My guess is that when Anon 7:58 stated he was a good father, he was not limiting himself, as you suggest, to what is effective in the brutal process of natural selection. He was rolling in acts of altruism and love - concepts that have no logical or existential place in the atheistic world.
"Depression is a serious problem within the greater atheist community and far too often, that depression has led to suicide. This is something many of my fellow atheists often don’t like to admit, but it is true. I know a lot of atheists, myself included, would all like to believe that atheists are happier people than religious believers and in many ways we are. But we also have to accept the reality that in some very important ways we are not."
-- Staks Rosch, atheist activist
Drawing statistical comparisons between "atheists" on the one hand and "Christians" on the other hand, two simple variables, is a fool's errand. Both categories are diverse and nuanced. Qualitative statements like the one above are a better guide.
Evolution is not "about nothing but competition and survival" as NEO claimed. It is about survival of one's genes. Your best chance of having your genes survive is not fighting to the death with your neighbor but by living in a community whose members take care of one another.
Reciprocity increases the likelihood that your genes and my genes will both survive. Even if my genes don't survive, it is almost as good if my cousin's genes survive because my cousin shares many of my genes.
The mistake that some of you make is forgetting that the long history of homo sapiens and its predecessors is based on tribal living in which a certain degree of altruism improved the survival rate of the tribe and its members. Atheists retain the instinct to cooperate with the group that was passed down through countless generations.
For this reason I have no problem believing that atheists can be moral.
Anon 2:46
I believe that atheists can be and in most cases are moral. The error is to be found in what they attribute their morality to. Materialistic evolutionism does not generate morality because it cannot generate the complex human mind - its scope is limited by what natural selection can do. Some animals possess a herd instinct. But it is a great leap from this to the advanced relationships that are found in human society, relationships that are based on emotions, abstract thought, personal criteria and intellection.
Even within herds, there is lethal competition. Male herd animals will kill their opponents to collect together a harem so their genes will be spread. Essentially, what you have done is to reason backward from human society to herd animals. Attribution of the human social term "community" to animals is a big stretch. This is a form of anthropomorphism.
We are all galley slaves to our genes!
nck
2:46
I have so many times expressed that our genes have selected "social" vessels to interact and form communities for better survival of the sum. The gene will take itself into space if Elon Musks DNA will hold it together until the next analist briefing and he will continue to be able to mobilize his community of believers. His gene cannot do it alone. But "they" will get to Mars to populate the universe and be priests and kings "over there".
nck
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