Atheist Life Vs. Religious Life (Video)

Another video based on misunderstandings of religion conflating all religiosity with mindless versions of Christianity (i.e. half the video mentions issues about heaven hell which are not applicable to other religious). The ignorance in assuming that a person who is religious is automatically christian and holding christian viewpoints is simply astounding considering their claims of superiority simply for being atheistic.

1. Most religions are not full of illogical absolutes (e.g. “Do not lie” which is not actually anywhere in the Bible either) but have perfectly reasonable absolutes, often the same ones that stem from a logical viewpoints (i.e. Don’t Murder, which is a legitimate rule not to be conflated with the mistranslation of “Don’t kill”).

2. A person’s view of a catastrophe is irrelevant; the belief that some deity caused the accident is no more comforting than an accident. The same things religious people wonder about would also occur to a non religious person (why couldn’t I have done something different to prevent the accident?) regardless of your choice of cause. Both religion and secular psychology have ways of helping people deal with loss and the kinds of questions people will have, generally with the same result.

3. Atheism does not give you a free pass to being friendly with anyone. There will always be something to put people in different groups or ideologies, and two atheists are just as susceptible to differing ideologies. Atheist democrats and republicans are not friends, and neither are atheist communists and capitalists. Atheism, since that it has no ideology other than no god, means an atheist could hold any ideology, whether pleasant or repulsive.

4. I doubt many Atheists truly raise their children with choice any more than religious people do. Atheists, like any ideology, will either be transferred to kids (kids want to emulate their parents and often accept how they are raised, if the parents believe nothing and raise the kids in such a way, the kids will generally believe nothing) or the kids might choose to become religious, fostering friction like any family where the kids choose a different path.

5. The point about forgiveness is irrelevant as God is merely a conduit to try to get people to act better than they would naturally choose, but it’s not to say that someone would be unable to do so without God.

6. Sin is another conflated issue as sin is simply a religious code word for something that goes against the culture some of which are criminal in nature, and there are many secular “sins” in that regard.

7. There are many religions which do not restrict what people can learn.

8. There are many religions which do not have a problem with serious questioning, and being atheist does not grant you immunity from stubbornness and being illogical.

9 . Same deal with original sin, a concept limited to a single religion and even then not all interpreters of it agree.

10. Same deal regarding women.

You can use either religious stance to justify whatever actions or attitudes you happen to have. “I must kill to create a purer society for God” “I must not kill as it would anger God” “I am free to kill because there is no God” “I must not kill because human life is the most valuable thing”.

If you convert from religion to atheism, or from atheism to religion, you probably will not change very much as a person, so we would be better off just keeping the debate at whether or not belief in God is reasonable.

This video will get lots and lots of comments and nothing will be decided and nobody will change their mind.

I didn’t read your comment but you’re wrong and here’s quote ‘x’ from Pastor/Heathen to prove it. I figure you’ll reply in kind before we get down to a couple rounds of ad hominem and call it a night.

This video is ridiculous and not all encompassing at all. It only speaks of one small group of people who probably don’t exist, or at least of Christians with his heaven and hell comparison generalizing that ALL religious people believe in hell. This video has no merit and shouldn’t even be talked about. Wait a second…woops, I’m talking about it right now. My bad.

Jesus vs little drummer boy 

The reason atheists are attacking religion more and more is because religious beliefs cause more harm than good. 

If everyone was sane and could keep their beliefs to themselves without harming others there wouldn’t be an arguement, but religion as a whole infects the everyday lives of people around the world and makes things worse for mankind in general.

It’s not a debate, it’s a fact.

Wow.  This video is… complete and utter bullshit.  There is not a single point in his entire 10 minute spiel that is true, either in its anti-religious sense OR the pro-atheist sense.  Not a single one.

How do you even generalize “religion”?  It is clear he is coming from the assumption that religion = god.  Buddhism, one of the larger religions in the world (maybe 400 million) does not believe in a god at all.

It is also quite clear that he did this all on his own using the culmination of his 0 minutes of research.  I’m not even going to go into any points because they are literally ALL wrong. 

Shame on you, disinfo, for posting this at all.  Even after all that all this is saying is that “Atheism is fuzzy and easy, so it must be true.”

Well, here’s why I choose atheism: because I think life is plenty difficult already from the womb to the tomb without us, humans, having to organize a serial ritual of worship to satisfy the primitive whims of some imaginary, overbearing, tyrannical tribal sky-deity which, in the end, is just going to destroy me in furious spite of my prostration, tithing, and good works anyhow, and I don’t need to convert anyone, because that very bleakness alone should be enough to dissuade anyone from religion.

A healthy psyche can be religious or non-religious. An unhealthy psyche can be religious or non-religious.   Everything we need to know about getting along with others begins long before ideology takes root. 

Your characterization of what you believe to be the one and only alternative to atheism reveals that basically don’t know anything whatsoever about religious belief as a whole on Planet Earth. 

Ha ha.. Either you read Andrew’s previous posts or your the king of Random Irony.

To bad that atheist societies are no different. People in general are that way, its not to do with theism or atheism. Look at communist countries for atheist state behavior or Islamic countries for fundamentalist Islamic behavior or in history books for how Christian societies historically behaved.

On No.4 My daughter goes to a Christian school and learns about god, goes to church. I’m an atheist.
On 7 and 8 another thing for us to remember is that a lot of our beliefs and scientific knowledge came from Christian scholars etc in the past anyway, and our culture including how we western atheists are highly skeptical in general is derived from historical culture, in all probability even our morals would be highly influenced by theistic thinking/history.

I didn’t demand respect for religion, I demanded that someone who makes a statement knows what the hell he is talking about. However, based on your response I am no longer under the impression that I am talking to an adult, so hopefully that’s the sort of thing you will sort out when you grow up.

Out of curiosity, are you the same Bishop from Radio Misterioso fame?

I wouldn’t call belief in something supernatural without proof a “healthy psyche”.

Atheism and christian fundamentalists are 2 sides of the same coin. Both are absolutely sure of their beliefs. How anyone can be so certain I don’t understand. Just because spituality has been hijacked by religion, does not in my mind mean there is definitely nothing else apart from what we can see. Believe what u want but don’t try to argue that your beliefs are right. They are but beliefs.
Ps I couldn’t watch past the begininning, it’s ok to lie? Why?

If you think scientific evidence is of equal value to faith you are mentally ill.

I don’t give a fuck if you live a universeless mentality of complete being dispersing and highly aware of everything…. live your own illusions and if you are strong enough you’ll come to know more than just “you”. Life is too conformed to culture, we need to have some brave people attempt and practice new modes of thinking that inspires a change from the world outside of themselves. If ”we” the interested party, have a limiting mindset, ie Christianity, conservative, moderate, black man, poverty, sinner, genius there will always be the withs and the withouts. We create our circumstances because we all agree on what the rules of these societies function at and like math there are endless permutations of outcomes and everyone lives one and thinks of themselves as seperate and “at the center” than everyone else. Life is strange.

Interesting but sending a kid to a christian school is not necessarily the same as raising the child with choice. There are plenty of people who send their kids to catholic schools for a better education. Just wondering: Is the daughter’s mother also an atheist? What sort of message is she getting at home (i.e. is that message like the video describes as “you can believe whatever you want”)?

religion just another form of propaganda. There is a driving force behind the creation of this universe and the steering of evolution but how any one living could profess to know the truth behind it is beyond me it shouldn’t be atheist vs religion it should be truth vs mysticism. Many Atheist disregard proof that there is a force we dont understand yet some call it higgs boson some call it god particle. Many other things that cant be explained by science loss of em field and weight at death etc are simply ignored its just as bad as religion followers blindly following texts that have no basis in facts. If I was to state a hypothesis right now that will explain all the controversies in religion and atheism the proof of which is self evident to me but of course real research is needed. Science and religion agree in the beginning there was no matter. There was either energy or god depending what side you lean to. then there was “let there be light” or the “Big bang” then they start to disagree on many points. My hypothesis states” What if in the beginning there was Potential energy a sentient energy “god” that created the matter and rules of the universe in one big bang in such a way that sentient life would evolve and create experiences. At the point this begins this energy being transmutes itself into matter and the expansion of the universe begins. So “god is everything” Since every thing is a piece of god harming others is harming oneself we must evolve sufficiently to experience without harming others experiences. Because at the end of the universe the “big cool” where all matter collapses into a singularity it will be transmuted back to the first state where all will be 1.

Jesus was just a confused Buddhist with limited enlightenment powers.

INRI;

I Nearly Reached India

Is that the best you can do? Play the “Maturity Card” ad mortem? And on the internet of all places? And am I supposed to be impressed that you graduated from high school (you gonna show me your Special Olympics medals, too)? Your sentences are so goddamned contrived it actually caused half my brain to shut down due to massive Windows error. Speaking of errors, I don’t know where the fuck-all you got the idea that “monotheism is the minority in the world as far as religion is concerned” when Islam alone has one-sixth of the world population and Christianity and is twice that very number (if you’re bad at word problems, the answer is 3 billion). I am not exactly sure what you were trying to do in responding to me, but you showed that you’re just as selfish and petty as I am, so I suggest you get outta that glass house, because my glass house has a gun turret on it.

You’re half-right.

I wouldn’t have any complaint with religion if religious folk would accept 3 things:
1) humans are no better than any other species on this planet (or elsewhere)
2) since we are the dominant species we have a responsibility to be caretakers on this planet, not rape and pillage it
3) converting people is not “saving” them, it is being really, really annoying
 

Can i just say that all religion is is a label. We are herd animals at the core and we feel compelled to belong to something. Religion allows people to go somewhere and talk to like minded people which gives those people confidence because they don’t feel alone. Religion also allows a small group of people to earn alot of money tax free and to control large groups of people by saying things like ”this is what jesus was saying in this story, you should give me all your money coz thats what jesus wants”. This blatant coercion targets the weak minded and the weak of character who don’t have the strength or just can’t be bothered to search for the answers we all seek throughout life, its just lazy to give yourself over to religion. Also i just want to point out all the lives lost due to religion and the manner in which those lives were taken. It is truly appalling and finally can i just say that if your religious in any way then you are a racist who will never have the oppurtunity for new discovery in this life

Well, here’s why I choose atheism: because I think life is plenty difficult already from the womb to the tomb without us, humans, having to organize a serial ritual of worship to satisfy the primitive whims of some imaginary, overbearing, tyrannical tribal sky-deity…
Those aren’t for the sky-diety, they’re for the people doing it.  They always have been.

And why should I give quarter to any other form of asceticism on this planet that doesn’t bother to contemporize itself here in the 21st century?
Wrong question.  THe question is, why should you give a shit?  Is it directly affecting your rights?  Your pursuit of happiness?  Your liberty?  If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, go ahead.  If not, its no business of yours whether or not someone has a security blanket.  

What about militant atheists?  They have goals in line with their beliefs and actively pursue them, how is that not a movement?

This times a fucking million. I get tired of being lumped in with every single Christian in every clever atheist rhetoric for being “religious”.

You are a minority in thinking that, and that has been so throughout our entire traceable history. The fact that faith is one of the leading common traits in happiness and longevity is scientifically significant.

Excuse me, now who’s the biased one: you immediately take sides with the one trying to detract me, and she didn’t even bother to fact-check her own off-hand statistical argument, which made absolutely no sense on its face. Even at my laziest I have the sense to use a search engine to verify the amount of believers in the world.

How about we tacitly agree that you can’t fucking read. Does that seem fair to you? Maybe if Bethy Williams wasn’t such a parrot who took the time to study outside of her high school curriculum–like I did–she would be able to respond to my rebuttals.

Wow DeepCough, you continue to amaze the masses with your diverse level of education.  I think a good reason you might know a small fact like that is because you spent a few minutes on Wikipedia.  You lack the ability to convince a single person with a shred of education on world history or it’s religions that you have any credibility.  Never ceases to amaze me how you haters get one half fact, don’t research anything about it but immediately spew it in forums like this.  Go get a real education.

 Atheism took a much shorter amount of time to  get to work.  Soviet Russian genocide is a perfect example.  Deepcough is not capable of thinking beyond the stereo types, common amongst the adolescent.  Please share with us, what should be done to fundamentalists.

I choose not to believe in earthquakes and hurricanes because they suck too, this logic is awesome.  I can take anything that doesn’t bring me happiness and just conclude that it must not exist.