Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumStupid common phrases eh?
It feels good to say it (type it...). I knew you guys would get the humor.
In the real world I am ambiguous for social and professional reasons, like "Pat" on Saturday night live.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)I thank dog.
MellowDem
(5,018 posts)from the President saying "Under God" in the response to the capture, to the interfaith meeting held by our government, to calls for "prayer" everywhere... it's always sort of surreal to me that such a flawed way of thinking which can lead to exactly these sorts of harmful acts are always invoked so prominently in response to them.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)What do we atheists replace the camaraderie, mediation and support with? In times of great upheaval and pain people like to come together to grieve and find healing. It's a human ritual. Sometimes I wonder what rituals we have that can fill in the same emptiness we all feel. Sure I'm for getting rid of all the religious BS but there are a lot of great moments in the ritual that are uplifting. Like Steve Martin says, "Atheists got no songs".
I swear though, every time I hear bagpipes playing amazing grace it drives me up a wall.
LostOne4Ever
(9,290 posts)Is there really anything to replace? One can find camaraderie, mediation, and support with ones family and friends without any supernatural beings watching over us.
So a theist can offer prayers in times of crisis. What is it they are really doing? Wanting something to happen that is beyond their power. Only they believe they have someone who can help them...or might not. So again hoping that something will happen that is beyond their power. At its core its simply hope and I see nothing inherently supernatural about hope.
Often when a theist asks me to pray for someone I tell them that ill keep that person in my thoughts and that makes them happy. Its pretty much the same is it not?
Also, there are plenty of Atheist songs, they just don't get much attention. The band Bad Religion has made a career off of them =P
If you think about it, depending on how you define atheist songs you could even argue that most songs have nothing to do with a belief in a deity and therefore fit that description.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)A huge number of people going to church every sunday do so for the sense of community it provides not because they are fervid believers in utter bullshit. Some of those people could be moved out of the religious camp and into the ranks of the unbelievers if we provided a viable substitute.
Having said that I am doing absolutely nothing about it, so while it makes sense to me, it apparently doesn't make enough sense to me to do anything about it
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)non-theist, egalitarian, embrace the woody!
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)So much mindless phoney B.S...Blech