this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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Atheism

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Blind faith only invites others to exert their power over you.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not wanting my kids getting sexually assaulted is up there as well.

[–] idunnololz 3 points 1 year ago

But it builds character /s

[–] xkforce 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I became an atheist because in college I spent a lot more time around fundamentalists. The more time I spent around them and their rediculous justifications for thinking the Earth was 6,000 years old the more that it became apparent to me that if they could be that ignorant of why their beliefs didnt make sense, the same could be true of mine. So I investigated why I believed what I did and over time more and more of my religious beliefs failed to withstand the sort of scrutiny that I put them under and eventually I realized I couldnt call myself christian anymore because I didnt believe any of it.

[–] ricecooker 6 points 1 year ago

Religions need to be rebooted. How many times are they in the news for abuse of power, inappropriate behavior, disputes over land and their rules, and their influence on politics and government? Too many, if you ask me.

It's not a bad thing to regularly get people together, form community, and care for each other. They just need to get with the times, man.

Suggestions:

  • don't shun "non-believers"
  • stop touching children
  • don't kill people for inappropriately invoking your God's name or image
  • focus less on afterlife and more on the present
  • don't try to keep people stupid, the Internet exists and once they find out you'll lose them forever
  • don't go full zealot on cherry-picked texts while completely ignoring other ones to make arguments.
  • don't be a dick
  • have checks on power, money, and influence
  • ain't no one got time to read tomes
[–] bathalumang_peppa 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Going to a religious school works pretty well, too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah yes, comes with a fair amount spite for the religion too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

PS1's Final Fantasy Tactics.

I will not elaborate.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Blame yourself or God.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If he was real, God is a dick.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That said Song of the Fucked Duck by Marge Piercy has a great thought on that:

The will to be totally rational
is the will to be made out of glass and steel:
and to use others as if they were glass and steel.

I can still love the sacred in a profane existence.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You gotta be careful though!

The metaphysical / new age religions have a version of "a desire to be totally rational" that is honestly just as bad.

I grew up in one. No glass and steel, but quite the desire to be made out of cosmic sunbeams and spiritual joyfulness.

Humans feel more than that. Pain, grief, loneliness, stress, rage, and pride aren't toxic energy: they are existence. You can't aspire to something that cuts out half of your existence, or you're always going to feel inadequate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I was an extremely faithful catholic until the age of 18. Around then I decided to start taking my faith even more seriously and started digging into the big questions and what the leaders in my (Catholic) church thought. Very soon after I was a very angry atheist. So very fucking angry,

These days I'm simply not preoccupied with the religion question. I have better things to do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Same until the last bit. I’m obsessed with religions.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Same. But baptist.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Watching how others with faith act and be disgusted.