Monday, March 16, 2015

Why I Talk About God

Why do I talk about about something I don’t believe in? I get this a enough that I should probably address it no matter how obvious the answer are to me. Yes, answers--plural. Here’s a bunch of answers, all of which apply, some more than others, depending on the context.
  1. Because gods, as concepts, are some of the greatest influencers of our age or any age. The majority of people use the concept of one or more gods to inform how they socialize, how they raise their families, how they vote, and their overall behavior. I am one of the people they and their families socialize with and the people they vote for also govern me. For this reason, I have an interest to lessen religion’s influence when it could otherwise negatively impact me unchecked.
  2. Because believers often tell me they are interested in the truth. Given that, I am providing, to the best of my knowledge, what they seek. I recognize that I may be wrong about some things, in which case something they provide could bring me closer to the truth, which is great since I am a truth seeker myself. Sharing experiences, data, and philosophies in a marketplace ideas, rather than in an echo chamber, is the best way I’ve found to examine the truth of claims.
  3. Because I wish someone talked about the possibility of being an atheist to me earlier in my life. Growing up exclusively among Christians makes the notion that I could choose to be anything else untenable. Free will is a cherished concept to Christians so another option should be openly provided in order to express that will--especially to children.
  4. Because I find the topic interesting. Since no single religion is a majority on this planet yet most people are religious, it means that the majority of people in the world believe in stories every bit as fantastical and made-up as The Lord of the Rings as if they were historically accurate. Everyone must admit this. The psychology of the human mind that allows us to be so willing to be believe wild fictions should be understood by all, even if it isn't directly applied to one's own beliefs.
Why do you promote your worldview?

6 comments:

  1. I personally promote my world view as I don't want dumb and harmful ideas to propagate. The dumb I can deal with and ignore mostly, but they usually are associated with harm thats why I mention both.

    From the list above though, I really wish someone had exposed me to atheism in a rational way at a much younger age. The only thing I heard about atheism was that atheists do not believe in God. However, I was not told why they do not believe in God. If only....

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    1. I was taught that atheists are arrogant and unhappy people who think they know better than god and deny his existence because they want to sin. Your education seems to have been better than mine.

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  2. I don't push a "worldview", that's a term that is severely overused. I push reality and the only means we currently have shown to be useful in determining what reality actually is. I push intelligence and logic and reasoning and critical thinking and anything that violates those things, I argue against. Religion is one, but not the only, thing that I argue against on that basis. My only agenda is improving the quality of human thought.

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  3. This is a frustratingly common objection that christians bring to the table. I call it the Leave Britney Alone objection. I hope you don't mind a shameless plug of my response here:

    http://massiveactivity.tjaartblignaut.co.za/2014/09/christian-complaint-leave-britney-alone.html

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  4. I;m continually fascinated by the number of people who seem to think that once one stops believing in God they should stop communicating about it. Would they apply this standard to any other judgement?

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