(March 11, 2013 at 9:15 am)Gabriel Syme Wrote: As per title, why are atheists so utterly consumed / obsessed by religion?
At the time of writing, the number of posts on this site are:
atheism: 1559
religiion: 3186
philosophy: 403
Religion is the clear winner, beating even the other two combined. Seems quite odd to me.
If I was an atheist, religion would be the last thing I would talk about.
So why is religion so popular here? Is it because Atheism is fundamentally empty, and correspondingly has no topics to discuss within itself?
(I suppose I could understand it better, if the discussion about religion was at least accurate and informed, but in my experience thus far it is anything but accurate and informed)
Dont say - "oh its because religion has such power over my life", because unless you like in Saudi Arabia or Iran, thats an absurd thing to say.
Look forward to hearing your point of view.
It's tantamount to heresy to propose new or different atheist ideas and philosophies. My own atheist philosophy is very different to most and I get very weary debating other atheists who think that atheism means some kind of fundamentalist adherence to scientific theory and don't understand when I disagree.
I would suggest atheism is less tolerent of different ideas than religion which has had thousands of years to examine the different ideologies and get used to them.
There is a world beyond science-based atheism but most are too afraid to explore it. But then people are quite protective of their systems of belief... even atheists.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)