Being Atheist Can Be Bigger Than Godlessness.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Marketing.

That's right. That might be the one thing Mormon's have gotten right. Marketing and the skill to move public image.

Just over 100 years ago the Mormon's were a fringe group, a christian black sheep religion.

Come today, it is now arguably more mainstream. With the power of internet (have to say, their development team does a good job with their online resources and applications), advertisements, temples, an aggressive missionary effort, and a strong commitment to public service.

Mormonism is no longer that "weirdo" religion, but more like that "weirdo" religion "that just so happens has some of the nicest people who do good things."

As an ex-mormon, atheist, secular humanist...I want that ability. I want to be able to harness the capabilities of good publicity and good old fashioned public service to clear up and narrow the public depiction of who a secular individual is.

I also want to be able to have the sense of closeness. The Mormon Church is a terrible establishment, but when someone needed help or there was a need in the community that needed to be met, those crazy Mormons got shit done.

I've been thinking about this, because this past weekend was an awkward one with my family members. It's amazing to think how shallow the image of an "atheist" is and the understanding of atheistic philosophy is in the eye of the believer. It's insulting to know that believers see no value in secularists and freethinkers, and don't see the value in those already dead.

I want to change all of that. Atleast when I was mormon, I could use that title publicly without the risk of public shame and it was commendable in society. As an atheist, I feel very little of that, and it makes me sorrowful.

So I have come up with an organization idea. One for Secular Humanists, Atheists, Free Thinkers, Agnostics, and Skeptics (SHAFAS). An organization that is less interested in the argument for religion (which is dead), but more interested in creating a strong network of secularists and doing publicly observable good. Not for the sake of being observable of course, but that is a plus. I hope that being an atheist could mean more than just godlessness, but could be revealing of a persons genuine, goodhearted nature. And I imagine that a mission statement could go as follows:

"The mission of the SHAFAS Coalition for Human Free Thought and Intellectualism is to eliminate the stigma of non-belief and to create a world wide network of secular individuals that provide moral, financial, and educational support to all secular and non-secular persons in need through charity, public service efforts, and political activism. "


The "coalition" can work on a local basis and support local public schools with supplies and programs, political issues, city property, feed the poor, house the homeless, seperation of church and state, freedom from religion, and discrimination due to non-belief.

Now you might yell the words "whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on just a minute! There are already groups designed to do this and are already doing it!"

In which case you will be mostly correct, but there is a special variable here. We will help those institutions do what they are doing and fill in where they are not. Also, we would be in charge of the local exposure to persons of secular inclination through these service acts, educational seminars, and open discussion. Ken Ham and Bil Nye is NOT enough. We need to see the same inside our communities, but then after, go to work together even though the battle for the case for religion is still being fought.

I'd hope to one day make this a reality.

[Minimalist]

Mormons still suck. Don't let their PR machine kid you.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Mormons still suck. Don't let their PR machine kid you.

Of course, I'm just emphasizing that we can do a better job, and not suck. haha

[Minimalist]

It's a scam, mon ami.

http://www.mormonthink.com/tithing.htm

Members of the LDS Church are to pay "one-tenth of all their interest annually."[1] Every year, each member is asked to meet with the bishop to declare their tithing status: full-tithe payer, partial-tithe payer, or non-tithe payer. Tithing is considered a debt.[2] However, it is also an entrance fee—only full-tithe paying members are allowed to enter the Church's most holy place, the temple, and participate in important saving ordinances.

In any crime, follow the money.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I have no interest in organizing for my faithlessness. What others do with their minds is no business of mine unless they want to tell me what to do with mine.

[jughead]

Organized religions offer many benefits to their members. They get a feeling of belonging, a promise of eternal life, reuniting with our dead loved ones, forgiveness of sins or transgressions, social outlets, charity and much more. Unless atheism can replace some of these benefits, all the atheist can offer is truth. But there has been some movement in forming atheist churches.


http://img.felixonline.co.uk/460/2013011...0693_2.jpg


"The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles"


• We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.

• We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.

• We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.

• We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.

• We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.

• We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.

• We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.

• We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.

• We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.

• We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.

• We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest.

• We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.

• We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity.

• We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.

• We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion.

• We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.

• We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.

• We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.

• We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.

• We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.

• We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.

Council for Secular Humanism


The 'informal creed' of atheism.

An Atheist loves his fellow man instead of god. An Atheist believes that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth for all men together to enjoy.

An Atheist believes that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it.

An Atheist believes that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment. He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church.

An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said.

An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.

He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter.

He believes that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now.”

http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/

[LivingNumbers6.626]

I have no interest in organizing for my faithlessness. What others do with their minds is no business of mine unless they want to tell me what to do with mine.

This is not an ideaological organizational idea. It's not telling one atheist or free thinker they should do or not do. It's just an organization to fix public image and give back to our local communities. What a secular does or does not is of no particular interest to me. But what is of particular interest is the potential for the secular community to fix public image, though no fault of our own, and prove religious persons no better than their non-believer cousins.

[stonedape]

Have you ever heard of Humanism? It's mutually exclusive from Nihilism. Atheism is indifferent.