(May 13, 2011 at 8:12 am)Whirling Moat Wrote: Peace....
Many atheists I have come into contact with are people who were educated, typically above average as it relates to critical thinking, and go on from their college background to earn a relatively decent living. Atheism is not typically the poor, uneducated, lower intelligence persons disposition. But what if it was?
What if the message of Hitchens and Dawkins caught on to this demographic, how would it affect things like prostitution, drug use, home invasion, parenting, and despair as it relates to quality of life issues? Many low income, disenfranchised populations are pacified by the belief that they will receive their due in heaven, and that their greedy bosses and the rich in general will be punished for being so selfish on Earth..But what would happen when they came to grips with the reality that if they don't get it in this life, they will never see heaven? How would things changed if this group really understood that this is as good as it gets for them unless they take matters into their own hands?
Social order is contingent upon a social contract, when the poor feel as if the contract has been broken, many turn into rogues, however most turn to religion and allow God the role of Arbiter...God informs them of the next life and how good its gonna be and how He will judge the guilty..and of course it makes things a little easier to deal with for the poor and disenfranchised...Is it safe to liberate the minds of this population at this point in America knowing that there is little probabilty that things are gonna rapidly turn around for the poor and desperate?
Whirling Moat
WTF? Are you suggesting that only rich people can afford to disbelieve? I think you need to turn that around and think about who is exploiting the poor uneducated masses. If you look at it that way, I think you will find that it isn't the atheists doing the exploiting. Is it safe to liberate minds? Is it safe not to?
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
