RE: The Sects of Atheism
November 4, 2021 at 2:13 pm
(This post was last modified: November 4, 2021 at 2:28 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Exactly so. I think it was more important to people from centuries back who, in meaningful ignorance of nature and in no way endowed with the potent tools we all rely on today, saw a gods role in their religion as conquering, taming, or subduing it. Standing above nature as we wished ourselves to be. That and, fwiw, they just couldn't imagine how nature accomplished any number of things the knowledge of which we take for granted from middle school onwards today. Nature was both more powerful and more terrible, and smaller..somehow.
Supernatural gods have a somewhat limited place in the evolution of the idea.
FWIW, I think it's an improvement on the idea, despite being fundamentally retrograde to our earliest (evidenced) apprehensions and stunted for centuries by christian (or theistic in general) superstition and political manouvering. That said, it's difficult to use it as a starting point to assert some of those functions that still resonate with the faithful today. It was explicitly built to subvert nature, which we no longer believe to be a credible thing. Not even god botherers..as you say, like yourself.
This thoughtful repositioning of what is and isn't taken to be credible is inconsistently applied, but whatever - that's being human. I think people's modern totems are cute. The only meaningful difference between myself and a theist in that regard is that I know what a totem is, and don't have to bullshit myself about what I'm doing. It works either way, always did...never depended on gods being real boys.
Supernatural gods have a somewhat limited place in the evolution of the idea.
FWIW, I think it's an improvement on the idea, despite being fundamentally retrograde to our earliest (evidenced) apprehensions and stunted for centuries by christian (or theistic in general) superstition and political manouvering. That said, it's difficult to use it as a starting point to assert some of those functions that still resonate with the faithful today. It was explicitly built to subvert nature, which we no longer believe to be a credible thing. Not even god botherers..as you say, like yourself.
This thoughtful repositioning of what is and isn't taken to be credible is inconsistently applied, but whatever - that's being human. I think people's modern totems are cute. The only meaningful difference between myself and a theist in that regard is that I know what a totem is, and don't have to bullshit myself about what I'm doing. It works either way, always did...never depended on gods being real boys.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
