(March 14, 2014 at 12:09 am)whateverist Wrote:(March 13, 2014 at 10:43 pm)psychoslice Wrote: This is why I think I don't like to label myself an atheist, its like you are boxed into a belief system, just as religion is boxed into their particular belief system.
I think you may have absorbed some of the stereotypes some theists hold against atheists. We're really not a homogenous group at all.
Some atheists believe positively that no gods exist. Some even think they can make an argument to that effect that others should find convincing. Many others just don't find any reason to believe so far. For me it isn't anything I dwell on. I don't ever expect to find reason to believe but I can't rule out the possibility that I am wrong about that. I see no reason to overstate my case.
Some atheists are angry, many for good reason. For some religion has ostracized them from family and neighbors. But none 'hates God', that being a self contradictory combination. And many atheists are not at all angry about religion.
It does seem to me sometimes that some atheists attach more significance to science than is justified. Back in the day of Freud there was a strong cultural feeling that progress was unstoppable. Science would overcome every disease and make possible every wish. For some atheists, religion is an obstacle to the march of progress through science. But not every atheist shares that perspective including myself.
For a variety of reasons some atheists would welcome an end to all religions. But unless that is accompanied by universal high quality education there is little reason to think a lot of good would come from that. Personally, I'm not for excising anything we don't fully understand.
So don't be so quick to toss the atheist monicker. It belong as much to you as it does anyone else who harbors no belief in gods. Go ahead and claim any other descriptor which fits as well. But if you don't believe in any gods, like it or not, you are an atheist.
Yes I agree with most of what you said, but why do we need to call ourselves atheist, I don't believe in Santa, or the Easter bunny, but that doesn't mean I should call myself a name or categorise myself as a believe system that doesn't believe in Santa and the bunny.
Once we put ourselves in a box, we begin to make ourselves into a tribe. We then begin to start our own rituals with spaghetti monsters and whatever else we dream up. We then organise little dinner parties and meetings, which will probably one day become a whole new belief system, and who knows down the track there maybe a generation that will try to rid our belief system, who knows ?.
