(March 14, 2014 at 12:27 am)psychoslice Wrote: 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.
It isn't anything I print on my business cards. I don't attend any atheist group meetings. I don't really care to proselytize on the behalf of atheism for that matter. Atheism isn't really a thing you can be, it merely classifies you as "none of the above" when it comes to religion. If religion occupied a less dominant position in society it would indeed be an odd thing to bring up in describing oneself. (Like, "hello, I'm not a banker.") But whether or not you are an atheist is a different matter from what aspects of yourself you want to lead with socially.
(March 14, 2014 at 12:27 am)psychoslice Wrote: 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 ?.
I think you worry too much, but that's just the way it seems from where I stand. Even though religion isn't a hot button topic for me, here I am on an atheist forum discussing aspects of religion at times. If it is such an unimportant matter to you I wonder how you explain your presence here to yourself?
