(July 16, 2015 at 5:00 pm)lkingpinl Wrote: Some of you may have heard or read this before, but I find this Creed or Poem by Steve Turner really fascinating and would like your honest opinions on the ideas he proposes in it. This was written somewhere in 1970-1980 range:
First of all, I know satire when I hear it. I think it's a Christian busily creating straw atheists and relativists (two categories not one). My comments are only mine and not that of all or even a majority of atheists. Atheism is not a philosophy.
I am against creeds.
We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin
Marx and Freud are bunk. Darwin had a brilliant idea that has become the back bone of medicine and the study of biology generally.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
Not a bad idea.
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
Well actually to my own definition of hurt and societies as well.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
Consensual sex, between adults who either aren't married, or are married to each other, yes. Sex is good.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
Sin is an action prohibited by god. No god, not sin. It's a null set.
We believe that adultery is fun.
Nope.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
See the notes above about adults and consensual.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.
We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
Well, many things are: standard of living, medicine, tolerance. Somethings aren't: terrorism, the environment, religious states.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.
No you can't prove anything with evidence. You can only prove true things. And somethings remain in doubt.
We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
I believe I'll pass on the pseudo science. The vast majority of atheists would.
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.
Jesus may or may not have been a good man, just like Buddha and Mohammed. Some of us are good, some of us ain't.
We believe that all religions are basically the same--
Well they're all false. But some of them are more dangerous than others.
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
Not so sure they all believe in love and goodness either.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
Pretty much.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.
If death is not the end, then no one knows what the end is.
We believe in Masters and Johnson.
A little bit dated. I'm not quite sure what believing in M and J would entail.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.
Pass.
We believe in total disarmament.
Pass.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Obviously.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.
Pass.
We believe that man is essentially good.
Most people are mostly good. Some aren't.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
Which society where?
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Each man much find his own meaning. The truth, remains the truth.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
Very much not.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.
Yes.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
