Active/Passive Atheist?

[Ivan Denisovich]

Voted active as I think that religions is opiate of the people and threat for those who think differently. Having said that I don't do much to oppose it as I'm not interested in preaching, though I'm not holding back if asked.

[robvalue]

Hey Ivan, good to see you

[Whateverist]

I strive to be an actively passive aggressive atheist, but on the down low.

[rado84]

1) Active (I'm anti-theist and anti-religion. I think religion has negative and dangerous consequences in many spheres and I feel a personal duty to oppose it.)

That's me.

[MJ the Skeptical]

I'm personally not impressed when someone is an atheist, it's like someone figuring out that Santa isn't real.

What I'm impressed with are people like Hitchens who were active Anti-theists that spoke out against religion and told people what horseshit it was in plain non-PC language.

[Whateverist]

I'm personally not impressed when someone is an atheist ..

What I'm impressed with are people .. who were active Anti-theists that spoke out against religion and told people what horseshit it was in plain non-PC language.

Try it with a different subject.

I'm personally not impressed when someone is (just) a non-helmet-wearing cyclist.

What I'm impressed with are people .. who were total scoff-laws that spoke out against helmets and told people what horseshit it was in plain non-PC language.

Cuz being an asshole about something is bad ass.

[Jesster]

I don't like the terms in this poll. I'm active in calling out the bigotry of fundamentalist theists, but I stop there. I know too many theists in my personal life that aren't causing me any harm. I would certainly prefer it if they weren't theists, but I have no reason to push them on that.

[The Grand Nudger]

I think what motivates you is your own disposition to "do something".  My disposition is to try and understand how people can be so different.  As one sort of person, my disposition is not to persuade the others to be more like me.  

Have you ever wondered why god belief goes back further than historical record can follow and seems nearly pervasive every where humans have lived?

Does it........is it? Citations?

[Whateverist]

Shit.  How should I know in any scholarly way.  Lets roll the wiki dice and see what they say.

First up, the ancient-claim.  Okay, so far as the history of religion involves writing, this indicates the two are equally ancient. 

The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious experiences and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion relates to a study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records. The timeline of religion is a comparative chronology of religion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_religions


But then what about the practices which fed into written forms of religion?

Mircea Eliade writes, "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = 'technique of religious ecstasy'."[5] Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism


Then I found this timeline:

100th to 34th century BC[edit]
9831 BCE
The Neolithic Revolution begins and results in a worldwide population explosion. The first cities, states, kingdoms, and organized religions begin to emerge. The early states were usually theocracies, in which the political power is justified by religious prestige. Beginning of First Sangam, Hinduism 'Shivan' period in South India.[citation needed]

(Timeline continues.)

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9130–7370 BCE
The apparent usage lifespan of Göbekli Tepe, one of the oldest human-made sites of worship as of yet discovered,[14] similar usage has also been found in a nearby site, Nevalı Çori.[clarification needed]
8000 BCE
Four to five pine posts are erected near the eventual site of Stonehenge.
7500–5700 BCE
The settlements of Catalhoyuk develop as a likely spiritual center of Anatolia. Possibly practicing worship in communal shrines, its inhabitants leave behind numerous clay figurines and impressions of phallic, feminine, and hunting scenes.
5500–4500 BCE
The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) emerged, probably within the Pontic-Caspian steppe (though their exact urheimat is debated). The PIE peoples developed a religion focused on sacrificial ideology, which would influence the religions of the descendent Indo-European cultures throughout Europe, Anatolia, and the Indian subcontinent.
~3750 BCE
The Proto-Semitic people emerged with a generally accepted urheimat in the Arabian peninsula. The Proto-Semitic people would migrate throughout the Near East into Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Their religion would influence their descendant cultures and faiths, including the Abrahamic religions.
Ancient history (33rd century BCE to 3rd century CE)[edit]
See also: History of religion
33rd to 12th century BCE[edit]
3300–1300 BCE

Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. The shaded area does not include recent excavations.
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistoried houses as well as for containing artifacts which could be linked to pre-vedic religions.
3102 BCE
Beginning of Kaliyuga, a new age among the followers of Indian religions.[15][16][17][18][19]
3100 BCE
The initial form of Stonehenge is completed. The circular bank and ditch enclosure, about 110 metres (360 ft) across, may be complete with a timber circle.
3100–2900 BCE
Newgrange, the 250,000 ton (226,796.2 tonne) passage tomb aligned to the winter solstice in Ireland, is built.[20]
3000 BCE
Sumerian Cuneiform emerges from the proto-literate Uruk period, allowing the codification of beliefs and creation of detailed historical religious records.
The second phase of Stonehenge is completed and appears to function as the first enclosed cremation cemetery in the British Isles.
2635–2610 BCE
The oldest surviving Egyptian Pyramid is commissioned by pharaoh Djoser.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_religion


I don't find much to support my everywhere-claim.  Presumably humans in the new world would already have such belief systems before they ever migrated here.

Admittedly, none of this is rock solid but these weak citations do at least address my claims.  I'd be awfully surprised if a rock solid case could be made for either my claims or their negation given the insubstantial nature of the practices involved.  But mostly I claim these things because they jive with my own hunches about the development and recorded history of our species.  Archeology isn't one of my skill sets.  I lean more toward psychological introspection and seat-of-the-pants philosophizing myself.

[Whateverist]

But then I googled "what does anthropology have to say about .." and found:

The perspective of modern anthropology towards religion is the projection idea, a methodological approach which assumes that every religion is created by the human community that worships it, that "creative activity ascribed to God is projected from man."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology_of_religion

This is precisely what I think god belief is about. I would only add that I believe the invention of religion/projection was not deliberate. There was no First (used car) Mover. There was just a natural inclination toward inputting intention to what happens to you, a great idea when it was frequently enough hostile, human neighbors gunning for you.