Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 29, 2024, 10:45 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Ideoligical atheists
#1
Ideoligical atheists
I don't like it when people associate atheism with a certain ideology.
Like you need to be an atheist + a feminist or + a Marxist.
To each of their own, but atheism is the lack of belief in god, not making it like a cult or religion.


Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Quote:What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

                                                                                                         Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011
Reply
#2
RE: Ideoligical atheists
There's a difference between saying you need to be a Marxist or feminist and an atheist, or to say you have to be a Marxist or feminist in order to be a proper atheist. The former is just someone who wants you to follow their ideology, the latter is BS.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

Reply
#3
RE: Ideoligical atheists
That's right. It's a common misconception that atheism entails certain worldviews and beliefs, such as scepticism, accepting evolution, and so on. Such beliefs are often the cause and result of someone being an atheist, and that is why atheism tends to be viewed as an ideology.

Theism is also sometimes viewed as an ideology when, just as in atheism, this isn't the case. All it means is belief in a God who actively participates in the Universe. Theists don't have to be religious, although nearly all of them are.
"Faith is the excuse people give when they have no evidence."
  - Matt Dillahunty.
Reply
#4
RE: Ideoligical atheists
(March 14, 2017 at 9:59 am)ma5t3r0fpupp3t5 Wrote: That's right. It's a common misconception that atheism entails certain worldviews and beliefs, such as scepticism, accepting evolution, and so on. Such beliefs are often the cause and result of someone being an atheist, and that is why atheism tends to be viewed as an ideology.

Theism is also sometimes viewed as an ideology when, just as in atheism, this isn't the case. All it means is belief in a God who actively participates in the Universe. Theists don't have to be religious, although nearly all of them are.

What I've heard e.g. from the A+ crowd or PZ Myers is that an atheist *activist* today should also include other progressive causes because fighting for secularism and the recognition of atheists often entails battling religious bigotry and defending women's rights against religious interference, and that to me makes sense to a certain point. But saying that atheism itself includes those things does not appear helpful.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

Reply
#5
RE: Ideoligical atheists
Atheism is a lack of belief in a supernatural deity or intelligent creator or personal god or whatever you want to call it. It can even be considered taking a position on the question of the existence of any gods, even if that position is simply saying, "I don't hold that particular belief." Christians make the mistake of thinking that because the idea of god is a developed concept in the world and that because the majority of people accept this concept in different forms to explain their existence and the existence of things around them that it is a self evident fact.

They fail to realize that because spirituality is seen to be such a "personal" thing... it has mostly become immune to criticism over the years at least in the eyes of the general public and the media at large. Most people seem to think that spirituality and religion is personal and isn't even to be discussed, much of the time. Therefore religion is not open to a critical, rational evaluation of its tenants, rules or claims. Or maybe the chicken laid the egg first, I guess I don't really know.

But there's nothing necessarily wrong with ideologies in society. It just so happens that many of them are completely irrational and not based in reality at all. Some are even dangerous. It's not such an evil thing even for atheism to be associated with ideology, as long as we understand that atheism itself is not an ideology. It is not a religion. It is not an ideology. At most it is a position, even if that position simply entails choosing not to believe in something.
“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher.

It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.

Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll


Reply
#6
RE: Ideoligical atheists
While I agree that Marxism isn't identical to atheism, Marxism is atheistic. Ayn Rand's libertarianism would be a good example of an atheistic ideology at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nevertheless I would call them kissing-cousins of atheism.
Reply
#7
RE: Ideoligical atheists
(March 14, 2017 at 11:37 am)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: While I agree that Marxism isn't identical to atheism, Marxism is atheistic. Ayn Rand's libertarian ideology would be a good example of atheism at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nevertheless I would call them kissing-cousins of atheism.

Why? Because they are atheistic? You might just as well call Islam a kissing cousin of not drinking alcohol.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

Reply
#8
RE: Ideoligical atheists
Doing that is just a way to smear atheists. Like when they claim Hitler was an atheist, even though there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. It's silly, and unproductive, but christianity and other religions have a long history of demonizing anything they don't like. It all started with claiming the gods of other religions are just demons, and went from there.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

10 Christ-like figures that predate Jesus. Link shortened to Chris ate Jesus for some reason...
http://listverse.com/2009/04/13/10-chris...ate-jesus/

Good video to watch, if you want to know how common the Jesus story really is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50

A list of biblical contradictions from the infallible word of Yahweh.
http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_m...tions.html

Reply
#9
RE: Ideoligical atheists
(March 14, 2017 at 9:34 am)Lebneni Murtad Wrote: I don't like it when people associate atheism with a certain ideology.
Like you need to be an atheist + a feminist or + a Marxist.
To each of their own, but atheism is the lack of belief in god, not making it like a cult or religion.


Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I agree. "Atheist" merely means "off" nothing more. We don't need to create moral lists or demands of others sharing that "off" position. Our species ability to be cruel or compassionate, to seek cooperation, or use force, is not in a label, but in our species evolution. "Atheist" is not a political party, economic view, or moral code. To me you are either a good person or you are not as an individual. I don't owe atheists blind loyalty either. I have met over the years atheists I don't agree with or like. Just like I have met theists I do like and agree with, outside the god claim.


Humans are always individuals first to me. When we do find agreement, then that agreement is topic specific not based on a general loyalty demand.
Reply
#10
RE: Ideoligical atheists
No ideology per se, but we do all eat Christian babies.
 The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it. 




Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  I enjoy far right atheists more than lgbt marxist atheists Sopra 4 2177 February 28, 2018 at 9:09 pm
Last Post: Edwardo Piet



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)