Atheism is a faith, undeterred by any evidence no matter how obvious, that you are smarter than men much smarter than you.
You being to act as if you are the one fully evolved human person on the Planet of Apes.
And this pride, like the first drink of hard liquor or the first sniff of cocaine, becomes habit forming. It is pleasant only at first. Then it takes over your thinking, and becomes a constant companion and a constant burden, and an endless, dragging weariness. Human souls are not actually built for pride, any more than our bodies are build for alcohol or cocaine.
I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance.
81 comments
And believing that the Universe with billions of stars, in billion of Galaxies, was created just for us, is not arrogance?
@Blarghonius
Not so deep down; they claim Christianity is not religion, but "a personal relationship" with the God/Jesus/Spook menage.
"Atheism is just another religion" strikes again. Well John, the next time the thought of using this argument crops up in your head, bear the following in mind: It's one of the worst arguments you can make against anything . You've basically admitted to having exhausted all other avenues of reasoning, and resorted to saying "Yeah, well, your hypothesis about the world is just as much nonsense as mine. So there!"
So, in effect what you are saying is that your religion is basically nonsense, and you know it. Not the best way to win people over to your side.
I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance.
I was a Christian for 20 years before I became and atheist. There's a very large number of atheists who were raised Christian, or were elders in their churches, or went to seminary, or became pastors before leaving.
Admitting you were wrong about about the religion you dedicated your life to and then trying to undo the damage is pretty much the opposite of arrogance.
Atheism is the lack of belief in supernatural entities. Nothing more, nothing less. It isn't an affirmation of superiority over people of faith.
"Atheism is a faith, undeterred by any evidence no matter how obvious"
Ok, what evidence could there be to shatter the "faith" that there is no God?
Evidence of a God, of course! But that would mean that belief in a God isn't faith, it's scientifically provable.
But since there is no evidence of a God, it can't be scientifically provable. And since it's not scientifically provable, the only rational thing to believe about Gods is...that they don't exist
See how logic works? Isn't it fun?
@Blarghonius: Actually, to such ones, it's impossible NOT to be religious. To take Wright's metaphor, just as we're (allegedly, at least) not built for pride, we're supposed to BE built for worship. All that's missing is a hard-coding as to WHAT the liege is. The idea is that religion is like unto breathing for us; even if we hold off for a little while, reflex and instinct ultimately (and rapidly) kick in and impel faith in something.
Many atheists grew up believing in a god, stupid. We HAVE tried it; it made less and less sense, until we could not fool ourselves any longer, at which point we became atheists.
You're the proud and arrogant ones; you're the ones who think you're special, God's finest creation on the only planet that matters.
Every life-form existing today is just as "fully evolved" as every other life-form, stupid. We have all evolved to fit our particular niche in Nature, at this moment, and we are all transitional forms between the species that lived before us and the species that will come after us.
Thank you for admitting that faith is stupid and reserved for the weak; otherwise, you and other retards like you would not waste so much time accusing atheists of having faith, which insinuates that faith is a negative quality.
If human souls aren't built for pride, why do you contradict yourself with your last sentence? And why are Christians the most arrogant people I've ever had the displeasure of coming across, with you being yet another example? That cocaine line you're talking about, I experienced when I was one of you. It was only through leaving the religion for good (Rehab if you want an analogy) that I actually felt the desire to live life.
Yes, I am so arrogant as to disbelieve that the all powerful creator of the universe, who knows all an has live for all time, cares what I have to say or what I do an think.
But no, I'm sure you are just that important
Stop trying to tell me what I think. I gave up religion after taking a very hard look at what it was I believed in and realizing that it wasn't based on facts.
And don't get me started on arrogance. Atheists aren't the ones driving around with bumper stickers that say, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."
Isn't this guy a writer of fairly hard science fiction?
There's a very special fellow- with long hair, radical ideas and the ability to do amazing things- who has something to say on the matter.
http://youtu.be/CTWlQaZ0DWo
They should teach pride in schools:
Ok I'm not a teacher but it can't be that hard to comprehend!
As an atheist, the only 'faith' I have is that the evidence of my own senses isn't lying to me. I can't absolutely prove it, maybe I have a mental illness that causes me to think strangely, but I have fairly good evidence to back up my observations. Others trust their senses too, and do science with them, and come to various conclusions. And none of those conclusions, so far, has needed a god, or any supernatural influence, to explain them.
I have, at several points in my life, tried to become religious.
I suspect John C. WRONG has no atheist friends. If he did, he'd know that the overwhelming majority of today's atheists are former Christians.
Atheism is a religion in the same way that "off" is a TV channel.
I openly admit that there are plenty of people on this planet a whole lot smarter than I am. My purported arrogance has nothing to do with it--it's a fact of life.
When you describe "a constant companion and a constant burden, and an endless, dragging weariness" it sounds like you're complaining about your religious faith. You burdened yourself with that faith, John, and you can lay it down at any time.
Atheism is a faith like bald is a hair color. For a guy who thinks he's smart, you're not very convincing.
Atheism is a faith, undeterred by any evidence no matter how obvious, that you are smarter than men much smarter than you.
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You being to act as if you are the one fully evolved human person on the Planet of Apes.
Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl miss takes...but I digress. I have no such lofty views of myself.
And this pride, like the first drink of hard liquor or the first sniff of cocaine, becomes habit forming. It is pleasant only at first. Then it takes over your thinking, and becomes a constant companion and a constant burden, and an endless, dragging weariness. Human souls are not actually built for pride, any more than our bodies are build for alcohol or cocaine.
Other way around, actually: becoming an atheist can be scary at first, since the realization that there's no afterlife, greater plan, etc. can hit pretty hard. But that soon fades, and the realization that we're not just going to go on forever makes our lives that much more precious.
I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance.
You know how many of us atheists are former Christians? We DO know what it was like to be Christian, and let me tell you, it's a lot more arrogant to assume that a book written by a bunch of bloodthirsty Bronze Age goat herders thousands of years ago contains all the knowledge that could ever be known. I found it a much greater relief once I finally accepted that I had no good reason to believe in any sort of god, applying the same critical thinking to my former religion as I did to all the others. And I found it much more humbling than a religion that teaches that humans are the super-super-extra-special most favoritest creations of the creator of everything.
"I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance."
I seriously doubt you have any atheist friends.
@ Leighton Buzzard
QV Tony Blair.
Sent many of his countrymen to their deaths in a war he joined because it was politically expedient despite knowing the cause to be unjust and founded on lies.
Became a Catholic, said a few Hail Mary's and can (presumably) now sleep at nights again.
"Creationism is a faith, undeterred by any evidence no matter how obvious, that you are holier than men much nicer than you.
tsk-tsk, there goes another Irony meter.
pride is a sin. If the human soul was not capable of pride it would not need to be a sin because we could not do it.
Atheists dont believe in any God(s) and may believe we have no soul, so pride is not a sin and we can be proud of doing stuff without fearing the pits of hell for disturbing God. The inventor of the Iron Chariot is still in hiding.
Are you talking Pride or Arrogance ? I can be proud of my intelligence and all round good looks, attractiveness to woman and general studliness without being arrogant about it.
"I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance."
...and take up the towering iron burden of guilt instead!
J C Wright...
I have never acted as though I was the only fully evolved human anywhere.
I'm ot sure what "pride" you are attributing to me, but it is far less a burden than the self loathing I wallowed in when I was christian for 14 whole years of my life
The problem there is that many of them have already been Christians, often for years.
Well, I have to admit, I first became an atheist sitting in a church and noticing for the first time just how stupid all that shit was. I mean come on, drinking a zombie's blood and eating his flesh to get super magic powers? Wow.
The Christian belief that man is made in the image of an omnipotent deity is the embodiment of pride; insisting atheism is faith-based and rejecting all evidence is the epitome of arrogance.
Christianity is pretty much perpetuated by pride: man is made in the image of God, Christians are the chosen people of God.
@TB Tabby"And I found it much more humbling than a religion that teaches that humans are the super-super-extra-special most favoritest creations of the creator of everything."
Well, God doesn't really hold humanity in such high regard. Take the Tower of Babel, perhaps the most telling story in all of Bibledom. "Oh, my Me... humans! And they're... co-operating ! And talking to one another, all friendly-like, and building things and stuff! If they keep on going like this, why, there's nothing they won't be able to accomplish! Sorry, can't have that. (Zap) 6800 different languages! You're all confused and stupid again! My dick is still the biggest. Phew!"
And Christians and Jews think this God fellow is the bees' knees. I don't think I'll ever understand that.
John, in order:
1) Atheism is not a faith and you damned well know it, *liar*.
2) Word salad aside, stop trying to tell me what I or anyone else thinks or acts unless you know us personally.
3) If you're trying to guilt us into being masochistic humility whores, you really need to work on your approach, you sick non-sexual pain addict.
4) You might have given up on thinking for yourself, but I won't. If you're that desperate for someone to obey, go to an S&M club!
i actually curb my ego (self esteem problems) because as i see it, humility is knowing your worth without spewing it out over everyone else, thereby showing arrogance.
what do you mean i love avoiding fights?
Holy fuck. And to think I really liked his SF books... until I spent 15 minutes browsing his blog just now. What a disgusting, arrogant bigot. By his own description he was an asshole in his atheist days, and I'd say he's even more of an asshole now: a Holier Than Thou asshole, the worst kind. I won't be buying his books any longer as I don't want to fund assholes like him.
Chalk up another shining example of his proposal being incorrect. I was an xian for about 10 years, was going go be a minister, until I figured out it was all a hoax. What a humbling experience it was to come to grips with what you were living almost of your life for. To realize it was all bunk. But I must confess (pun intended) that it was quite a relief to throw off believing in a fairy tale and getting onto reality.
You being [begin?] to act as if you are the one fully evolved human person on the Planet of Apes.
Why pick on atheists? Isn't that what the Baptists say about the Catholics and the Catholics say about the Hindus and the Hindus say about the Muslims and the Muslims say about the Baptists and ... ?
I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour,
That would be rather impossible. Convince someone to sincerely believe something they've not believed for awhile, but just for an hour?
At any rate, as many have already pointed out, most of us were Christian. I personally belonged to a fundamentalist church for seven years. I even debated atheists about the existence of God. Now, I'm an atheist.
"I wish there were a way to convince my atheist friends to be Christian for only a day, or an hour, so that they would see what a relief it was to lay down the towering iron burden of arrogance."
The majority of atheists were once theists.
Been there, done that.
And I highly, HIGHLY doubt you have any actual atheist friends John.
BAHAHA! ive been a christian before. it is unbelievably stressful. of course im the kind of person who likes to do things right. no half assing. if heaven exists, its vacant.
no, im not arrogant enough to believe im smarter than all the christians out there. the fundamentalists, sure. i do however, think that christians are arrogant to assume that they are special in any way, or that their religion is right because they happen to believe in it. there are how many religions in the world (counting subsects and cults? innumerable). right now, if it doesnt turn out they are all false, my money is on hindu being right.
I wholeheartedly accept that there are people way, way smarter than me. You, however, are not one of them.
"Atheism is a faith, undeterred by any evidence no matter how obvious, that you are smarter than men much smarter than you."
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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