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So it needs a few more pilgrims?
Take God out the equation and the responsibility for mankind lands with men. Im not so sure if thats
a bad thing.
Far from doing what it says on the tin, religion allows a blindness or apathy in mankind which
allows the worst of us rule over the rest.
George Bush put Christ up as a role model, whilst he was bombing Iraq, and the US bought him. And
Obama is an anti-Christ for his healthcare plans? Go figure. |
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It seems to me that the word Atheism has two meanings. The differences are subtle but important.
There is the lack of belief in gods or there is the belief that there are no gods. The first as
Cephus speaks of across the aisle has been around since the dawn of time. But Atheism as a strict
doctrine of denial of the possibility of god or gods is really is quite young. If the word infancy
doesn’t quite apply perhaps early puberty does. Growing in unexpected ways, sometimes brash and
arrogant, sometimes oddly perceptive, you have an idea what the adult version might look like but
it’s hard to be sure; gawky and gangling but everyday coming into their own.
There are still some major dichotomies they haven’t quite figured out yet that will have to be
resolved at some point. Most of which can be boiled down to are they a type of faith or not. And I
know this one is going to get me some heat. |
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Let' do the math: 200,000 years ago homo sapiens existed. At around 100,000 years subtle evidence
of rituals began which may or may not have had religious meaning. About 5000 years ago the major
pagan religions were underway (Stonehenge built and such). 2000 years ago Christianity started.
So, you can quibble over whether failing to join a modern major religion makes a living being
"atheist" or "pagan" or "agnostic" or whatever, BUT you can't quibble over the fact at least 1/2 of
the time our species has been alive it was not religious in the conventional sense. And if you're
truly a Bible thumper looking to say atheism is some new thing challenging your belief then I'd say
your Christian beliefs account for only 1% of the entire time span of our species on this earth.
My conclusion is that it's not atheism which is in it's infancy, ironically instead it is
Christianity and the majority of the dominant world religions of today. They are a mere blip on the
radar screen. |
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There is fairly good documentation of atheistic thinking from as far back as 600-700 BC and from
different corners of the earth, Europe and Asia. So, it's not really in its infancy in the true
sense.
In response to some of the other comments, how people use or abuse a belief system, whether it be
atheism, monotheism, polytheism or whatever to control other people is really irrelevant to whether
or not the belief systems are true or not. Certainly, in Communist Russia and China, atheism was the
societal norm for religious belief. It was certainly far more dangerous to be a "believer." The
worse blood baths in history were in societies that promoted atheism as the official government
belief system, but it doesn't necessarily follow that the basics tenets of atheism are false. Also,
our freedoms that we so cherish and our founders so cherished were in large part due to the basic
premises of Christianity and the Christian definition of a human being, but there again, it doesn't
necessarily make the Christian belief system actually true, although it might make one pause a bit
to crunch on it. |
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Freedom of expression is in its infancy. Religion insured for a good 2000 years to pacify
expression that countered their ideology. I.e. Inquisitions. Since the priesthood had the ears of
kings and kings you bet your poopoo atheist would never have a say on the direction of nations even
though they would be more logical. |
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As a general statement, it's wrong, it certainly isn't in it's infancy because atheism has existed
since the beginning of time. The first human on this planet was an atheist until they invented
religious beliefs.
If you want to talk about a specific national acceptance of atheism, then you might have a case,
atheism is certainly undergoing a renewed vigor as people realize that the social taboo against
non-belief has been just as silly as believing in imaginary friends in the first place. |
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This was meant to be a response to jsgs post. Wrong box.
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My parents were both honor graduates in College with my mother being top of the class. They raised
their children to question everything. My grandparents on both sides were quite willing to state
anything about anything.
While the marriage of secular rule and religion was quite dominant back in the good old days, the
rise of America changed quite a bit for western civilization.
Make no mistake, human rule over humans was THE MOST DOMINANT FACTOR throughout history. It preceded
religion and it never waned.
When human rulers learned how to use religion to serve their purposes and religion jumped at the
chance to join with the ruling force (in many ways this could be seen as self-preservation - had
Roman Catholicism decided not to go along with being the official religion of the Roman Empire,
Roman Catholicism would have quite possibly been eradicated by a religion that would make itself
"useful"), the problem behind your supposition became a hideous force.
The breakdown that began in the 1500's began a slow process of freedom from the union of
state/church but it is important to remember that the power of STATE was not going away.
Henry the VIII didn't help any. He proclaimed himself the head of the Catholic Church in England.
Whooooopeeeee! Talk about heading western civilization in the wrong direction.
Then we have the exodus from Europe where the STATES were brutal and dominant and in most cases
still using religion to solidy their rule.
The founding fathers of the US constitution went to great lengths to try to secure a nation where
STATE would not use religion to solidy it's rule and where religion would not dictate the governing
of the state.
It's been just over two centuries. A relative short time in our history. People have not been taught
that there was never any such thing as freedom (on a small-scale in localized usually remote areas
but...). Almost all people in every corner of the Earth were slaves to the ruling power since the
beginning of civilization. People being able to "speak their mind" has ALWAYS been suppressed. From
politics to religion.
My point is, freedom is in it's infancy. |
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25 Sep 2009 11:54
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