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Could it be argued that atheist are the most sane people on Earth?
Of course it could be argued.
What would first be needed is establishing that religious belief is a product of insanity rather than ignorance, social pressure, stupidity or emotional need.
peope are people. I don't know one personality trait that people can have that is defined by a belief sytem in the states. I do know that soft spoken people are tought to be wise. I always yell "did you just hear the crap they just said.", I get laughed at called stupid. Guess they are 1/2 right.
What would first be needed is establishing that religious belief is a product of insanity rather than ignorance, social pressure, stupidity or emotional need.
AND a definition for "insanity".
In a sense nearly everyone is insane, simply because we are conscious and have to deal with existential angst. Ernst Becker referred to character as an armor against reality -- to cope with the terror of both death, and of living. In his view, very few indeed drop all the masks, immortality / omnipotence projects, and deal with life as it actually is.
Atheism is only one layer of the onion. It's one thing to remove various fantasies and illusions about god, our central importance, and the arranging of reality to suit us. It's another to see life as it is, in all its beauty and monstrosity, and fully accept and embrace it anyway.
In a sense nearly everyone is insane, simply because we are conscious and
have to deal with existential angst.
Your comment reminds me of RD Laing's, the famous psychiatrist back in the 60's who wrote 'The Divided Self' where he said...'Insanity is a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world'.
But he had another one which intrigued me:
'We all live under the constant threat of annihilation. Only by the most outrageous violation of ourselves have we achieved our capacity to live in relative adjustment to a civilization apparently driven to its destruction'.
Now according to that regardless of beliefs we all are inmates in that asylum by the simple fact we are human and suffer. But as we see those beliefs take us on different roads on our way to certain 'annihilation'. It is, of course, on contentious highways that we meet and I like others are on one of them.
Religious behavior certainly mimics mental illness in many ways. For most it doesn't have an organic origin, however. It is a combination of cultural relic, cognitive dissonance, and social pressure. That being said, for the certifiably mentally ill, it does make them believe their delusions are real. It gives them validation for delusions and paranoia.
I checked out your channel. I... err.... "Many people get married for cheesy reasons..."
That's a quote from a video on a critique of marriage that has to put "this is not a comedy channel" in the description. I don't know what to say...
As for whether atheists can be considered the most sane people on earth? Several posters have already pointed out that the very concept of "sanity" is open to diverse views on its definition and validity. Regardless, I highly doubt that being an Atheist automatically qualifies someone for the status of "most sane". I would argue that it's a bit mentally unhealthy in the first place to explicitly define yourself as someone who doesn't believe in God. I would imagine that simply because some people let Theism define and label themselves, is not a good reason for others to define and label themselves as the exact opposite, but imagine it to have nothing to do with it.
Perhaps too much focus on being an Atheist is unhealthy, is what I'm trying to say, I suppose. For me, it's only one part of who I am (IF I choose to let the label apply to me at times) - not WHO I am.
Perhaps too much focus on being an Atheist is unhealthy, is what I'm trying to say, I suppose. For me, it's only one part of who I am (IF I choose to let the label apply to me at times) - not WHO I am.
Agreed. And while some people might regard me as rather preoccupied with this anti-identity because of how much I discuss it here and my fundamentalist past, they'd be mostly wrong because in meatspace the topic doesn't even come up. I live in a new housing development in which we were the first home constructed. It is coming together rapidly now and we're making all sorts of new friends in the 'hood and NO ONE feels each other out based on metaphysical (un)beliefs but on the basis of common social interests and mutually interesting activities. When religious or metaphysical beliefs eventually come up they will be little more than an interesting side note. It's a bit like how what college I went to and what degrees I have never come up in polite conversation, even with my clients. By the time they figure out that I'm an autodidact who never attended university, my capabilities are already established and relied upon, and it makes me more, rather than less, impressive to them.
Could it be argued that atheists are the most sane people on Earth?
A couple of weeks ago I happened to catch this Joel Osteen guy on TV. His TV show followed some other thing I had been watching distractedly, so I watched a bit of it in fascination. I'm new(ish) to America so I'd never heard of this guy.
He starts his sermon off by telling possibly the most sexist joke I have ever heard in my life, that insults both men and women. His audience of thousands are rapt by it.
He then goes on to compare tough times between those who 'honour god' and those who don't. He argues that if you honour god, when you come through the tough times you will still be standing. Those who don't honour god won't, is about the gist of it. Utter nonsense. As if atheists don't come out the other side.
The guy is utterly obnoxious and nothing he says makes the slightest sense.
Yet these thousands, of what look like normal people, are drinking in every word. When I see this sort of thing I do wonder sometimes about other peoples sanity. How do people in their millions believe this garbage?
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Hopefully, I don't get in trouble. But in case you want to check it out, my youtube channel is linked here.
Could it be argued that atheists are the most sane people on Earth?
