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Why is it one versus the other? Why make up a false dichotomy? There's nothing special about psychology that it should be put up against religion as its enemy. What about physics or philosophy as other contenders?
People who are religious don't care that there is no science supporting religion...and similarly why would an atheist care? You can't prove a negative right? I don't NEED proof that there is no god - the odds are so strongly against it that I'm satisfied - I just don't require absolute proof, I play the odds with most things in life.
And I have no problem believing that evolution is "by chance". If there was a god presiding over all this, life forms would be simple, logical, and straight forward instead of being crazily complex with so many layers upon layers. It's clear there was no forethought or "design" behind it and instead that it was all developed in bits gradually over millions of years.
It sounds as though you don't like the idea that atheists might believe you are ignorant or simple because you are into religion. Your defensiveness is palpable...but if you TRULY believed in your religion what does it matter what anyone else thinks - don't you have the ultimate answers about the universe? Whatever....
I'm sure it looks that way to legions of believers. Crazy people suffer from several forms of religious mania, and treatment includes breaking their unhealthy religious fixation. To someone who believes in the supernatural, that can look like an attack on their religion.
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People who are religious don't care that there is no science supporting religion...and similarly why would an atheist care? You can't prove a negative right? I don't NEED proof that there is no god - the odds are so strongly against it that I'm satisfied - I just don't require absolute proof, I play the odds with most things in life.
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+1; faith is not only belief in something without evidence; but, sometimes with evidence to the contrary.
religious and athiest persons are both annoying when they are trying to convert you.
In many academic fields, atheists are the majority. I am most familiar with psychology, and I know that the fashion is for academic psychologists to be atheists. It's hard to find a famous one who isn't. And if they are religious, they usually follow the progressive version of religion (rather than fundamentalist, or mystical).
The progressive version of Christianity, for example, emphasizes the aspects of Jesus' teaching that could be considered socialist or humanitarian. They completely ignore the mystical aspects (which are actually central to Christianity, and all religions).
Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Haidt are psychologists I posted about recently. Both have them have abandoned their previous leftist political orientation. However, Haidt is still and atheist and Peterson's religion is progressive.
So -- it is not just an extreme minority that I am talking about. Atheism is being taught in most colleges, especially in certain subjects, like psychology.
Psychology is currently very much interested in evolution, by the way. I think that's good -- evolution is a reality. But of course, they are brainwashed by the Dawkins interpretation of evolution.
Young college students are being told that religion is all superstition. Even when I was in college, in the 1970s, that was the case.
I think it does matter that they are being taught a myth, as though it were scientific fact. And depression rates among college students are getting to be very high -- it might be unrelated to atheism, but who knows. Even atheists acknowledge that atheism can cause depression.
yikes, this sounds like a rant, i would assume many more scientists are agnostics (in your op you incorrecly combine atheism and agnosticism as the same thing).
you keep mentioning dawkins; do you mean darwin ?
depression rates ? is that your scientific conclusion ?
so many off-premise mistakes to have meaningful debate.
Last edited by stanley-88888888; 04-21-2018 at 12:26 PM..
Reason: i see you wrote about richard dawkins... not sure who that is.
Mass delusion. I wish my maternal grandmother had not introduced this nonsense into the family, but she did. I get to say this (I guess?), it is extremely unlikely I will change my mind, and I wish that it wasn't such a point of contention because it's not, IMHO, worth arguing over.
The majority of people probably do not have an innate spiritual drive. Maybe only 20% of us do. The rest are just as well off without religion or mystical traditions. When they go to church, they just do it to fit in with the community. Now days, there is much less need for that.
True. Not everyone needs or wants spirituality. I'm very drawn to it, and it has enriched my life greatly but I have zero desire to go around convincing others of this or that. I like talking about spirituality with like minded people and that's it. Live and let live. Everyone is on their own path.
Richard Dawkins loves how it sounds, because he passionately hates religion.
I feel you might be lumping all atheists into the same basket. There are as many different types and varieties of atheists as their are types and varieties of people who believe in a God.
I'm an atheist and don't hate religion, I might not believe in it, but I would never tell someone, just because their beliefs are different than mine, that they are wrong and I am right. Maybe Dawkins does this, but I don't, I'm not that type of person or atheist.
From your posts, it seems like you really hate atheists or have "an axe to grind".
Many people who meet me actually think I'm Mormon, I've never drank alcohol in my life (40+ years), never smoked, never done drugs, never curse/swear, don't drink coffee and rarely drink caffeinated beverages at all, I try to help as many people as I can, try to live my life to its fullest each and every day and try to make a positive change. Then I tell people that I don't believe in a God, and they're like, yep, you're definitely not a Mormon!
From your posts, it seems like you really hate atheists or have "an axe to grind".
No I don't hate atheists at all. I argue against atheism because I think it's unscientific. And even worse, it claims to be the scientific while calling non-atheists ignorant and superstitious.
Materialist/atheists are stuck in an outdated mythology.
Seems to me with this line you've just crossed over into the typical boring claim that "my religion is better than your religion" and the I'm superior and going to judge you stance.
Call it your "mysticism" religion, (as you did in a post upthread) call it anything you want, it's still the same old same old--a religious view that claims superiority and comes across as haughty and arrogant.
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