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Old 06-19-2022, 07:27 AM
 
Location: Germany
16,880 posts, read 5,066,967 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth View Post
Atheism is fundamentally a hopeless ideology. And I don't mean that to be insulting to Atheists. It's just a matter of fact conclusion I've come to.. witnessing Atheism both on a broad scale, and seeing Atheists who I am personally close to.. but I guess sometimes people arrive at a personal truth, that is hopeless.
Yet we have all the evidence.
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Old 06-19-2022, 07:32 AM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
51,228 posts, read 24,698,183 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badlander View Post
If it is meant not as an insult then please explain what you actually mean by a hopeless ideology.
I also have to wonder just how many atheists he is close to.
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Old 06-19-2022, 08:40 AM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,662,044 times
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easy ...

to ignore that a belief in some thing more (whatever that is) is more reliable than the reverse is hopeles.

To keep denying that simple axiom means we have to deploy other ways to look at the world so that we don't ever reach that conclusion.

Avoiding the best base claim is hopeless. Even though it is one percent relying on hopeful thinking.

lmao, that is flat out funny. "we have evidence" ... so long as we don't have to prove it that is ...
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Old 06-19-2022, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
20,231 posts, read 13,641,587 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Listener2307 View Post
Use of that derogatory term for America will get you put on my ignore list.
Bye.
Bye!

'Murica is derogatory only to people who wish to distort our national identity into some kind of white supremacist, authoritarian theocracy, often even claiming that doing so represents a return to some imagined heyday of goodness and light.

It is also derogatory to people who conflate nationalism with patriotism or who confuse principled criticism of national policy or ideology with being unpatriotic.
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Old 06-19-2022, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
20,231 posts, read 13,641,587 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
It is so ingrained in some of them that being a Christian means persecution by default that they take on the affect of the persecution complex over the most trivial things without even thinking.
Indeed, and it doesn't help that their holy book equates successful dialog, persuasion and communication with offending people.
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Old 06-19-2022, 10:25 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
20,231 posts, read 13,641,587 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth View Post
Atheism is fundamentally a hopeless ideology. And I don't mean that to be insulting to Atheists. It's just a matter of fact conclusion I've come to.. witnessing Atheism both on a broad scale, and seeing Atheists who I am personally close to.. but I guess sometimes people arrive at a personal truth, that is hopeless.
NP, I do not take it personally.

I am, however, not remotely without hope. You are simply conditioned to think that hope is limited to certain things. People who are truly without hope cease to function in life and usually commit suicide, which means that anyone functioning here is not hopeless.

Sometimes I think that Christians don't know what true hopelessness actually is (just as they don't know what true persecution actually is). What they are really saying is "my learned helplessness tells me that "true" hope is only found in the confines of my dogma; I can't imagine how unbelievers can have hope because my holy book tells me they are without hope". When in fact meaning and purpose are what you define and find and build for yourself. Your diagnosis of hopelessness is your own failure of imagination.
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Old 06-19-2022, 07:21 PM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,662,044 times
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Originally Posted by mordant View Post
NP, I do not take it personally.

I am, however, not remotely without hope. You are simply conditioned to think that hope is limited to certain things. People who are truly without hope cease to function in life and usually commit suicide, which means that anyone functioning here is not hopeless.

Sometimes I think that Christians don't know what true hopelessness actually is (just as they don't know what true persecution actually is). What they are really saying is "my learned helplessness tells me that "true" hope is only found in the confines of my dogma; I can't imagine how unbelievers can have hope because my holy book tells me they are without hope". When in fact meaning and purpose are what you define and find and build for yourself. Your diagnosis of hopelessness is your own failure of imagination.
let me repeat. For some of us it is not about just fighting religion everywhere we can.

Its about doing the best we can with what we have.

to ignore that a belief in some thing more (whatever that is) is more reliable than the reverse is hopeless.

To keep denying that simple axiom means we have to deploy other ways to look at the world so that we don't ever reach that conclusion.

Avoiding the best base claim is hopeless. Even though it is one hundred percent relying on hopeful thinking.

lmao, that is flat out funny. Apply your last sentence to yourself. See what it shows us.
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Old 06-20-2022, 09:49 AM
 
9,345 posts, read 4,356,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arach Angle View Post
let me repeat. For some of us it is not about just fighting religion everywhere we can.

Its about doing the best we can with what we have.

to ignore that a belief in some thing more (whatever that is) is more reliable than the reverse is hopeless.

To keep denying that simple axiom means we have to deploy other ways to look at the world so that we don't ever reach that conclusion.

Avoiding the best base claim is hopeless. Even though it is one hundred percent relying on hopeful thinking.

lmao, that is flat out funny. Apply your last sentence to yourself. See what it shows us.
So if is better to believe that atheism is a hopeless idealogy than to be an atheist who disagrees with that statement?

And just how is explaining atheism to a religious person fighting religion?
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Old 06-20-2022, 07:19 PM
 
Location: Toronto
15,102 posts, read 15,980,148 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth View Post
Atheism is fundamentally a hopeless ideology. And I don't mean that to be insulting to Atheists. It's just a matter of fact conclusion I've come to.. witnessing Atheism both on a broad scale, and seeing Atheists who I am personally close to.. but I guess sometimes people arrive at a personal truth, that is hopeless.
It doesn't have to be hopeless at all.. Even if we have only one kick at the can at this - our present life than be present and enjoy it. The best way to live a life of hope is to enjoy every minute you have and dedicate every future minute to that goal. Not just for you, but your friends and family and our world. If we die and its lights out forever, than think of what a privilege it was to have had this chance against such incredible odds in such a volatile environment. That we could experience love, happiness, kindness, the summer etc.. Hope can mean different things for different people, but life is what you make it regardless if it is just this one or on to the next!

Ann Druyan said this on the death of her husband Carl Sagan. While i'm an agnostic - I did appreciate her perspective as an athiest

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . . That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful. . . . The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don't think I'll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”

Last edited by fusion2; 06-20-2022 at 07:30 PM..
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Old 06-20-2022, 09:18 PM
 
Location: Northeastern US
20,231 posts, read 13,641,587 times
Reputation: 10113
Quote:
Originally Posted by fusion2 View Post
Ann Druyan said this on the death of her husband Carl Sagan. While i'm an agnostic - I did appreciate her perspective as an athiest

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . . That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful. . . . The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don't think I'll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”
That captures it wonderfully and beautifully. Living fully in the present moment, not with one foot in some other life or dimension, waiting for good things eventually, but seeing and treasuring the good we have here and now.
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