Hey all,just joined here.
I found this site by searching for ideas for an Atheism based tattoo for myself, and some people have some really cool looking ones that I've seen that have been pretty inspiring. But then I got to thinking..

In some ways, is having an atheism tattoo not a little counter productive/hypocritical?

As an atheist, I value the freedom to say that I have arrived to this conclusion for myself, with my own research, reading, and exploration of many (not all) options, and am open to new evidence and worldviews as they arrive.
It seems like if I got a tattoo that I would be saying "I am unmoveable in this position" and that "I am one with the community of atheists, and I believe what they believe". If, for some reason, a large atheist community becomes violent/controversial in some way I disagree with (unlikely) I would not want to be associated with it.
Given that we often collectively argue that religious people don't think for themselves and aren't open to change, this seems a little hypocritical.

Now, as I said, I found myself here because I was, myself, looking for an atheism based tattoo. So I understand the pros. I am proud of what I think, I do not think it is a worldview that should be hidden away from society, and I do like the idea of belonging to a community of like minded people.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Especially people that have/are thinking of atheism tattoos, I'd appreciate if you had any similar thoughts and how you reconciled them, or any other insights you can offer!

Cheers! (I'm British, I say "cheers!") :P

Tags: atheism, ink, tattoo, tattooing, tattoos

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The science of human motivation and decision making, of belief formation, has firmly established, given all the ways our minds trick us, that it's best to keep your beliefs at arms length, to make your beliefs pay rent, if your goal is to have as many true beliefs as possible (by being a good Bayesian updater). Getting a word that represents one of your positions ("atheist") tattooed on yourself in indelible ink is pretty much the polar opposite of this notion.

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