Comment by Morgan Matthew on December 7, 2008 at 9:41pm

Yeah, I forgot about that communist connection. But thanks Doone for the post. I appreciate your feedback.

Comment by Ric on December 8, 2008 at 12:14am

I think I'm a little foggy about these questions as well. I can try and expose some ideas which I will gladly discuss further depending on how 'on track' I am regarding your different questions.

How does it impact the physical world?
Well, if it was a serious position on a mass scale I think for starters it presents a serious restructuring of priorities. It forces individuals, and thus, nations to reexamine our most basic concepts of coexistence. No longer subject to a final judgement, or short-term Karma, it disallows excuses and false pretense. It would push an agenda of survival and coexistence as the basis of a new moral code.

Never mind the media, they follow no god anyways, they'll adjust nicely to the change. ESPECIALLY if there is officially no god.

"The next logical evolution" is a particularly tricky one. I can be lazy and say I've already answered it or I can assume you are asking about a next step from now. If it's the second one, then I say it doesn't change much from what we do today. We present the concept to the coming generations. I am of the opinion that it opens up fascinating possibilities for accomplishment if we are not weighed down by outdated concepts of unverifiable consequences.

Comment by Jean Bodie on December 8, 2008 at 12:33am

It affects our physical world because, instead of expecting to be wiped out by God, atheists realize that we need to care for the world because it is the only one we have. Atheists, in my opinion are more humanitarian and more concerned with what happens to people and the world around them.

I think that atheists need to be more 'out there', not in your face but telling people what they DO believe in. People assume that we believe in nothing. Did you hear about the atheist sign that was taken down in California because it was offensive. WTF! How many church signs and glurgy things do we have to put up with? We need to speak out on issues of importance this is the logical evolution. Atheists with rights! The media does have a god. It is called POWER and WEALTH.

Comment by Morgan Matthew on December 8, 2008 at 1:13am

""The next logical evolution" is a particularly tricky one. I can be lazy and say I've already answered it or I can assume you are asking about a next step from now. If it's the second one, then I say it doesn't change much from what we do today. We present the concept to the coming generations. I am of the opinion that it opens up fascinating possibilities for accomplishment if we are not weighed down by outdated concepts of unverifiable consequences."

Well said actually, I like that response Ric. Yes you are right on track.

Jean, I would agree with you on the sign. IMO i am not even sure what religious stuff is even doing in a gov building to begin with. /sighs

Thanks guys for your responses so far.

Comment by Ric on December 9, 2008 at 1:02am

Hey Morgan, have you explored the idea of spiritual experiences outside of religion? I'm asking because I still don't know what your aim is with this piece you're writing but it might be interesting to explore an angle like that. Mainly because a lot of theists argue that life and our full experience is somehow stunted without any concept of god. I don't know about you but I find it kinda sad that most people claiming to be "spiritual" can't find how to step outside religion to explore that.
Meh...I'm just doodling.

Comment by Morgan Matthew on December 9, 2008 at 4:18am

I think that would be a interesting angle to look at, "Mainly because a lot of theists argue that life and our full experience is somehow stunted without any concept of god. I don't know about you but I find it kinda sad that most people claiming to be "spiritual" can't find how to step outside religion to explore that."

Comment by Ric on December 9, 2008 at 11:18pm

I think without stepping out to the void too much, you can also focus on morality. It WAS a point in your original questions and it sounds like a great point to discuss. I'm in the middle of an exchange with some folk over at another forum and WOW!... it's quite a treat to read posts about the impossibility of any morality for Atheists. How easy it is for "our kind" to become dehumanized to violence and thus inflict it on others. The irony is suffocating.

Comment by bipolar2 on December 10, 2008 at 6:35pm

** Suggestion: read about it! **

The de-deification of nature and of culture will modify every aspect of how life is led in geographic areas laid waste by the judeo-xian-islamic worldview.

(That’s why we still can learn from Homer, Herodotus, Thycidides, the Athenian playwrights . . . they are our direct ancestors, yet unaffected and unafflicted by xianity.)

In his Atheist Manifesto (2006) French philosopher Michel Onfray conducts two succinct thought experiments: one on Western ideology about persons (body, "the flesh") and the other on the Western legal conception of punishment. (These are contained in chapter 3, sections 3 and 4.)

Essentially, Onfray asks two questions. 1. What happens to our concept of a person when we reject the pseudo-hierarchy running from "matter" (filth) to "spirit" (purity)? 2. What happens to the concept of punishment when we reject the judicial presupposition of "always being able to choose to do otherwise" (complete free-will)?

Part of the meaning of Nietzsche’s infamous sentence “God is dead” resides in following out the “logic” of concepts altered according to a worldview which is “anti-supernatural” through and through.

bipolar2 ©2008

Comment by Cara Coleen on December 11, 2008 at 9:20pm

Atheism isn't a belief system, nor is it anything you can even write about. It's simply non-belief. It's not even non-belief... there's no belief system built around people not believing in mermaids and the fact that they don't believe in mermaids doesn't actually have an impact on society. Not all Atheists are moral, nor are they all necessarily "smart". Not all Atheists are active in promoting Atheism, either.

What people should be pushing is more education... pushing people to think critically about life and to ask questions. Maybe we should come up with a name for what should be the age of Enlightenment, but spreading NON-belief accomplishes very little because there are intellectual holes and gaps that are left over when a person stops believing in God and organized religion.

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