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- Feb 10, 2020
I just want to put that here on its own, I have nothing further to add.
Why do i feel like atheists are not bright in general?
- Thread starter Brightstar777
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- Dec 16, 2019
Once upon a time, I knew a guy who was what I call an "evangelical atheist" as he hated the very concept of God (usually the Christian one) and would talk loudly and at length about how stupid each and every churchgoer was.
He had been a member of Mensa at one point, but then he couldn't afford the membership dues.
Why couldn't he afford to belong to the ultimate Look At Me I'm So Smrt Club?
Because sure, the guy was literate and stuff, but in every other practical way, he was a knuckle-dragging moron.
So now whenever anyone says they're an atheist, I give 'em serious side-eye until they prove they aren't an idiot.
He had been a member of Mensa at one point, but then he couldn't afford the membership dues.
Why couldn't he afford to belong to the ultimate Look At Me I'm So Smrt Club?
Because sure, the guy was literate and stuff, but in every other practical way, he was a knuckle-dragging moron.
So now whenever anyone says they're an atheist, I give 'em serious side-eye until they prove they aren't an idiot.
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- Dec 13, 2022
Effortpost time. Seeing slapfights over religion in the internet has made me think that the religious and non-religious viewpoints are too fundamentally different to ever be fully understood by the other. You know how people with aphantasia are completely unable to understand how others create mental images because they're fundamentally unable to do it? It seems similar to how religious people seem fundamentally unable to grasp a nonbeliever's worldview.
I remember in school a Christian classmate asked her atheist friend "if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?" And she seemed to be physically unable to understand "nothing" as the answer. The religious mind cannot fathom a world that was not created by God, the possibility that God doesn't exist does not ever cross their mind, and they cannot fathom why anyone else doesn't think the way they do, because in their mind it's just so obvious.
The question that caused the OP's asshurt is a fantastic example of this. It's what the Christians ask over and over again "how do atheists justify their worldview if they don't believe in God?"
From a Christian perspective, if God told us not to murder, steal, and rape, and Atheists don't believe in God, then logically atheists would see no problem with murder, theft and rape. An atheist finds this logic completely nonsensical because in their mind, believing in a higher power is in no way related to having compassion for your fellow man. It even makes Christians seem unhinged because it implies that their belief in God is the only thing stopping them from being compassionless savages.
I remember in school a Christian classmate asked her atheist friend "if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?" And she seemed to be physically unable to understand "nothing" as the answer. The religious mind cannot fathom a world that was not created by God, the possibility that God doesn't exist does not ever cross their mind, and they cannot fathom why anyone else doesn't think the way they do, because in their mind it's just so obvious.
The question that caused the OP's asshurt is a fantastic example of this. It's what the Christians ask over and over again "how do atheists justify their worldview if they don't believe in God?"
From a Christian perspective, if God told us not to murder, steal, and rape, and Atheists don't believe in God, then logically atheists would see no problem with murder, theft and rape. An atheist finds this logic completely nonsensical because in their mind, believing in a higher power is in no way related to having compassion for your fellow man. It even makes Christians seem unhinged because it implies that their belief in God is the only thing stopping them from being compassionless savages.
Geddy Lee's Fee and See
kiwifarms.net
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I just think your average atheist and your average religious person are kinda retarded in that they can't and won't entertain a thought without straight up believing it. Internet religious dogfights always strike me as two (or more) retards fighting over some gay social title rather than genuinely understanding someone with a different (but sane) point of view. It's why I think they are ultimately kind of useless and why unless someone explicitly asks me about my religion, I never bring it up.
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- Jan 1, 2024
>the religious and non-religious viewpoints are too fundamentally different to ever be fully understood by the other
They are not too distant from each other like you preserved them
>if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?
Nothing cannot be an answer, big bang might be logically possible but nothing is clearly a bad answer, do you think that you believe in the void? this is not an answer for "if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?"
also asking "if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?" is a retarded question in itself because you don't have to believe in a specific thing in order to not believe in God
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- Mar 30, 2023
the statement "there is no god" is in itself a belief, especially if you consider it incredibly important to correct those that do not hold that belief. Logic is built upon logic which is built upon logic, but eventually the levels of logic become too complex to navigate in daily life so you have to simply believe that the logic is sound, even if you have't proven it. Everyone holds beliefs, as they are vital to functioning in society and plan for the future. If someone truly held no belief then they would not be able to integrate into a civilized society, and would not be able to understand hypotheticals or make decisions that consider consequences or results.
ultimately something gets substituted for god for a belief. Often it's something like the Democrat party or Taylor Swift, but then you're putting your believe into a living entity that can use your belief in them to pillage your assets and abilities.
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- Jan 1, 2024
>the statement "there is no god" is in itself a belief
Wrong statement
>Logic is built upon logic which is built upon logic
What do you mean by Logic because by logic you might mean something you believe in which can be totally wrong, you are building yourself on false beliefs
> ultimately something gets substituted for god for a belief. Often it's something like the Democrat party or Taylor Swift, but then you're putting your believe into a living entity that can use your belief in them to pillage your assets and abilities.
This doesn't make sense
also the 3 links you shared didn't add something up and didn't validate your argument it is quite the opposite
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>Wrong statement
Right statement. being absolutely certain that something doesn't exist (to the point that you seek out evidence to prove it's nonexistance) is a belief. The opposite of a belief is not disbelief, but indifference. "Trump is a good president" is a belief. "Trump is NOT a good president" is also a belief.
Do you go out of your way to tell everyone that Santa Clause doesn't exist, and that you don't believe in him?
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- Nov 9, 2023
Though there are "atheists" who, like practitioners of some Buddhist schools deny the existence of deities but fully accept the existence of magic, I presume here we are talking about "Materialists". Just to clarify at the start.
The Materialist (sometimes called a "Positivist") works from observations of the world around them. That which can be observed or proven being the TL;DR.
Though theism has produced many, varied and highly sophisticated schools of logic and reasoning at some point we do move back to the key issue.
At some level, the Theist accepts a claim based not on reason, intellect or evidence but on dogma alone. Materialists, particuarly scientists, may have "theories", things that are very likely true or they suspect may be true, but (generally) accept may not be true due to as of yet uncovered reasons.
Though theists come at this with various strengths of belief, from the Catholic "Submission of the intellect to the Roman Pontiff is required for salvation" to the New Age "All magic systems are valid UwU", they are accepting a claim of something that cannot be observed, cannot be verified, cannot be challenged, is based on a dubious source, contradicts reality or some configuration of several of these.
This is huge and has significant impact on human relationships, society and development. Take something like homosexuality. Across the board in Europe pre-Christianity, being a submissive male was dishonorable (less so for the active partner). Let's use that as a baseline.
The non-theist accepts that homosexuality is dishonorable because the culture says so. The non-theist can be presented with arguments or evidence on this topic, say that "You only believe this because your predecessors did" which he may or may not accept. As we've seen, it's usually accepting that.
The theist does not do this. The Bible/Koran/Torah/[Choose your favourite] tells him that it is revealed truth that all fags must be put to death. It doesn't matter that there's no explanation why, it doesn't matter that meteors haven't fallen akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. The theist must believe on pain of punishment, and cannot be talked around. The theist must also deny objective reality around them even when the facts are staring them in the face; most famously in the case of Gallileo but also when the Aztecs discovered that actually, the sun did rise regardless of how many people they killed the day before.
It is a convenient short hand though. A child, religious or non, will probably struggle to vocalise their value system. They could well say "I'm Muslim", but what are the chances that they even know what the Hadith say let alone who they're talking to.
When someone asks me what I believe in I don't go into an speel about "Well I appreciate the work of the early existentialists and...". I just say "Not big into religion personally". The other person gets the jist, and is probably looking to see if I share a tribal marker anyway rather than what I actually believe in.
I really wish the Mormon missionaries and the Jehova's Witness ladies would get this when they keep putting the hand written letters into my mailbox asking this exact question.
I'm not going as far as to say some types of theism are a "bad" way to look at the world. They bring some people comfort, stave off depression and bring meaning into their lives.
Are they real, or true? I'd say no, but those are two things that might not be in someone else's value system as they are in those of others.
Theism isn't a little claim like, "Pinapple belongs on pizza" that isn't a big deal. The ramifications on human society have been and continue to be of huge consequence.
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- Mar 30, 2023
additionally athiesm sometimes seems to operate under the assumption that we are in the end game of advancing our sciences and technology, and that religion and faith is completely separate. if it turns out we are living in a simulation or artificially created universe and there is a hyper advanced entity that created our universe and has meddled in ways that were recorded in our most ancient religious texts, would an athiest refuse to admit the entity exists even if it's across from the coffee table from him drinking a glass of wine? Or would he accept the entity exists but refuse to connect it with the "god" character that exists in the oldest written records of the Earth, even if the entity point blank said it happened and showed videos?
Or do athiests believe that the universe cannot be a simulation or artificially generated?, and will reject evidence that proves otherwise?
Or do athiests believe that the universe cannot be a simulation or artificially generated?, and will reject evidence that proves otherwise?
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I didn't think that anecdote would be nitpicked to hell and back so I didn't add proper context. This was an argument I overheard years ago between two teenage girls, I didn't hear the whole thing.
And when you expect the answer to be "the Big Bang" instead of God, you're not asking "what do you believe in", you're asking "what do you think created the Universe". Those are different. I believe the universe was created by the Big Bang, but I do not worship an explosion the same way Christians worship God, the Big Bang is not a deity. If asked "What do you believe in" within the context of religion, my instinct is not to answer "the Big Bang" because it doesn't fulfill the same role God does in the Christian belief system. Nothing fulfills the role God does in atheist beliefs.
This is what I mean when I say Christians are inherently unable to understand atheists.
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Because a lot of atheists have the same reactionary mindset as most leftists, they simply look at what has worked for thousands of years and do the opposite, so we get opinions like "What if we... we're nice to violent criminals", "What if we... allowed savages from overseas into the country" and "What if God was like fake and stuff".
They have no solid disagreement with Christianity, just a "It's old we need """progress"""" mentality.
They have no solid disagreement with Christianity, just a "It's old we need """progress"""" mentality.
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Tell me again why your belief in a sky daddy in any deserves an intellectual response.
Maybe they're just speaking down to the tarded,
Maybe they're just speaking down to the tarded,
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- Nov 9, 2023
I think this is an example of the disconnect mentioned above.
Okay. So there is this super intelligent alien entity that made the universe. Its facing across the table from me.
1. I'm seeing nothing here that says this entity is the absolute and ultimate. Does this creature that created the universe have its own creator? The infinite regress of creators come to mind.
2. I'm sure the average tech geek probably looks like a deity to the earth's own uncontacted tribes. Is this entity actually divine, or merely more technologically advanced than us? Humans frequently lie and claim to be deities when they are not even today; Amy Carlson and the whole Mother God cult for instance.
3. The entity shows solid proof that the world was made as written in the scriptures. I genuinely don't think most theists would like this one. This entity created a world on which rape, murder etc exist and then proceeds to pontificate on things that must be stopped, but has no desire to do so itself. Epicurus riddle. God is a Sims player, creator yes. Source of morals and value? Probably not.
Just a few initial reactions.
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>And when you expect the answer to be "the Big Bang" instead of God
i didn't expect the answer to be "the Big bang" i just said that nothing is a bad answer for "if you don't believe in God then what do you believe in?"
>This is what I mean when I say Christians are inherently unable to understand atheists.
as i said earlier that They are not too distant from each other like you preserved them
copying my answer for another buddy is not a cool move you are being biased
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- Dec 13, 2022
And I feel you're trying to misconstrue my point.
You gave the Big Bang as an example, and I followed through. That's all.
My main point is, when asked "what do you believe in", atheists say nothing because a) it's simpler to use in casual conversation (as @Karen of Human Resources mentioned) and b) when people ask this, they mean it as "which deity do you worship" or "which religion do you follow", in which case nothing is a perfectly acceptable answer.
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this is wrong and you try to make them too distant, the girl just didn't accept nothing as an answer that doesn't mean she don't see the point of the answer.
Marc
kiwifarms.net
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- Nov 10, 2022
Ignoring all the other circlejerks:
Midwits observe personalities who are godless as a byproduct of reason and, in the course of relating themselves to these personalities in a smallminded, egocentric manner, presume godlessness to be a path to reason. They don't recognize that, deity or no deity, the preoccupation with seeing improvements in themselves which aren't really there is the fundamental fault relegating themselves to something ridiculous. The moral compass is no substitute for ethics, no matter whether it points to the sky or to oneself. But billions of people apparently never learn this lesson; because they never even get to the point of recognizing that they don't need to impress strangers.
So my answer to your question is that anything within reach of retards will be consumed and/or masturbated with.
Midwits observe personalities who are godless as a byproduct of reason and, in the course of relating themselves to these personalities in a smallminded, egocentric manner, presume godlessness to be a path to reason. They don't recognize that, deity or no deity, the preoccupation with seeing improvements in themselves which aren't really there is the fundamental fault relegating themselves to something ridiculous. The moral compass is no substitute for ethics, no matter whether it points to the sky or to oneself. But billions of people apparently never learn this lesson; because they never even get to the point of recognizing that they don't need to impress strangers.
So my answer to your question is that anything within reach of retards will be consumed and/or masturbated with.
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- Jun 28, 2021
Because you've correctly perceived that they're not bright, they can't even see the most basic, fundamental natural truth, that God exists.