A bit of a philosophical type of question....(2 cents welcome)

shadowstriker86

New member
Feb 12, 2009
2,159
0
0
A question just popped into my head that i can't quite answer. Who values a life more, an atheist or a person with religious belief? I have no idea, because on the one hand, religious people are usually the ones who go out and protest against abortion (which is messed up btw, cause forcing a woman to have a kid after she's been raped is insult to injury on the highest level) but on the other hand, an atheist believes that this is it, and once you're gone, you're gone. At least thats from what i've come to understand anyway, any thoughts on this?
 

grimsprice

New member
Jun 28, 2009
3,090
0
0
An athiest. Don't let the Fundamentalists lie to you. We value life far more than anyone who believe in eternal life. FAR MORE.
 

Warrior Irme

New member
May 30, 2008
562
0
0
Personally I think that atheists value the idea of life on earth a little more than those that are religious. Those that are religious generally view life as a minor part of a greater existence.
 

Valate_v1legacy

New member
Sep 16, 2009
1,273
0
0
The atheist; most religions focus on an 'immortal soul'... So yeah conscious transfers/cloning are the holy grail's of atheists I presume..
 

Inverse Skies

New member
Feb 3, 2009
3,630
0
0
Neither probably values life more so to say, they just have different ways of approaching the same basic question. I guess in either sense both group is trying to live their life to the best of their ability - athetists because they get one shot, the religious so they can enjoy the spoils of the life beyond this one. There is no right answer, just differing views.
 

RebelRising

New member
Jan 5, 2008
2,230
0
0
At its most basic level, I think atheists value life more, while the religious value the afterlife more. Still, that doesn't stop a few of them from working to make this world a better place to live in, along with the atheists.
 

GreyWolf257

New member
Oct 1, 2009
1,379
0
0
I personally believe they both value life equally (unless the religious people are in a cult), and the question should probably not be focused towards these two groups, because they are too broad to answer accurately.

P.S: Just as a note, you might want to appear nonpartisan towards most issues when they have nothing to do with a topic, it runs the risk of alienating your viewers.
 

grimsprice

New member
Jun 28, 2009
3,090
0
0
Valate said:
The atheist; most religions focus on an 'immortal soul'... So yeah conscious transfers/cloning are the holy grail's of atheists I presume..
Only if you could somehow prevent a clone from starting synaptic firing in the test tube. You'd have to remove the brains 'spark plugs' so to speak and synthetically start them up during the transfer... otherwise it would be stealing a body.
 

Valate_v1legacy

New member
Sep 16, 2009
1,273
0
0
grimsprice said:
Valate said:
The atheist; most religions focus on an 'immortal soul'... So yeah conscious transfers/cloning are the holy grail's of atheists I presume..
Only if you could somehow prevent a clone from starting synaptic firing in the test tube. You'd have to remove the brains 'spark plugs' so to speak and synthetically start them up during the transfer... otherwise it would be stealing a body.
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
 

shadowstriker86

New member
Feb 12, 2009
2,159
0
0
GreyWolf257 said:
I personally believe they both value life equally (unless the religious people are in a cult), and the question should probably not be focused towards these two groups, because they are too broad to answer accurately.

P.S: Just as a note, you might want to appear nonpartisan towards most issues when they have nothing to do with a topic, it runs the risk of alienating your viewers.
well as i said, it popped in, and i thought about it for a good....20 minutes. so i wasnt exactly focused on the groups, but more on the reasoning for each one
 

shadowstriker86

New member
Feb 12, 2009
2,159
0
0
Valate said:
grimsprice said:
Valate said:
The atheist; most religions focus on an 'immortal soul'... So yeah conscious transfers/cloning are the holy grail's of atheists I presume..
Only if you could somehow prevent a clone from starting synaptic firing in the test tube. You'd have to remove the brains 'spark plugs' so to speak and synthetically start them up during the transfer... otherwise it would be stealing a body.
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
didnt they do that in an episode of batman beyond?
 

grimsprice

New member
Jun 28, 2009
3,090
0
0
Valate said:
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
Well yeah i suppose, but then again its not you is it? Its a clone of you with your memories. Your consciousness would die and your clone would live... Only a quasi immortality if you ask me...
 

Naeo

New member
Dec 31, 2008
968
0
0
That entirely depends on the person, not the belief.

An atheist might value life because an atheist probably believes that once you kill something, that's it, nothing more, the end, they're just gone. And so, life should not be taken away because you've taken everything from that person. An atheist may believe that life is worthless, though, as there's no divine/metaphysical justification for it, so it's as meaningless as a random rock you may pick up off the ground.

A religious person may think life is valuable because God gave it to them and having been given by God it is sacred and not to be destroyed. Or, in the case of Buddah, because this is effectively the only life we have (in the next reincarnation we will not remember this one, so it doesn't much matter after we die). A religious person might think life worthless/of little worth because it's the afterlife that counts.

And then there's the whole question of the life of the individual versus life as an idea. Does an anti-abortionist oppose it because of the sanctity of life (i.e. on principle), or because they specifically have in mind the life of the unborn? Does an atheist value the individual human, or humanity?

It doesn't really have anything to do with religion/atheism. It's about the person. Religion/atheism do have a say, yes, but you'll probably find similar numbers (by proportion) on both sides.
 

Valate_v1legacy

New member
Sep 16, 2009
1,273
0
0
shadowstriker86 said:
Valate said:
grimsprice said:
Valate said:
The atheist; most religions focus on an 'immortal soul'... So yeah conscious transfers/cloning are the holy grail's of atheists I presume..
Only if you could somehow prevent a clone from starting synaptic firing in the test tube. You'd have to remove the brains 'spark plugs' so to speak and synthetically start them up during the transfer... otherwise it would be stealing a body.
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
didnt they do that in an episode of batman beyond?
No, that was a different persons body.
 

Chaos Theory

New member
Oct 8, 2009
239
0
0
Religious care more....Christians and Buddhists in particular, the other Religious groups ......bit sketchy.
 

Valate_v1legacy

New member
Sep 16, 2009
1,273
0
0
grimsprice said:
Valate said:
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
Well yeah i suppose, but then again its not you is it? Its a clone of you with your memories. Your consciousness would die and your clone would live... Only a quasi immortality if you ask me...
Youre forgetting that all you are, all you know, is your memories.
 

Samurai Goomba

New member
Oct 7, 2008
3,679
0
0
Great, another topic where we can all talk about how great our particular religious viewpoint is. I was missing those.

And this isn't *really* a philosophical question at all, it's a request for people to start fighting with each other.

It depends on how you define "life." We should first classify the term before we debate it. Religious people do not view life the same way as others. Therefore they value different parts of it than atheists. Neither group values it "more" than the other in a quantifiable fashion. Life for a religious person typically begins with the birth of the soul, and does not end after the death of the body. Life for the atheistic person is usually defined by the physical "life," although many atheists amend that to not include life forms below a certain level of intelligence.

If I was a drinking man, topics like these would send me for the bottle.
 

grimsprice

New member
Jun 28, 2009
3,090
0
0
Valate said:
grimsprice said:
Valate said:
Thats a totally different theory than mine; which is more of a genetic memory thing, its EXACTLY THE SAME BODY with EXACTLY THE SAME BRAIN BUILDUP, the cosentiences would merge instanteneously... I think.
Well yeah i suppose, but then again its not you is it? Its a clone of you with your memories. Your consciousness would die and your clone would live... Only a quasi immortality if you ask me...
Youre forgetting that all you are, all you know, is your memories.
But in addition to your memories, you also have a consciousness, a chain of thoughts existing in a synaptic sea of memories. I tend to believe we have something on a higher level than simply memories being put through pattern recognition software. That synaptic activity wouldn't transfer with the memories...

At least thats what i believe...