No matter how open-minded...

[JaceArveduin]

I don't understand people who do things 'out of the goodness of their heart'. There's no profit for the doer, unless the doer has the ideas of favours in mind, it just seems illogical to me.

That about sums it up for me. I don't know why a stranger would want to help me for no reward. I generally* don't help other strangers unless I'm in a fickle mood, so why are they helping me?

*My helping other's is generally limited a little bit of help in games.

 

[Grunt_Man11]

Snip

Sorry to burst your little bubble but... wait, no I'm not sorry. I'm amused. That's the word.

The thing is, atheism is not a religion. While it's certainly a 'belief' in scientifically backed facts and so on, it quite fundamentally differs from religions in a few key ways:

Atheist 'belief' is backed by scientific studies, experimentation and rational thought. Religions are based largely on pure theory with nothing to back it up.
Atheism acknowledges the possible existence of things not yet proved by science. Religion just asserts 'truth' without even acknowledging the gargantuan room for error or other more likely explanations.

It's not 'faith' if it's proven. Then it becomes fact. That is the base of atheism. Unless it can be proven, it can't be considered unvarnished truth. 'Faith' which is the cornerstone of religion is fundamentally different from this, which in turn shows rather eloquently that atheism =//= religion.

I will continue to respect your right to believe whatever you wish, but I do reserve the right to point out when it doesn't mesh even remotely with established facts. Does this make me a dick? An asshole if you will? Perhaps, but I don't see it, really. Well... not anymore of an asshole than the faith healer who convince AIDS patients to quit take their medication because 'faith will heal them', then condemn them for not having had enough faith when they inevitably die as a result. Or the people who say 'God wills it!' as the primary motivation for whatever atrocity they are committing. Or of course, the guy who believes he and those of his faith is favored by God/Jahve/Allah or the Great Donkey on the Moon over those who do not believe.

Or perhaps the parents who denied the blood transfusion that would save their kid's life, forcing the system to go through a long papermill to over-rule their decision... which in turn came along too late and caused the death of that child.

You'll excuse me if I don't find the minds capable of putting more stock in that kind of thing to be rational or something I can grasp myself. Being religious should not be a legally recognized shield from reason, logic and scientifically backed and supported treatment. I'm of course biased in this... but I've yet to see someone bring forth an actual logical argument that holds water in opposition of this.

Not sorry to burst your bubble here, but you've failed to argue that atheism is not a religion.

Here's why:
In order for something to be seen as fact by people, they need to have faith in it. Do you honestly think a scientist would come up with a scientific theory if he didn't have faith in it?

How many scientist believe that Hawkins theory about Black Holes is 100% fact despite there being no way it can be proven it. (Keep in mind that Hawkins himself lost faith in his own theory.)

I know what you're going to say. "It can't be proven, yet." And I say, "exactly." The other religions can make that same argument with the same result.
There's no logical way to prove a deity or all powerful entity exists, and no logical way to prove they don't exist either.

I've watched a number of atheist videos on YouTube, and none of them succeed in disproving the existence of theoretical deities or entities. All they succeed at is being a blatant attempt to justify intolerance towards, and bulling of, those who do believe in such things.

I mean why did you become an atheist?

I bet it was because you didn't have faith in the other religions, and needed something else to have faith in. You wanted something else to believe in. Thus you turned to atheism. You put your faith in atheism.

Faith = religion. Belief system = religion.

1+1=2 is only a fact because people have faith that it is a fact.

If mankind as a whole were to decide that the order the numbers 0-9 are to be changed say 0, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 instead of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Then suddenly 1+1=2 stops being a fact.

Facts aren't always concrete. If you really think about it, many are quite fragile and only exist because we allow them to.

 

[Crazy]

The problem is if you open your mind enough, your brain will fall over the floor.

 

[omega 616]

Reading books. I can't get into it no matter how much the book fits my interests.

Ok, I'll throw another idea in that's not quite as poignant as my previous one. I cannot comprehend why people would not like to read books.

It hurts my neck looking down all the time, then I put the book so I have to look straight ahead and it hurts my arms ... I cannot win with books or handheld consoles!

I don't get the internet. I just don't get it.

Doode! You totally have it! Apparently you have had it since 2008!

On topic. How girls don't play with there boobs all day!

I don't get some fetishes, I kind of get the feet thing (man feet are sweaty hairy things but womens feet are more elegant) ... the ones I am talking about are two girls one cup kinda thing. People get get there kicks how they like (unless it causes unwanted distress to somebody) but getting a horn when you go for a dump is way out of my comprehension!

Another one I don't get is people who marry things, like a woman married a wall and cheated on it with a fence ....

Spoiler

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/12/woman_leaves_berlin_wall_for_g.php

She was married to the wall for 29 years, then leaves it for a fence ... did the wall not put out enough? Was the fence a better listener?

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Heh. I've got a bit of that attitude. Or rather, after a while of being depressed I decided "fuck this, I need to stop caring so much" and just tried not to think so deeply about stuff. Tried to live more in the moment and such. Enjoy things even if they were just superficial and try not to look toward tomorrow.
I guess I'll go down quite a politically socially (I don't know. Is that the right term?) uncorrect road and say this as well: I feel alcohol really helped me. I'm not very socially active, and am absolutely horrible at talking to people. I'm really bad at looking people in the eye, and I hate being touched (well, unless it's a girl I'm interested in). I wasn't exactly the life of the party, and being alone and sober at parties didn't exactly help my mental state.
Reaching drinking age really helped with that. Drunk, I am quite sociable, don't mind physical contact, and I'm generally just happy.

Ha, I'm not a fan of - what I deem to be - unnecessary touching (even from my girlfriend, at times) and I will sometimes have trouble meeting people's eyes, something my dad has pointed out to me on multiple occasions. It's weird though because I'm not socially awkward or a particularly introverted person. I'm highly confident and quite a good public speaker (especially when expressing my own opinions).

In terms of the "not caring so much attitude"...I've had that for as long as I can remember. According to so many people in my family, I'm so laid-back that I'm practically horizontal lol...

Human psychology is weird eh?

 

[Chelsea O'shea]

people that use the phrase "hater" or add "ista" on the end of any English word such as "fashion-ista"

these things appear in no reputable dictionary,why do so many use them so frequently as if they count as part of the language?

 

[Unesh52]

Ok it's more like taking a character you like and then that artish tarnish everuthing about that character. Ok yes this can be apply to many things like rule 34 or drawing that person out of character but changing the phyiscal apperances of that character to something unappealing I cannot stand.
Yes that would be somewhat hypercritic of me since I'm a Brony but the things is or at least from my stand point is that the whole fat and muscular is seen as a fetish and yes even there is pony fetish out there but I am no where near into that at all.
Beside yes the pony show is consider to be weird but last time I check, fat or muscular fanart is no where accepted by the masses in the most posistive light at all (most of it).

Scarim, I'm tempted to give you leniency because I feel like you're an active member in the pony group here, but I can't help but point out your philosophical inattentiveness(and your misspellings - it's hypocritical, not hypercritic). You seem to acknowledge that it's ok to like things not accepted by the masses, but you make an exception so you can condemn people with an obesity fetish. That's not fair. Unless you can come up with a relevant difference between that and you being a brony (and no, it being gross to you is not a relevant difference), then your argument is wrong. Simple as that.

 

[Grunt_Man11]

Atheism is a religion.

...

Religion is about having faith.

Atheists have faith in science, technology, human ingenuity, and human creativity.
Thus atheism is a religion.

You are conflating faith and inductive/abductive reasoning. Furthermore, the idea that what people believe doesn't matter is destructive in the highest degree. I'm not saying that religious belief is destructive, I'm just trying to make the point that there is some category of beliefs that are degenerative to personal growth and social cohesion. Things like believing that the president is infallible or that aliens control the white house or that your pet rock has emotions and therefore your son's lack of care with him deserves serious reprimand - there are things that people should not believe.

Yeah, I see what you're saying here. Having faith is okay as long as it not detrimental to the well being of others, or yourself.

I also know that the only way to measure the well being of people is through physical, and emotional, evidence.

 

[ramboondiea]

lots of things,
alotof fetishes.
grunge music
death metal
who the fuck keeps giving alan titchmarsh work?
why my local tapas restaurant serves a carvery

 

[Necron_warrior]

I don't understand people who do things 'out of the goodness of their heart'. There's no profit for the doer, unless the doer has the ideas of favours in mind, it just seems illogical to me.

Really?
The idea of doing something just for the sole purpose of helping someone else is that strange?
Today I have a stranger I never saw, and probably will never see again, a Euro because he was on the same bus as I and lacked a euro for the ticket.

He didn't look poor, and he probably could have gone to a ATM and catch the next bus, but I had a spare Euro and now he can go to whatever in time.

I lost a Euro, but I helped someone out.

I know people do it, and it is a natural human thing to do, I just wonder why?.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I think you guys tend to generalize religion and portray it in more of a bad light than it deserves. There are many things about religion that have benefits. Yes, there are negatives to religion, but there are negatives to everything. Yes, the more zealous religious folk can do some very immature and very mean things, but so can a very zealous atheist.

Religion, in general, should serve one purpose for people: comfort. This comfort comes in many ways. It may come as comfort living in a bad situation, or handed a bit bit of bad luck, wondering why that is. Isn't the thought that maybe some unknown force that maybe has your eventual best interest in mind a more soothing thought that just thinking that your life is shit for no reason? That maybe, you are suffering now, but after you die you will enter into a paradise so blissful it cannot be described? Also, doesn't the idea that someone shaped us in His image make us sound so much more important than such an insignificant speck in the confines of the universe?

I understand that a lot of people defend that everyone has a right to believe whatever they want to believe as long as it isn't hurting anybody. I understand because I think that way too. However, you have to understand that most people who are against religion don't hold that point of view because they think it's silly or unnecessary, but because religion is really, really dangerous.

For every person who believes in God and thinks they should be kind to everyone they meet, there are two more who want homosexuals locked up. There have been thousands of wars fought over religious beliefs and tens upon millions of deaths because of it. Religion has unarguably brought more suffering and injustice to this world than any other idea ever conceived.

I know you still think it's impossible to stop people from believing whatever they want to believe, but think of this. Are they really believing what they want to believe? If an institution educates you from your youth and convinces you that their millenial beliefs are fact, is that freedom? Is that really what's best for that individual?

Religion is after all an organized belief system. If you take away the organization it isn't anything anymore and what's more, it's practically harmless. I think that in time, you might realize that anybody that needs something ethereal to hold faith in can always use a little more willpower and come up with their own conclusions. I think they can be happier that way.

I understand you arguments completely. As I said, religion has many negatives. But, the way I think about it, humans could bend any ideal or philosophy and bend it into a way that causes pain and destruction. Excuse the poor example, but remember that episode of South Park where Cartman goes to the further to get the Wii and all the Atheist groups are fighting over what they should be called? No matter what the debate is, no matter what the time or place or ideology, humans can and most likely will find a way to fight about it. Unfortunately, that is the way we are wired.

As for the organization of the Church, I find that many of what the Church teaches does promote hostility and completely agree with your "willpower" idea. But can people not still believe in God and make their own conclusions? My views are not based on the Church's teachings but my own thoughts about the world and God's role. I decided for myself how I saw Him and what He did. The two can still be mixed. I think it would be marvelous if humans could take only the good parts of religion (more specifically, Christianity, since that seems to be the trend here) and promote those. Alas, that is not the case; but it is what I follow.

 

[retyopy]

The Ponies.

You might want to expand on that so you don't get hit with a low content warning.

OT: For me, it's rap and hip hop. I can't get how people can honestly like that stuff.

Wow, that was really mature. Good job. Point for the bronies and the pegasisters.

OT: "Politically correct" people. You're still judging them, you're just judging them diffirently.

The extreme right. Here's why. [http://www.teapartypatriots.org/news/connie-lanzisera-why-i-joined-the-tea-party/]




I love this bit, just thought I'd quote it:

Now, I have discovered that the federal government is subverting our U.S. Constitution. There are over 30 czars that hold positions of power, running our country outside of our constitutional framework. The president, not the Congress, has created these czars. This means Congress does not have oversight of them. This is in direct violation of our Constitution.

Wow! 30 secret czars are in control of my country? That sounds completely logical!

 

[cgaWolf]

I know people do it, and it is a natural human thing to do, I just wonder why?.

Altruism in pack animals is an evolutionary advantageous tactic for the species as a whole.

 

[Soleron]

I don't understand how all politicians end up acting the same way. Surely by now someone idealistic (not acting in pure self interest at all time) would have ended up in power and remained so, even if only by chance?

 

[Rayne870]

People who dye their hair.

I can handle nose rings, nipple piercings, earrings, belly-button rings, and tattoos, but dying your hair, or altering any aspect of your body that you were born with just doesn't feel right.

Same with any cosmetic surgery.

I um...don't understand this rationale. Tattoos essentially dye your skin and will be with you for life, where as hair dye pretty much only lasts until it fades out or the hair grows out.

I cant understand people on facebook that routinely post chain letters or obvious spam. The latest example of this being several of my friends re-posting a "recall" on baby food, without having checked for news sources or a recall notice for the company, especially when they are given all of the tools to do so, a faux batch number is even provided in the spam. Furthermore there are no links to say a credible news outlet. I just don't understand people that will spread rumors without checking facts.

 

[Dango]

Why anyone cares about anyone else's religion.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Snip

snip

Not sorry to burst your bubble here, but you've failed to argue that atheism is not a religion.

Here's why:
In order for something to be seen as fact by people, they need to have faith in it. Do you honestly think a scientist would come up with a scientific theory if he didn't have faith in it?

How many scientist believe that Hawkins theory about Black Holes is 100% fact despite there being no way it can be proven it. (Keep in mind that Hawkins himself lost faith in his own theory.)

I know what you're going to say. "It can't be proven, yet." And I say, "exactly." The other religions can make that same argument with the same result.
There's no logical way to prove a deity or all powerful entity exists, and no logical way to prove they don't exist either.

I've watched a number of atheist videos on YouTube, and none of them succeed in disproving the existence of theoretical deities or entities. All they succeed at is being a blatant attempt to justify intolerance towards, and bulling of, those who do believe in such things.

I mean why did you become an atheist?

I bet it was because you didn't have faith in the other religions, and needed something else to have faith in. You wanted something else to believe in. Thus you turned to atheism. You put your faith in atheism.

Faith = religion. Belief system = religion.

1+1=2 is only a fact because people have faith that it is a fact.

If mankind as a whole were to decide that the order the numbers 0-9 are to be changed say 0, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 instead of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Then suddenly 1+1=2 stops being a fact.

Facts aren't always concrete. If you really think about it, many are quite fragile and only exist because we allow them to.

So, according to what you are saying, 1+1=2 is math. 1+1=2 is faith. Faith = Religion. Therefore, math is a religion??? Under this same logic, every ounce of our daily lives could be considered religion.

Faith does not instantly equal religion.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

People who are entirely logical about things. You know the kind, the ones who make the list and weigh up the pros and cons and make a decision based on that, not what they actually want. They're just so boring and I can't understand why the don't just act on impulse and do something because they can and not because it's beneficial to their life, their career, their grandkids, their coffin and the worms that will soon be devouring their corpse because the coffin was actually shit.