Compelled to Choose Sides. . .!?
Offline Is it just me. . . or does anyone else feel that they are compelled to choose sides when talking about What is better for the World and the human race: Religion or Non-Religion? Do we have to choose sides?
I consider myself an agnostic atheist, meaning i don't believe in a higher being other than humans and maybe aliens if they exist, because there is no hardcore proof. The only proof i will accept is a God to stand before me in its true form (whatever that is) and show me it's power? If I can't experience something like this, then for as long as i live I will stand firm in my belief. . .that there is no God.
As an Agnostic Atheist, I don't believe in the existence of a God because of the lack of evidence, but i do not claim to have the ability to prove to anyone that a God does not exist. I do not waste my time arguing with Christians or anyone about the existence of their God, as i could care less if someone is Christian or not probably because they have no direct control over my life.
Christians, or God fearing people in High positions in my government might definitely be something to worry about when we are talking about human rights. I'm sure that one of your major goals here address this issue. . . such as "gay marriages", "abortion" etc.
On this note i do support what you guys are doing here, but on another side i feel that alot of things have changed over the years except for one. . .
our desire to overpower others. . .
in this case im talkin about beliefs. . . we are fighting a war of belief systems and how they affect our lives. . .
plain in simple what this comes to is a battle between who's right and who's wrong. . .
maybe one day Atheists will be the Worlds Religion. Maybe Science will help all humans of all walks of life to clearly see that all past beliefs about a creator are simply false and irrational. Surely this is a possibly. . .
but will this really change anything at all. . . ?
I know it may seem like im contradicting myself and may seem as if im opposing what you guys are doing here, after i just said i support your cause.
But really im not. . . i do support your cause, and i don't want to be controlled by people who belief in something they can't physically prove.
but i stand on the fence of whether or not i want to fight this battle. I feel that if i side with you all and become a bit more proactive about this and physically do something about this, rather than just join forums and post my opinions about things and feel at home. I feel that if i do fight this battle and become more open about my atheism and actually engage in debates and other such activities that may help eliminate religion, i feel i will only be apart of a never ending struggle for human supremacy.
What do i mean? simple ok say we eliminate all religion from the face of the earth, all we have now are atheists. . . great! but. . . there is always another battle to fight. . .as history as shown us and even science that we as human beings are never satisfied and are continuously seeking for more. . . this simple desire factor causes continuous conflict.
I guess what im getting at here is that if i were to ever fight for anything wether it be verbaly or physically it would be for something that i know for sure without doubt will put and end world conflicts. . . which we might not ever see. . .
so i myself as an Atheist Support you Cause Verbally but i doubt that i will ever physically part take in your mission to eliminate religion.
But at the same time i feel compelled to make a choice, because what if someday I know this is a bit out there. . . but lets just say if one day Christians are standing on one side and atheist are standing on the other Armed and ready to tear each other to shit. . .fighting for the genocide of each other.
What am i to do. . . ? will i just say i don't want to be apart of this. . . and because the Atheists Army were one man short they lost war!! and ever last surviving atheist including myself will be locked away or put to death. . .
How do i escape a war I don't want to be apart of. . . ? because i feel that no matter what side wins, a new battle between sub-factions of a Religion will arise again and again.
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I don't think it's realistic to put an end to ALL conflict, just as there will always be SOME crime. But we can reduce it to a very low level, I believe, and certainly we can reduce the nuclear threat by an enormous amount. The key is to set a standard of rational discourse between and within nations based on hard evidence. By eliminating faith (belief with no evidence), we automatically reduce the excuses for going to war to basically self-defense. When there is a disagreement, follow the evidence, construct a rational resolution to the conflict, and you avoid a war, so long as both sides agree to follow the evidence and the rules of rational discourse. But if we allow things like the Iraq war, based on zero credible evidence, then war will never end, as it will be up to the whims of the leaders, rather than the cold hard facts.
So, you want to reduce world-conflict to a safe level? Support the mission of bringing rationality to the world's peoples. That's the best guarantee I can see.
If I were in that position, I would not fight for genocide either way. Genocide is never worth fighting for, IMO. I would defend the side that is fighting against genocide. I can tell you which side I think that would be right now.
The only basis for such wars is faith. Therefore, side with rationality and help to eliminate this irrational justification for war.
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Ideally taking the rational road you present above natural, makes rational sense. Problem is, the leaders of the world's most religious societies, like the US, Israel and a host of Islamic nations, today use the religious beliefs of their populace to achieve their imperialistic political agendas. Throughout history, "wars of religion" have served to obscure the economic and strategic interests behind the conquest and invasion of foreign lands. "Wars of religion" were invariably fought with a view to securing control over trading routes and natural resources.
America's 'Christian' Crusade in Central Asia and the Middle East is no exception. The "war on terrorism" purports to defend the American Homeland and protect the "civilized world". It is upheld as a "war of religion", a "clash of civilizations", when in fact the main objective of this war is to secure control and corporate ownership over the the extensive oil wealth in Islamic nations.
Teaching the world's populace 'HOW' to think, rather WHAT to think, is idealistic at best at the present time; even though eventually, far into the future, this 'education' will provide a panacea to the irrational, faith-based support a religious populace, like that found in America and the middle-east, use to back the imperialistic motives of their faith-based leaders.
Critical thinking is not inherent in the individual, nor is it instinctual or genetically derived. It is a learned skill. Reason can exist with faith only if the world's religious adherents can keep their faith reserved to their respective religons while learning to use reason for their reality here on earth. I too used to believe that might be possible. Even though history has proven us both wrong natural.
Due to the inherent intolerance an adherent needs to remain a religious adherent to any of the 3 major religions and its multitude of sects within monotheism, the world's religious Leaders and their adherents can NOT keep their faith reserved to their respective religons, nor utilize reason for their reality here on earth. The very nature of religion makes it impossible for religious leaders to keep their faith separate from the 'realities' of the real world around them...
If there was a God, Man wouldn't have had to invent him [reversing Voltaire's famous quote].