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That used to be a common argument against atheism but I think it's been largely debunked over time (e.g. people can live without religion and won't necessarily
by olalonde 10y ago
That used to be a common argument against atheism but I think it's been largely debunked over time (e.g. people can live without religion and won't necessarily replace it with something worse). There's also a distinction to be made between voluntary association through shared interests (e.g. on Hacker News) versus a largely irrational allegiance towards a nation state (which is not usually a deliberate decision but a product of the birth lottery).
I do agree that the modern welfare state would likely be difficult to maintain without national identity.
- harryh 10y agoA pretty big percentage of atheists have replaced religion with environmentalism. The narrative is basically the same: We used to live in paradise but then man was corrupted and if we don't repent fast enough we'll be doomed to eternal damnation.
- SilasX 10y agoAnd to extend the analogy, they're deeply offended at technological solutions to things that could be solved with self control. "Birth control? Just stop having sex when you don't want a kid." "Carbon sequestration? Just stop being so wasteful."
- sctb 10y agoArguments are easy when you can place whatever concepts you like in another's head, but we ask that comments stay civil and substantive on Hacker News. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- harryh 10y agoSorry, didn't mean to cross a line!
- olalonde 10y agoFWIW, I don't think your comment deserved to get killed and I don't entirely disagree with it but I'm skeptical that the percentage is as high as you imagine and it's not obvious to me that environmentalism is strictly worse than religion (the environmental extremists seem less dangerous than the religious ones for example).
- harryh 10y agoNot my house, not my rules. Given that, I'll leave the topic to rest.