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I'm a lifelong atheist and it doesn't bother me. The public education I received was rather subpar in my opinion and I probably would have fared better in an en

I'm a lifelong atheist and it doesn't bother me. The public education I received was rather subpar in my opinion and I probably would have fared better in an environment like a catholic school. If a voucher program was implemented I might even consider sending my future children to one. The primary points of contention between the atheist and the religious person are how the universe was created and what happens after you die. Both have very little effect on actual day to day living.

edblarney 10y ago
"The primary points of contention between the atheist and the religious person are how the universe was created and what happens after you die." No, totally not. Do you know who conceived of the 'Big Bang'? It was Father David LeMaitre - a Catholic Priest - and Physicist. The Catholic Church is 100% behind the 'big bang' and 'evolution'. There's little dissonance between the church and science. The 'difference' between atheists and religious types - should be better described as the difference between 'materialists' and 'spiritualists'. 'Materialists' (atheists are usually de-facto this) - believe that the material world is all there is, and that's that. 'Spiritualists' believe that life is an expression of something greater. 'Science' is actually rooted in Metaphysics, which is the trunk of the tree below 'Physics' (see Descartes). The problem with most scientists/rationalist/atheists today is that they have forgotten their metaphysical underpinnings ... "Both have very little effect on actual day to day living." I see what you're saying - but maybe not. If you believe in something greater than you, you might be more inclined to think much more long term, make sacrifices for the greater good, for the community, for future generations. If one believes that 'this is all there is', then one might be inclined to simply pursue highly selfish and hedonists endeavours, because after all 'sympathy' and 'empathy' are just 'emotions' - and in a purely material world there is no 'right and wrong' etc. It'd be nice if all schools at least taught metaphysics in high school, i.e. the underpinning of how we think about the universe. As it stands, most public schools teach a very materialist viewpoint by default. And yes, there are tons of atheists in 'Catholic Schools' because they tend to be very good. You should wonder why all those crazy religious catholics basically invented common education as we understand it, and established most of the best universities (100% of the Ivy League, Cambridge, Oxford etc. etc. :) :) (mostly not Catholic, but religious nonetheless) Anyhow - it'd be nice for people to have a little more choice in education, without having to entirely deconstruct public education, which is important. P.S. I'm not Catholic :)
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  This is my point. We all want food in our bellies, a roof over our heads and a safe place for our kids to play. The metaphysical world plays no role in that. Thus, it isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Carl Sagan was able to explain how I feel better than I ever could when he commented on this image: http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56c03accdd08950d408b4590-1041-781/540616main_pia00452-43_full.jpg http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56c03accdd08950d408... "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."

edblarney 10y ago

"The primary points of contention between the atheist and the religious person are how the universe was created and what happens after you die." No, totally not. Do you know who conceived of the 'Big Bang'? It was Father David LeMaitre - a Catholic Priest - and Physicist. The Catholic Church is 100% behind the 'big bang' and 'evolution'. There's little dissonance between the church and science. The 'difference' between atheists and religious types - should be better described as the difference between 'materialists' and 'spiritualists'. 'Materialists' (atheists are usually de-facto this) - believe that the material world is all there is, and that's that. 'Spiritualists' believe that life is an expression of something greater. 'Science' is actually rooted in Metaphysics, which is the trunk of the tree below 'Physics' (see Descartes). The problem with most scientists/rationalist/atheists today is that they have forgotten their metaphysical underpinnings ... "Both have very little effect on actual day to day living." I see what you're saying - but maybe not. If you believe in something greater than you, you might be more inclined to think much more long term, make sacrifices for the greater good, for the community, for future generations. If one believes that 'this is all there is', then one might be inclined to simply pursue highly selfish and hedonists endeavours, because after all 'sympathy' and 'empathy' are just 'emotions' - and in a purely material world there is no 'right and wrong' etc. It'd be nice if all schools at least taught metaphysics in high school, i.e. the underpinning of how we think about the universe. As it stands, most public schools teach a very materialist viewpoint by default. And yes, there are tons of atheists in 'Catholic Schools' because they tend to be very good. You should wonder why all those crazy religious catholics basically invented common education as we understand it, and established most of the best universities (100% of the Ivy League, Cambridge, Oxford etc. etc. :) :) (mostly not Catholic, but religious nonetheless) Anyhow - it'd be nice for people to have a little more choice in education, without having to entirely deconstruct public education, which is important. P.S. I'm not Catholic :)

cmdrfred 10y ago
This is my point. We all want food in our bellies, a roof over our heads and a safe place for our kids to play. The metaphysical world plays no role in that. Thus, it isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Carl Sagan was able to explain how I feel better than I ever could when he commented on this image: http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56c03accdd08950d408b4590-1041-781/540616main_pia00452-43_full.jpg http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56c03accdd08950d408... "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."