4 ms·

Every decision you make is made under a great deal of uncertainty. A person typically holds overarching beliefs that govern those decisions. For example, how m

Every decision you make is made under a great deal of uncertainty. A person typically holds overarching beliefs that govern those decisions. For example, how much value do you put into close relationships versus distant ones? Is charity worthwhile if it helps someone who can't help you back? Maybe someone who doesn't even know you?

randlet 6y ago
How does that imply I have a religion? Doesn't religion have some element of the supernatural by definition? edit: reworded.
- narraturgy 6y ago
  No, it doesn't. While the discussion of the definition of religion would result in its own holy war, suffice to say that defining religion based of the involvement of the supernatural is cyclical logic used to discredit any opposing religion. "Pagans believe in the supernatural, the sun isn't a mythical being! Only belief in my God is grounded in reality" is not functionally different from "Theists believe in the supernatural, there is no mythical God! Only my belief in the lack of anything beyond my current understanding is grounded in reality."
  - randlet 6y ago
    If we can't agree on a definition for religion, then saying I belong to a religion is a fairly meaningless statement no?
    - animal_spirits 6y ago
      Linguistics are the crux of all philosophical discussions
  - username90 6y ago
    Atheists don't believe they know everything, they just believe that people are full of shit when they talk about Gods or similar. It doesn't require any belief in the existence of or lack of supernatural things, just figuring out that it is much more likely that people are manipulative liars than that they got some profound message from some higher being.
ko27 6y ago
So you are saying that you need some sort of personal gain (ticket to an utopian afterlife for example) to be a nice person?
- dpoochieni 6y ago
  That is such a cliched, average atheist argument. Btw, even taking a very atheistic perspective, only focused on how humanity evolved (which is a selfish process in spite of your future protestations of how you have trascended it) we can see we evolved to be nice only out of self-preservation. One would think that is the ultimate personal gain but I'll grant you that reminding yourself you are a good person must be a psychological gain of its own.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Every decision you make is made under a great deal of uncertainty. A person typically holds overarching beliefs that govern those decisions. Having beliefs is not the same as having religion. Even having theistic beliefs isn't the same as having religion.

randlet 6y ago

How does that imply I have a religion? Doesn't religion have some element of the supernatural by definition? edit: reworded.

narraturgy 6y ago
No, it doesn't. While the discussion of the definition of religion would result in its own holy war, suffice to say that defining religion based of the involvement of the supernatural is cyclical logic used to discredit any opposing religion. "Pagans believe in the supernatural, the sun isn't a mythical being! Only belief in my God is grounded in reality" is not functionally different from "Theists believe in the supernatural, there is no mythical God! Only my belief in the lack of anything beyond my current understanding is grounded in reality."
- randlet 6y ago
  If we can't agree on a definition for religion, then saying I belong to a religion is a fairly meaningless statement no?
  - animal_spirits 6y ago
    Linguistics are the crux of all philosophical discussions
- username90 6y ago
  Atheists don't believe they know everything, they just believe that people are full of shit when they talk about Gods or similar. It doesn't require any belief in the existence of or lack of supernatural things, just figuring out that it is much more likely that people are manipulative liars than that they got some profound message from some higher being.

ko27 6y ago

So you are saying that you need some sort of personal gain (ticket to an utopian afterlife for example) to be a nice person?

dpoochieni 6y ago
That is such a cliched, average atheist argument. Btw, even taking a very atheistic perspective, only focused on how humanity evolved (which is a selfish process in spite of your future protestations of how you have trascended it) we can see we evolved to be nice only out of self-preservation. One would think that is the ultimate personal gain but I'll grant you that reminding yourself you are a good person must be a psychological gain of its own.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Every decision you make is made under a great deal of uncertainty. A person typically holds overarching beliefs that govern those decisions. Having beliefs is not the same as having religion. Even having theistic beliefs isn't the same as having religion.