This was too good not to share.
As stated by Chris Stedman:
So let’s clear the air: Being an atheist does not require absolute certainty. It doesn’t mean you rule out the possibility of divine or supernatural entities existing. Instead, it is the position that such a possibility is unlikely, and that the case for God hasn’t been adequately made yet.
Watch the slut-shaming at it’s finest.
The main problem with the argument that if a woman wears certain clothing then she is partially responsible for being raped is not only is it absolutely false, but it also is a huge, huge insult on men. Men not incapable of rational thinking and self-control. The only person responsible for the actions of another human being is that human being. If a pretty girl walks by, it is 100% your responsibility, as a man, how to react. Even if she is intentionally seeking attention, your actions are your responsibility. Period.
From Buzzfeed UK, posted on Skepchick.
Just a note: This image isn’t criticizing anyone with legitimate gluten-intolerance. It is pointing out that “gluten-free” does not mean healthy, just like “100% natural” really doesn’t mean anything. Snake venom is also 100% natural.
Male privilege is “I have a boyfriend” being the only thing that can actually stop someone from hitting on you because they respect another male-bodied person more than they respect your rejection/lack of interest.
-Uknown
Here’s the link on Steven Novella’s blog, NeuroLogica.
I believe it is 6:45pm-8:30pm EST tomorrow, hosted by Intelligence Squared.
It looks like they are taking the Heaven/no Heaven approach, as opposed to the more broad question of life after death. I’m a huge fan of Dr. Novella so I am really looking forward to this. One thing I need to point out after looking at the descriptions of these debaters, getting a degree and writing a book does not automatically ensure your credibility as a scientist.
Shoot me a comment if you are planning on joining! (If you can’t catch it live, it will probably be available on YouTube afterwards.)
We all know there is no shortage of internet trolls.
Months ago, I started posting on Reddit. My goal was to have discussions, usually over controversial topics. However, I soon found out that if you don’t take the popular opinion, you get harassed and trolled for it. That’s fine. At least they had r/atheism.
Well, turns out that wasn’t any better. As a community, r/atheism isn’t anything more than a condescending and arrogant attitude towards religion, with maybe a little science thrown in. I even tried to bring up the flaws in this attitude against religion (as it does not promote critical thinking and can actually cause those who are on the fence about their beliefs to defend them even stronger), but was labeled a troll myself. The funny thing was, I was even banned. The crime? Simply deleting my posts that were a few days old. I explained that I had received creepy messages from people who admitted to going through my post history and asking questions about my posts, so I felt more comfortable deleting them. I didn’t think much of it. But, I guess r/atheism moderators are so intelligent that they used their superior logic abilities to conclude that the only reason why I would delete my post history is to cover up my trolling. They had caught me. Why would I delete my post history, if not to delete evidence of my trolling? (Although, I was banned without evidence, which hilariously uproots their entire argument.) I tried to clear this up with the moderators, since there was an obvious misunderstanding, but I was shocked at how absolutely arrogant they were and unwilling to accept any other possibility than the one they decided on.
It was after this experience I realized something:
Being atheist does not make you intellectually superior. Yet many act as if they are.
There’s this attitude of “I are smarter than you” that I’ve really tired of. This attitude, the same I experienced from the r/atheism moderators, is actually harmful to humanity. In my case, a group of atheists were completely convinced of a story they made up in their heads that seemed more logical to them. And because they considered themselves intellectually superior, it wasn’t worth admitting they made a mistake…which is absolutely detrimental to their ability to figure out the best way to handle each situation as they come. This is not science. This is not critical thinking. This kind of thinking is why innocent people end up in jail. Now, I’m by no means comparing my trivial misunderstanding to the countless of falsely accused individuals. But this is why it’s so fucking important to look at evidence and collect enough before making a judgement.
This event motivated me to be a different kind of atheist. I decided I wanted to be pro-science and pro-critical thinking. If my best interest is to help people learn to become better critical thinkers, making fun of religion is unacceptable. Believing that I am smarter than religion folks is dangerous and could result in my inability to view evidence and judge situations without personal bias. I have to be comfortable in admitting that I may be wrong. Which means, being able to admit that I may be wrong about the existence of a God. (I don’t think there is and that’s how I live my life, but no, I can’t really prove it.) I trust people who can admit they can’t trust their brains and who must go through a more accurate process in finding the “truth.” I do not trust people who act as if they know the absolute truth.
So this is my attitude, an attitude I think every atheist should have: I am not smarter than you. I only seek to understand you. Before I can ask you to think more critically about your beliefs, I need to make sure I’m doing the best I can to think critically about mine. I do not trust my brain and neither should you.
Never stop questioning what you think you know.
When I “came out” as an atheist, I was surprised to find out that not many people know what an atheist is.
“No way!” people said. “You can’t be atheist. You’re so nice!”
“But…you are nothing like that mean other atheist I know!”
“Maybe you’re just agnostic?”
No, I’m atheist. That’s why I said, “I’m atheist.”
There’s this image of a religion-hating, argumentative person who wants to make fun of everyone else from an elevated position. This person just wants to rain on everyone’s parade and act all snarky when others pray around them. This person has little or no respect for others who choose to believe in God or any religion. While there are atheists who fit this description closely (possibly because this is how they thought atheists were supposed to act, too), these attributes are rarely true.
So without being in any order of importance, here is my list of myths about atheists.
1. Atheists hate religion.
Some do. Most don’t. In fact, there are many who are fascinated by religion and are even in one. Buddhism and Taoism are just two examples of atheistic religions. Sounds like an oxymoron? Well, it’s not. Being an atheist simply means “denying or disbelieving the existence of a supreme being or beings.” That’s it. I am one atheist who loves religion, especially Native American practices. Years past, I would even test out these practices for myself then assess my experiences afterwards. I didn’t believe people could experience journeys into the spirit world, but I was fascinated by the experience directed by my brain.
Unfortunately, a lot of “smarter than thou” people are attracted to atheism and love to circle-jerk about the stupidity of religion. R/atheism on Reddit is a pretty good example of this attitude. However, I find this same attitude listening to Christian radio stations. If you want an accurate representation of a group of people, don’t look at the loud obnoxious ones.
2. Atheism is a religion.
Some make this claim with a lack of understanding of the definition of “religion.” A religion is not just a practice, a group of people coming together, or a life viewpoint. These folks said it nicely: “If atheism is a religion then bald is a hair color… If atheism is a religion then health is a disease.” Or my favorite, “If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position.”
3. Atheists are critical-thinkers.
Simply choosing not to believe in God or gods does not mean you are A) logical, B) a skeptic, or C) smarter than God-believing folks. Skeptics are often atheists, but atheists are not necessarily skeptics. Unless an atheist values critical thinking and reasoning as primary methods to deciphering what is true and what is not, he/she is just as susceptible to believing pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, etc. as anyone else.
4. Atheists are just rebels who are angry with God.
Many atheists were once Christian or another religion. Sure, some felt oppressed and upset at the overbearing pressures to follow the mold defined by their religious communities, but we aren’t all going through this teenage anti-authority phase. Likewise, many Christians used to be atheist. It’s natural to believe that your current views are better than those you’ve had in the past and feel “enlightened.”
5. Atheists have no morals.
Morals come from religion, right? No…religions have morals. (Sometimes.)
Morals are cultural views about what is accepted as “right” or “wrong” defined by the people. It’s wrong to hit a woman in America, but in many Middle Eastern countries hitting a woman is a man’s right. Many non-atheists are under the impression that since atheists have no God, they have no reason to be good people and thus do whatever they want. Despite the fact that I don’t believe a God is watching my every move, I live my life to be the best person I can. I want to be a good person, just like everyone else. I want my actions to aid mankind, not hinder it.
6. Atheists are unhappy with their lives.
Since religion can bring people joy, I can see how some may make this assumption. However, many atheists who once believed in God would argue that they are actually much happier freeing their minds from the dogma, fear, and guilt that comes with some religions. Belief in God is not needed to experience love, forgiveness, generosity, or gratefulness. The belief in an afterlife isn’t needed to be satisfied with your life.
On that note…
7. Atheists believe nothing happens when we die.
There are so many different views of the afterlife or lack of afterlife among atheists that there is really no consensus. Many just respond with “I don’t know.” We can speculate, think of possibilities, maybe prefer one over the others, but most of us have no idea. The natural human fear of death causes us to seek these answers in order to live our lives without this constant fear of death, so we cling onto these ideas.
Take a look at Stephen Cave’s talk on TED, “The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death.”
8. Atheists avoid anything spiritual.
Not only can you be religious and atheist at the same time, but spirituality is a basic human experience that doesn’t require belief in God. Many atheists may still practice yoga, meditation, anything that provides that feeling of “oneness” with the universe but also acknowledge the fact that our brains are tricky bastards that make it difficult to decipher reality from perception.
By generalizing an entire group based on stereotypes, we rarely will have an accurate interpretation of the people involved in that group. That goes for any group, not just atheists. So let’s all be smart together and stop expecting people to fit into these nice little pegs we made for them.
Now for some Marcus Aurelius wisdom:
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
Is there such thing as being too skeptical? Too logical? At what point does our use of logic prevent us from being happy?
We’ve all heard “ignorance is bliss.” Many of us would rather have a better grasp on reality than to be happy. As skeptics, our desires to question everything brings us closer to reality. Those little gold nuggets of truth bring us thrill, joy, and excitement. Though, can we find reasoning in everything? Is love logical? Or beauty? Art?
I’d say, No, of course not.
Intuition and emotions are really tricky. They can cloud our ability to make logical decisions, but maybe they aren’t useless. In science, we admit how unreliable humans are at accurately handling data so we follow the scientific method and peer review process to rise above our natural tendencies to be biased, incorrectly predicting odds, believing memory over fact, and countless more. But maybe, the key to finding that balance between logic and happiness is to know when it is more appropriate to use reasoning or to just enjoy imagination, emotion, and simply not making any sense at all.
Every once and a while, try turning off that Logic Switch. Float on your back in the ocean and pretend it is alive. Close your eyes and imagine yourself sinking into your bed with every exhale. Literally try to hear whispers in the wind. Explore these human experiences of spirituality (or the feeling of it).
…Just make sure to turn that switch back on when you’re done.
Photo Credit: Nattu, “Relaxing in Maldives,” June 7, 2008
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