Okay. There are no unicorns either. Happy?
If you want to do that, start a new thread. Ask atheists what they do believe in. They all have beliefs, just not theistic ones. I outlined some of mine as an example.
Atheists have gone beyond ‘there’s no god’, but not in some uniform or monolithic way. There are empirical atheists, rationalist atheits, and atheists who believe in crystal energy and Reptilians.
The only thing atheists have in common is atheism.
ETA: Another analogy: asking left-handed people to “go beyond” left-handedness. They have! But left-handedness is the only thing that puts them in the category of left-handed.
and why do you think we haven’t ? You still don’t get that ‘athiest’ is only one aspect do you?
If you are sincere in this, then where you went wrong is in thinking atheists are a group. A group with common objectives/liturgy/vision/philosophy.
But there is no ‘them’ to motivate.
If you want to know what the daily life differences are between someone religious and an atheist, you should ask on an individual basis. We are all individuals (except me of course).
Next you’ll tell me there aren’t any Pegusi either!
Well…I took my shot at it when I posed the question of Atheist Church? Good or Bad. It seems like that didn’t go over very well. You’ve been on SDMB longer than me. Why don’t you start a thread and after I do a little research, I’ll help you out.
That didn’t have anything to do with what you’re talking about now. In fact you really didn’t acknowledge most of the responses to your original topic.
Believe it or not some of us are trying to multi-task. Like I said before lots of good questions and just not enough time.
I think the general gist of this thread went over very well - for all participants BUT you - there was good discussion around ‘church’ and why it may/may not fit and why some do/some dont.
That you don’t like the outcome is actually pretty irrelevant.
No - you picked and chose your responses OR simply ignored the real questions - or both -
It’s not an issue of multitasking. You asked people what they think about one subject and then started talking about something else. Regardless, you’re still coming at this from the point of view that atheism is supposed to be a religion or a philosophy. It isn’t. It’s one idea that can be incorporated in to many outlooks on life just like belief in god can.
We’re still not understanding each other.
An atheist church is nonsensical because atheism isn’t a belief that you practice in a gathering place with like-minded fellows.
Atheists do have beliefs, but they are entirely distinct from atheism. You can be a Communist and an atheist, a humanist and an atheist, a Buddhist and an atheist, a libertarian and an atheist, and so on. Similarly, you can be a Communist and a Christian, a humanist and a deist, a libertarian and a Christian.
Alright, but as it’s more a poll than anything, I put in in IMHO:
See, therein lies the problem. For Americans (and I’m one of them), most of us are too busy to explore partial world views, philosophies, religions, and whatever. I would prefer an entire world view and just tinker with it a bit to make it more comfortable.
That’s why atheism isn’t particularly appealing.
That is why FB is growing by leaps and bounds. All you need to do is tinker with your FB page and it is yours the way you want it to be.
When I recently re-read the NT, I basically said I’ll throw out 20% of the passages and it will be perfect for me. Maybe I’m wrong but it works for me. And the good thing about churches is that they don’t give me a test every month to see if I adhere to every tenet.
If a whole worldview is what you want, you are barking up the wrong tree with atheism. There is not a single person whose entire worldview is atheism.
Take a gander at this, perhaps: Humanist Manifesto III, eleven paragraphs that lay out what humanism is.
So what? Most Americans are nominally Christians. Why aren’t you asking why they shouldn’t look to Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism? Why some made up “pchaos’s Atheist Church”?
Instead of “atheism”, insert “monotheism” or “polytheism” or “bi-theism” into your argument. Your thesis falls flat. Actually, that’s too kind. Your argument is nonsensical no matter how many, if any, gods you believe in.
I and other posters have made this exact point, so I suggest you go back and actually try to understand those posts.
OK. I think that sounds like extreme intellectual laziness and gullibility, and I don’t think you understand that this doesn’t appeal to everyone. I’m uncomfortable with the idea that someone should just give me a worldview that I have to swallow. If atheism doesn’t appeal to you for that reason, I don’t think that suggests there is a problem with atheism. I think a lot of atheists become atheists precisely because they’re not comfortable with the idea that one person or one group of people have all the answers.
If you insist on being intellectually lazy, don’t expect someone else to do the thinking for you and then reject the answers because you’re just too busy multi-tasking.
FWIW, I don’t find religion particularly appealing but you’ll never find me knocking at your door annoying you to just be reasonable and quit all that god bothering.
I agree, I’m just saying I’m like the average American. A 2 income family with children, who’s got time to look into the merits of different philosophies. I’ll just go down to the local church. It took me enough time just to delete the passages I wasn’t interested in the NT.
Do you remember when I asked you if you were interested in what was easy to believe, or what was true? This is what I meant.
That’s an excuse, not an explanation for why you have this world view.
I’m very much like the average American.
I have children.
I’m married.
I have a job.
I pay bills.
I have hobbies and interests.
I do not go to church.
Perhaps your time in church may be better spent on other pursuits. <shrug>