Not a pitting of Lobsang, per se, but I am pitting the arrogance displayed in his OP found here.
Anyone that claims to “Know the Truth” is an idiot at best, and possibly Westboro Baptist Church level crazy, too. Atheism is a belief…or lack of belief…like any other. It is either true or not true. It is certainly possible that one or more religions have some basis in reality. Nobody gets to “know” for sure until you die. If you wake up on the other side, hopefully there will be time for an “Aw, shit” before the fires of perdition claim you.
As an Atheist, you are not better, smarter, sexier, or otherwise superior to a believer because of what you believe. You eat, sleep, shit, fuck, and breathe the same as a theist. Get over your smug superiority already.
Nobody “knows” the ultimate answers. Life is a cosmic crap shoot, and you don’t get to roll the dice until you die, if ever.
Anyone that claims to “Know the Truth” is an idiot at best, and possibly Westboro Baptist Church level crazy, too. Rejection of dowsing is a belief…or lack of belief…like any other. It is either true or not true. It is certainly possible that one or more forms of remote sensing have some basis in reality. Nobody gets to “know” for sure until you die. If you wake up on the other side, hopefully there will be time for an “Aw, shit” before some sort of enraged spirit demon splices your head with an enchanted Tarot deck.
As someone who doesn’t believe in remote sensing you are not better, smarter, sexier, or otherwise superior to superstitious people because of what you believe. You eat, sleep, shit, fuck, and breathe the same as a middle-aged Wiccan with creepy clothing. Get over your smug superiority already.
Nobody “knows” the ultimate answers. Life is a cosmic crap shoot, and you don’t get to roll the dice until you die, if ever.
He’s more damning with faint praise by suggesting that belief in an omnibenevolent deity is somehow beneficial or desirably for, well, obvious reasons. So there’s that.
His OP was hardly arrogant. Would he have been “an idiot at best” if he treated the nonexistence of fairies as a given?
By the standards we use for everything but religion and other garbage beliefs, atheism is as close to “obviously true” as you get. Saying “there is no God” is no more “arrogant” or unreasonable than saying “there is no Oberon” or “there is no Flying Spaghetti Monster” or “Godzilla is fictional”. Claiming that belief in God deserves to be taken seriously; THAT is arrogant.
About as likely as The Lord of the Rings turning out to be a documentary.
Well, yes, we are superior in one small way; being right. And as a rule atheists are more intelligent, better educated and more rational. Because being a theist is stupid.
Or you could waste what’s left of your life worrying about all the things that could happen to you after you die-bearing in mind that of all the millions of possibilities that exist, we only has solid evidence for the one that involves decomposition.
No. It’s more of a built up over time thing. ** Lobsang**'s thread just tipped the scale in favor of commentary. That’s why I’m not pitting him, I’m pitting an attitude I see among Atheists–one of which I happen to be. I’m more of a “Don’t bother me with that religion crap” kinda Atheist, though. Not so much into the “Theists are fools deserving of mockery and scorn” kinda Atheism. Thus, posting ensued.
So, instead of finding a post that could serve as an example of what you are bitchin’ about, you take the lazy way out and just pick the most current one that uses the term “atheist”.
How’s that working out for you so far?
The point of my sarcastic reply, which has been echoed non-sarcastically by others since, is that disbelief in God is on no less firm footing than disbelief in other things that we consider obviously wrong.
For any given belief, there is always some scenario by which it could be right or wrong, so you can never be certain that a belief is true. For example, I cannot rule out the idea that the Holocaust is an elaborate hoax performed by aliens with an amazing ability to fabricate evidence.
But the point is that believing that God does not exist is on no less firm footing than believing that the Holocaust occurred or that Jupiter orbits the Sun. It’s no more arrogant to believe that God does not exist than it is to believe that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a hoax.
(yes, I did just compare belief in God to Holocaust denial. This is because I actually do think that the former idea is no more defensible than the latter. I am willing to defend this idea.)
I think that any arrogance on the part of atheists is not because they think they “know the truth” but rather because they think they are behaving in a rationally superior way, making the best possible conclusions based on the available evidence.
If God were to reveal itself to everyone in the world tomorrow, I think many atheists would not regret their previous ignorance and gain respect for theists but rather would continue to believe that prior to the revelation, they were still behaving in a rationally optimal way.
Thor’s not interested in bong hits, Oak. Just do your bit for the common man (Odin’s the god of heroes, kings, & other assholes), and you’re in good with the Lord of Thunder.
Not that it matters. I cribbed the Valhalla list a little while back, and you’re on it. so unless you massively piss off the Aesir in the next–well, you’re better off not knowing the date–you’re good for feasting, wenching, and rassling between then and Ragnarok.
