For doper-Atheist friends of doper-theists.

Great Debates
21

Well done, Lobsang.

I believe that there is enough awesome wonder in the universe for both theists and atheists to appreciate, in agreement, without getting hung up on minutiae such as whether or not there is an afterlife (or a beforelife) and a timeless personality in charge of it.

Let us celebrate where we agree:[ul][li]That the universe has always existed, even if “always” is only 13.7 billion years. []That this region of the universe, having three dimensions of space and one of time, is such that hydrogen can be fused together to form helium and then oxygen, carbon and all kinds of other elements in enormous nuclear explosions called stars. []That those elements can form orbiting spheres called planets, and comets covered in complex organic compounds such that, when the two collide, amino acids form and develop into proteinoids having a spherical structure in which further polymers form, yielding RNA and eventually the self-replicating molecule DNA. []That the structures replicated thus have all manner of permutations, some of which last a very long time, thus becoming statistically more prevalent after a while. []That groups of these long-lived permutations become isolated from the rest, and thus develop different permutations, and that this process, when continued for 5 billion years, yields extremely complex permutations such as sensory appartus which can send information to a central processing unit. And that, finally, such a permutation can grow a processing unit so incredibly complex that it can develop language and cognitive ability so advanced that it can ask itself the question “how did I get here?”[/ul][/li]
This, to me, is wondrous enough. If the configuration of the processing unit in other such permutations called “belief in God” gives them happiness in addition to what I get from the above, they must be happy indeed! Personally, that particular configuration diminishes my happiness, but I would never dream of seeking to diminish that of my theistic brother or sister.

Like four lads from my home town said: All you need is love.

22

Here, here SentientMeat. I fully agree with you.

Although I must also add that I am an atheist happily married to a theist. We have both agreed to respect each others beliefs (or lack thereof). The only currently outstanding issue (mainly from my side) is how to bring the kids up. I try to take the position that they will be able to make up their own minds in the future.

23

This is pretty much how we handled it, too. This was simplified by the fact that, when our first two kids were little, I didn’t practice any organized religion. In fact, when the kids voiced desire for spiritual roots, that’s how I came to find the faith that I currently follow. Things are quite different now, though. My oldest considers herself, depending on which day you ask her, Wiccan or Christian; my middle girl, who is 13, considers herself Baha’i (like me) and as of now fully intends to make her Declaration when she’s 15. My youngest, who is four, is being raised Baha’i (with no objection from her father, who finds Baha’i to be the least offensive religion he’s ever encountered). What she’ll decide when she’s older, though, is anyone’s guess.