They’re neutral, slamming the top 300 religions of the world about the same.
But, from the narciss-uh, monotheistic point of view, it’s gonna feel like they’re targeting you.
I agree, so dumb.
I’m thinking this was made by a religious person who has no idea what Atheism is.
Atheists are neutral
Who is saying this?
Literally nobody. This is confusing atheism with agnosticism.
Or, if I’m being charitable, they’re confusing the starting position and the conclusion. If you start from a position of neutrality and follow evidence-based reasoning, the conclusion is either atheism or agnosticism.
Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive terms. The first refers to belief and the second one refers to knowledge. It’s perfectly possible not to believe in the existence a given god (belief) and at the same time not know with certainty whether it exists (knowledge).
I’ve always understood the colloquial meanings in practice today to be that atheism is active disbelief where agnosticism is essentially choosing not to choose (for lack of information).
I understand your point, linguistically and philosophically, but I don’t really think that’s how most people - even atheists and agnostics - use the terms today.
Through not choosing, agnostics are atheists. Agnosticism is just a subcategory of atheism, and since it derives from the binary of knowing or not knowing, the only other alternative is gnostic atheism.
Which itself is pretty irrelevant since it implies knowledge of the nonexistence of divinity, which implies it’s possible to empirically disprove divinity, and since it’s not possible to actually prove a negative, gnostic atheism is impossible. Therefore all atheists are agnostic (and all agnostics are atheists).
Whether you identify as atheist or agnostic is irrelevant then, since both are shorthands for “agnostic atheist”
Nah there are a lot of agnostic theists. It’s even relatively mainstream.
Religious people physically can’t comprehend non religious thinking. If I didn’t have Christianity shoved down my throat every day, I wouldn’t think about religion at all.
I mean that’s not likely. Humans have spiritual needs. I suspect what’s more likely is that the constant aggravation of Christianity being shoved down our throats massively distorts our idea of what religious thought and practice even is, and we don’t recognize our own needs and practices as being religious in nature.
In psychology, spirituality is thought of as how you relate to the Universe. Do you think it is a good place where positive things can happen? Do you think it is a bad place where suffering outweighs any potential value? One has to find a way to feel that existing in this Universe is tenable. That right there is religious thought.
We all have many needs of religious thought.
Exhibit A
I just want to do my hobbies, travel, and eat good food. I don’t have “spiritual needs” and this armchair pseudo psychology is right behind Christianity in terms of “shit I’m tired of hearing.”
gives you the deeply suspicious gaze of a born nihilist
joins with a deeply sarcastic eye roll of an absurdist
It turns out I don’t have any spirituality then. I don’t think the universe has any connection to good or bad things happening.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. It’s an interesting viewpoiny. However, I believe religion was invented to fill the void. To explain what we couldn’t understand. Scientific advances has mostly filled that void, so there is no practical beed for religion. The only religion that is still useful is when people have to deal with difficult times, like the death of a partner or a child. People seem to genuinly find comfort in religion than. Every other aspect of religion is obsolete due to the changes in modern society and science.
I don’t think spirituality and religion are the same thing. Religion is a pre-defined set of rules that are forced upon you (or maybe you choose it freely, but not often). Spirituality is a highly personal feeling and indeed what you discribe, how you feel about your place in the universe. Religion defines your spiritual thinking for you. Non-religious people define, discover or learn their own spirituaĺ identity. This an be based on fiction, emotion, social identity, science, whatever. In all cases it is completely decoupled from religion though.
What utter crap.
The universe is mostly empty space with the occasional rock and ball of plasma. Assumptions of universal morality are just the result of an overactive tendency for our brains to find patterns in things. I do good things because I like doing them. This is likely the result of a bunch of evolved tendencies as well, but A) I am not making appeals to superstitious nonsense, and B) I can intellectually recognize that this feral drive I feel results in other sentient beings having a better life.
Taking all of that and saying, “YoU hAvE sPiRiTuaL nEeds!” is so completely absurd I don’t even have words for it.
He didn’t say YOU have spiritual needs. He said humans have them.
You’re the exact type of person the image posted is about.
