Anti Theist and Religion
Letemdangle
Published
04/27/2012
My blog on atheism, anti theism and religion stirred up some comments, conflict and controversy. It was not meant to do that. As a blogger if that was not my intention, then it is I, that failed at communicating correctly.
If someone doesn't read it thouroughly or reads it with contempt, then I am at least responsible for not disarming the conflict from the get go or the body of the blog is boring. So I will try to make my point here in a different way. I hope it works and that my point is understood, not necassarily agreed to, just understood without prejudice, or else there is no reason to write a blog on the subject.
Firstly, all things being equal, atheist and anti theist are not bad people. They don't have worse or better morals than religious people do. They will have different ones and some similar ones within a society. There needs to be similar morals within a culture in order to have peace.
Calling someone religious is not an insult, unless you add the word freak to it. Still, it does not bother me personally if you refer to me that way. I am not religious but I could be considered a freak in some circles. For that I am proud, because when the whole world is crazy being outside it's norms is a compliment. But I digress.
First, some words as I define them in the strictess sense.
Anti theist.... Someone who actively pursues the destruction of religious beliefs and behaviours.
Atheist.... Someone who doesn't believe in a god.
Moral.... A belief that some idea or behavior is good
Immoral.... A belief that an idea or behavior is bad.
Amoral..... No belief system on the behaviour or idea at all. Some would say animals are amoral. For the most part they probably are. But my dog knows when he's been bad. LOL, but that might be fear, though I don't beat him, so I don't know why he would be afraid after stealing the family potroast.
Now keep in mind morality in this world is very subjective and can change drastically from one region of the next. Even within a region sets and subsets emerge with conflicting morals.
When an anti theist is successful at convincing a theist to stop performing certain behaviors and harboring religious ideas the overall morals of the converted theist has been reduced. For example going to church, prayer or giving money to the church. These once moral behaviors have been removed from the character of the theist. It does not mean the X-theist is bad or less good within a given society and it doesn't mean he is better for it. The X-theist now harbors less religious behaviors and ideas and therefore some of his morals have been destroyed by the anti theist. In this context, we can conclude anti theist destroy morals, unless an anti theist believes that the weight of the elimination of the religious character is greater then the sum of a religious moral system. The more fervent anti theist might just react that way and is for the most part acting subjectively and emotionally.
If a theist is succeessful at converting a anti theist to a religious set of morals. The theist adds moral characteristics to the anti theist, unless that anti theist moral character was so outside the moral norms within a given society, full of anti social behaviors and ideas as to be of a criminal nature, but that would only exist within an extreme situation. In a cohesive setting this conversion would add moral behavior to the X-anti theist.
The important point here is that the success or added value of the conversion or adjustments in moral character cannot be measured by those acts alone. Neither act can be said to be good or bad on it's own. The benifit of the conversions, no matter how they play out, is a reflection on the over all success of a society, culture and way of living.
Look around you, has a godless society been a benifit to your overall existence? Would it be detrimental to you to consider the existence of a God and to act in ways that reflect those beliefs?
On the other hand, does the idea of no God improve your life? Is there something lost or unexplored within the core of your being? Would the companionship of others around you with similar belief in a higher power be a detriment?
Beyond that, as religious ideologies fade away, does a given society get better?
Just a thought from a crazed freak.
If someone doesn't read it thouroughly or reads it with contempt, then I am at least responsible for not disarming the conflict from the get go or the body of the blog is boring. So I will try to make my point here in a different way. I hope it works and that my point is understood, not necassarily agreed to, just understood without prejudice, or else there is no reason to write a blog on the subject.
Firstly, all things being equal, atheist and anti theist are not bad people. They don't have worse or better morals than religious people do. They will have different ones and some similar ones within a society. There needs to be similar morals within a culture in order to have peace.
Calling someone religious is not an insult, unless you add the word freak to it. Still, it does not bother me personally if you refer to me that way. I am not religious but I could be considered a freak in some circles. For that I am proud, because when the whole world is crazy being outside it's norms is a compliment. But I digress.
First, some words as I define them in the strictess sense.
Anti theist.... Someone who actively pursues the destruction of religious beliefs and behaviours.
Atheist.... Someone who doesn't believe in a god.
Moral.... A belief that some idea or behavior is good
Immoral.... A belief that an idea or behavior is bad.
Amoral..... No belief system on the behaviour or idea at all. Some would say animals are amoral. For the most part they probably are. But my dog knows when he's been bad. LOL, but that might be fear, though I don't beat him, so I don't know why he would be afraid after stealing the family potroast.
Now keep in mind morality in this world is very subjective and can change drastically from one region of the next. Even within a region sets and subsets emerge with conflicting morals.
When an anti theist is successful at convincing a theist to stop performing certain behaviors and harboring religious ideas the overall morals of the converted theist has been reduced. For example going to church, prayer or giving money to the church. These once moral behaviors have been removed from the character of the theist. It does not mean the X-theist is bad or less good within a given society and it doesn't mean he is better for it. The X-theist now harbors less religious behaviors and ideas and therefore some of his morals have been destroyed by the anti theist. In this context, we can conclude anti theist destroy morals, unless an anti theist believes that the weight of the elimination of the religious character is greater then the sum of a religious moral system. The more fervent anti theist might just react that way and is for the most part acting subjectively and emotionally.
If a theist is succeessful at converting a anti theist to a religious set of morals. The theist adds moral characteristics to the anti theist, unless that anti theist moral character was so outside the moral norms within a given society, full of anti social behaviors and ideas as to be of a criminal nature, but that would only exist within an extreme situation. In a cohesive setting this conversion would add moral behavior to the X-anti theist.
The important point here is that the success or added value of the conversion or adjustments in moral character cannot be measured by those acts alone. Neither act can be said to be good or bad on it's own. The benifit of the conversions, no matter how they play out, is a reflection on the over all success of a society, culture and way of living.
Look around you, has a godless society been a benifit to your overall existence? Would it be detrimental to you to consider the existence of a God and to act in ways that reflect those beliefs?
On the other hand, does the idea of no God improve your life? Is there something lost or unexplored within the core of your being? Would the companionship of others around you with similar belief in a higher power be a detriment?
Beyond that, as religious ideologies fade away, does a given society get better?
Just a thought from a crazed freak.
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