goodwill, charity, optimism
Oct. 9th, 2009 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eHmmm... I think I should have used the word "disbelief" instead of "atheism", and "non-believer" instead of "atheist" in order to avoid touching sensitive nerves. The campaign against atheists has been waged for so long that even very smart people don't seem to be conscious of the buttons it pushes in them. Wish I'd had the brains to have realised this earlier. I think I accidentally pissed off some good people.
I read another piece by the wise and insightful nun Joan Chittister, and though I agree with most of her writings, I just had to reply to her on this one. She was talking about why people should worship god. Her reasons were the same ones many religious people put forward: that morality, humility, and optimism require belief in a god. It is so amazingly backwards, and I was very surprised to hear someone of her intelligence to proclaim such nonsense. I know a lot of religious people and a lot of atheists. In general I have to say the atheists are better human beings than the religious folk. The atheists tend to be more optimistic about the world and our chances of fixing it, they are more tolerant of others, and are mostly more humble. (Note that I'm talking about large numbers of people so this doesn't necessarily apply to any individual case -- I know religious people who I'm delighted to call my friends, and atheists who I tend to avoid, and vice versa, but when looking at an average the atheists definitely are better people overall.)
I often encounter this misunderstanding of atheists; that they are a sour, unhappy, uncharitable lot. Some time back I was told by a friend, who I only knew through the net, that the show "My So-Called Life" was superb. I valued her judgment, so when I found the DVD set recently I bought it. My friend was right, and I love the series. However one particular episode really put my teeth on edge, where a homeless kid was saved and a very strong religious message was sent, associating religion with warmth, charity, and family. It also implied that lack of religion was associated with cold, loneliness, and selfishness. How annoying!
The more it is studied, the more it is found that virtually every social ill that humans are prey to increases with religion. The healthiest, happiest, most generous societies on Earth are atheist. The most intolerant, violent, unhappy societies are religious.
Here is some info on research that shows how mistaken is the standard view of the effect of religion upon societies:
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html
(I posted an easier to read version on my site at:
http://miriam-english.org/alia/religion_ill.html )
An audio recording of an interview with Gregory Paul:
http://miriam-english.org/files/Phillip Adams interviews Gregory Paul 2005-10-04.mp3
http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP073984414.pdf
(I must convert that pdf document to more easily used html.)
I read another piece by the wise and insightful nun Joan Chittister, and though I agree with most of her writings, I just had to reply to her on this one. She was talking about why people should worship god. Her reasons were the same ones many religious people put forward: that morality, humility, and optimism require belief in a god. It is so amazingly backwards, and I was very surprised to hear someone of her intelligence to proclaim such nonsense. I know a lot of religious people and a lot of atheists. In general I have to say the atheists are better human beings than the religious folk. The atheists tend to be more optimistic about the world and our chances of fixing it, they are more tolerant of others, and are mostly more humble. (Note that I'm talking about large numbers of people so this doesn't necessarily apply to any individual case -- I know religious people who I'm delighted to call my friends, and atheists who I tend to avoid, and vice versa, but when looking at an average the atheists definitely are better people overall.)
I often encounter this misunderstanding of atheists; that they are a sour, unhappy, uncharitable lot. Some time back I was told by a friend, who I only knew through the net, that the show "My So-Called Life" was superb. I valued her judgment, so when I found the DVD set recently I bought it. My friend was right, and I love the series. However one particular episode really put my teeth on edge, where a homeless kid was saved and a very strong religious message was sent, associating religion with warmth, charity, and family. It also implied that lack of religion was associated with cold, loneliness, and selfishness. How annoying!
The more it is studied, the more it is found that virtually every social ill that humans are prey to increases with religion. The healthiest, happiest, most generous societies on Earth are atheist. The most intolerant, violent, unhappy societies are religious.
Here is some info on research that shows how mistaken is the standard view of the effect of religion upon societies:
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html
(I posted an easier to read version on my site at:
http://miriam-english.org/alia/religion_ill.html )
An audio recording of an interview with Gregory Paul:
http://miriam-english.org/files/Phillip Adams interviews Gregory Paul 2005-10-04.mp3
http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP073984414.pdf
(I must convert that pdf document to more easily used html.)
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 10:52 am (UTC)" I often feel awe at the majesty and complexity of the world around us."
I can see that you do, which is lovely.
Your enthusiasm for life is apparent. :)