franklinveaux Scholar



Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 100

Merton Originally Posted by I rather dislike the tendency of some atheists to attribute to atheism anything more than the rejection of god claims--Alain de Botton, I'm lookin' at you. It's fantastic to be concerned with social justice and prejudice, but these are ethical/political issues, not metaphysical ones. I rarely even mention my atheism anymore, as it is such a miniscule part of who I am.



I get where you're coming from, and I agree: the absence of an affirmative belief in supernatural deities has nothing on the face of it to do with politics, social justice, or anything else.



However, in the US and in some other countries, political parties, ideology, laws, social mores, and political platforms are largely bound up in religious beliefs. When one lives in a nominally progressive, First World nation which has had a president in recent history who has said "atheists should not be citizens; this is one nation under God" or a political party platform that is largely rationalized on a particular interpretation of a particular holy scripture, it becomes a lot harder to say that "being an atheist" has nothing to do with politics or social ideas.



Originally Posted by FosterZygote I feel the same way. While I do happen to be an atheist, this label only applies to my lack of belief in gods. I also happen to be a guitarist and a motor-sport fan. I don't refer to myself as an "atheist" when describing my positions on things like social issues, ethics or politics. My lack of belief in gods certainly influences my positions regarding a number of issues, but the term "atheist" is inadequate to define me.



Originally Posted by Beerina I was hoping it was atheism plus all these amoral orgies I keep hearing are rampant.



Originally Posted by Ocelot Yet I can't help thinking that in practice it's very much like the "The Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers". That this creed exists as a shortcut to excluding people for holding certain opinions and that sort of thing doesn't spring from critical thinking at all. Well, yes and no.I get where you're coming from, and I agree: the absence of an affirmative belief in supernatural deities has nothing on the face of it to do with politics, social justice, or anything else.However, in the US and in some other countries, political parties, ideology, laws, social mores, and political platforms are largely bound up in religious beliefs. When one lives in a nominally progressive, First World nation which has had a president in recent history who has said "atheists should not be citizens; this is one nation under God" or a political party platform that is largely rationalized on a particular interpretation of a particular holy scripture, it becomes a lot harder to say that "being an atheist" has nothing to do with politics or social ideas.On the other hand, it's rare that you would be in a context where people would claim that your skill as a guitarist, or your right to participate in motor sports, should depend on your theistic beliefs or lack thereof. On the other hand, when it comes to atheism and politics, that IS a claim we hear. So in that way, being an atheist is different from being a guitarist or being a motor sports fan as it relates to thinks like politics or social systems.In my experience, moral orgies are more fun. They take more work to set up, though.On the other hand, the notion that all ideas, and all behaviors, are equally 'worthy' and that there is no value in promoting any one set of ideas or behaviors over another doesn't hold up very well, either.