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| Atheist Life vs Religious Life |
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Some argue that religious life is the best way to
live. They claim life without a god is sad and
depressing. Statements like "I could not imagine
my life without God", and "My life would be
meaningless without God", are common defenses for
a religious life. The following is a list of
advantages atheists enjoy over a religious life. I
invite the religious viewers to submit a response
video with the advantages of a religious life.
1. Atheists can make moral decisions based on the
specific context. Having absolutes like "Though
Shall not Lie" stops people from thinking for
themselves and making the right decision based on
the situation at hand. In what situation would be
okay to lie? Most religious people would say,
never. Atheists would disagree. For example: If
you were living in Germany hiding Jews in your
attic during the holocaust, and Hitler's Nazis
knocked on your door and asked if you were hiding
Jews, would it be okay to lie to save the lives of
the Jews in your attic? I believe trying to save
their lives would the moral and proper choice.
Atheists have the power to do what's right for all
humanity, rather than the forced perspective of
doing what is right for a god.
2. Atheists can experience healthy outrage at the
outrageous without fear of questioning God's plan.
We can be outraged when a friend dies of a
horrible disease, or is killed in a car accident.
It is okay to be upset at disasters and horrible
events. It is not a part of any plan. It is just a
horrible event. Atheists try to learn from them
and not just chalk it up to God's Plan. We use
science to understand catastrophic events like
hurricanes, and tsunamis. This gives us the
ability to save lives. If we think a magical plan
is going to happen no matter what, then why try to
stop the events or make things better. Atheists do
not wonder if a god is punishing us. Yes, there is
cause and effect, and our actions effect how we
live, you should save for retirement, and if your
diet is bad you'll end up fat, or sick, or both.
But if an airplane part falls on your house, it is
an accident. If you find a 5 dollar bill on the
sidewalk, it is an accident. No magical
intervention, no magical wrath, these are just
accidents. Life has an element of chance. This may
not seem comforting, but here is another way to
look at it: Your loved one dies in a completely
random car accident where nobody could possibly be
blamed. Is it more comforting to know the accident
happened because of bad luck or is better to think
the accident could have been prevented by an
omnipotent being that could have stepped in and
saved them from an untimely death, but your god
decided to just let them die? You don't have to be
frustrated thinking "Was it because I didn't pray
enough?" "Was God mad at me or them?" "Maybe I
should have prayed more." Atheist take comfort in
knowing there is no plan.
3. Atheist can be friends with everyone without
having the thought in the back of their mind that
this person's lifestyle may be evil. You have the
power to accept people for what they are. Enabling
you to enjoy their quirks rather than chastise
them for being unique. Atheists can have
relationships with people who have alternative
lifestyles without feeling like they have to save
them from some deity that is going to condemn them
for being themselves. After all, if there was a
creator, then he has made everyone the way they
are. Atheists don't fear that a large part of the
earth's population is going to hell for being true
to themselves.
5. Atheists do not live with the fear of hell.
This is one of the hardest things for religious
people to shake and one of the best rewards.
Religious people love the thought of heaven, but
fear hell as a consequence. In order to lose the
fear of hell, you have to let go of the false hope
of heaven. Atheists have done both.
7. Atheists raise freethinking children; let them
pick a religion, or none. What would you have
picked? This is hard for parents. If a child
wanted to be another religion, or even atheist, it
would be devastating to most religious parents.
Why not teach them about all religions and tell
them why you believe the one you do, and then let
them choose? Atheists do not force atheism on
their children. We simple let them see the
evidence for and against religion and let them
make up there own mind. They may change there mind
several times. This is okay. Atheists love their
children no matter what belief they are drawn too.
That is the beauty of free thinking. You can raise
your children according to your values without
feeling as though you have to defend Bible stories
that even a child can see are fiction.
Tags : atheist atheism religion jesus church bible god faith christian satan science creationism evolution islam mormon |
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Affichage : 521385
Durée : 596 s |
| When Christians Misbehave: Self-Induced Religious Fit |
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From the series, "When Christians Misbehave"
This is a two part benediction at a public college
in Texas given by the very religious valedictorian
of that school. This came after some wrangling
about whether to even have a benediction, since
some students objected. This is unbridled
Christian advertising in the form of a self
induced fit on stage.
At the near end of the video, the brown-uniformed
woman walking up the aisle is a Texas Department
of Public Safety Trooper, going up on stage to
render aid. She obviously doesn't think it's a
very serious emergency. I don't think anyone else
does either.
If you have raw video of Christians misbehaving,
feel free to send it to me, and I'll edit it up
real nice, and post it. :o)
Joe Zamecki aka aajoeyjo
Texas State Director, American Atheists
www.atheists.org/tx
Tags : atheist when Christians misbehave comedy prayer religion fit religious jesus god state/church separation |
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Affichage : 27915
Durée : 293 s |
| Ambon's Religious Bloodbath - Indonesia |
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April 1999
It's no wonder inhabitants are risking their lives
to leave a Place where there is so much death.
Rare video captures a mob wielding machetes and
fire-bombing houses. "I took out my sword and took
off four heads," says one gang member. 50,000
Muslims gather at the dock to escape, clambering
up makeshift ropes onto an overcrowded ship.
Christians soon arrive on another boat, refugees
from a different island. They are chased back to
their ship. The army is all that stands between
the factions. Many accuse local criminals of
exploiting religious tension to gain power in the
vacuum left by Suharto. The migration policies
that forced the archipelago together are now
falling apart, and the islands are left hanging
together by a fine political thread.
ABC Australia
Tags : indonesia civil war religous muslim christian militias journeyman pictures |
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Affichage : 33406
Durée : 1242 s |
| Roger Federer as Religious Experience |
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"If you've never seen [Roger Federer] play live,
and then do, in person, on the sacred grass of
Wimbledon, ... you are apt to have what one of the
tournament's press bus drivers describes as a
"bloody near-religious experience." It may be
tempting, at first, to hear a phrase like this as
just one more of the overheated tropes that people
resort to to describe the feeling of Federer
Moments. But the driver's phrase turns out to be
true — literally, for an instant ecstatically."
-- David Foster Wallace, from the special to New
York Times' Play Magazine, "Roger Federer as
Religious Experience"
"To bear witness ... is to evoke some sort of
spiritual experience that occurs only a handful of
times in a lifetime - if you're lucky. To try to
describe the way Federer plays tennis is like
trying to describe how Nureyev danced or Heifetz
played the violin. Common words or images cannot
do justice." --The Age
"Part of the pleasure of the Federer experience
comes from watching people watch him. On Sunday, a
spectator is propelled by awe out of his seat when
confronted by a short cross-court forehand that
lands and runs almost parallel to the net. Later,
a fellow simply bows in Federer's direction, as if
applause is an unsatisfactory response. ... Some
sigh, exhale, cry "Oh my God". It is an opera of
exclamation. Cynics who believe they have seen
everything need to watch Federer. ... How, how, we
ask, as if mind is still disputing what the eyes
have seen. With other players, even in other
sports, we sometimes see their shots as beautiful,
we wish we could play like that. With Federer we
accept almost that we can never play like that,
his shots arrive from another dimension, it is too
much to wish for." -- Rohit Brijnath, The Hindu
Tags : roger federer religious experience |
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Affichage : 81772
Durée : 290 s |
| Religious, But Not Spiritual? (with Father Thomas Keating) |
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Religious, but not Spiritual?
Good News and Bad News from the World's Largest
Religion
It takes a moment to reconcile oneself to the fact
that the religious tradition of St. Francis and
Mother Theresa is also the tradition of the
Crusades and the Inquisition. Fr. Thomas Keating,
considered one of the great contemplatives of our
time, has spent a lifetime in the practice of
Christianity, seeking and sharing its depths. The
goal of the tradition, suggests Fr. Thomas in this
week's video, is transformation—but
transformation into what?
The answer depends on what stage of development
you're at. Beyond becoming a better person
(though your family and friends may thank you
profusely), beyond even becoming a saint, Fr.
Thomas suggests that the goal of the mature
Christian life is to become no thing. As with any
developmental sequence, the subject of one stage
becomes the object of the subject of the next—in
this case, until absolute Subjectivity itself.
The problem—and the challenge—lie in the fact
that, among its 2 billion adherents, relatively
few are aware of Christianity's mystical tradition
and contemplative path. Statements like "I'm
spiritual, but not religious" actually come from a
fairly evolved place, from which one rejects
external aspects of the tradition, while still
longing for its esoteric wisdom.
Integral spirituality offers an entirely new
perspective on this question. From this
perspective, we can see that although the stories
of the world's religious traditions vary wildly,
the contemplative experience is essentially
similar. And from Integral, we can appreciate the
stories for what they are, the first rung in a
ladder of development—both our own development,
and that of anyone on a similar path. In the end,
no matter how profound the state in which we
experience the divine, it is always interpreted
from our stage of development.
Integral also points to the reality of our shadow,
and points out that we might need something other
than our contemplative practice to bring it into
the light. Finally, Integral can help us both to
transform into deeper stages of awareness and
compassion, and to translate our current stage in
the healthiest way possible.
Tags : integral naked life ken wilber father thomas keating christianity spirituality |
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Affichage : 20689
Durée : 937 s |
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