Hello there.
As freethinkers, whether or not you've arrived at atheism from religion, how do you view humanity? I've found the term "humanity" to be very broad and general, which in this case I see as a good thing. You define "humanity" as it suits you. How do you view it according to your definition of the word?
How do you view empathy? As a former Christian, I would've said that I empathized with humans because that is how I was designed by God because through Jesus Christ, he was able to empathize with us. But now my understanding has changed. What do you think about it?
How do you view life as an atheist? Again, define it how you choose.
Thanks for the responses in advance!
Pax Vobiscum,
Allen.
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Hi Allen,
I don't think I'm tracking your questions very well. What are you trying to know?
Humanity is the collection of human beings.
Empathy is that which separates non sociopaths from sociopaths...being able to imagine another's feelings.
Life is living.
Help me understand what info / opinions you're after.
Thx
Ah. My apologies...
I guess it's hard for me to put into words exactly. Let me elaborate the best I can. From a theist (specifically Christian) point of view, there is a reward to be had for caring for others. As an atheist, how does your view on caring for others differ from that of theists?
For humanity, I guess I mean the virtue of caring for others. For life, I mean how do you view existence? Consciousness? The state of being alive?
I hope this helps. If not, I'd be glad to try to elaborate more.
Thanks for the additional info. Hope I've grabbed the clue, so to speak.
I've never been a theist, so I can't tell you how my view of caring for others differs from a theist's point of view. I imagine that the difference might be that I don't have, and never have had, a notion that doing so would give me points in any afterlife (since I don't think one exists). I care for others, others care for me. Both feel good.
I decided, decades (a lot of decades) ago, that the meaning of life is living. I do it. I live. And I revel in being privy to others doing so. It just, well, tickles me.
As an atheist, how does your view on caring for others differ from that of theists?
I have been both, so I think I can answer your question.
We atheist care for ourselves more then everybody on most days of the week.(everybody excluding people we love, family/etc..) Just because we care for ourselves and our well being is the reason we care for everybody too.
We understand through logic/reason and experience the morality needed to live a better life with everybody.
Theists on the other hand don't understand anything about morality but follow what a leader(not the book) of their religious community tells them to do. If theists understood morality, they would realize how immoral god is.(Abraham god). If that happens they would stop being theists anyway.(talking about Christians here, I make no comment on the rest of the religions)
Most theists on the other hand, they care for others not because they understand the moral implications involved but because "there is a reward to be had for caring for others".
This is what I really hate about this theology.
It creates hypocrites that think that they are good people because god says so.
Most theists don't get the reality of life, if they truly love others as themselves they wouldn't be alive to read this, since they would have been dead of hunger long ago.(considering how many people die every hour of everyday and they do nothing about it)
So we all love ourselves at least a bit more then we love everybody.
@Jeff, I completely agree with your last line. I believe it has nothing to do with being selfish as I believe being selfish should be reserved for those who truly care ONLY for themselves.
"...if they truly love others as themselves they wouldn't be alive to read this, since they would have been dead of hunger long ago.(considering how many people die every hour of everyday and they do nothing about it)"
I can see your point. I would disagree just a tad in that if there are people dying anywhere, it seems no one did anything about it regardless of religious and nonreligious preference. With that being said, it is the theists who always give credit to their god for everything they have for just being a loyal servant to him. That is a complete spit in the face of children dying in Africa from HIV, malaria, famine, severe hunger, no access to potable water, etc. It seems to be mostly the atheists who point to these problems in our world with quivering hands and a desire to improve conditions of life for the victims. Sure, there are missionaries who travel all around the world with a desire to do good for people. I commend those people, but I would beg them to leave their holy trinkets and texts at home and go out to do good for the very SAKE of doing good. Empathy. Love. Compassion.
Yeah I can't get how people think that God is in control of their lives in any way..or that prayers are answered...Where are all the prayers being answered for these helpless people in Africa and abroad who go through hell while they're alive and then die young. It's weird to think that people actually believe that miracles are real and yet they overlook this point. Or worse, they still say miracles happen even though there are starving, disease ridden, helpless, suffering people and God has a reason for it.
I am glad you agree with everything I said except this:
"I would disagree just a tad in that if there are people dying anywhere, it seems no one did anything about it regardless of religious and nonreligious preference."
We atheists are not the ones claiming to be Christians(thus following the theology of Jesus to love everybody like yourself)
We know that we do nothing for most people dying every hour but we are not hypocrites to claim that we love them like ourselves.
That was my point.
Why don't you agree with this?
My apologies. I do agree with your elaboration. I must have misunderstood.
First- I think that our humanity comes from evolution. We empathize with others and connect on an emotional level because that is what was most effective for the continuation of our species. Many Christians wonder where atheists get their morals from. Simple: humans are designed that way. That being said, I do feel that the most sturdy morality comes from within, rather than without. By that I mean that the person has set standards for themselves because they believe that is the way to make their world (and hopefully the world of others) a better place to live in, and not because they are simply told what they should do. For me personally, humanity means respecting others' rights to live their lives.
Life as an atheist.... well I am happy being who I am, but I know for some people it can be really hard, especially if they were religious to begin with.
One of my favorite quotes on Atheism from Sam Harris. "To not believe in God is to know, that it falls on us, to make the world a better place." Very powerful and true statement in my opinion. Quite like many other skeptics, I believed that the Bible was the ultimate truth about the universe for most of my life. When you believe in this text, the religious dogma, and the leaders of these organizations, you are not only cheating yourself, but you are cheating the rest of humanity. Your attitude for example towards the rest of humanity is completely shrouded by what one single book, written thousands of years ago when humans were so behind in technology and scientific facts, that it is almost scary to think how people can agree with what God "Supposedly" wrote down through human mediums or prophets. When you break down any of these holy texts and actually read what is there, you can't help but wonder, How and more importantly, Why, is the all powerful ruler of the universe so inhumane in his dealings with us. I mean, just an example that always sticks with me is in the bible at Deuteronomy chapter 20. Just start reading from there and really analyze what it says. It's precisely the same exact thing that the Islamic State is doing as we speak in the middle east, and GOD directed them from his own mouth to carry these things out. I ask everyone that is decent and humane in this world to look at these teachings, and really reflect on what they promote. Hatred, Bigotry, Ignorance, Blindness, Slavery, Murder, Rape and Torture of other human beings, all in the name of some text that was written down far too long ago to be worth any merit to us today. Why should you trust the authors of these books with having the word of god then, when you know damn well that when someone says they have that power now, you know right away that they must be either lying or delusional. I urge everyone to do research in these holy books and apply what you find there to your reasoning faculties, while also keeping in mind that these books are what the whole of the belief is based upon. You must take everything for what it is and not leave anything out when it comes to what you agree and don't agree with regarding your connotation of who God is and how he operates. Remember, that if you believe in God(Jehovah) or Allah, then you HAVE to believe in the Books that they are based on. You can't have one without the other no matter what anyone tells you. You could be a Deist or an Agnostic but there are no sacred texts for either of these philosophies. Since I have opened my mind to the possibility that there is no God, I feel more compassion for life and my fellow man than I ever did before because It made me realize that the future is not in someone else's hands, it is in ours. We have to be the ones, like our ancestors before us, to enlighten the next generation on what is acceptable, and what is not, what is humane, and what is ultimately Just. We have been working at it for a long time and will continue to work on it for the whole of our species existence.
I believe (coming from a Christian/Jain background) each and every living person deserves RESPECT. No matter what the circumstances are the death penalty shouldn't be carried out (except for very grave circumstances) Each human deserves rights. People are to be treated nicely because it is the right thing to do NOT BECAUSE THERE IS A GOD TO PLEASE. I am a Secular Humanist so I have a very deep love for humanity.
Id just like to point out christianity is roughly 2000 years old we have written records going back 15000 years. These records include moral rules set by civilisations before christianity.
Christianity in fact set morality back by the awful leviticus and deuteronomy. Christians claim they don't matter because they were changed. The conveniently ignore the fact that they were followed.
A god that commits almost total genocide of everything on earth including innocent babies children baby animals in one of the worst ways imaginable and orders murder and rape and endorses slavery and bigotry is NOT a moral god.
Even if the bible was proven 100% accurate i would refuse to worship that sadistic petty jealous bastard and choose to go to hell.
Didn't Jesus himself say that he didn't come to change the law? "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." -Matthew 5:18.
Which all the christian break nearly every day.
mostly the 3'rd commandment, Christians love statues, :) they are pagan worshipers without knowing it.
Yea gotta love that they are so brainwashed into dumb obedience most have no clue whats really in their book.
It does irk me that the typical theist that comes to the site to debate with us usually doesn't even know how to use the internet well enough to at the very least appear to know more about their own religions than we do.
Theres a freaking 'cure' for leprosy in their book; bird blood!!! Ive mentioned that to someone yesterday and he said well it needs supernatural assistance he didnt realise if that were true it would also mean that god needed the help of the bird blood lol
For me, humanity is this vast collection of people and ideas that for now can't work together on anything. Sure, you and I could probably work on a project, but as a species we're still stuck with the normal hereditary pride and fear. Pride because we all want to be something better or at least happier & more content. Fear because we realize even bad weather can kill us.
We're naturally (to some degree, depending on the person) selfish. That's not to say that people won't ever help others. Atheists, agnostics, religious, supposedly religious, and the "I don't know" crowd all have people who help others in need. But we'd rather help ourselves and our families first.
To me, we need to work together and realize that our world may be big but it's not as big as we think it is. Maybe one day that will happen, but I just don't see that happening now.
Humanity is a work in progress.