I'm not a scientist man!

[peter grimes]

No, religion as religion has nothing to do with ignorance and bigotry. Atheism is the absence of belief in religion, but from that doesn't logically follow the absence of ignorance and bigotry. Rather you need to check with observation if you can find ignorance and bigotry in some atheist and yes, you can.
In short, what you claim (even if you are an atheism) is a mild form of ignorance and bigotry, but it is still ignorance and bigotry.

You're partially right, but party wrong.

You're right that religion in and of itself isn't wholly responsible for the amount of ignorance and bigotry here.

But just because religion is declining doesn't mean that it's due to atheism. In fact, I'd claim that the decline of religion is *caused by* the increase in education and acceptance of liberal values. These result in a concomitant rise in a-religiousness.

So, if I'm right, the rise in atheism is a symptom of the underlying cause.

Of course, I might be very wrong.., and I may have misread your post.

 

[Borachio]

Strangely though, the number of people who declare themselves to be "spiritual but not religiously observant" seems to be remaining much the same. IIRC.

 

[Leoreth]

Did I miss anyone linking this gem in my brief attempt to catch up on over 10 pages?

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/29/pat-robertson-challenges-creationism/?hpt=hp_c2

Thumbs up for this man

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Even Pat.

 

[warpus]

Atheism is the absence of belief in religion

Slight (but important) correction

Atheism is the absence of belief in a God or gods. Religion really has nothing to do with it.

 

[Borachio]

Yes. That has to be true. Since there are religions without God(s). Modern Buddhism being one.

 

[fishjie]

No, religion as religion has nothing to do with ignorance and bigotry. Atheism is the absence of belief in religion, but from that doesn't logically follow the absence of ignorance and bigotry. Rather you need to check with observation if you can find ignorance and bigotry in some atheist and yes, you can.
In short, what you claim (even if you are an atheism) is a mild form of ignorance and bigotry, but it is still ignorance and bigotry.

Religion is the irrational belief in fairy tales with no basis in reality. In other words, choosing to remain willfully ignorant despite vast amounts of evidence to the contrary.

Atheism at least means you are smart enough to realize that hey there is no god, which is correlated with higher levels of education.

 

[Borachio]

That's not what religion is at all, imo.

 

[Farm Boy]

^ this.

 

[fishjie]

Well if you're religious, of course you don't want to admit your belief in ancient superstition is irrational, but it is. The most likely reason you are religious is because you were raised religious, and therefore were programmed at a young age to accept things on faith. And faith is the acceptance of things with zero evidence. Hence why it is such an important virtue in the church.

BTW I don't consider buddhism to be a religion. In some versions, yes they worship gods, but in many other versions, it is just a philosophy.

 

[Borachio]

That's still not close to what religion is, imo.

I mean, yeah sure, there are people like you describe. I'm not sure I'd call them anything more than nominally religious, though. Just kind of "observant" if you like.

 

[Leoreth]

Religion is the irrational belief in fairy tales with no basis in reality. In other words, choosing to remain willfully ignorant despite vast amounts of evidence to the contrary.

Atheism at least means you are smart enough to realize that hey there is no god, which is correlated with higher levels of education.

I'm an atheist and even I find this post insulting.

 

[peter grimes]

Well if you're religious, of course you don't want to admit your belief in ancient superstition is irrational, but it is. The most likely reason you are religious is because you were raised religious, and therefore were programmed at a young age to accept things on faith. And faith is the acceptance of things with zero evidence. Hence why it is such an important virtue in the church.

BTW I don't consider buddhism to be a religion. In some versions, yes they worship gods, but in many other versions, it is just a philosophy.

Completely agree.

Except for the Buddhist Exception - I know nothing about Buddhism, so perhaps you are right. But without more info I can't form an opinion.

 

[Borachio]

But what if religion is actually the pursuit of truth?

 

[Angst]

Religion is the irrational belief in fairy tales with no basis in reality. In other words, choosing to remain willfully ignorant despite vast amounts of evidence to the contrary.

Atheism at least means you are smart enough to realize that hey there is no god, which is correlated with higher levels of education.

A) That's not what religion is

B) You are highly offensive to reasonable religious folks, who do exist

C) You state that atheists are inherently more smart than religious people. It is true that there is a correlation between literacy and atheism, however I'd like to point out that the number of religious scientists today are about 40% in America, and it has been so for about 100 years. And they're not idiots, as they has spent their lifetime studying the nature of things. Einstein was a Christian too.

Well if you're religious, of course you don't want to admit your belief in ancient superstition is irrational, but it is. The most likely reason you are religious is because you were raised religious, and therefore were programmed at a young age to accept things on faith. And faith is the acceptance of things with zero evidence. Hence why it is such an important virtue in the church.

I'm what you'd call religious (Abrahamist) and I find your statement quite shallow. I feel it oversimplifies the immense cultural complexity of a religious movement. I know perfectly fine that my belief is irrational and objectively wrong. I was even born into a very conservative atheist family in Denmark (the two things congregate here more often than not, surprisingly) and was staunchly atheist until I decided not to be, on my own.

BTW I don't consider buddhism to be a religion. In some versions, yes they worship gods, but in many other versions, it is just a philosophy.

You don't need gods in order to be religious. A religion is much more a social movement surrounding a belief system with dogmatic philosophy, traditions and a moral system. It enquires a sort of supernatural belief quite often, but othertimes doesn't.

The requirement of a god is actually an Abrahamist tradition. It colored what people understood of others for a looong time.

I see you live in Seattle, of course. Your country and its religious sector might color your views.

 

[Formaldehyde]

C) You state that atheists are inherently more smart than religious people. It is true that there is a correlation between literacy and atheism, however I'd like to point out that the number of religious scientists today are about 40% in America, and it has been so for about 100 years. And they're not idiots, as they has spent their lifetime studying the nature of things. Einstein was a Christian too.

No, Einstein wasn't a Christian. He was an agnostic.

And while many scientists are indeed Christians, especially in the US, the ones who have any credibility at all don't bring it to work with them.

 

[Angst]

I've merely seen him talk a lot about God, that's mostly what I thought about.

I never did say that scientists brought their faith with them to work, however, and have no idea why you would present it. It seems like a counterpoint, again, to something I never stated.

EDIT: I'd like to correct myself though; my statement should have been "he is an Abrahamist" up there, not Christian. I know it's probably wrong with your wiki thing, but that was what I meant up there.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Read the Wiki article I edited in for details. Einstein made a number of comments which have been frequently misinterpreted to mean that he was not agnostic.

Mentioning that many scientists are Christians is rather irrelevant if they deliberately separate their professions from their private lives. Getting back to the actual OP, it is just a shame that many politicians haven't learned to do so despite serving in supposedly secular governments.

 

[Borachio]

I thought it was because the political US culture required them to express some kind of mainstream religious belief, in order to be taken seriously by most of the electorate.

In the UK the reverse applies, pretty much.

 

[Angst]

Mentioning that many scientists are Christians is rather irrelevant if they deliberately separate their professions from their private lives.

how? he said that being religious = being stupid which just demonstratingly isn't true