Post: #176

(05-30-2013 04:06 AM)sixsix Wrote:  Part of the disagreement in this thread is the result of Atheism and Christianity, Islam and Judaism being different in our countries. The groups have different rules and traditions, and attract different people.

Atheism in the US:

Surprisingly, the default in the United States is still religious belief. It plays a very big role in every day life and public perception. While most people don't go to church that often, religion is a very big theme in media and politics. It affects people, e.g. the anti homosexuality sentiment, which is also common on this forum.

Consequently, atheists in the US are often people that were once religious and got burned. The outcasts, the weirdos, the too-smart-for-their-own-goods that did not fit in the local religious community. As a result, you guys see many atheists as being the socially awkward deviants.

Atheism in Western and Northern Europe:

In contrast, the default over here is a lack of religious belief. It just doesn't play that much of a role. Normal people are non-religious and don't care about it, most educated people are interested in it as an anthropological curiosity. The religious groups are seen as backwards. However, while the intellectual basis for religion is laughed at, the value of traditional mores is appreciated by many.

In America, an atheist is the snarky, fat, feminist skeptic blogger that says fuck five times a sentence.

In Europe, an atheist is Aristotle, Nietzsche, Schoppenhauer and those hot chicks over there.

Do you think all religions get equal amount of disdain in Western and Northern Europe? I always found it curious that a lot of these European intellectual types who don't care for religion tend to focus mostly on Christianity, which is on it's death bed in Europe. If they wanted to keep religion out of their lives you would think they'd be more about the spread of the more vital Islam.

I can understand why someone living in the US would feel the need to push back against Christianity due to it's political power that came about it's alliance with the right-wing but what sort of influence does Christianity have in Europe? Some countries still have state churches but even these churches have female priests, gay priests, and in general have very similar values to what a typical SWPL would have.

Post: #177

It might also be that Atheism is one of the last acceptable bastions of racism in America.

As "bigoted" as some Southern Religious Conservative types may appear, they never got behind eugenics like almost every major Atheist wunderkind thinker of the 19th-20th centuries.

Even all the Mexican agnostics I know at least keep up the pretense of Catholic culture and some level of morality. It's only the whites who are are so damned pleased with their cleverness that they think society would be perfect if the world was only populated by people like them.

Post: #178

(05-30-2013 12:21 PM)Wutang Wrote:  Do you think all religions get equal amount of disdain in Western and Northern Europe? I always found it curious that a lot of these European intellectual types who don't care for religion tend to focus mostly on Christianity, which is on it's death bed in Europe. If they wanted to keep religion out of their lives you would think they'd be more about the spread of the more vital Islam.

Islam definitely gets more attention and disdain.

Christianity and Judaism is much less an issue, so they obviously don't focus on those.

Quote:I can understand why someone living in the US would feel the need to push back against Christianity due to it's political power that came about it's alliance with the right-wing but what sort of influence does Christianity have in Europe?

Do you know where the Vatican is located?

When I said Western and Northern Europe, I meant the couple of countries where religion is dead: Germany, Holland, Scandinavia.

All the good countries. All degenerate countries tend to be religious.

Post: #179

(05-30-2013 06:09 PM)sixsix Wrote:  Do you know where the Vatican is located?

When I said Western and Northern Europe, I meant the couple of countries where religion is dead: Germany, Holland, Scandinavia.

All the good countries. All degenerate countries tend to be religious.

Scandinavia is not a country, but I suppose you know that and just didn't want to type all those names.

Even though I do like Germany, Holland and Scandinavia you really believe those are the only good countries/regions in Europe?

I'm an atheist and I come from one of those "degenerate" southern countries.

People are definitely more religious in the degenerate countries (south) than in the good countries (north) but it's a very different kind of religiosity that you find in the US. The Us is more religious, more militant and more extremist than those degenerate European southerners and easterners.

We're degenerates but we degenerate less than other degenerates.

Post: #180

(05-30-2013 12:21 PM)Wutang Wrote:  Do you think all religions get equal amount of disdain in Western and Northern Europe? I always found it curious that a lot of these European intellectual types who don't care for religion tend to focus mostly on Christianity, which is on it's death bed in Europe. If they wanted to keep religion out of their lives you would think they'd be more about the spread of the more vital Islam.

.

It's easier to critisize one's own religion than other religions, just like it's easier for me on this forum to declare that Germany sucks than to say that the US is a shithole, lol.

Post: #181

(05-30-2013 06:09 PM)sixsix Wrote:  Do you know where the Vatican is located?

When I said Western and Northern Europe, I meant the couple of countries where religion is dead: Germany, Holland, Scandinavia.

All the good countries. All degenerate countries tend to be religious.

Southern European countries appear to be religious from the outside but they are actually less religious than the US, from my experience.

Their problems have got nothing to do with religion.

Post: #182

(06-01-2013 09:42 PM)Teutatis Wrote:  Scandinavia is not a country, but I suppose you know that and just didn't want to type all those names.

Even though I do like Germany, Holland and Scandinavia you really believe those are the only good countries/regions in Europe?

I'm an atheist and I come from one of those "degenerate" southern countries.

Haha, I wasn't being that serious. Just wanted to refute the statement someone made that religion (or Christianity in particular) brings civilization and moral behavior. Wrong on both counts: religion and crime/poverty have a strong correlation.

I love all those 'degenerate' countries, including the US. They do have their flaws, and so do the Northern European countries.

It was just annoying to see guys whose game advice is often so good and 'red pill' at the same time hold such 'blue pill' advice regarding religion.

Quote:People are definitely more religious in the degenerate countries (south) than in the good countries (north) but it's a very different kind of religiosity that you find in the US. The Us is more religious, more militant and more extremist than those degenerate European southerners and easterners.

We're degenerates but we degenerate less than other degenerates.

And just to be clear, while I think religion does NOT make people moral beings, AND is intellectually embarrassing, I also don't think that godlessness is such a gift for humanity.

Many people have lost religion, and don't have anything better to take its place. While false and sometimes cruel, it served a role. You need some humanism or buddhism-mixed-with-stoicism or whatever to fill the void.[/quote]

Post: #183

Yes, don't be beta/blue pill when it come to religion.

Post: #184

(06-02-2013 10:28 AM)sixsix Wrote:  

(06-01-2013 09:42 PM)Teutatis Wrote:  Scandinavia is not a country, but I suppose you know that and just didn't want to type all those names.

Even though I do like Germany, Holland and Scandinavia you really believe those are the only good countries/regions in Europe?

I'm an atheist and I come from one of those "degenerate" southern countries.

Haha, I wasn't being that serious. Just wanted to refute the statement someone made that religion (or Christianity in particular) brings civilization and moral behavior. Wrong on both counts: religion and crime/poverty have a strong correlation.

I love all those 'degenerate' countries, including the US. They do have their flaws, and so do the Northern European countries.

It was just annoying to see guys whose game advice is often so good and 'red pill' at the same time hold such 'blue pill' advice regarding religion.

Quote:People are definitely more religious in the degenerate countries (south) than in the good countries (north) but it's a very different kind of religiosity that you find in the US. The Us is more religious, more militant and more extremist than those degenerate European southerners and easterners.

We're degenerates but we degenerate less than other degenerates.

And just to be clear, while I think religion does NOT make people moral beings, AND is intellectually embarrassing, I also don't think that godlessness is such a gift for humanity.

Many people have lost religion, and don't have anything better to take its place. While false and sometimes cruel, it served a role. You need some humanism or buddhism-mixed-with-stoicism or whatever to fill the void.

Got it, sorry if I sounded too brash.

I don't know what the answer is, maybe godlessness will bring a golden age of enlightenment, advancement and knowledge, maybe not.

I've been an atheist since before all this internet atheist boom happened, and even though you do find some rather annoying atheists, I think in general it is a great thing that people are talking about it more in the open and that religion has less and less power in the world.

I'm not an atheist because it's cool or to annoy other people, I actually don't talk about it at all unless someone brings it up, I'm an atheist simply because I can't convince my mind, even if I wanted to, that god exists, just like I can't make myself believe the Easter bunny or elves or fauns exist. Maybe religion fills a certain void, I certainly agree with that, and it definitely works for some people, but for others you can't use something you know you don't believe in to fill that void.

Post: #185

http://m.vice.com/read/how-to-make-athei...e=vicefbus

Post: #186

We are already a godless people. Might as well own it.

Believing in god comes down to whether or not you ultimately have a slave/submissive disposition.

Of course, I try to respect what I see as the natural order- what many would probably call "god", but the idea of liking an intelligent force controlling everything I do seems like something that would get a woman wet because they like to be dominated. I like to fuck and don't like to get fucked, so I would hate god even if he did exist. Luckily he doesn't because you can't have something exist outside of existence.

Post: #187

My opinion is that atheism became trendy due to a rise in religious extremism. You see people like Westboro Baptist Church and a bunch of other ultra-right wing organizations. Then, you see the Islamist and Jewish extremists (I'm Jewish, but many of the ultra-Orthodox are extreme). I suppose you look at that and question why you'd want to be involved with religion at all.

I don't believe that there's really a huge number of people who are firmly atheistic. I believe that the fact that many people are spiritually disinterested has led to an uptick in the number of people who identify as atheists. I'm convinced there's some sort of higher power, but I'm not exactly sure what it is or if it's worth worshiping. I personally identify as a Deist.

Post: #188

We live in a time of extremes, esp. in America. Instead of people eating a moderate diet and having moderate body fat, we have either extremely fit people or morbidly obese. Instead of people working middle class jobs and buying modest consumer goods, we have billionares owning 20 houses and 50% of newborns on WIC. In the sphere of religion, instead of a population thats moderately religious (i.e. people going to church on Sunday and saying grace before dinner, but not quoting the bible and relating Jesus Christ into every aspect of life) we have religious fundamentalists and militant atheists.

I also think fundamentalists and militant atheists are two sides of the same coin. Both are insecure about their beliefs, so they feel the need to make their whole lives about their ideology. Most people are either mildly religious or mildly agnostic, and they're okay with that.

Post: #189

Post: #190

I don't see what's wrong with reason being trendy.

We live in an increasingly feminist country run by runaway female emotionalism.

Need some kind of balance..