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Originally posted by bowman:
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Originally posted by Unobtanium:
if atheists have a "worldview" then you should be able to predict my stance on a number of topics.
I can make very general assumptions about you as well. You may view life as important, but not sacred. You believe man can define marriage as he pleases. You see death as the end of life, therefore there are no loved ones or heaven. Political affiliation is based on whatever feels right. When you have a moral dilemma, you let your conscience be your guide. You try to live the best you can, but shortcomings can be easily rationalized because it's just the natural order of things. It's just who you are.
world·view (wûrldvy) n.
1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.
2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.
bowman, this appears to be an astrologer's approach to human nature. all those attributes you named could apply to just about anyone, even Christians.
if you must know, i have a few worldviews as they are defined above. the most prevalent is a skeptical/scientific worldview. it is through this worldview that i came to question my religion. i use skepticism quite often in as many areas of my life as possible. i question everything. so you are necessarily correct about many of the attributes you listed. no, i do not believe marriage is sacred. although i used to be a defender of the institution of marriage, i could never find a way to satisfactorily remove the right for two consenting adults to love each other. yes, i let my conscious be my guide when faced with a moral dilemma but so does every other human on the planet. the difference is that i apply skepticism as much as possible in determining right and wrong and not rely in he whisperings of a god that does not exist.
my political worldview (affiliation) is libertarian. most people do not understand the concept but it revolves around individual freedom. i believe it to be the only logical choice for a skeptic. the majority of atheists seem to be liberal. i think that has more to do with a (thoroughly documented) correlation between higher intelligence and liberalism. i know, that is counterintuitive and i wish that were not the case but the data is pretty clear.
i have a constitutional worldview when it comes to law. i believe our founding fathers knew what they were doing when they wanted to protect the freedoms of all american to worship (or not) as they choose and keep religion our of the government.
so i have many worldviews, as do you. but atheism is a component of my skeptical worldview, not a worldview in an of itself.
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I may be completely off base when I say I believe there's a void in your life you can't seem to fill; that there are nagging questions about life that knowledge and science can't answer; and that there are times when you feel completely alone.
hah! oh man you have no earthly idea. i am the luckiest man alive with a beautiful and smart wife, kids who mostly stay out of trouble and hobbies ans interest that are varied and challenging. this little forum gives you a very small glimpse of one single facet of my personality--the one that loves a good intellectual debate that might cause me to learn something. that's it. nothing more or less. when i turn this computer off, the brash atheist becomes a normal but very happy, fulfilled guy.
the answers that science has not yet provided are challenges, not voids. i relish reading about a new discovery that "changes everything." the Great Questions of where we came from and where we are going have been mostly answered but the voids of our knowledge is still vast and deep. i just can't wait for some smart person to delve deeper into those voids and shine the light of reason upon them.
but i do pity those who have shed reason in exchange for superstition. you seem to be a pretty smart person but you have blinders that were implanted on you long ago that will not allow you to understand the things i have studied. all cool with me, of course, but it seems such a waste.
we could be sailing to the stars by now if religion was erased long ago.