Atheism

There is no mystery or surprise in the scripture of Isaiah. As soon as good is introduced into an empty universe, its opposite cannot help but exist. North cannot be created without creating South. He had no choice in that matter.

Those who try the 'omnipotent' gambit to argue otherwise are playing word games, not seeking reality.

I think it was Ananda Coomaraswamy who said, "India has too much religion and China not enough".

Good point! The resolution of opposites is where spirituality lies.

China doesn't think so. They think Christianity is one too many and they are currently dismantling their groups as fast as possible.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviaenos/2018/03/28/growing-religious-persecution-in-china-a-symptom-of-xis-consolidation-of-power/#3b3aa5ad3b8c

I think Coomaraswamy was talking about the traditional Confuciusism and Taoism, and maybe Zen.

Something related to LittleK's original pondering

Christianity's faith-based freakout: Why atheism makes believers so uncomfortable
Rather than respecting the right of atheists to disbelieve, christians are constantly forcing them to fake it

https://www.salon.com/2014/04/28/christianitys_faith_based_freakouts_why_atheism_makes_believers_lose_their_minds_partner/

Oh sure . . . post something relevant and on topic. Sheesh.

By the way, in my own particular case, I went through the confirmation charade as a part of a deal in which I would never attend church again. There was one half-hearted attempt afterward to get me to go to mass, but it was doomed, and they knew it.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Yeah, your rationalized fantasies, "reality," right.

You sound uncomfortable Blue.

I went to a Southern Baptist Church one Sunday while in high school. One day in a Baptist Church is sufficient. It wasn't very interesting, and I didn't sense anything sacred there, so I had to look elsewhere.

I’ve been forced to be around enough Baptist’s outside of church to know whatever is going on inside their church would make me want to slit my throat.

At least you didn't go the usual route and give up entirely. I didn't find anything, or at least enough, in church either.

Unlike traditional atheism, radical atheism questions the desire for immortality (Haegglund, Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life).

That's a fringe--mainstream, or if you prefer, traditional atheism is largely indifferent to such matters. The so-called "weak" atheists or implicit atheists are the overwhelming majority of atheists. Pew Research in the U.S. and Ipsos--Reid in Canada, and other polling organizations elsewhere make this clear. Not only that, but the Religious Tolerance-dot-org web site reasonably suggests that implicit atheists generally don't respond to such surveys and are under-represented. The so-called strong atheists, the explicit atheists get a lot of attention, on the squeaky wheel principle. But my life's experience and what I've read in surveys in recent years strongly suggests that implicit atheists are far and away the majority, and they just don't care about crap like that. As I've always said, I don't know if there's a god, but I don't believe it, and most importantly, I just don't care.

I doubt if any atheists expect immortality, or desire the heaven(s) described by the religious.

Traditional atheism? What does that even mean? It's not like there's a bible or a priesthood that molests children. Atheism is the only 'belief system' that will reoccur anywhere, anytime, with any sentient species.

.....not a 'belief system'. The rejection of theistic belief systems.