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[quote=Anonymous][quote] you aren't inferior or sad.. But you have no soul.... So you just .. Are... Like a bug or a rock. I assume [/quote]

I assume you're also the person who wrote

[quote]The good thing is that since atheists have no soul ... Killing them is more moral than killing a chicken since they negatively impact the environment more than a chicken.

... Twisted ... Illogical .. Defense of atheist importance in an existence without God in.... 3...2...1.[/quote]

Given your perspective, any answer to this probably won't matter to you, but I'll give it a shot and maybe give you a little something to think about.

At the very least, each person is a unique entity - unlikely to be replicated ever again (unless we're all existing in a Matrix-like simulation). That uniqueness provides an inherent value over and above that of an animal because we are the sum of our experiences, and that summation in humans goes far beyond the capabilities of most animals.

As Roy Batty said at the end of Blade Runner, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe - Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

But the value in human life goes beyond the sum of the person's own experiences. The value in a life is in its relationship to others and in its ability to make the world a better place.

Just like currency, which only has the value others assign to it, a human life has the ability to be important to friends and family in a way that a rock - as an example of an inanimate collection of matter - or a chicken - as an example of a non-human - don't.

A human can conceive of long term planning and sacrifice to make the world a better place in a way that animals do not. The value of a human - whether believer or atheist - is in the value that person's family, friends and acquaintances place on the person, and the potential for that person to do make the world a better place for others.

A person fights against the entropy of the universe by building something that lasts longer than themselves or by cooperating with others to build something that each as an individual could not achieve.

I don't believe I have a soul. [I]Cogito ergo sum.[/I] I have value in being a unique creation in the universe, I am the sum of my experiences and the potential for all I will create in my life. But my value goes beyond that. I have value for the good I do in the world and how I help my friends. I have value because I am loved by my family and I challenge you to deny the "value" that shows in my daughter's eyes when she looks at me.

To me, relying on a soul to give you "value" in the eyes of a deity and which makes you equal to everyone else in the eyes of that deity is a political creation of religion.

When a centralized authority wants to avoid revolution by the dominated majority, the most effective way to do it is to convince the dominated majority to be happy with their position.

"Blessed are the meek" and "blessed are the poor" and the concept that the poor and downtrodden will be rewarded in the afterlife are all concepts that cause the dominated majority to accept their position in life. The idea that the "souls" of the poor and downtrodden are somehow valued more by the deity than those of the dominant minority enables the dominated class to feel superior and reduces the likelihood of revolution.

So, no, I'm more than a rock or a bug or a chicken, and so are you, and if you think you need a soul to have "value" in the universe, then that's unfortunate for you.

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