Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
How disapponting! 22:12, the Atheist, is really just incredibly shallow. Oh well.
NP.
Shallowness on DCUM? Impossible!
I'm an atheist. I was educated as a Catholic and went searching through multiple religions before finally accepting that I am an atheist. I tried really hard to be something other than atheist, but I just couldn't believe. I don't think Christians or other religious people are lost or confused. I think they are in denial. We are conscious beings living in rotting meat machines. When we die, we're done. [i]There
is no meaning to life, except the meaning that we create. That's tough stuff, and existential fear keeps many people from accepting the truth. I don't say this to people who believe, of course. It angers me when adults use religion to project their anxieties about death, sex and morality on other people in abusive ways. (Hello, Westboro Baptist Church!)
I appreciate the artist analogy, but I would add this. I can look at a painting that includes fairies and dragons and angels and appreciate it for its beauty (if it's well done), but that doesn't mean that I believe in ACTUAL fairies and dragons and angels. I like to read fantasy novels. That doesn't mean that I believe in elves and dwarves. Marianne Moore described poetry as creating real toads in imaginary gardens. Religion tries to insist that the imaginary garden that it creates is real.
I don't find atheists to be pedestrian souls who don't appreciate beauty or meaning. The world is an amazing, diverse place. It's beautiful and full of more strangeness and wonder than anyone could ever appreciate in one life. People are fascinating - capable of both extraordinary good and extraordinary evil. What more could I want?