Letters to the Editor
wire0monkey
Published Letters: 173 Editor's Choice: 5
-
Athieism is NOT a religion
[Read the article: I don't believe in atheists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Most religions involve an idea of the transcendent usually in the form of theism. Religions also involve a cultural set of behaviors including rituals, liturgies, and organized worship, often involving a priesthood, and socially sanctioned morals and virtues, and a set of myths or sacred truths believed by adherents. These characteristics are often accompanied by a devotion to personal faith and mystic experiences.
Athieism is not a religion:
1. It has no gods, god, or other spiritual beings.
2. There is no unified conception of spirituality.
3. It has no rituals.
4. There is no common belief. (Athieists are bound by a common disbelief. )
5. There is no scripture, no priesthood, and no tradition.
6. There is no concept of an afterlife.
7. There is no myth of creation. (If the Big Bang or evolution is disproved, scientists will dump the theory in a heart beat.)
8. Athieism does not depend on personal faith or mystic experience.
-
RE: A Billion Angry Bees
[Read the article: What the Poling autism case means]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your theory that people who want vaccines should have them and people who don't want them should take the risk is great, except... many vaccines don't provide 100% protection from disease. There is a chance that even a vaccinated child could get the disease if the are exposed to a disease carrier. A large number of unvaccinated children in a class room places the vaccinated children at risk, too. The risk the anti-vaccine people take with their children puts my children at risk. It also increases the risk of exposure to very young, unvaccinated babies and to the elderly for whom vaccines are less effective. A refusal to vaccinate creates real public health risks for other people.
That said, my home state deals with vaccinations in a somewhat tolerant way. No child is required to be vaccinated, but you can't enroll your children in public school without vaccinations. If you choose not to vaccinate, your children must attend a private school that doesn't require the vaccines (there are Christian Science schools which don't), or home schooled. Of course, our local Christian Science grade school gets hit with periodic measles outbreaks on a regular schedule. Every once in a while a kid dies.
-
bushwackeroo
[Read the article: I don't believe in atheists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Athieism doesn't have to disprove God. It doesn't have to disprove unicorns, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or the Great Pumpkin either. If a person states that God (or unicorns, or the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus, or or the Great Pumpkin) exists, I have no obligation to believe that it exists until you provide some evidence for it's existence. Athieism isn't faith -- it's a rational theory based on the total lack of evidence for the existence of God.
-
athieism doesn't mean losing a sense of wonder or beauty
[Read the article: I don't believe in atheists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The other day a dolphin helped some humans get two pygmy sperm whales off a sand bar and direct them back out to sea. That's amazing. It's two intelligent species acting together to help a third species.
Real life is so much more amazing than fantasy or science fiction. I have a strong preference for science over magic in an aesthetic sense. I spent a lot of time absorbing mythology and folk magic when I was a pagan. Once you've read as much as you can about Irish mythology or British folk magic, you're done. There isn't that much more to learn. The wonder wears off and you're left with no new knowledge. The myths remain the same regardless of how many translations you read. If you believe in the magical aspects of religion, you're also left with a series of answers or solutions that usually don't produce tangible results. You can pray for improved health for a dying baby, but the efficacy of this approach is doubtful. It's very unsatisfying to me from an aesthetic and intellectual perspective.
Studying science has the opposite effect. No matter how many new things you learn, each new piece of knowledge opens up new questions. Once we had some rudimentary understanding of DNA, it raised all sorts of questions about the effects of epigenetic markers on gene expression. There's always more to learn. The natural universe is also unbelievably beautiful. One Hubble archive photo is worth dozens of Greek vases to me. We also live on a planet with half a dozen other species, who while they might not be as intelligent as we are, are intelligent. They're aliens to us and we are just barely learning how to talk to them. I love escapist fantasy and science fiction, but the reality of science is so much more satisfying.
I can be athieist without losing my sense of wonder and beauty.
-
I don't believe in brightstar65
[Read the article: I don't believe in atheists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, athieists have parsed out and accounted your theory. On possibility is that consciousness creates reality. The alternative is that consciousness arises from reality and creates an image of reality which we label perception and knowledge.
The second is almost certainly the true case. How do I know this? Reality doesn't respond to changes in consciousness. Even if you convince someone that gravity is an illusion, that person still can't fly. Even if someone reads and obeys every single precept of the "The Secret," the world doesn't change. Thousands of pagans in the USA use magic ritual to try to create prosperity, make rain, and/or bring world peace. It doesn't work. Despite many, many attempts by humans to use their consciousness to alter reality, all known experiments have resulted in failure.
Consciousness arises from reality and creates an image of reality which we label perception and knowledge. Because we can't know all, this construct is flawed. The argument about faith v. athieism is an argument about which construct is less flawed.