Why Are There Not More Atheists ,???

[Derik]

I believe that many people believe in a god out of comfort and fear for the nothingness that we reach at our end. I personally believe that religion has been used as a tool of fear to control people and morals way way back in the day, which has only continued to the day, and grown. Intelligent religious people do exist, but sometimes it strikes me how a person can be so intelligent in some ways, but be so naive for a belief in  religion and "god" so they can continue their journey into an afterlife. In my eyes, God is an adult version of Santa Clause that people use as comfort out of fear. Like they say, "You only live once", I'm not wasting time

[Godfree]

For Atheism to have a chance , we have to do the work of ten christians.
because we are greatly outnumbered and out funded.

But, why should we evangelize being an atheist?  It's not a religion, some atheists are quite stupid and have beliefs which are equally as crazy as religious people.  

I'd much prefer to spread the good word of tolerance, equality, and rational thought rather than worry over if someone thinks a god exists or not.

There are many problems with this idea of tolerance , for starters , it may just be another way to maintain the status quo , the way I like to rationalize that we shouldn't maintain the status quo is to see religion as a form of mental illness , and shouldn't we the "sane" ones try and help those afflicted with this illness.
Irrational behaviour is not restricted to the religious , however when it is written into the belief system , it's hard not to see it as unhealthy.

Derik ,  I like your post , and think I agree with most of it , as a golfer , I am a 0 handicap , shot 64 , when I play I can't help myself , I just want to help those who don't understand what they are doing , the game is so easy , down the middle , middle of the green and one put if you can , it helps to thump the ball on the par 5's so you have a chance of a two put birdie . I am the same with philosophy , those who can see , should help those who can't.

[Whitney]

I think too many people are throwing around the word mental illness in relationship to religion when they are really just looking for some other words...disinformation and misinformation

It's not those who left religion were mentally ill then magically got better when they got the information they needed to realize religion isn't what it claims to be.

[Godfree]

I think too many people are throwing around the word mental illness in relationship to religion when they are really just looking for some other words...disinformation and misinformation

It's not those who left religion were mentally ill then magically got better when they got the information they needed to realize religion isn't what it claims to be.

Well lets look at it as religion requires them to think irrationally . And using the same irrational thinking processes , they end up believing in or thinking about lots of irrational things . So what they call the "real world" is a bunch of irrational thoughts about things that aren't real. In most cases these thoughts aren't that dangerous , but suicide bombers are a fairly good example of irrational thinking . People can end up trying things like faith healing , psychic surgery , which can have serious health problems result.
Just as alcohol or drug addiction can change a person , irrational behavior can lead them to unhealthy life styles.

[Whitney]

I never said religion wasn't irrational...I said it wasn't a mental illness; there is no reason to think there is something physically/chemically wrong with a religious person's brain (at least not for the average religious person).

[The Magic Pudding]

I never said religion wasn't irrational...I said it wasn't a mental illness; there is no reason to think there is something physically/chemically wrong with a religious person's brain (at least not for the average religious person).

I didn't think "physically/chemically" were the only class of cause for mental illness.
I thought it was a problem with thought.
 

Any disease of the mind; the psychological state of someone who has emotional or behavioural problems serious enough to require psychiatric intervention

I don't know how many experts would classify religious belief as mental illness.
Perhaps it is a matter of degree, the thoughts and behaviours of believers seem weird to me.
Referring to the definition above, if many people share odd thoughts, intervention isn't required, it is the norm.
Atheists shouldn't be too smug about this.
How many people live their lives without some physical illness?
How many people posses a mental process that couldn't be challenged to some degree?

[Thumpalumpacus]

There are many problems with this idea of tolerance , for starters , it may just be another way to maintain the status quo , the way I like to rationalize that we shouldn't maintain the status quo is to see religion as a form of mental illness , and shouldn't we the "sane" ones try and help those afflicted with this illness.

I don't have a problem with tolerance.  A strong idea has no need to supress dissentience, and indeed such an attitude of intolerance is indicative of a weak idea, in my mind.  Also, I deeply dislike the attempt to stigmatize religious people with the tag "mental illness," not only because, as Whitney pointed out, being irrational isn't being mentally ill, but because it perpetuates the idea that crazy people are inherently lesser humans.

Irrational behaviour is not restricted to the religious , however when it is written into the belief system , it's hard not to see it as unhealthy.

Atheists who are irrational can be just as dangerous, even though they don't have a higher authority (either human or divine) dictating their actions via a belief system.

I am the same with philosophy , those who can see , should help those who can't.

Those who know what's best for us
must rise and save us from ourselves.

[Byronazriel]

I don't like to think of religion as a mental illness, I believe it has more to do with ignorance (wilful or otherwise...) and a heaping spoonful of wishful thinking.

The way I figure it is that if god/s do exist then it shouldn't matter what you believe so long as you're a good person, and if they're going to punish good people for not believing in them when they've never done very much (If anything) to make their presence known... Then, obviously the gods take douche-baggery to epically new levels.

If they don't exist then it doesn't really matter what you believe. However being a good person becomes even more important because what you do here is the only thing that matters. The world would essentially be governing itself, and we couldn't count on a deity to make a heaven for us... So we'd have to make our own, here.

[Godfree]

Lets try and redefine the problem as I see it .
We need to change the system we have , what we in the west call a secular democracy.
What I call a religious dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
Because to leave religion in such a position of power and control ,
means they will be there forever!!!
We will never stop the next generation being fed the same pack of irrational nonsense
if we leave religion in control.
So how are we going to persuade the masses to stop this religious nonsense ,
by teaching "tolerance" how is tolerating what is , going to change it???
we could talk about the good side of religion and how nice some religious people are ,
but thats certainly not going to discourage people from being religious.
So while you may think I'm just being mean or negative,
I think to justify seeking change , we/I must provide reason for the need for change.
Suggesting that we should all just be tolerant may make our lives easier and less stress , but it won't bring us any closer to change.

[The Magic Pudding]

Pink Floyd, Nick Mason ore maybe just some roady who was there:

"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the
most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even
if you're not mad..."

I think most of the people I know are mad, and I suspect the rest are up to something.

[Byronazriel]

You can be tolerent yet change things... It really depends on how you phrase somethng.

Religion is evil, and all its practitioners should be killed! = Intolerent, and angry.

Religion is irrational, and unnecessarry. = Tolerent, yet honest.

The religious should have less rights! = Intolerent, and unfair.

The religious shouldn't have any more more rights than I do. = Tolerent, and true.

Also, you seem to be operating under the impression that religion is a bad thing...

I like to think of religion as being a lot like drinking: It dulls the mind, it's powerfully addictive, and children really have no place partaking in it.

However, if you take away people's right be who they are... Well that's just one step closer to a very grim future.

Art, philosophy, music, fun, creatvity, and pretty much any friviaity is irrational... Why should people be watching TV when they can be working!? That doesn't make it bad, just irrational.

The best way to go about changing the world for the better is to support science, and education. To promote tolerence amongst all people, being a good person, and even more importantly teaching the younger generation to be good people!

If the world was filled with educated, tolerent, good people... Well then a lot of the problems we have now will be a thing of the past.

Right now there's a lot of incompetent, selfish religous people in power... But how is that in anyway different from a lot of incompetent, selfish athiests being in charge?

People are people, they'll screw things up one way or another... Trust me, I've known people who were the most reasonable people you'd ever meet... And yet they believe in leprechauns.

I've also met the most closeminded, ignorent people who happened to be athiests... Most people fell between those two extremes however.

I'd vote for an athiest is he or she was the best person for the job, or at least seemed to be anyway.

I'd also vote for a person of any faith if they were the best person for the job.

And really, it doesn't matter all that much.

A good, well educated, reasonable person is just as well off as an athiest or otherwise.

[karadan]

America don't really have it that bad at the moment, compared with countries like Saudi Arabia. You can profess your disbelief in a deity in the US without a religious court sentencing you to death in an afternoon.

[i_am_i]

"Not one man in ten thousand has goodness of heart or strength of mind to be an atheist."
                                                                               
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

[Whitney]

What I call a religious dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
Because to leave religion in such a position of power and control ,
means they will be there forever!!!

While I agree that what we have is not a true democracy (nor do I think it was ever intended to be a true democracy, but I digress), I don't think what we have is even close to being rightly described as a religious dictatorship.

Roe V Wade would have never had (what I would call) a favorable outcome if we were under complete control of fundamentalist Christianity.

Prop 8 would have been found constitutionally valid if we were under a fundamentalist Chrsitian dictatorship.

Separation of church and state as we know it would be demeed to only mean that the US can't pick a national church and religious freedom as we know it would be invalidated...if we were under a christian dictatorship.

Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?

[Godfree]

Whitney ,, dramatic , provocative , challenging ,
I would be a fairly boring poster without trying to stimulate debate .
I applied to be a charitable trust here in NZ based on Atheist , the Crown Law Office told me "unlawful" there are zero Atheist charitable trusts in NZ.
But any fundamentalist christian with his own whacky  interpretation of the bible can have a charitable trust , so can a muslim , a buddha , or any other crazy religion , but me , he who was born and raised in this country , can't!!!
Because I'm an Atheist , seems like blatant discrimination to me , or am I being dramatic again???
We are supposed to be a fifty fifty mix here in NZ , Atheists have no charitable trusts , no political parties , and yet we have had plenty of religion based political parties.
Basically there is no support for Atheism , it is discouraged at almost every level , even in NZ,and yet we are supposed to have half the country who don't believe in god.
Seems to me we are being deceived , this is not a secular democracy...