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After Religion Is Over

A lot of people seem to think that atheists can only tear down other modes of thought, and haven't built anything meaningful on their own. I want to know what people on this site think a world built without religion would work like, of their are any practices or beliefs worth saving in them, and what we as an admittedly heterogeneous group can agree on about a post religious world.

Tags: Religion, atheism, post-religion

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Permalink Reply by cj the cynic on February 15, 2009 at 4:42pm

You can get some clues about a post-religion world by looking at some nearly post-religious countries. Western post-religious countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway seem to be doing much better than even other developed countries that are more religious. Nothing necessarily needs to be "added" to a society that is not religious. Life goes about the same way, except for everything essential being rationally-based and not wasting money funding superstitious establishments. That money could go toward much better uses in a post-religious world, the same way it does in widely-secular countries in existence today.

Atheism is primarily the lack of religious belief. It does not need to be a belief in itself that seeks to add something to life. That would be more like secular humanism than atheism.

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Permalink Reply by Tedster on February 15, 2009 at 4:53pm

Atheist just have a different thought process than there christian counterparts. Religion attempts to use a prescribed set of rules but often will forgo certain ethics when it isn't convenient anymore. For example, if you had christian parents, and you are disloyal to them, they are not going to stone you.

Usually I find that ethics from an atheist point of view is rather simple, though I have disagreed with other atheist on certain subjects. Essentially, you want to live by certain rules that you wish others to go by. The more consistent rules are the better.

Don't kill or hurt people. Be aware of consequence of your actions.

Always question, question, question.

In industrialized countries that have a high proportion of non-believers, crimes tends to be lower. The US, which has a high believer population also has a higher crime rate. This is not because a religious person is less ethical than an atheist, but because religion often tends to bring a certain malfunction to peoples attitude about other people.

Some of it is because there is a strong black and white view of how people function, and certain rules, such as lying, I dare say, doesn't always equal in a given act. Take some peoples view that Bill Clinton was impeach because he lied, and not because enjoyed a blow job. Was lying about a blow job such a terrible thing? Also if you killed somebody, is it because you were trying to save either your own life or somebody else, was it because they were in a great deal of pain, or was it because you wanted that persons watch. People can usually figure out whats best.

Another thing that is remarkable is that people are inherently concerned about one another. There is plenty of research to back this up. When people are often pathological towards each other, usually it is because they are conditioned to be that way.

Dawkins has a video and a book called the selfish gene. You will see that animals care for one another, and it is because it is eventual for their survival.