The World's Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

Is Atheism a chiefly liberal or conservative philosophy?

I know this may seem like a bit of an odd question but I’ve been wondering about it for the past few days and for some reason I can’t escape the feeling that it (atheism) would be a rather ‘conservative’ point of view (that is, at least in title), and yet I’m constantly being called a liberal because of my social and political leanings. I'm just wondering what your views are on this.

PS: I’ll be gone for a few days but I will catch up with this thread when I return.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MCT on May 29, 2011 at 8:43pm

First of all, I do not believe that a political decision should be allowed to influence anything other than who will and how they will protect our individual rights. To keep every individual free from coercion. Second, no, the moral thing is not to let people starve to death. Nor is it to force other people to help. As I have said before, philanthropy and charity, imo, would flourish even more than they do now. I can imagine an organization designed to help people like this, soliciting voluntary contributions perhaps, or starting a business whose profit is dedicated to starving people, with a logo and brand that consumers can be proud they have contributed to what they perceive as a good cause. And, why they are starving has no imapct whatsoever, imo, as to whether or not you force someone to help, as a rule of the land (institutionalized violence), but would certainly matter as to whether I make a decision to help them personally. This is partially why it should be left up to the individual to help or not, as they see fit. And as for mob rule, I think that if we are to elect officials to run the military, national guard, law courts and other valid extensions of retaliatory force, mob rule is the only fair way to go. If it is concerning other non-moral institutionalized violence, the mob should not have a say in where my money goes. The mob is only proper in deciding who and how our individual rights will be protected or what objective laws will be enforced. Park, any reason why you are addresssing me in the third person?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on May 29, 2011 at 9:07pm

lol only because I was responding to Wanderer, not to you Michael.

>And as for mob rule, I think that if we are to elect officials to run the military, national guard, law courts and other valid extensions of retaliatory force, mob rule is the only fair way to go. If it is concerning other non-moral institutionalized violence, the mob should not have a say in where my money goes.

Who decides what is of a moral nature and what is not? If anything social support programs are of the utmost moral nature, not the military.

I am really just tired of all polemical rhetoric on your behalf, Mike. Enforcing laws is called "violent coercion," the democratic process is "mob" rule~ these notions of 'liberty' are meretricious, and I just don't have much stomach for the same thing over and over and over again without gaining any ground, or making any thoughtful progress.

"with that said, I bid you adieu"

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by MCT on May 29, 2011 at 10:05pm

The individual decides what is moral for him or her, which is the only way personal choices can be made morally. The mob does not get to vote on individual choices, only to empower the institution that monopolizes retaliatiory force against those that would coerce another individual.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jedi Wanderer on May 30, 2011 at 7:55am

Well I did read an article about blood banks in the UK once (I think) which was talking about how they started running out of blood supplies when they started paying people for their blood rather than running purely on donations, but it seems we would get different lessons from this story. You would see that charity and philanthropy work best when it is non-compulsory, whereas I see that greed is a corrupting influence on human nature. But its a fair point.

So how do you get large societies in your philosophy? Specifically, how do large cities get built? Where do the funds come from for sewage and water infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, etc. etc.? Are these all to be paid for privately as well?