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Teetotaling and Atheism

I imagine a lot of people here get drunk occasionally, and sometimes use drugs. As a person who has recently given up drinking (not an alcoholic or anything, just want to give it up for several reasons), I am beginning to see Religion as a self-imposed form of delusion, but also see being drunk, buzzed, or high as the same thing. Question is, can you be a "bright" and still be a "drunk" even an occasional one ? Not that we cant fall off the wagon every once in a while, but to be an advocate for occasional drunkenness or getting high seems to be at odds with being rational. Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on April 3, 2010 at 12:37am

It could be the outcome of Orthorexia Nervosa.

Permalink Reply by Michael Pianko on April 3, 2010 at 12:46am

Loosing my desires was probably a necessary side effect that I didn't realize would happen at first but now I'm glad I only eat the few things that are healthy and realize that everything else is too gross.

Permalink Reply by Michael Pianko on April 3, 2010 at 8:13pm

Eating is just a body function, and should be no more or less enjoyable than using the bathroom. The purpose of eating is just to put fuel in our bodies, not to have a delicious good time. Vegetables taste bad because they have natural plant toxins; don't eat them. Fruit tastes good because it is healthy. Packaged poisons, like chips cereal and whatever, taste good because they have east to digest nutrients we need, along with a bunch of poisons we don't need.

Permalink Reply by Jason Spicer on April 3, 2010 at 9:04pm

Sex is just a body function. It should be no more or less enjoyable than using the bathroom.

Permalink Reply by Stephen Moore on April 2, 2010 at 10:44pm

I asked because your comment seemed rather extreme, so I wasn't sure if it was a type of Poe or not. But given your further commentary it seems you are quite serious. Based on that, my response follows.

I realized that all alcoholic stuff is bad for you.

So, you came to this conclusion based on an adverse reaction to consuming alcohol (read, got drunk) a few times? You do realise that intoxication is a consequence of drinking alcohol, yes? That doesn't make it "bad" for you. Drink water to excess and you will drown; this doesn't mean water is bad for you. Knowing limits is how one moderates consequences.

I now only eat fruit, and sometimes fish and lettuce

In other words, an unhealthy diet. Fructivorianism is not an adaptive specialisation of Homo sapiens. Just because there are many Primates that may be fructivores, and we are Primates, does not mean we are fructivores.

all drugs are bad, even the legal stuff sold at the pharmacy

Such a comment boggles the mind. I am finding it very difficult not to mock you for writing such a thing. In the spirit of exercising moderation, I shall refrain.

You would be health conscious like me if you thought your friends would think you were a shmuk if you used the stuff.

Actually, I would get different friends.

but it is not the case that in order to have a good time you have to use certain "foods" or chemicals.

I don't recall anyone actually making the argument that one does need such.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Spicer on April 3, 2010 at 12:31am

Stephen, I am refraining from mocking you for refraining from mocking SolitaryMan1983. Is this what they mean by "pay it forward"?

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Moore on April 3, 2010 at 12:57am

I don't know. I refrain from paying anything forward.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on April 3, 2010 at 1:19am

I know one thing for sure, is that you two have made me laugh for the 2nd time today (or is that the third) and I didn't even need to imbibe :)

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Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on April 8, 2010 at 10:31am

I hope I'm not repeating someone else's point, but I was told about this thread and HAD to jump in to the lil fray. Ryan it would seem that the next logical conclusion to your hypothesis is to give up recreational sex! Sex without the goal of reproduction is recreational and just for the pleasure we feel with the release of chemicals in our brains.
If I take a valium with a shot or 3 of Jim Beam (as I cant smoke weed do to testing) I sometimes do it for the relaxation and the pleasure. I do not lose my rationality. If you or others wish to teetotal that is of course fine. And I admire your ability to do so and require no external chemical pleasures. But I see it having NO bearing on ones rationality.

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Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on April 9, 2010 at 10:14pm

PILGRIM KITTEH IS A SELF-RIGHTEOUS KILL-JOY

moar funny pictures

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Permalink Reply by BecaT on April 10, 2010 at 9:19pm

It has a bearing on ones rationality when it becomes a dependancy and all consuming....such as any other thing in life (such as religion). Drinking and smoking is a form of relaxation and is considered a form of socializing. I love nothing better than a good joint and a bull session with my close friends on a friday night. And in another sense...alcohol has been an influence on human society for hundreds of years...so one could argue the point that we have evolved to drink alcohol. No?

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Permalink Reply by Limber Lightfoot on April 11, 2010 at 2:27am

We have evolved to drink alcohol? No.

Just because we like doing something doesn't mean it's vital to our society or existance. We like doing all sorts of things and they aren't important either. Lots of us like to dunk biscuits into coffee but that doesn't mean we have "evolved to dunk biscuits into coffee". In order to say we have evolved to drink alcohol, through a social/behavioural basis, you would have to prove there was a biological advantage to drinking alcohol (this isn't about potentially living longer if you drink a small amount of wine a day, that's a different thing). I don't think women look for drinkers particularly as father-of-their-children material, but men may look for drunk girls for easy impregnation. What exactly is the mechanism by which you think we have "evolved to drink alcohol"?

Incidentally, have you ever tried relaxing by just relaxing and going out with friends? It still works! Even without alcohol! Who would have thought it?