We've Come so far

What can we learn from history? This question has plagued modern humans for at least the last 100,000 years or so. Every few centuries our species learns something amazing that shakes the foundation of our everyday existence. Sometimes these discoveries are good for society, and sometimes not. The invention of the spear meant more energy-rich food for the tribe, therefore a lesser need to spend most of our days foraging for plants or scavenging for dead animals. This left societies with a lot of free time on their hands. Those tribes with better technologies and the ability to not resist change survived longer, had healthier offspring, and were more likely to spread their genes though the populations. Add a few thousand years, a few more discoveries, a newly developing culture and the ability to communicate written/spoken language and you'll find yourself in the middle of a species divided. As our society evolved it began to select for intelligence and the ability to command authority. The societies that claimed to know more and could wield their authority over others; survived better and populated.

          

Enter the “Dark Ages” religious Ideas flourish and became entangled with our humanity. Heresy becomes common place for those who wouldn't conform. The trend becomes; if we can't wield our authority over you, then you'll be judged by god. Namely, if you don't conform to our dogmatic authority, then you will be subjected to the supreme law of us. We'll judge you by our beliefs and our interpretation god's word. This way we'll be the judge of you now!, hear on earth as the arbiters of gods almighty power. This convenient power play on behalf of god’s ultimate authority now allows us to judge you as dammed justifying reckless king in the the name of god.

Now skip forward almost to present day but not quite all the way to today, more towards the last hundred years or so. Societies have pretty much written off the word of god as the ultimate authority to kill. We now judge others out of frustration, not entirely because we’re mad at them for not conforming, but because of the loss in supreme authority over the mass's. Luckily we have societal evolution to advance us in our humanity's. With loss in supreme authority, religion and dogma become fair game for doubt to rear its sneaky, vial, malicious head. The men who once demanded respect and authority for no good reason other than “because [their] god said so!” now hide in a vale of secrecy and misguidance so as not to be recognized as supreme fakes. They hide in fear, as they should for all the damage their dogma has done and the knowledge that the gig is up. Their fear and hatred have rotted their minds and that of the mass's, causing an epidemic of impedance among mankind in its ability to evolve as an equal, just and loving society.

On to current day. We now harness and embrace the ability to think critically, speak freely without fear of persecution, and respect evidence over dogma. This freedom, however, has come at a great price. We are now in the middle of a great divide where reason is championing the dogmas of our ancestors. As we chose to reject the religious dogmas of our past and embrace the battle for reason a new vision comes in to focus. However there was no way we could predict just how strong an effect this would have on our society. Thankfully society and dogma, for the most part, have become more civilized. We now rarely kill one another over decanting opinions, and we value facts and evidence as the deciding factor in a cases of opinion vs fact. Unfortunately When facts are unable to be accepted or reasoned through we perform mental gymnastics known as Cognitive Dissonance. "The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognition's, adding new cognition's to create a consistent belief system, or reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements."

A new battlefield: As the internet has became increasingly popular it has also become the prime location and battlefield for intellectual discourse. It has also become one for philosophical, metaphysical and moral quandary's. Now it appears as a mass graveyard where bad, false, or immoral ideas go to die. The internet is currently the ultimate resource for finding answers to problems we once thought were impossible to conclude. It has proceeded to halt the indoctrination of ignorance and is steadily eroding the towers of dogma that have stood in the face of a Reason for so long. Reason is prevailing and the tides are washing us towards a brighter future free from the grasp of ignorance and dogmatic fervor.           

Becoming A Better Atheist Activist

This is my attempt to point out the flaws I have found in myself and other Atheist activists. By no means should anything I have to say be taken as authoritative or superior to anyone. I am merely trying to help weed out bad habits, stereotypes, misconceptions and poorly informed atheists. As much as we all would like to speak as elegantly as Hitchens, stay as calm and confident as Harris, or be as educated and witty as Dawkins, this simply is not the case. Nor can anyone expect to reach their level of skill or experience just by debating friends and trolls on blogs. We need to abandon the notion that we can counter any argument presented. One day when you least expect it you will be caught off guard by a question or statement that you've never heard and will have to defend your credibility as an educated Atheist. How you respond to these conundrums will forever be perceived by not only the recipient but anyone who happens to be observant of the event.

This is the point where you should consider your role in this movement and how you can help best represent Atheism and people who call themselves Atheists. We should ask ourselves, “What is the best response to this particular event and to these specific recipients?” Not any one method alone will convince every theist, but we should use our best judgment as to what method might work best under the circumstances presented. Learning these skills and how to implement them is more than just calling yourself an Atheist and denying the existence of a god or any gods.

Being an educated Atheist Activist is a skill that needs to be honed and continually expounded upon. As soon as you think your proficient enough to stop learning the skill, that should be the moment at which you know its time to relearn what you already know in order verify once more that what you are advocating is what you actually believe. Learning a skill takes hundreds of hours and lots of dedication. We should treat our ability to reason and proclaim ourselves Atheists Activists as a well-researched, well-examined, practiced and refined skill. With this skill practiced and used correctly it could one day lead us towards a post-theistic future where this skill is no longer a rare commodity.   

Pillars of Faith

 I have been studying the structure of religions and have noticed similarities In many religions that can be though of like a corporate pillar system. If you break some religions down into their main components you'll find that their comprised of two main parts. The Cover or top central component, which tends to consists of the texts and dogmas (whether they be written or spoken) that distinguish one set of "divine" ideologies from another. This Section is placed at the top to give cover or misdirect the real motives of the religion.
Below that are the Pillars of Faith. The pillars can be broken down into three layers. The first layer usually contains the leaders of the organizations. Theses are the Popes, Divine chosen ones, Dali lamas, Prophets, etc. Often times the leader is nothing more and a well choreographed pawn or mascot put in place to give the followers something to believe in. They are often not the ones who will dictate how the text should be interpreted and passed down. Under that pillar rests the real players in the religion, I like to refer to them as the "Pushers". They are the priests, shamans, witchdoctors, televangelists, clergy, reverends, etc.; who will often claim they are the ones doing gods work here on earth. The Pushers consist of strategically placed members used to perform elaborate illusions of deception and misguidance to sell their products. They disguise and repackage all the inaccuracies, contradictions and logical fallacies to push their vial, infectious ideologies upon their unsuspecting victims (the indoctrinated or to be indoctrinated). The Pushers are the fake, greedy, power-hungry, corrupt salesmen selling shit philosophies and dogmas like they were "Shit mortgage-backed securities".
This brings us to the final pillar of this elaborate ponzi scheme, the Victims. This pillar which supports all other pillars and the main body of the religion and which is entirely dependent upon it's faithfully misinformed Victims. I choose not to call them followers or believers because in reality that's not what they are, they are victims. They are victims of this trickle-down distorted deception of reality; put in place by the pusher and leaders of theses despicable organizations. The victims usually don't realize what is or has happened because they were either indoctrination or misinformed by the pushers. They have had the wool pulled over their eyes. Constantly reaffirming lies thought apologetic s and reinterpretations of scriptures keep theses dogmas alive. They victims have been duped, scammed and convinced that what they believe is the truth. It is hard to convince the victims of an elaborate hoaxes that they were lied to and led to believe fallacious things as it goes against their own internal self assurance of what they know to be true.
 Fortunately there is a flaw in religion and it's an essential component to taking down this card tower of lies. If you can convince enough victims to leave the pushers and their religious dogma the pillars will crumble under their weight. Without enough victims the pushers will have no one to buy their lies and support the pillars above. Unfortunately not all the victims can be rehabilitated or convinced to see the "Light", again. No new victims means no more power of authority and without that ability to manipulate their victims they are useless in maintaining the structure they so desperately need.. After this point the religion is destined to go the way all other ancient religions have, into the history books. How this is accomplished is up to greater minds than I.  

My guide to understanding Atheists and Atheism Part 5

Common Misconceptions About Atheists

•Atheists hate god, so that’s why they became atheists.

            - This is simply not true. It is impossible to hate something that you don’t believe is real. It is possible to hate or dislike an idea, but this is besides the point. Most atheists don’t hate god. In fact, they couldn’t care less about any god/s because they are not real and have no relevance in their lives. Most of the hatred or dislike that atheists may have is toward man-made religions and their dogmas. We do hate the inhuman atrocities religions allow and protect as sacred. Moreover, some of us disapprove of religion because it imposes its views onto others and enslaves the minds of its followers. Many atheists became atheists because they read their bibles.  

 

•Atheists have no morals.

             - Time and time again this is brought up but never gets theists very far. Evolutionary Biology and Psychology show that morality is naturally occurring when consciousness of mind is present in a species. Meaning, we are all innately evolved moral conscious beings and we collect our morals from social acceptances. Morality is subjective and ever-changing, which is why absolute morality is a logical impossibility. Societies and laws, not a supreme being, will dictate what is moral. If we get our morals from a god, then which god? Which morals? And how do we determine their meanings?

 

•If atheists have no god and no heaven, then their life is meaningless and not worth living.

             - This is obviously false or there would be a lot less atheists out there and we would see a decrease and not an increase in atheism as we see happening now.  Being unique individuals, we as human beings create meaning in our own lives. I find the phrase “life is meaningless” to be absurd. We are lucky enough to be conscious and present in one of the most awe-inspiring times imaginable. If you can’t find meaning in life, then you're just not looking hard enough or you refuse to open your eyes. If you’re following a meaning that is not your own, then you, in turn, have less meaning or no meaning to your own life. In that case you are simply living to live-out someone else’s meaning of life and not your own.

 

My guide to understanding Atheists and Atheism Part 4

               Why Atheists organize

 

•-Even though Atheists are the second largest group, we are still a minority in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The U.S. is made up of 18-20% of non-believers and growing. 

 

•-To take a stand against oppression and bigotry by religious fundamentalists and apologists who force their views on us.

 

•-We organize to allow our voices to be heard by our government and state representatives.

 

•-To help reinforce the separation of church and state mandated by the federal Constitution of the United States.

 

•-We like to get together and do things with other like-minded individuals, even if we only have a single thing in common (like Atheism). 

 

•-To help make other Atheists feel comfortable with the assurance that they are not alone in the choosing to reject Religion and/or god/s. 

 

•-To help support and rehabilitate those damaged by religious atrocities. 

 

•-To express their feelings of outrage, hope, love, humor, interests, etc. 

 

•-To help others in need.

 

•-To help create a better world through altruistic means by the formation of secular charities with no ulterior motives or obligations. 

 

•-To promote the advancement of scientific discoveries though logic and reason.

 

My guide to understanding Atheists and Atheism Part 3

My guide to understanding Atheists and Atheism Part 2

 

Why Atheism is “Not” a Religion!

 

•My reasons why Atheism is not a Religion are because there are no dogmas associated with Atheism. No deities, tests, baptisms, rituals, leaders, codes, laws, special underwear, stone tablets, places of worship, and no doctrines. 

 

•The only thing Atheists have in common with each other is that they share a unique stance that they gain though their own independent studies with the help of deductive reasoning.

–The stance: There probably is no god/s due to a lack of evidence to support the theistic claims. Therefore, we will deny any existence of a god/s unless demonstrably proven otherwise. Namely, we assert “No” positive claim for the non-existence of any god/s and therefore find no reason to believe in any god/s. 

 

•Outside of the stance of Atheism, Atheists have many commonalities that appear to have religious connotations, but are not. We share many of the same view points, but no two Atheists share exactly the same views. 

   

Religion - a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

  Source for Religion: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion