| Atheist Life vs Religious Life - 596 sec Some argue that religious life is the best way to live. They claim life without a god is sad and depressing. Statements like "I could not imagine my life without God", and "My life would be meaningless without God", are common defenses for a religious life. The following is a list of advantages atheists enjoy over a religious life. I invite the religious viewers to submit a response video with the advantages of a religious life.
1. Atheists can make moral decisions based on the specific context. Having absolutes like "Though Shall not Lie" stops people from thinking for themselves and making the right decision based on the situation at hand. In what situation would be okay to lie? Most religious people would say, never. Atheists would disagree. For example: If you were living in Germany hiding Jews in your attic during the holocaust, and Hitler's Nazis knocked on your door and asked if you were hiding Jews, would it be okay to lie to save the lives of the Jews in your attic? I believe trying to save their lives would the moral and proper choice. Atheists have the power to do what's right for all humanity, rather than the forced perspective of doing what is right for a god.
2. Atheists can experience healthy outrage at the outrageous without fear of questioning God's plan. We can be outraged when a friend dies of a horrible disease, or is killed in a car accident. It is okay to be upset at disasters and horrible events. It is not a part of any plan. It is just a horrible event. Atheists try to learn from them and not just chalk it up to God's Plan. We use science to understand catastrophic events like hurricanes, and tsunamis. This gives us the ability to save lives. If we think a magical plan is going to happen no matter what, then why try to stop the events or make things better. Atheists do not wonder if a god is punishing us. Yes, there is cause and effect, and our actions effect how we live, you should save for retirement, and if your diet is bad you'll end up fat, or sick, or both. But if an airplane part falls on your house, it is an accident. If you find a 5 dollar bill on the sidewalk, it is an accident. No magical intervention, no magical wrath, these are just accidents. Life has an element of chance. This may not seem comforting, but here is another way to look at it: Your loved one dies in a completely random car accident where nobody could possibly be blamed. Is it more comforting to know the accident happened because of bad luck or is better to think the accident could have been prevented by an omnipotent being that could have stepped in and saved them from an untimely death, but your god decided to just let them die? You don't have to be frustrated thinking "Was it because I didn't pray enough?" "Was God mad at me or them?" "Maybe I should have prayed more." Atheist take comfort in knowing there is no plan.
3. Atheist can be friends with everyone without having the thought in the back of their mind that this person's lifestyle may be evil. You have the power to accept people for what they are. Enabling you to enjoy their quirks rather than chastise them for being unique. Atheists can have relationships with people who have alternative lifestyles without feeling like they have to save them from some deity that is going to condemn them for being themselves. After all, if there was a creator, then he has made everyone the way they are. Atheists don't fear that a large part of the earth's population is going to hell for being true to themselves.
5. Atheists do not live with the fear of hell. This is one of the hardest things for religious people to shake and one of the best rewards. Religious people love the thought of heaven, but fear hell as a consequence. In order to lose the fear of hell, you have to let go of the false hope of heaven. Atheists have done both.
7. Atheists raise freethinking children; let them pick a religion, or none. What would you have picked? This is hard for parents. If a child wanted to be another religion, or even atheist, it would be devastating to most religious parents. Why not teach them about all religions and tell them why you believe the one you do, and then let them choose? Atheists do not force atheism on their children. We simple let them see the evidence for and against religion and let them make up there own mind. They may change there mind several times. This is okay. Atheists love their children no matter what belief they are drawn too. That is the beauty of free thinking. You can raise your children according to your values without feeling as though you have to defend Bible stories that even a child can see are fiction. Tags:atheist atheism religion jesus church bible god faith christian satan science creationism evolution islam mormon  | | | | When Christians Misbehave: Self-Induced Religious Fit - 293 sec From the series, "When Christians Misbehave"
This is a two part benediction at a public college in Texas given by the very religious valedictorian of that school. This came after some wrangling about whether to even have a benediction, since some students objected. This is unbridled Christian advertising in the form of a self induced fit on stage.
At the near end of the video, the brown-uniformed woman walking up the aisle is a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper, going up on stage to render aid. She obviously doesn't think it's a very serious emergency. I don't think anyone else does either.
If you have raw video of Christians misbehaving, feel free to send it to me, and I'll edit it up real nice, and post it. :o)
Joe Zamecki aka aajoeyjo
Texas State Director, American Atheists
www.atheists.org/tx Tags: atheist when Christians misbehave comedy prayer religion fit religious jesus god state/church separation | | | | Religious Conquests - Albania - 1005 sec Nov 1996
Guitar strumming, voices singing, helicopter whirring: the evangelists are preparing for a mission. One last prayer and the group leader yells, "Let's go tell the world about God!" Until recently, this was the world's first atheist state. Albania's ex-communist dictator, Enver Hoxha banned all types of religion. Bibles and Korans were chucked into a national bonfire and houses of worship destroyed. Catholic priest, Father Pllumi, endured 26 years of torture before his release in 1990 when the Democrats finally ousted the Communists. Now there is a rush to reclaim the faithful. But some Albanians dread another Bosnian bloodbath. In particular, Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Anastassios Yanoulatos, worries that the sudden influx of missionaries might upset Albania's fine religious balance. Undeterred, our American evangelists head up North by jeep to the Catholic heartland. Their aim is to entice villagers to a showing of their film on Jesus Christ. As the projector is set up, the crowd is buzzing for a free night at the movies. But afterwards, converts are scarce. Neither 500 years of Islamic Ottoman rule nor Communism could shake these people's beliefs Tags: Religion Prayer Albania Catholic priest Islamic Ottoman rule Journeyman Pictures | | Ambon's Religious Bloodbath - Indonesia - 1242 sec April 1999
It's no wonder inhabitants are risking their lives to leave a Place where there is so much death. Rare video captures a mob wielding machetes and fire-bombing houses. "I took out my sword and took off four heads," says one gang member. 50,000 Muslims gather at the dock to escape, clambering up makeshift ropes onto an overcrowded ship. Christians soon arrive on another boat, refugees from a different island. They are chased back to their ship. The army is all that stands between the factions. Many accuse local criminals of exploiting religious tension to gain power in the vacuum left by Suharto. The migration policies that forced the archipelago together are now falling apart, and the islands are left hanging together by a fine political thread.
ABC Australia Tags: indonesia civil war religous muslim christian militias journeyman pictures | | | | Jesus Christ a Religious Myth of God's Sun Age Pisces - 599 sec Christianity was born of the myths of sun worship. Horus of Egypt born December 25th, performed miracles called the Lamb of light, performed miracles was resurrected in three days like many other avatars; Mithra, Krishna, Attis, Dionysus, king of kings, alpha omega crucified. All had 12 disciples and the sacred day of worship was sunday. Scientific explanations... The Solar Messiah myth is represented with God's sun who moves along through the 12 houses. From Pisces to Aquarius. The Apocalypse. End Times misinterpreted. 100 million Americans believe in the end of the world. Holy Ghost immaculate conception virgin birth all relate to sun worship. from http://zeitgeistmovie.com/ Tags:Religion jesus sun christ horus pope astrology cross zodiac messiah precession equinox disciples age aeon year | | | | Religious, But Not Spiritual? (with Father Thomas Keating) - 937 sec Religious, but not Spiritual?
Good News and Bad News from the World's Largest Religion
It takes a moment to reconcile oneself to the fact that the religious tradition of St. Francis and Mother Theresa is also the tradition of the Crusades and the Inquisition. Fr. Thomas Keating, considered one of the great contemplatives of our time, has spent a lifetime in the practice of Christianity, seeking and sharing its depths. The goal of the tradition, suggests Fr. Thomas in this week's video, is transformation—but transformation into what?
The answer depends on what stage of development you're at. Beyond becoming a better person (though your family and friends may thank you profusely), beyond even becoming a saint, Fr. Thomas suggests that the goal of the mature Christian life is to become no thing. As with any developmental sequence, the subject of one stage becomes the object of the subject of the next—in this case, until absolute Subjectivity itself. The problem—and the challenge—lie in the fact that, among its 2 billion adherents, relatively few are aware of Christianity's mystical tradition and contemplative path. Statements like "I'm spiritual, but not religious" actually come from a fairly evolved place, from which one rejects external aspects of the tradition, while still longing for its esoteric wisdom.
Integral spirituality offers an entirely new perspective on this question. From this perspective, we can see that although the stories of the world's religious traditions vary wildly, the contemplative experience is essentially similar. And from Integral, we can appreciate the stories for what they are, the first rung in a ladder of development—both our own development, and that of anyone on a similar path. In the end, no matter how profound the state in which we experience the divine, it is always interpreted from our stage of development.
Integral also points to the reality of our shadow, and points out that we might need something other than our contemplative practice to bring it into the light. Finally, Integral can help us both to transform into deeper stages of awareness and compassion, and to translate our current stage in the healthiest way possible. Tags:integral naked life ken wilber father thomas keating christianity spirituality |
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