Sunday, September 03, 2006

It is hard out here for an......Atheist?

Atheists "are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public," according to a study by Penny Edgell, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota. In a recent NEWSWEEK Poll, Americans said they believed in God by a margin of 92 to 6—only 2 percent answered "don't know"—and only 37 percent said they'd be willing to vote for an atheist for president.

It is good thing that I am fairly thick skinned. A thing like that could hurt a fella's feelings.

The reason that atheists get such a raw deal is the prevailing theory that without God there is no morality. Of course that defines every other religious belief that does not recognize a supreme being (or the "right"supreme being), as immoral or "sinful". It does not take a ethicist or religious scholar to point out how other belief systems are still able to still define and promote morality to its followers. If I may be so bold there are many religious and philisophical belief systems that are in some ways superior to deity driven religions when it comes to morality.

For instance Catholics can do almost anything so long as they attend confession and pay penance, which earns them a clean slate. Compare that to Buddhism where ones whole life is dedicated to transending material needs in an effort to attain Nirvana.

The assumption that those who adhere to Christianity, Judaism, or Islam are superior to any other belief system is ridiculous. If that were true then it would have to be demonstrated that most of the crime and unethical or immoral behavior that took place on this planet was the fault of those who were not believers in a God. I don't have the facts in front of me but I would be willing to bet that it is far more likely that the reverse is true. And that is based on just simple math, there are more of you so there must be more of you who are immoral and unethical.

See? Just because we don't brag about how superior we atheists are does not mean that we are not superior. We are just not all braggy about it.

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