31–40 of 130 posts
The world is finally moving to a post-theological era.
But even with that aside, when's the last time you attended a busting bias sermo...seminar to atone for your original sins of racism, sexism, and homophobia comrade? :)
I just wanted to come here and show some respect for religious communities that work very hard to help people and the world become a better place. On hacker news, I would hope we can be rational and respectful about beliefs that are important to (many real and good) people. There are many religious people/beliefs that I agree with - and many I disagree with - we can discuss that like adults. But sarcastic, unkind rem…
The world is finally moving to a post-theological era.
Less conflict around religion, and more social progress without it standing in the way. That sounds pretty good to me.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
a-theism literally means "lack of belief". Bald is not a hair color.
The point he is making is Religion is replaced by Ideology. lets not reduce ourselves to "word-play".
Some atheists do have ideologies that are related to their atheism, many others do not.
I worry that people may tie their identities to political tribes more and more.
What communities provide a healthy sense of identity and belonging that are not religious or political?
I think the interesting part comes from our (and i say our, as in, the HN demographic) tendencies to hold strict beliefs based only on (and limited by) our own perceptions.
The thing is, it comes at you when it comes at you, and you cant tell someone else why they should believe in something they cant see, feel, experiment with or experience.
I was an atheist, almost militant atheist, for most of my life... then my wife became spiritual, started doing tarot and stuff like that, doing reiki (energy healing) etc, and i was open to it, but didn't really buy into it. Then she started having mediumship abilities... and then I felt totally like it was kinda a crock... but then something ridiculous happened.
My father died before I was born, a few months before... She has supposedly been in contact with him, and i liked that as a form of comfort, but again, im a skeptic. Then she described a scene... she described the interior of a car, sitting in a field, with my mom in the passenger seat, from the view of the drivers seat. The car, after she described it to me, was an impala, and she got that it was a 62 model year... and said it was dark gray with one wheel white and the others black... and it was in a field of yellow and purple flowers, and my mom had a red shirt on and jeans... Ive never heard this story, i couldnt have possibly told her any of it, she doesnt speak to my mother, so she couldnt have gotten it from there... but i asked my mom, if they had an impala at one time, and he response was "yeah, it was a dark gray 62 impala with red interior" ... and i asked about the field, and she knew exactly where it was, and even the mis-matched tire... so, to me, I believe now, that there is more than we realize. Be it supernatural, be it a bug in the programming of a simulation we live in, be it just a natural form of energy we dont understand or cant perecieve... but there is something more...
But i dont tell you that story to convince you, or to justify my own beliefs (i have no need to justify them), but to show you that, until something happens to you that pulls your perspective, your personal perspective, so far out of line with your current beliefs, you will never believe, and you will be certain even... and thats the problem with spirituality or religion... you have to come to it yourself, which is near impossible to do, when the religions themselves are constantly trying to force people to believe...