Continued from last night, here are some more questions asked over on Friendly Atheist. They all come from the same person, who is currently having a dialogue with some of the other commenters in that thread, and I guess the questions may have been aimed at them specifically - but I’m not letting that stop me.

1. Do you have any intention of trying to understand the opposing views and why they believe what they believe, or do you only wish to discredit them?

I’m sorry but this question sounds more like an attack than an honest inquiry. It’s sort of like asking “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”

I have been trying to understand religious people and their beliefs since I first started thinking seriously about these questions as a young adult. I have on occasion picked up the bible and other religious texts and pored over them for a little while, but unfortunately they have a tendency to be incredibly boring, or so ludicrous that the very idea that some people take them literally offends me. So yes, I certainly have the intention of trying to understand, it just doesn’t ever happen. On some sort of emotional level I can understand the comfort of having a supreme being as your Invisible Friend, but intellectually the idea is so jarring that the profound understanding needed for actual respect lies beyond my abilities.

I presume whomever is reading this is now thinking “What, respect? Felicia doesn’t respect religious people?” Well, yes and no. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: There is no imperative on anyone to respect other human beings or their beliefs. The only thing we all must respect is other people’s rights. This means that I respect anyone’s right to believe whatever they want, but I actually cannot feel respect for, for instance, the belief in an intelligent designer. In return, I don’t expect anyone to respect my beliefs, but I do expect them to respect my right to possess as well as voice them.

2. What exactly is the difference between pure atheism and Humanism? Is there a difference?

Humanism is a full-fledged worldview, of which atheism is but one component. Atheism simply means that you don’t believe in any gods, and there are no implications for morality, how one should live one’s life or what other things one should or should not believe in. Humanism on the other hand implies that you have a deep respect for human rights, that you oppose all kinds of irrational beliefs including superstition and pseudoscience, and other things. I would suggest reading up on secular humanism on the internet, there are many useful resources online, just go ahead and google.

3. Why is it necessary to label the absence of belief? If you believe in nothing, does nothing need to be labeled?

There are many words that imply the absence of something. Take “hole” and “vacuum” for example. They’re all useful words that describe reality in some way. In a culture that is or has been saturated by (especially monotheistic) religion, it’s very useful to be able to describe the fact that one doesn’t believe in any gods at all. Where I live (Sweden) this isn’t really much of an issue - most people here are already non-religious and don’t feel the need to go any further than that. But the question still occurs at times, and saying “I’m an atheist” is simply just much faster and easier than saying “I don’t believe in the christian god or any other gods for that matter.”

4. There are a broad spectrum of atheists and theists alike. I’ve noticed there are some grey areas where the opposite sides overlap. Do you think it’s possible to gradually increase this area and eventually do away with the labels? Or is that too idealistic?

I doubt it. Humans like well defined groups and thinking in terms of us and them. I’m no exception, however much I would like to rise above such tribal instincts. The utopia described in the question would be easily subverted by a strong leader starting a sect, and this would definitely happen.

5. Going off of #4, do you think us moderate/liberal Christians would be more effective in the fundie circle than here? Maybe we should become members of a fundie church? It’s a very scary thought…

This is a very difficult question. I would like to think that it would be possible to subvert fundie churches from within, but I doubt it. Perhaps liberal christians might be able to “deconvert” individual members from fundamentalism/extremism, but given that these organisations are inherently authoritarian, and that their extremism is in a way the whole reason for their existence, I very much doubt that anyone will make much headway in trying to change them, from without or within.

That’s it for the time being! Again, if anyone is curious about what I think, don’t be shy, use the comment form.

atheism, secularism, humanism, worldviews

Hemant the Friendly Atheist has posted an open thread where anyone may ask questions of us atheists. I thought answering the questions that have come up so far is interesting enough that I’m going to post it here rather than in the comment thread.

Your favourite Standard Question (or statement) from a Believer? The “Atheists have killed more than Christians / Hitler was a Christian” option will not be accepted here.

Ah, but that one is classic. Another one is “If humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?”, together with a whole bunch of other anti-evolution statements (which normally come from “Believers”). Also, “Atheists believe in nothing/anything.” Although I think calling them “favourite” is really stretching the term to the extreme…

Where can I find an atheist book, website, magazine, etc. that doesn’t mock or attack or deride religious people or beliefs, but only puts forth a positive vision of what it is to be an atheist?

I’m having some trouble answering this question. I’m not sure me and the author of this question would agree as to what constitutes mocking, attacking or deriding. Being an atheist means you don’t believe in god, and if you’re enough of an activist to actually write a book, website or mag about it, chances are you have some sort of bone to pick with religion. We are atheists for a reason, after all. And, because many religious people tend to feel that any sort of criticism of their beliefs equals mockery, derision or attacks on their person, well… you can see why it would be difficult to answer the question.

Also I must admit I haven’t read anything recently that purely focussed on the positive aspects of being an atheist - or secular humanist, as it were. Atheism isn’t a worldview and writing a whole book on a positive vision of atheism would be like writing a book on the taste of water. Water is necessary for life as well as refreshing when you’re hot and thirsty and atheism is healthy because it’s (usually) rational, but just like you can’t live on water, atheism isn’t a complete set of beliefs to live by.

As an Atheist, what is the one thing you would like Christians to understand about you?

I’m not so sure I can restrict myself to just the one thing. There are several misconceptions about my atheistic worldview that greatly annoy me and sometimes actually personally offend or wound me when thrown in my face in a direct discussion. I can think of three such things just off the top of my head.

The first is that I cannot possibly be happy if I haven’t felt the love of Jesus/Allah/Whomever. This idea that someone else has a more profound and touching emotional/spiritual life purely because they have an invisible friend is not only silly and off-putting but it also makes them seem extremely self-centered and elitist - “I know something you don’t, I feel something you won’t, I am therefore a happier and more fullfilled person than you are.” Well, here’s some news for those of you who think like this: I’m human. I have the same spectrum of emotions as other humans. I feel love and hate (very little of the latter, though), happiness and grief, same as everyone else. I know I can’t change the minds of those who are convinced that their invisible friends give them something that I don’t have, but please, at least don’t offend me by talking about it.

The second misconception is that my desire to look at the world from a rational perspective, through science, to know things about it, detracts from its mystery and hence beauty. Nothing could be more wrong. The world does in fact become more and more exciting and wonderful the more I learn about it. Since I’ve studied ecology, physiology, ethology and other areas of biology my experience of nature has expanded and deepened to the point where I get high just by sitting on a rock in a forest and looking at my surroundings. That is how intensely knowledge affects my emotions.

The third is that atheists don’t have morals. This one is absurd, and has been dealt with so extensively by others much better qualified to discuss it that me, so I’ll just leave it for now. I’ll only state that while I’m by no means a perfectly moral human who always do the right thing, I do try to always do the best I can. Why? Because I can’t not be moral. It is deeply ingrained in my person to treat others as I wish they’d treat me. Exactly why this is is a topic for books, not blog posts!

Ok, so I’ve just seen the Golden Compass and was wondering if Atheists believe that we have souls?

No. I mean, yes, there are atheists out there who do, but I don’t believe in anything supernatural whatsoever. This belief that the world is all-natural isn’t inherent in atheism, but a disbelief in everything supernatural often goes hand in hand with a disbelief in gods in particular. The soul, as most people understand it, is a non-physical entity that resides within your body but is not dependent on it. It hasn’t been detected by any standard scientific methods and because there is now ample evidence that the mind is a product of brain activity, there’s no reason to believe that the soul exists - other than comfort, of course. The lack of a soul means that death is final and irreversible, with no heaven or hell or rebirth to go on to. The perk is that while I really don’t want to die, I’m not scared of going somewhere horrible afterwards.

I will sometimes refer to the soul in a more colloquial sense as an emotional/spiritual center, just like I do with the heart at times. “I know it in my brain” just doesn’t sound as good.

How different do you believe atheists and theists are, really?

Not very. We’re the same species, our brains work the same (as far as we know - at least I’m not aware of any conclusive evidence to the contrary). Why we’re one and not the other can usually be put down very much to circumstance - what sort of people and ideas you were exposed to as a child and young adult, for instance. In the end, we all just pretty much want to live our lives, make babies, be happy. It’s when people start thinking they should interfere in how other people live their lives because their Invisible Friend told them to that things start going wrong. That’s why I’m not like most people in Sweden, who simply don’t care about religion (which is mostly present in people’s lives in the form of some crazy relative or another), but an actual secularist activist, purposefully fighting to preserve secularism and advance a naturalistic worldview.

That’s all so far. If I see any more questions on Friendly Atheist I might respond in a new post. And of course, if you have any questions about my worldview for me specifically, feel free to ask them right here!

ETA: More questions and answers here.

atheism, secularism, humanism, soul, worldviews