An (almost) idle question for atheists inclined to proselytize

[Spence]

Haven't looked at the rest of the responses, and I'm agnostic, not atheist, but I do not think there would be an overall change. Maybe even a slight flux to more violence.

Also I think most people are not stupid, they just accept too much.

After reading replies. I still think I'm correct. RELIGION isn't what starts wars the DESIRE FOR POWER is the issue.

Power corrupts all but the absolute best humans.

[chezlaw]

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They will just do it because they were taught something else as children. The 'it' may change as whatever replaces religon may pick other nonsense ideas to teach but there's no reason to expect the new nonsense ideas to be better than the old ones.


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Ah, the devil-we-know argument :-)
Yes, harmful, militant causes MAY be taken up, some almost for sure, but you can grow out of those more politically driven ones. The hippies of the 60's turned into CEO's. With any other cause we get hooked on there is always a chance that reason and a bit more knowledge will wedge it.
Experience on here and IRL teaches us not to expect that of religiously held positions.

luckyme

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Its not the devil we know argument its the people wouldn't change if you magically denied some belief without changing their nature.

That some hippies grew into CEOs was fairly predictable, what else did you expect them to do? The analagous question is what would you expect to be different if you had magically prevented them being hippies without changing anything else.

chez

[benjdm]

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If you are an atheist who wishes all people would stop holding to religious beliefs, what do you think the world would be like if they did?

In other words, if religion died, what's your vision for the future?

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Western Europe. Norway. Sweden. Japan. Places like that.

[Brenner Hayes]

I think the future would probably be much brighter.

I think many on this forum, including Sklansky, are assuming that all these formerly religious people would now be left with no belief system. I disagree. Humans are incredibly resiliant. Another belief system would surely rise up, and this one would have a much better chance of being an improvement over relgion. It would probably be the same belief system that most current non-believers have which is that people are responsible and empowered to fix their own problems, and that good science is the instrument for coming up with this solutions. But once these people were in the majority, all sorts of communal structures could rise up around them that give the same social benefits of religion without the downsides.

There is, however, a slim chance that a belief system even worse than most currently popular religions could rise up. But I don't think this is very likely, especially once religion falls by the wayside. Because without religion, then the notion of blind devotion to charismatic leaders regardless of their irrational viewpoints begins to fade as well. And when that fades, then people become more intelligent, more discerning, and less susceptible to a Hitler type leading the masses over a cliff.

[Tomatoes]

Can stupid athiests be answer question to? What's a proselytiz?

[benjdm]

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Can stupid athiests be answer question to? What's a proselytiz?

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proselytize

verb
convert to another faith or religion

[jogger08152]

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Because without religion, then the notion of blind devotion to charismatic leaders regardless of their irrational viewpoints begins to fade as well. And when that fades, then people become more intelligent, more discerning, and less susceptible to a Hitler type leading the masses over a cliff.

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Please connect "religion dies" with "ergo people's IQ's rise".

[chezlaw]

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They will just do it because they were taught something else as children. The 'it' may change as whatever replaces religon may pick other nonsense ideas to teach but there's no reason to expect the new nonsense ideas to be better than the old ones.



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Ah, the devil-we-know argument :-)

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A better response to this than my last effort is that I'm not saying it would be worse so that's not the argumment. You however are using the grass is greener argument [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

chez

[NickMPK]

I think that society would gradually slip into malaise, despair, and eventually chaos if people don't have something to look forward to after they die.

It would probably look something like the world imagined in the "Children of Men" movie; the whole point of most people's existance would disappear, and everthing wordly would look trivial in comparison.

There is a reason why even in the countries where religious practice and important in daily lives is very low (Northern Europe), very few people identify as atheist.

[Hoi Polloi]

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I'd be especially interested to see answers from atheists who believe either "most religious people are stupid", or simply "most people overall are stupid".

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Qualification: I believe people are stupid, at least in the sense that we are much stupider, poorly informed and guided by wishes than we think we are. To be clear, I include myself in this bucket.

Disqualification: I have little interest in proselytizing this viewpoint.

I believe that for most people, 75% of what we experience as reality is in fact fantasy. Those we call crazy are pushing 90% plus.

That said, I do not have a clear idea of what the world would be like if no one believed that it is ruled by supersensible beings. I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau's remark to the effect that "we have the government we deserve, and when we deserve no government that is the government we will have." So, "we have the (magical) beliefs about the causes of the world that we deserve and when we deserve to have no beliefs about the causes of the world that is the world we will have."

Again, what that world will look like: I have no idea.