Here is an assertion ~ a motion for debate, as it were ~ based on something another poster said earlier today"
Atheism has a superficial appeal that can pull in a few people but it ultimately sputters out: it doesn't have any truly persuasive message.
To my way of thinking, atheism is a lack of belief, Furthermore, it is unaffected by the claims of religionists who insist their folklores offer a "persuasive message".
Why do some people ~ not atheists, mind you ~ suggest that atheism should have a "persuasive message" when, in fact, propagating messages is surely a matter for people operating in the realm of competing religious doctrines?
Originally posted by @fmf Here is an assertion ~ a motion for debate, as it were ~ based on something another poster said earlier today"
[b]Atheism has a superficial appeal that can pull in a few people but it ultimately sputters out: it doesn't have any truly persuasive message.
To my way of thinking, atheism is a lack of belief, Furthermore, it is unaffected by the claims o ...[text shortened]... messages is surely a matter for people operating in the realm of competing religious doctrines?[/b]
A deeper question is, "What is the appeal of the belief system for those who make such assertions?".
Typically the answer is that it is self-serving. That is certainly the case, for example, for the vast majority of strains of Christianity: God is there to serve THEM.
As such what they are in effect asking is, "What is the appeal of a belief system that does not serve ME so well?". If the belief system in question is not more self-serving, then it is not "persuasive" for THEM.
“There are arguments for atheism, and they do not depend, and never did depend, upon science. They are arguable enough, as far as they go, upon a general survey of life; only it happens to be a superficial survey of life.”
“It is because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honour of your Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference. The evidence I have produced, and shall still produce in the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, whilst it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquilize the minds of millions: it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the Almighty which priest-craft and the Bible had infused into their minds, and which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his moral justice and benevolence.”
'Religion is a delusion propagated by a combination of ignorance, art, and fear, fanned into longevity and ubiquity by the power it gave those in command.'
'I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.'
Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke “It is because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honour of your Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference. The evidence I have produced, and shall still produce in the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, whilst it wounds t ...[text shortened]... on to all their ideas of his moral justice and benevolence.”
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
All powerful quotes Ghost.
Though I never imagined I'd agree with anything Crowley said.
He's a bit too dark for me.
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.
C. S. Lewis
Atheism doesn't have a persuasive message...
23 May '18 10:59
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