Hi, everyone!
First I'd like to suggest the creation of a specific sub-list
just for atheist extropians discuss their points of view... ( like
there are "european extropians list", and other)
Well, about the question "Why am I an atheist?", the complete
answer, in my case, involves many aspects, but that was for me the
conclusion of a process that begun when I was still a christian,
but parallely developing more and more my inteligence... Anyway,
being an "inteligent religious" was a useful exercise for my mind,
and I got interesting conclusions at that time that now can be translated
as scientific "feeling". For example, when thinking about god's supposed
existence, I found he could not just be infinitely "big" but, to
be so complete as he was supposed to be, he must be necessarily infinitely
small, something like a differencial "d(god)" :) ... So his infinite
counciousness would be able to access the intimity of the existence...
Now I understand that I was just feeling the importance of "nano"
"femto" "atto" etc. sciences for understanding the real existence
of matter, energy, etc... the infinite universe itself... ( to be
continued...)
g. luxmast
............ mensagem que você enviou:
>Título: Re: the role of religion in human lives
>De: zero_powers@hotmail.com
>Para: extropians@extropy.com
>Data: Domingo, 19 de março de 2000 às 23h 52m 01s +0000
>Responder para: extropians@extropy.com
>>From: "john grigg"
>>
>>Robert, thank you for putting so well into words the value of religion in
>>human lives. You can say things so much better then I can. Religion can
>>be a healthy and powerful structure to achieve mental discipline and try to
>>reach out to something greater then oneself.
>
>I am a former fundamentalist Christian, turned humanistic-rationalistic
>agnostic. What does that mean? It means I’ve come to realize that there is
>no possible way of rationally satisfying myself that “God” exists and so,
>for me, his existence is irrelevant. My efforts now center on trying to
>figure out a rational basis for my moral judgment and ethical behavior (no
>easy feat). On the one hand I am thankful for my years of religious study
>and training, as I believe it has imbedded in me some values that I find,
>well, of value. Stuff like loving your neighbor has become second nature
>for me, and I’m glad about that. However, when I think of all the time I
>spent in church and studying what amount to ancient fairytales and behaving
>in a way that I hoped would be pleasing to God, rather than doing more
>constructive things with my time, I do feel robbed of a good deal of my
>life.
>When I think of the collective time and energy we spend behaving in ways
>that are not rationally ideally suited to deal with modern human
>circumstances simply because that behavior conforms to the not-necessarily
>rational Judeo-Christian ethic, again I feel that we are being robbed. For
>instance, why all the fussing and fighting about gay marriage, teenage
>contraception, abortion, euthanasia and legalizing marijuana (which
>unquestionably has medicinal benefits and is less harmful than either
>alcohol or tobacco)?
>So, in some ways for me personally religion hath both given and taken away.
>But, all things considered, I wish religion would just go away so that we
>humans could do what we do best...use our cognitive skills to solve our
>problems, rather than modifying our behavior to suit the whims of a
>non-existent Old Man in the sky.
>-Zero
>"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
>--Thomas Jefferson
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