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Aaaaaaaargh.
Feb. 14th, 2009 04:29 pmWhat the fuck is this shit?
I would think that atheists of all people would be the ones to know that beliefs, in themselves, are not actually harmful. God will not come down and smite the country because people are praying towards Mecca several times a day. Groups sending telepathic messages towards the invisible bearded man in the sky in the hopes that he will grant your wishes (to use the old antitheist garbage) does not harm the nonbelievers in any way. And yet there's this huge rage against the idea that somewhere, somehow, people don't think the same way they do.
Look, I'm an agnostic. But I was also raised Jewish, I happen to think that the community, social events, and rituals involved in Judaism are enjoyable, and I recognize that while I have mostly separated myself from Jewish ideology it gives a lot of people comfort to have that together. Participating in a ritual cleaning and dressing of an old woman's corpse with the chevra kadisha society was one of the most meaningful things I've done in my life and I'm not even sure if her spirit's going anywhere afterwards. Not to mention the fact that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vivian_shaw over there is apparently terrified of both my dad and most every doctor and scientist I know IRL, which I find childish and silly.
Culture is an irrational belief. There is no reason you should stand at a certain distance from people when you talk to them or wear your clothes a certain way, and yet we have beliefs about that. If you wipe out religion, spirituality, and everything that makes you believe in the ephemeral, you're going to wipe out pretty much everything.
I would think that atheists of all people would be the ones to know that beliefs, in themselves, are not actually harmful. God will not come down and smite the country because people are praying towards Mecca several times a day. Groups sending telepathic messages towards the invisible bearded man in the sky in the hopes that he will grant your wishes (to use the old antitheist garbage) does not harm the nonbelievers in any way. And yet there's this huge rage against the idea that somewhere, somehow, people don't think the same way they do.
Look, I'm an agnostic. But I was also raised Jewish, I happen to think that the community, social events, and rituals involved in Judaism are enjoyable, and I recognize that while I have mostly separated myself from Jewish ideology it gives a lot of people comfort to have that together. Participating in a ritual cleaning and dressing of an old woman's corpse with the chevra kadisha society was one of the most meaningful things I've done in my life and I'm not even sure if her spirit's going anywhere afterwards. Not to mention the fact that
vivian_shaw over there is apparently terrified of both my dad and most every doctor and scientist I know IRL, which I find childish and silly.Culture is an irrational belief. There is no reason you should stand at a certain distance from people when you talk to them or wear your clothes a certain way, and yet we have beliefs about that. If you wipe out religion, spirituality, and everything that makes you believe in the ephemeral, you're going to wipe out pretty much everything.
