The Electric Lady
Post and toke
This post summarizes every thing I find is wrong in the new atheism movement. Atheism has no tenants, and yet people attribute it to 'reason' and giving such a simplistic, non-biased descriptor in 'atheist' an actual reason for being behind it. Atheism has nothing to do with reason. Any claim that it does is a holier-than-thou approach to try and feel superior to others. Have empathy for your fellow man, don't look down upon them. This is why many atheists look bad to others and why I find the cultural of political atheism, as seen on the internet, as a poisonous subculture.
Another quibble is how people assume that because I'm atheist I must be a scientist or am hugely turned on by science; I'm not. Science is merely a tool, like anything else. It can benefit man, it can be a detriment to man. But it's a tool, nonetheless. A lot of people on the internet who likely did not do well in science classes claim SCIENCE fukk YEAH and pretending to be science nerds. Knowledge is power, but please do not conflate scientific knowledge as being 'right'. People give science a bad name by doing so. That being said, I understand the hostility. Some believers are crazy about their anti-science approach, and science is definitely under attack by many fundamentalists. But that is no reason to condone such behavior.
As for philosophy, I find western philosophy dry. It has a lot of words, and the occasional nugget of wisdom, but it's not something that I - as in ME, not anyone else, or everyone in this world - can base my life around. Without a belief in God, there sometimes feels like a sense of emptiness. A lack of place, a lack of ritual, a lack of tradition, a lack of backbone for one's philosophical views and outlooks. For that, I turned to Buddhism. Due to its non-theistic views, I find it very pragmatic and the school that I practice - Soto Zen - fits within the confines of my life. It just makes sense to me, and I can be religious and have a sense of belonging without pretending I believe in God, or worshiping anything or anyone. It's refreshing. In that area, I have a lot of favorite philosophers, but my favorite is still the Shakyamuni Buddha. His philosophy covers everything, from relationships with friends and family, to government and politics and how to to be a good leader within Buddhist laymanship, from honoring ones parents and children, to understanding the inner turmoil that boils under the surface of man. Buddha said not to worship him, he claimed he was not a god, and that everything he had accomplished was from our own possibilities as human beings. I find Buddhism the best form of humanism. Eastern philosophy as a whole suits me more and I learn a lot from all sorts of Eastern faiths and political systems from Buddhism to Taoism to Confucianism.
Last edited:
