Buddhism for atheists

[Mike Cl]

Good thing you weren't a Catholic choir boy, right?

Absolutely!  I really don't think I would have enjoyed being molested.

[MyelinSheath]

Good thing you weren't a Catholic choir boy, right?

Good thing I wasn't talking about Catholicism right?

[Baruch]

Good thing I wasn't talking about Catholicism right?

Are you a choir boy?  Do you enjoy being sexually victimized?

[Ananta Shesha]

Buddhist: Empty your mind of everything…
Athiest: I don't believe in everything.

Buddhist: Good start!

;)

[Mike Cl]

Buddhist: Empty your mind of everything…
Athiest: I don't believe in everything.

Buddhist: Good start!

;)

For this atheist you can amend your list to:  Atheist: I don't believe in anything!

[Baruch]

For this atheist you can amend your list to:  Atheist: I don't believe in anything!

Not really ... nihilists don't believe in anything, they self contradict, they are psychotic.  Descartes avoided nihilism.  Even the crazy guy "who mistook his wife for a hat" thought that he had a wife ... and a hat.

[Mike Cl]

Not really ... nihilists don't believe in anything, they self contradict, they are psychotic.  Descartes avoided nihilism.  Even the crazy guy "who mistook his wife for a hat" thought that he had a wife ... and a hat.

Yes, Baruch, the crazy guy 'thought' he had a wife--he did not 'believe' it.  Many times and for many people, 'believe' and 'thought' are used interchangeably. For example, I don't believe the sun will rise tomorrow, I think it will.  I use reason to come to that conclusion--and when the sun fails to raise, then I'll change my thinking.  Maybe semantics, but I think there is a difference.  So, for me, I don't 'believe' in anything.  I may think some things in error--but I don't believe anything.

[Unbeliever]

I've thought about converting back to Christianity just for the purpose of being accepted again. Like it or not, there is a bbenefit to religion. It helps people assemble and thrive as a cohesive unit and support system. It sucks being on the outside and being ostracized. I think becoming atheist was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I wish I could go back and not have the awakening I had that made me change my mind.

You could continue being atheist and still get the social benefits of religion by becoming a Unitarian Universalist, I think. I thought of trying that, but I'm such a loner that I didn't really need to, so I didn't.

[Unbeliever]

Why are you a theist Baruch? You do realize that's dumb don't you?

Actually, I don't think Baruch is really a theist, because, if I'm right, theism is the belief in a theistic type of God, which is defined as Omni-everything. I doubt Baruch believes in such a God.

I don't think of deists, for example, such as many of America's founding fathers, as being theists. I don't think Baruch's belief in himself as a demi-god makes him a theist.

Doubtless he'll argue with me on this, but that just makes for more fun!

[Unbeliever]

There are some Unitarian/Universalist congregations that aren't anti-Christian.

Oh, hell, now I see you beat me to it!

[Unbeliever]

A is A, B is B ... all letters are alike.  If it involves any writing, it isn't good for humans.  Until we live in a wordless reality, we aren't achieving the silence of meditation ;-)

But we may achieve the silence of the lambs...

[Unbeliever]

Not really ... nihilists don't believe in anything, they self contradict, they are psychotic.  Descartes avoided nihilism.  Even the crazy guy "who mistook his wife for a hat" thought that he had a wife ... and a hat.

I consider myself a nihilist, and I don't agree with your description at all. I think your concept of nihilism is different from that which I hold, though. And lucky for me, I never mistook my wife for a hat, though I did read the book. It was an eye-opener!

[Baruch]

But we may achieve the silence of the lambs...

Don't wear my face, that is gross ;-(

[Baruch]

I consider myself a nihilist, and I don't agree with your description at all. I think your concept of nihilism is different from that which I hold, though. And lucky for me, I never mistook my wife for a hat, though I did read the book. It was an eye-opener!

So glad you asked ...
"extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence" ... taken from the Internet

So are you so skeptical as to be self contradictory?  That definition would mean a nihilist doesn't only deny all belief, but all demonstrated fact.  See the various definitions of realism and anti-realism under ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-realism

Realism is classic Platonism/Pythagoreanism vs Mathematics, where proof is about things that are real, but outside our human reality, or classically objective
Antirealism is post-classic vs Mathematics, where proof is the real, not about something else that is real, so not outside human reality, but still objective
Phenomenalism is radical empiricism vs Mathematics, where all facts are driven by sense data (Qualia), but outside our human reality
Antiphenomenalism is postmodern empiricism vs Mathematics, where all facts are within the context of human experience, including but not limited to, the post-processed sense data (post-Qualia)

I am an antiphenomenalist.  So I am not a classic theist or deist ... who would have been realists ... though Anselm and Aquinas would be close to antirealists.  A phenomenalist would be an atheist driven by empiricism that "there is no god" vs an atheist driven by rationalism that "there is no god" ... the former saying ... there is no god in my empirical experience, the latter saying ... there is no god that is a coherent idea.  My organon is that G-d is an undeniable empirical experience, but that empirical experience isn't coherent anyway.  Psychologism is the term used by Wiki ... for what I call antiphenomenalism.

[Cavebear]

I'm not advocating superstition. I'm well aware of religion's harms. However, there are parts of religion which don't require belief in nonsense or adherence to dogma. I can tell you as someone from the south, going to church on Sunday is the best day of the week. You get up, put on some nice clothes, you drive out to church with your family, you get together, you sing songs, you express concern and love for each other, and you go home for food and hang out afterwards. Church is very enjoyable, and those parts of Christianity could be harnessed without carrying forth the preposterous beliefs.

You could do better at a movie, a home party, or a barn-raising.  Without the stupidity...