Imagine a world without organised religion, where it doesn’t affect people’s lives, but atheism still exists. What purpose would atheism fill in this scenario?
Imagine a world without organised religion, where it doesn’t affect people’s lives, but atheism still exists. What purpose would atheism fill in this scenario?
Why does it have to have purpose?
It’s a weird question.
The purpose of religion is to control society through communal beliefs. The sense of “purpose” that adherents are made to feel serves to further that control.
Atheism isn’t a religion and it doesn’t have a purpose.
It isn’t part of my “identity” any more than gravity is.
Atheism doesn’t replace religion… and trying to give it purpose is a little weird. In fact, there are a few atheist religions out there.
Yes, atheism obviously isn’t a religion and I see how it is a weird question. I mean purpose not in a way that resembles devotion or submission, but as an explanation for its existence.
AFAIK, gravity was understood differently before Newtonian physics, right? Different concepts of gravity serve a purpose.
Atheism is the lack of a belief. The lack of believing in gods serves as much purpose as the lack of believing in goblins.
What purpose does the lack of believing in goblins serve?
Well, personally, my lack of believing in goblins serves my sense of reality. I am extremely sure goblins are made up, so my lack of belief serves my understanding of consistency and coherence of the world. Were goblins real, we likely could interact with them, if I understood them correctly.
IIRC, most religions hold that one cannot interact with their deities directly - so even if theism had just a grain of truth, its truth would be so irrelevant and far from people’s lives (just another level of hierarchy) that I don’t understand how its belief or disbelief affects one’s sense of reality.
That makes no sense. You wouldn’t even know goblins existed if someone hadn’t told you stories about goblins.
Are you so easily swayed that your outlook on reality would have been altered just knowing about the existence of goblins in stories?
Yes, my sense of reality would be altered if one could just write magical beings into interactable existence.
Isn’t that what religion is?
I mean, really. You dismiss the existence of goblins because they’re myths, but not of an all-powerful, all-knowing god… which is also just a myth?
Not something that I suggested.
You claimed that merely knowing that goblins are a concept would alter your perception of reality. That’s ludicrous. I do not believe your perception of reality was altered when you learned that goblins are a concept unless you uncritically believed they existed, in which case, you need to work on your critical thinking skills.
But you seem to be stuck on ‘goblins.’ So let’s change it while still using the same basic metaphor:
The lack of believing in gods serves as much purpose as the lack of believing in snxxzxz.
What purpose does the lack of believing in snxxzxz serve?
snxxzxz or any other gibberish isn’t yet associated with meaning. Once some gibberish would get meaning AND become embodied (ie observable existence), yes my sense of reality would be altered. Are you sure this is a critical thinking failure?
Are you saying atheism is a form of disassociation or gibberish-making of theist beliefs? If yes, I would consider that tool a purpose/function of atheism.
Why do you think the concept of a god automatically has meaning beyond a fiction?
That is all the meaning it has ever held for me.
Not believing in gods is the default. You must be taught about them first and convinced.
Ummm… So, religion?
You’re so close to getting it!