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Intellectual Laziness of Atheists

Xherrus

Xherrus

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 22, 2003
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325
Here's something controversial for all you conformists to think about.

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Intellectual Laziness of Atheists
by William Jeffreys

Atheists are intellectually lazy and seek to put finality and closure to the question of God's existence so they don't have to think about it any more.

In/out, up/down, right/left, hot/cold, tension and the release of tension, appetite and the removal of appetite, the passage of time as moments. These are all IDEAS. These ideas were conceived and executed. If you don't see the world as a construct of tremendous magnitude, you're just not looking at it.

It's right there in front of you, but you choose to ignore it. If you need more evidence to be convinced, then you will never be convinced, but I must state that because you choose to ignore and investigate this evidence, you are simply too lazy to ponder it.

Don't get caught up in the trap that God is all peace, love, and happiness stuff. This leads to all sorts of erroneous thinking. Take an honest look and try to see the world (reality, not man's world) as it really is, not through the haze of your preconceptions. Shut your internal dialogue up long enough to take a good look.

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I think most people here would agree, considering there's only 3 out of 40 votes for Atheism in the 'choose your belief' poll. Bring on the controversy.
 
Well, I spend a lot of time at two of the most popular atheist and christian sites on the net. Overall, while I don't like making generalizations, I can't help but do it after 2 years on them. christians are dumb and atheists are brilliant. =D

Although I do think the skepticity goes too far. It seems so obvious to me that you can't discount anything when we think about the revelations in the past that would have seemed as far out as "god" does.

I believe one day science will explain God. And every other "far out" experience many believe happens. M theory is a step closer.
 
I'm not an athiest but I think it's alot easier believing in mysticism than it is to look for the scientific explanation.

Calling atheism lazy is being lazy.

I agree that one day science may very well explain the experience and belief in God, but I don't think that it can dispove it's existence.
 
I think hardcore traditional religious people are dumb and thick-headed, while atheists think too much for their own good and are usually paranoid/anxious.

Neither extreme is good, I figure.
I guess I'm an atheist in the traditional sense, but I also find religious fascinating. *shrugs*
 
I think you can be an atheist without being stupid and lazy; Buddhism and Taoism can both be described as atheistic, and the descriptions of reality which these religions give is quite useful. However, scientific materialism (i.e. the belief that what ultimately exists is that which is described by physics; that the world is really made of quarks and electrons, and that everything can be reduced to fundamental particles) is the height of intellectual laziness because it involves a complete and utter misunderstanding of the project of science, of quantum mechanics, of the nature of concepts and linguistics. In fact, I have never met a physicist that is a scientific materialist. Every halfway decent scientist today is willing to admit that science does not describe reality but only provides theories that work (i.e. that perform functions).

Most atheists the West are materialists who believe in science, but have never read anything by Neils Bohr or Heisenberg,--that is, they "belive" in science in a way that none of the top scientists do themselves.

Materialists of this sort need to think for a long time about why physicists call subatomic particles "observables" instead of "be-ables."
 
michael:

I think you better explain your comment a bit more. Why does believing in a god (which the vast majority of all humans have done), entail that one "blindly accept teachings"? I just explained my view on why scientific materialism involves this sort of blind acceptance. Do some explaining yourself.
 
pa..:

Well, why not? Some Buddhists belive in some gods and goddesses but no good Buddhist belives that these gods and goddesses can do anything for humans, and in the Buddhist view gods are mortal and humanity is a superior state.

The majority of classic Taoist texts say nothing about gods or goddesses, and while Taoism is a very diverse religion, any kind of theism is definitely secondary.
 
My take:

Anyone from any value system can be intellectually lazy. That's a given. I could go into examples for each one.. maybe they were raised that way, or merely challenged the belief system they were raised with and settled for the exact opposite out of rebellion.

My opinion... Being an atheist takes about as much effort as having blind faith. Both claim to have a finite answer. Atheism claims "there is no god", Religion claims "There is a god", and neither one have proof one way or the other.

In my opinion the real challenge is to lay yourself open to the possibilities, to continually question and when you don't find solid answers find a way in which to be comfortable that you don't know everything.
 
To me, the only intellectually correct view would be agnosticism. And like dd said, to be open to anything.

I don't think focusing on whether the theist or atheists are "intellectually lazy" should be focused on, but instead the us vs them mentality and refusal to meet and discuss ideas. These types of threads and ideas contribute to even more disagreement, instead of understanding.
 
The one thing that comes to mind when I see an argument concerning the deist and atheist, is that neither of them can prove the existence of a god.
The deist can't really prove there's a god, Aquinas thought he did. But people still aren't convinced.
Atheists can't prove there's not a god. They just choose to believe there isn't a god.
I don't see anyone from either side ever convincing the other side of anything at all. For the record I'm just a skeptic, I don't think there's enough evidence to prove either side of the argument. But then again was this post directed towards atheists? Or was it to get agreement with the poster of the thread?
 
People need a God because they want to have a better life in the afterlife. All people do is work and die. People want hope in a afterlife where they won't have to worry about anything. Keep dreaming
 
MishaRZA said:
People need a God because they want to have a better life in the afterlife. All people do is work and die. People want hope in a afterlife where they won't have to worry about anything. Keep dreaming
Click to expand...

Sure, and you keep dreamin about pretending to know the thoughts and events in every theists life.

:p

Desperation for eternal life isn't the motivation for all believers. And some of us keep getting pushed towards belief, when we are trying to go the other way. There is more to spirituality for many, than fear of death.
 
I never said I was always an atheist. I was baptised and went to church but after being through a bunch of shit I told God to fuck off.
 
MishaRZA said:
I never said I was always an atheist. I was baptised and went to church but after being through a bunch of shit I told God to fuck off.
Click to expand...

When I was 18 years old, I did the very same thing.

May I ask what that "bunch of shit" was?
 
The original question oversimplifies the issue. People can become atheist for different reasons.

I know some atheists who are redneck morons and choose to ignore the question of God because of laziness. They don't want to feel guilty for having pre-marital sex, or stealing or whatever else they may do. To them, God is not an issue. If pressed, though, most of these types admit to agnosticism rather than atheism.

Alternatively, you have atheists who came to that position from serious thinking about the many absurdities of conventional religions. These people, the true atheists IMO, did not arrive at their belief through laziness. Just the opposite.

Lastly, the most lazy people seem to be the kids who grow up and embrace their parents religion without ever questioning their amazing luck of being born into the right religion. These are people who accept what authority figures (parents, preacher, sunday school teacher) tell them without looking for themselves. Hell, most Christians never read the Bible and have no idea of all the absurd and contradictory stuff in there or they would not be so smug and secure in their belief.

Dean Luna wrote:

Some Buddhists belive in some gods and goddesses but no good Buddhist belives that these gods and goddesses can do anything for humans, and in the Buddhist view gods are mortal and humanity is a superior state.

The majority of classic Taoist texts say nothing about gods or goddesses, and while Taoism is a very diverse religion, any kind of theism is definitely secondary.
Click to expand...

This is wrong on many levels. A Buddhist can call himself an atheist or not, as can a Taoist. Some believe in a god or gods, some do not. However, common to all of them is the idea that the universe is all a conscious one-ness. Many choose to call this God because that term seems to fit best.

God as the conscious universe of which we are all part. Anyway, since when does belief in a God who is not separate from, superior to, and judging humanity equal to atheism? Are you saying the term God can only accurately be applied to the Judeo-Christian notion of a separate, superior deity who looks down on us and judges us? That is pretty close-minded.

~[sucjpb;ast~
 
Dean Luna said:
pa..:

Well, why not? Some Buddhists belive in some gods and goddesses but no good Buddhist belives that these gods and goddesses can do anything for humans, and in the Buddhist view gods are mortal and humanity is a superior state.

The majority of classic Taoist texts say nothing about gods or goddesses, and while Taoism is a very diverse religion, any kind of theism is definitely secondary.
Click to expand...

Athiests do not believe in anything beyond the physical. Taoists and Buddhists both believe there is more to life than what is known and understood by the human mind. They believe in the supernatural and/or the "unknown". Athiests do not.

The Tao Te Ching makes it very clear that the Tao can and cannot be understood. Meaning, just when you think you know why something in the world does what it does, or what it's cause is, you're already wrong. Athiests believe their brains to be so great, that they can (if given enough time) figure out all there is to know. Taoists know this is not the case. Buddhists believe in a completely seperate reality that is real, and the cause of all that we percieve to be real. An athiest wouldn't buy that for a dollar.
 
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Hmmm....Your post was a bit difficult to understand...but a few observations.
1. you say "it's right in front of us," but atheists choose to ignore "it". In your opinion, what is "it"?
2. I'm not sure if it is a good idea to place scientific investigation and questions of God (or Gods, or universal consciousness, etc.) in diametical opposition. If we accept the utility of science, would it not make sense to choose a religious perspective that is congruent with science (and there are many)?


>>Don't get caught up in the trap that God is all peace, love, and happiness stuff. This leads to all sorts of erroneous thinking. Take an honest look and try to see the world (reality, not man's world) as it really is, not through the haze of your preconceptions. Shut your internal dialogue up long enough to take a good look.
>>

what is your alternative? A look to the judgemental god of the old testament? Pantheism? A look to experience of god, not the idea of god? what?

ebola
 
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