Do you hide your Atheism?

robindch

> But a trapped mind incapable of any escape must be THE ultimate nastiness.

Already done. Try a dose of Iain Banks; Inversions, as far as I remember. He has one of his bad guys cuts the head off his nemesis, plants it in some Banksian nutri-gro, hangs it from the ceiling and uses it as a punch bag. He's a strange guy, is young Iain.

Zillah

aidan24326 wrote:

This would be a bit hypocritical though. For an atheist to suddenly call for the priest as death approaches makes a mockery of everything he/she claimed to stand for prior to that time.

Not really. Atheists don't really stand for anything. A lot of Atheists could summarise their position as "Naaahh".

Obviously I don't want a long drawn-out painful death but at the same time I would like to know, to have some sense that the end was near.

No way in hell. I want to vaporise when the boat beneath me explodes, or I want a ten ton chunk of glacier to drop on me out of the blue. If I never see it coming, and then I'm dead, from my point of view I never died...

Dades

aidan24326 wrote:

This would be a bit hypocritical though. For an atheist to suddenly call for the priest as death approaches makes a mockery of everything he/she claimed to stand for prior to that time.

Do people still call for priests? That's not likely. There's a big difference between that and lying there thinking. "Hmm. Maybe I am wrong, and there is an afterlife. Perhaps I've misjudged the situation".

An atheist is not afraid to admit he believes in nothing after death. I would think the closer you come to death the braver you have to be to continue to assert this against the lure of other, more positive beliefs.

aidan24326

Zillah wrote:

Not really. Atheists don't really stand for anything. A lot of Atheists could summarise their position as "Naaahh".

Not strictly true.

'Naaaahh' is the response of the apathetic & disinterested. As an atheist (in the 'lack of belief in a God' definition, not the outright 'there is no God') I believe in rationality and belief in any given proposition only in the presence of empirical demonstrable evidence. Given the lack of even a shred of evidence for any 'God' thus far proposed, I go with the 'do not believe' option. That is not 'standing for nothing'. That is standing for science and rationality and standing against the dumbing-down of the human mind as favoured by organised religions. Someone who says 'Naaahhh' may or not be an atheist by the definition given above, but unless they have given time and consideration to what that means then I'd be more inclined to say that they're not an 'anything'. They're just not interested.

No way in hell. I want to vaporise when the boat beneath me explodes, or I want a ten ton chunk of glacier to drop on me out of the blue. If I never see it coming, and then I'm dead, from my point of view I never died...

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one! So long as it's not too slow and drawn out, I suppose that's the main thing. After that it hardly matters, you're gone anyway. I just don't like the idea of having it snatched away from me in an instant. A little reflection and a short goodbye to myself would be nice.

Zillah

aidan24326 wrote:

Not strictly true.

Yes strictly true! By the meaning of the letters "Naaah" that I intended. "Naaah", or "No, I don't think so buddy" is as atheist as "I for one believe that any belief should be supported by empirical evidence and hence a belief in God is inherently irrational", just less eloquent.

'Naaaahh' is the response of the apathetic & disinterested.

No, "Uhhh" or "Meh" are responses of the apathetic or the disinterested. "Naaah" is firmly atheist.

How silly.

Dave!

Your original post was misleading, Zillah.

Zillah

DaveMcG wrote:

Your original post was misleading, Zillah.

I don't see how. But then again I wrote it so I probably wouldn't see how anyway.

robindch

> No, "Uhhh" or "Meh" are responses of the apathetic or the disinterested.

Minor correction: 'disinterested' means 'lacking self-interest'. It isn't a synonym for 'uninterested'. See here and here.

> How silly.

How prescient! I'll go back to my pedant's^Hpedants'^Hpedants bedtime book now.

atheist

No

Zillah

robindch wrote:

Minor correction: 'disinterested' means 'lacking self-interest'. It isn't a synonym for 'uninterested'. See here and here.

Well look at that! I've learned something.

adam_ccfc

I certainly don't hide my atheism. I'm proud of the fact that I can think rationally for myself, and do not simply follow the masses in blind faith.

tba

I don't hide my atheism, although I frequently mispell it. Likewise I do not stand on the street corner trying to get others to see my point of view.

The best advice I ever received was, in public (usually the pub) never let the conversation veer towards religion or politics, it always gets messy.

Hiding your beliefs is quite frequently nessessary, if I was a christian outside the Coloseum in ancient Rome I would start praying to Apollo or Ra or whatever they had a fancy to back then. Nobody wants to die least of all be eaten by lions.

Conflict is messy, and smart people avoid it, not seek it out. Never lie, never set out to hurt other people though conflict with their ideals and beliefs, they generally have little bearing on you, and finally never judge somebody less than you because they disagree with you, judge them less because they disagree with the facts.

Esmereldina

hmmm... interesting thread.

I would agree with (I think) most people here in that I wouldn't go out of my way to hide my atheism, and if it came up in conversation (with most people I know!) I would be happy to debate it with them. I think it's a question of tact, common sense, and also when one feels bothered enough to justify/defend such heretical(!) beliefs to the world! I do find it interesting though quite how many people still find atheism offensive, threatening or just strange. Its seems like there are a lot of people who don't profess any particular religion or belief system (or have a lukewarm religious faith) but there is still a big gap between them and people who are definitely atheist, that is who 'believe' in atheism...