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Sunny Jackson

Pro Women's Basketball Player Comes Out as an Atheist - 0 views

www.atheismresource.com/...player-comes-out-as-an-atheist

Atheists

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • People often make assumptions that I am Christian because I am a moral young woman that may serve as a role model as others.
  • I have grown up in a society where good = Christian, and I am uncomfortable with that.
  • The assumption is that Atheism = bad. But why is there this assumption about atheists?
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • They truly allowed us to think freely for ourselves
  • When I was younger, I believed in God like I believed in Santa Claus. I had blind faith that he was real because that is what I’ve been told and led to believe.
  • I didn’t believe it before and no matter how hard I tried to pray or have a relationship with God, I never felt like anyone was listening.
  • I didn’t want to be seen as a bad person.
  • I didn’t want anything ruining my reputation.
  • if you look at the scientific evidence, there is no doubt that evolution is real. I am not an extremely scientific person, but that has always been very apparent to me.
  • My lack of faith was constantly being strengthened by my world around me, although all my friends were Christians.
  • Atheists have always been looked down on in the world around me
  • “in the closet” about my lack of religion
  • How could I tell anyone? I didn’t want people to judge me for not subscribing to a religion.
  • I never made the connection. I just enjoyed the stories of the triumphs of good people.
  • It was very hard for me to tell anyone that I was an atheist
  • I never wanted anyone to see our relationship as being lesser because it had no faith involved in it.
  • I respected their desire and faith.
Sunny Jackson

Bundlr - Reason(s) & Belief - 0 views

bundlr.com/reasons-and-belief

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • contrived
  • circumstantial evidence
  • all members of that religion would speak with one voice regarding ethical and theological issues
  • ...97 more annotations...
  • some piece of knowledge that the people of the time couldn't possibly have known but that is now known to be true
  • still explicable as the result of purely human forces
  • To convince me, a miracle would have to be genuine, verifiable, and represent a real and inexplicable divergence from the ordinary.
  • If a given religion's sacred text consistently promotes peace, compassion and nonviolence
  • Anything that can be explained by peer pressure, the power of suggestion or the placebo effect does not count.
  • Did God intend to communicate his message clearly but failed to do so?
  • if that religion's history reflects that fact
  • I'll be happy to believe in God if he tells me to in person, as long as he does it in such a way that I could be sure that it was not a hallucination
  • interesting theological problems
  • subjective experience
  • self-fulfilling
  • impressive
  • a dramatic, statistically significant increase in recovery rate
  • True inerrancy
  • Almost every religion claims their scripture is perfect, but none that I know of have actually met this exacting standard
  • almost every religion that has ever had the power to do so has persecuted those who believed differently, and I do not think it likely that a morally good deity would allow his chosen faith's good name to be smeared by evil and fallible humans
  • It seems reasonable to expect that, if there existed a god that was interested in revealing itself to humanity and desired that we follow its commands, that god would write down whatever instructions it had to give us in a way that was only amenable to one interpretation.
  • for no apparent reason
  • tended to explode in flames
  • interesting
  • even minor but objectively verifiable miracles would do
  • Favorable coincidences or kind or courageous acts performed by human beings also do not meet this standard.
  • the temporal lobes, especially the left lobe, are somehow involved in religious experience
  • compelling
  • this could still be the result of human influence
  • detailed, specific and unambiguous
  • result could be repeated and confirmed
  • multiple reliable witnesses
  • I invite all theists to respond by preparing a list of things that they would accept as proof that atheism is true.
  • glowing auras of h*** light
  • Why doesn't this happen any more today?
  • conclusive
  • proposed those ideas long ago
  • a double-blind study
  • verified by independent evidence
  • indisputable proof
  • circumstantial, not conclusive, evidence
  • a h*** text entirely without error or self-contradiction
  • extra-biblical evidence
  • I'm not interested in the testimonials of people who converted to a religion, not even if they used to be atheists.
  • to protect them from harm
  • independent of any claim
  • faith healing, or people being "slain in the Spirit" and toppling over, owes more to showmanship and the placebo effect used on eager-to-please individuals that have been worked up into highly excitable, suggestible states
  • possible to disprove
  • there must be independent verification that the piece of knowledge was written in texts that existed well before it was actually discovered by science
  • Everyone has moments of weakness in which emotion overrides logic.
  • Biblical miracles are people raising their hands and telling something impossible to happen, and it happens.
  • something so counter-intuitive that the odds against guessing at it correctly would be staggering
  • the lone success among a thousand failures
  • members of all faiths claim to have had convincing subjective experiences of the truth of that faith
  • something surprising, unlikely or unique
  • if faith healers could restore severed limbs...
  • explain what logic and evidence persuaded them
  • If you attempt to prove God's existence to me by listing the evidence for a young earth, more likely than not you'll be disappointed. (Though I'm always happy to debate the merits of evolution.)
  • “There exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse" (Rowe, 1979, p. 336).
  • travel to every planet in the universe individually
  • what arguments and tactics are likely to be ineffective at convincing an atheist to change their mind
  • religious hallucinations associated with epilepsy
  • "An omniscient, wholly good being would prevent the occurrence of any intense suffering it could, unless it could not do so without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally as bad or worse" (Rowe, 1979, p. 336).
  • In order to leap the chasm from deism to theism; from deism to Christianity - you need to establish that Yahweh was not merely the natural evolution of Canaanite polytheism, and more importantly, rationalize how an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good God, is compatible with pointless animal suffering.
  • case histories with hallucinations of a religious nature
  • Family religion was focused on the god of the settlement
  • "God by definition is all-powerful, all knowing and all good. If God is all-powerful, He can prevent evil. If God is all knowing and can prevent evil, He knows how to prevent it. If God is all good, He would want to prevent evil. But since there is evil God cannot exist” (Martin & Bernard, 2003, p. 316).
  • there is a profound chasm between (1) deism and (2) theism
  • The Christian God does not exist.
  • The Bible is not the Word of God.
  • The Bible is not 100% factually accurate.
  • This god was the patron of the leading family and, by extension, of the local clan and the settlement
  • the magnetic configurations, not the subjects’ exotic beliefs or suggestibility, were responsible for the experimental facilitation of sensing a presence
  • Convergence involved the coalescence of various deities and/or some of their features into the figure of Yahweh
  • The Cosmological argument, the Kalām cosmological argument, the Teleological or Design argument, and the Ontological argument - merely take you to the deists' side of the chasm.
  • Features belonging to deities such as El, Asherah, and Baal were absorbed into the Yahwistic religion of Israel.
  • religion was predominantly a matter of the family
  • speaks in tongues (glossolalia)
  • Jesus was not God.
  • “The text itself of each Gospel is anonymous and its title represents what later tradition had to say about the identity of the author … the first Gospel was put together by an unknown Christian who utilized the Gospel of Mark, the Matthean collection, and other special sources.” (Metzger, 2003, p. 114)
  • Allegiance to the clan god was concomitant with membership of the clan
  • Epicurus (341 - 270 BCE) Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
  • "Many of the books of the New Testament are pseudonymous – written not by the apostles but by later writers claiming to be apostles" (Ehrman, 2009, pp. 5-6).
  • God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
  • Ecclesiastes 9:5 – "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten."
  • Religious experience can be replicated using magnetic fields
  • at least one of the gospel authors is making content up
  • “The text itself, like all the gospels, is anonymous.” (Price, 2006, p. 493)
  • At least one of the gospels is incorrect
  • seizures can also be “focal”; that is, they can remain confined largely to a single small part of the brain
  • even if both phrases were said together, he could only die immediately after one of them
  • 80% of normal people will feel a sensed presence within the room if you stimulate a person’s temporal lobes with magnetic fields
  • at least one gospel is making content up
  • they cannot both be true
  • “To refer to the author as Matthew is only a convention.” (Miller, 1995, p. 56)
  • “Like all the gospels, our so-called Matthew was originally anonymous.” (Price, 2006, p. 114)
  • if they happen to be in the limbic system, then the most striking symptoms are emotional.
  • God changed his mind
  • put to death men and women, children and infants
  • “The text itself of each Gospel is anonymous and its title represents what later tradition had to say about the identity of the author.” (Metzger, 2003, p. 114)
  • there do exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse” (Rowe, 1979, p. 337).
Sunny Jackson

Why blame God for Godlessness? by *Verixas92 on deviantART - 0 views

verixas92.deviantart.com/...-God-for-Godlessness-345371926

Reason(s) and Belief Dislike

shared by Sunny Jackson on 01 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • why try to blame God when evil occurs?
  • If God didn't help because people "reject" him, then how come terrible things happen to people who don't?
  • I didn't know that God was so petty.
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • if I'm to believe that God has a plan for all of us, as I've been told several times in the past, especially in times of strife, then technically it's still God. [If God exists]
  • Instead of punishing, a loving god might have chosen to... reveal himself a little more?
  • Or maybe he might have made it so that evil didn't exist in the first place?
  • If God was all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful, surely he could have found a way to prevent that tragedy, if only to avoid the suffering
  • if such an 'imperfect' being as a human can think of some way to avoid those things from happening, surely God would be able to find a much better way.
  • Instead, we're left with this petty creature that supposedly cares so much about us that he's willing to let slide the brutal murders of dozens of children, just to teach us a lesson about faith.
  • Science adjusts its views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved
  • It kinda makes God sound like a petulant child.
  • I'm fine with God not helping, considering he's sort of... not there. Or at the very least, malevolent enough to stand by even while people feverishly pray and go unanswered, who lets horrible things happen and does nothing. If he's really so petty to abandon suffering people because people won't worship him, then I would rather not have him here.
  • We aren't trying to stomp out Christianity, we're asking for evidence. Until we get that, there is no reason to believe in your claim.
  • widespread delusion is pretty hard to get going with people already past the age of reason
  • So we have an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent god willing to kill people to get them to listen, but he can't just reveal himself to prove his own existence? What does that say about him?
  • faith [belief without evidence, not without seeing] is not a virtue
  • Trust and other such things can be considered such things; piety is trust in something that may or may not exist.
  • There is an enormous difference between a video game and real life: you can leave a video game. You can choose not to play a video game.
  • Does God go against our free will by forcing us into a world like this?
  • Morality doesn't originate from any one religion, no more than it comes from a belief in benevolent fairies.
  • I have yet to hear an moral action or deed that a believer can commit that cannot be matched or even surpassed by a non-believer.
  • There isn't much of a difference between starving someone to death and letting someone starve to death. Either way, you must take responsibility for your action, and you end up with the same result.
  • If God has power over the death of people, he is accountable for that-no all-loving deity would allow them to die.
Sunny Jackson

"I'm a What?" Eliciting Latent Humanism - 0 views

www.americanhumanist.org/...what-eliciting-latent-humanism

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • indicators of humanist identity
  • “Can I believe in God and still be a humanist?” one young woman wanted to know. “Sure,” I replied. “Many humanists find that, over time, their need for a God fades away. They end up feeling that their humanism has freed them to outgrow God. But other humanists remain believers, and that’s OK.”
  • humanize our species
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • blind faith is tenacious belief in the absence or (or in the face of) the evidence
  • Wishful thinking is believing something because you want it to be true, or merely because you think it is beneficial to so believe (as opposed to having real evidence that it is true)
  • Tribal loyalty involves placing the interests of an “in group” ahead of those in some “out group”—a willingness to identify with one faction, even at the expense of others.
  • high regard for inquiry and open-mindedness
  • educating young people about the obstacles to fruitful inquiry goes a long way towards advancing the humanist cause
  • People empowered to see for themselves how nonsense—both religious and secular—inhibits moral progress are in a better position to help us realize our shared humanitarian ideals.
  • understand how inquiry works
  • inclusive of both secular and religious humanists
  • Does it express your core convictions?
  • regard "humanistic" as applying across the theist/atheist divide, but reserve "humanist" for nontheists
  • free ourselves
  • wear our labels lightly
  • Let them keep their faith alongside the Humanism for the meantime and eventually, when the children grow and become more mature, I think most of them would choose Humanism and leave dogma behind. 
  • this is what humanism is
  • in much more specific terms
  • Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence.
  • a theist can subscribe to humanist ideals
  • Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task. 
  • Deep inquiry requires that we look beyond the words
  • we can't communicate without words having meanings
  • Humanists believe in free thought and in free choice.   Anything else is oppressive.  
  • they're terrified of it
  • moral goodness exists within each of us
  • Scientific and moral progress really do depend on cooperation and a kind of cultural evolution to take place.
  • the central importance of human derived knowledge, as opposed to relying on claims of supposedly supernaturally derived knowledge, to our accurately understanding and improving the world
  • you may already be a humanist
  • Christianity is a tribalism that, for all the good it has caused, humanity must outgrow
Sunny Jackson

Religion: What are some great anti-religion quotes? - Quora - 0 views

www.quora.com/...ome-great-anti-religion-quotes

Quora Questions Learning

shared by Sunny Jackson on 07 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
  • Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night
  • Faith means not wanting to know what is true.
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
  • Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
  • The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.
  • Eskimo:"If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" Priest: "No, not if you did not know." Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"
  • Without religion, we'd have good people doing good things, and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
  • To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me.
  • Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies.
  • "I don't see any god up here" - Yuri Gagarin - first man in space, while in space.
  • I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
  • Since no one really knows anything about God, those who think they do are just troublemakers.
  • The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
  • Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet
  • Men never do evil so completely and cheerfullly as when they do it from a religious conviction
  • Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer.
  • What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.
  • The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism.
  • Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.
  • Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.
  • Religion is man-made. Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did.
  • If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities.
  • My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilisation, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can’t prove it, but you can’t disprove it either.
  • Among theologians, heretics are those who are not backed with a sufficient array of battalions to render them orthodox.
  • Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.
  • One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.
  • A theologian is like a blind man in a dark room searching for a black cat which isn't there - and finding it!
  • Religion is an insult to human dignity.
  • All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few.
  • Faith, if it is ever right about anything, is right by accident
  • The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.
  • If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.
Sunny Jackson

Introduction to Humanism - 0 views

www.religioustolerance.org/humanism1.htm

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • knowledge can be obtained through rational thought and experimentation
  • developed into the scientific method and is the major underpinning of all sciences today
  • a philosophy centered upon the needs and interests of people
  • ...57 more annotations...
  • truth could be discovered by human effort
  • rationalism
  • free thought
  • rational philosophy
  • Many regard Socrates as the first and greatest of the Humanists
  • value knowledge based on reason and hard evidence rather than on faith
  • the preciousness and dignity of the individual person is a central humanist value
  • universe that obeys natural laws
  • rejection of divinely inspired ethical and moral codes in favor of codes derived by reason from the human condition
  • full responsibility for the future of the world, its political systems, its ecology, etc. rests with humans. There is no God in heaven to intervene and save us
  • religious groups' "promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful."
  • reject both theocracy and secular dictatorships as political systems that are dangerous to individual freedoms
  • accept democracy
  • value freedom of inquiry, expression and action
  • combating bigotry, hatred, discrimination, intolerance and censorship
  • supporters of the principle of separation of church and state
  • moral values derive their source from human experience
  • regard life here on earth to be particularly precious
  • creator of Third Force Psychology
  • human rights
  • it represents a consensus of what Humanists do believe
  • Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis
  • Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change
  • Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience
  • Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals
  • Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships
  • Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness
  • Isaac Asimov
  • scientist and author
  • literary freedom activist
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Brock Chisholm
  • conceiver of the Theory of Relativity
  • Albert Einstein
  • Betty Friedan
  • feminist activist
  • R. Buckminster Fuller
  • futurist and inventor
  • United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization
  • Julian Huxley
  • Richard Leakey
  • Abraham Maslow
  • highly motivated to alleviating pain and misery around the world
  • John Boyd Orr
  • human rights activist
  • A. Philip Randolf
  • creator of Client Centered Therapy
  • Carl Rogers
  • Bertrand Russell
  • developer of the polio vaccine
  • Jonas Salk
  • Margaret Sanger
  • Andrei Sakharov
  • Gloria Steinem
  • American Humanist Association
  • Humanism and its aspirations
  • Humanism and Its Aspirations
Sunny Jackson

What can we conclude from all of this religious information? - 0 views

www.religioustolerance.org/conclude.htm

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • How does one digest all of the data
  • In our essays, we do not normally draw conclusions
  • Our policy has always been to provide our visitors with a balanced presentation of both or all sides to each issue
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • we explain what the most conservative and the most liberal theologians believe
  • most Christians' beliefs probably lie somewhere in the middle
  • We let our reader reach their own conclusions. 
  • On controversial social matters, we also explain all sides to an issue
  • dedicated seekers after truth
  • some of the conclusions below are influenced by our religious faiths; this essay is not as balanced and objective as the rest of this web site
Sunny Jackson

What can we conclude from all of this religious information? - 0 views

www.religioustolerance.org/conclude2.htm

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • Our DNA, mixed with the DNA of another, lives on through any children that we have
  • The influence of our DNA continues to be diluted with each generation. But it is spread through an increasing number of our descendents.
  • Every action that we have taken throughout our life influences other people and the world in some way. Even after we are gone, our actions continue to change the universe. The ripples formed during our lifetime, for good or evil, continue to spread.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • when people normally think about life after death, they think of some continued form of consciousness -- one in which at least our memories and personalities remain intact
  • The Celts and some other aboriginal societies taught that when we die, we are born into an alternative universe that is much like the earth. When someone dies in that other universe, a baby is born on earth. There is an elegant symmetry to this concept.
  • Eastern and some Neopagan religions teach some form of transmigration of the soul or of reincarnation, in which humans eventually pass through a whole succession of lifetimes.
  • nobody really knows what happens
  • It is up to the individual to give their own life meaning. 
  • When we treat others a sub-humans, dreadful things can and do happen
  • There are a lot of theories about life after death, but we are a little short on hard evidence. It seems as if nobody is really certain. We have two choices: To somehow learn to live with this uncertainty. To follow a religious belief, even though we have no proof.
  • One cannot simply decide to believe in something or someone as an act of will
  • There are many religions with multiple concepts of God
  • Going with the majority might avoid being the victim of religious prejudice
  • consider keeping a very low profile
  • if you choose the dominant religion of your family of origin, you might minimize conflict in your life
  • It is not necessary to fully adopt a single religion.
  • most religions can inspire their members to lead better lives
  • Most, perhaps all, have an evil, dark side
  • Many have discriminatory policies
  • if you adopt a specific religion, you might consider working from within to eliminate any bigoted policies that your chosen faith exhibits
Sunny Jackson

An intra-faith Christian translating dictionary: abortion terms - 0 views

www.religioustolerance.org/evan_dic2.htm

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • the abortion rate could be cut to a fraction of its present value if the use of contraceptives, including EC, were encouraged
  • involves the use of a medication
  • "Medical" implies that a pharmaceutical is used
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Individuals and groups in favor of abortion access and free choice
  • Pregnancy starts when the fertilized ovum is implanted in the womb
Sunny Jackson

Council for Secular Humanism - 0 views

www.secularhumanism.org/index.php

Cached ≡ Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - Cached
  • secular humanists don't believe in a God or an afterlife
  • the remarkable thing about the United States is precisely that it was created as a secular republic organized around the rights and freedoms of its citizens
  • secular humanism says the morality of actions should be judged by their consequences
  • ...57 more annotations...
  • There is no central authority
  • People come to secular humanism by following their own curiosity and reasoning
  • secular humanism is not so much a body of beliefs as a method for reaching understanding
  • It is an approach to life that tries to be positive, rational, realistic, and open-minded
  • we are not expressing a doctrine
  • doing our best to state the consensus shared
  • Secular humanists believe morality and meaning come from humanity and the natural world
  • It is our human values that give us rights, responsibilities, and dignity.
  • We believe that morality should aim to bring out the best in people, so that all people can have the best in life.
  • morality must be based on our knowledge of human nature and the real world
  • treat others with the same consideration as you would have them treat you
  • the common moral decencies - for example, people should not lie, steal, or kill; and they should be honest, generous, and cooperative - really are conducive to human welfare
  • Humanists realize that individuals alone cannot solve all our problems, but instead of turning to the supernatural, we believe that problems are solved by people working together, relying on understanding and creativity
  • humanists are committed to promoting human values, human understanding, and human development
  • Humanists also emphasize the importance of self-determination - the right of individuals to control their own lives, so long as they do not harm others
  • freedom of choice
  • people create their own meaning and purpose in life
  • The value and significance of life comes from how we live life, not from some supposed transcendent realm
  • The moral differences between secular humanism and religion do not justify the allegation that secular humanist have no morals. This claim is not an argument, just an insult.
  • Nonreligious, humanistic moral systems existed before Christianity
  • the Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics of classical Greece and Rome
  • the common moral decencies are found throughout the cultures of the world
  • The most important moral and political concepts of the modern era have developed out of humanistic thinking
  • You will search the Bible in vain for opposition to slavery or support for democracy and equality
  • neither the Supreme Court, nor this circuit, has ever held that evolutionism or secular humanism are `religions'
  • they refused to reverse a ruling that secular humanism is not a religion
  • Secular humanism is not a religion by any definition: There are no supernatural beliefs, no creeds that all humanists are required to accept, no sacred texts or required rituals. Humanists are not expected or required to have "faith" in what is said by any authority, living or dead, human or "supernatural."
  • humanists derive their meaning and values from the natural world. Secular humanism is a naturalistic, nonreligious worldview
  • humanists don't worship anything
  • Humanity's constant challenge is to understand itself and improve itself
  • We don't pretend that our ethics and values are divine: we recognize that they are human, and therefore part of nature
  • individual secular humanists differ
  • the human species has evolved by the same natural processes as every other species
  • some of our most treasured traits, such as language and the ability to understand and care for others, are on an evolutionary continuum with communicative and cooperative behaviors of other animals
  • humans have a moral responsibility towards the rest of the natural world
  • secular humanists cover a wide spectrum
  • One political view that secular humanists do share is unswerving support for democracy, freedom, and human rights
  • All secular humanists are utterly opposed to totalitarian systems
  • The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights contain no references to God or Christianity. Their only references to religion establish freedom of religion and separation of church and state
  • The motto on the Great Seal of the United States, unchanged since its adoption in 1782, is E Pluribus Unum ("From Many, One")
  • The Pledge of Allegiance did not contain an oath to God, until it was added in the 1950s
  • In 1797 the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Treaty of Tripoli which stated that "the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
  • secular humanism encourages people to think for themselves and question authority
  • on the basis of shared philosophical principles and ideals
  • The myth that secular humanists are unAmerican is an insult to the patriotism and distinguished service of millions of people.
  • all beliefs are fallible and provisional, and that diversity and dialogue are essential to the process of learning and developing
  • we value tolerance, pluralism, and open-mindedness as positive and beneficial qualities in society
  • Humanists are staunch supporters of freedom of religion, belief, and conscience, as laid out in both the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These rights protect the freedom of religious belief equally with the freedom of nonreligious belief, the freedom of religion equally with the freedom from religion.
  • the neutrality of a secular society
  • Secular humanists believe that a healthy society supports a variety of worldviews
  • We also believe that religious and philosophical views should be every bit as open to debate and discussion as political beliefs.
  • All these claims make the same mistake: they confuse neutrality with hostility
  • neutrality toward different worldviews is the best protection from persecution
  • Separating church and state doesn't mean that the state promotes atheism and humanism, but that it provides equal protection to all beliefs
  • The amoral, power-hungry "secular humanist" conspiracy described by some religious conservatives is a myth
  • the vibrant movement that champions a moral approach to living based on reason and happiness is alive and growing
  • there are secular humanists. But no, there is no bogeyman.
Sunny Jackson

10 Questions Every Intelligent Atheist Must Answer « An Exercise in Futility - 0 views

emach.wordpress.com/...ntelligent-atheist-must-answer

Atheists

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • Are you a moral relativist, or do you believe in absolute morality? 
  • do you believe that cultures, or even individuals, can define their own rules on what is moral and what is not, or do you believe that every action has one unique, absolute, and true moral assessment?
  • the morality as defined by the Old Testament is different than the morality defined by the New Testament
  • ...39 more annotations...
  • who or what determines which actions are moral and which are not? 
  • I do not trust any human being, no matter how smart they are, including myself, to prescribe to me what is moral and what is not
  • Always minimize both actual and potential suffering; always maximize both actual and potential happiness.
  • how and why morality can be universal
  • where it comes from
  • Is your trust in science based on faith or based on science?
  • observed and interpreted the evidence yourself and drew your own conclusions
  • Science has the ability to self correct.
  • Is absence of proof the proof of absence?
  • What does the atheist position offer people?  How has it improved your life?  Why will it improve others’ lives?
  • When you attempt to use logic to conclude facts about religion, are you starting at the conclusion (God is not real), or are you starting at true premises? 
  • If you are starting at true premises, then what are they?  And how are they true? 
  • If all Christians believed that the Bible was entirely allegorical, what would you argue in support of your position?
  • Why is it important to you that everyone is an atheist?
  • Do you believe in extra-terrestrials?
  • I don’t want to hear about how religious people are more “moral” when their god slaughters all the first born male children of egypt.
  • Where does language, art, music, and religion come from?
  • always check your sources
  • if a new piece of evidence arises
  • The human brain. All our mental capacity for reason and creativity come from it.
  • damage to the brain’s structure affects the mind
  • I don’t know, but I do know that it was not the invisible man in the sky, because the invisible man in the sky is not an explanation.
  • Your mind does NOT survive your death.
  • damaged brain, damaged mind
  • Destroyed brain, destroyed mind.
  • The b**** says VERY SPECIFIC things about your god, things that are impossible.
  • I can now see reality from a clear perspective
  • there is no original sin
  • as a society I do think we need less god and less religion
  • you argue that god is real because of X. I take a look at X and it does not conclusively prove that god is real, so I go on being an atheist.
  • all the “proofs” provided by theists have already been refuted
  • I was a religious person when I was younger and I believed it
  • After I read all the arguments against it, I could not believe it anymore.
  • I would still be an atheist.
  • Other people’s beliefs do not affect my beliefs.
  • I can’t speak for every atheist.
  • Keep it to yourself and away from the government and small children.
  • the distances between planets are ENORMOUS
  • YOUR god is supposed to be EVERYWHERE
Sunny Jackson

Defending The Faith, And Morality, Of NonBelievers : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 01 Jun 13 - Cached
  • Humanism — the belief that ethics and morality can be vested in rationality
  • Good Without God: What A Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, Greg Epstein
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