|
Open Question for Atheists |
Here's something to think about for all you Atheists out there. Atheism is technically defined as not believing in God. God doesn't exist. God isn't real. But - people ask - what do you believe in?
Many Atheists have a problem answering that question in behalf of Atheism because Atheism is what you don't believe in - not what you do believe in. But when you think about it when you say that God doesn't exist then you are making a statement about God in relation to reality. For the statement to mean anything - reality must exist.
My point is - I think that one can safely say that Atheists believe in what's real, and that if an Atheist is asked, "What do you believe in?" that Reality is a correct answer. After all - if you don't admit that you do believe in reality, then the statement that God isn't real doesn't mean anything.
Atheists are really realists. Am I not right?
So - why am I making a big deal of this point? Some Atheists are interested in more than just the issue of not believing in God. They want to spread the word because they are frustrated by being surrounded by religious insanity. But Atheism isn't a religion and if you are comparing religions to Atheists you're comparing two different things. The Atheist "package" doesn't include community or a context for establishing right and wrong. Many Atheists embrace Humanism to fill in those gaps to some extent. Other Atheists are quite happy with the narrow mission of not believing in God and don't want anything more because Atheists tend to not join groups.
But - for those who see other religions as scary in the context of Christians who see nuclear war as bringing Jesus back or Muslim terrorists with nukes, we see a need to put together a more complete package and compete in the marketplace of religious choice. We think that of all the religions there are to choose from that Reality should be one of those choices. And to be pro reality is more attractive than just being anti-god, which is how Atheists are perceived.
I believe that embracing reality is the next logical step if you want to go beyond what isn't real and start focusing on what is real. So I am inviting Atheists to accept that Atheism is a pro-reality position and declaring that reality is what you do believe in.
I see Atheism and Humanism and several others as being part of a reality movement. The logical conclusion of the dream that if everyone in the world became an Atheist today, then what do we do? How do we live? What do we do with all those empty church buildings? How do we build community? How do we determine right and wrong?
We feel free to challenge other religion on what they believe. We say things like, "If the universe is only 7000 years old then why can we see stars farther than 7000 light years away?" But they challenge us too and many of their challenges are totally legitimate questions. For example, "If this life is all there is then why not be totally selfish? Without the promise of Heaven and the threat of Hell, why should anyone behave? And without God telling you what to do, what does behave even mean?" These are legitimate questions and they deserve well thought out responses that can stand the test of scrutiny.
Once one enters the religious debate then everything is on the table. On what basis can we challenge others to answer our questions and then respond that Atheism is limited to only the non-belief in God. I suppose this is fine if you aren't an activist, but if you are an Atheist with a mission you have to have something to put on the table to replace what you're taking off. And to do that you need to go beyond what you don't believe in and talk about what you do believe in, which I will assume is reality.
This Church of Reality is an open source religion. We are attempting what many people consider to be impossible, to create a reality based religion. It seems to me that if we are here on this planet and we are on our own then we better sit down and figure it out. We invite you to join in and participate with us.
|
