Taboo Protecting Myth

[naralas]

I only recently came to this idea, and so I want to discuss it here:

Taboo protects religion. If religion comes up, everyone is supposed to [mod]edit-- language-- HSM[/mod] and respect one another. I would argue that occasionally Christians step out of line but I am sure (not knowing many other atheists myself) that other Atheists step out of line just as much.

I recently changed my MSN personal message to "There is no God" to invoke conversation. People have avoided commenting on it (every time I set a joke, I get several messages, but nobody wants to touch this one) and this fear of discussion religion is counter-intuitive to progress.

Now personally, I think there is no God. I am what Dawkins calls a Level 6 Agnostic, one who, while understanding God is impossible to disprove (as is ANY omnipotent being by definition) I think it is so absurdly unlikely that I am a "practical atheist" meaning, I act as if there is no God, lest I be forced to also give credit to all sorts of other equally insane beliefs.

However, my intention is not about if God exists or not, it is about "civil discussion". I think that [mod]edit-- language-- HSM[/mod] to avoid hurt feelings, at the cost of critical thinking, reflection, and sharing opinions is the reason bad religion survives. (Christians should consider that, if there was no taboo against this kind of talk, you could easily work to smite all those fanatics that give you such a bad name)

Thoughts?

[CatherineM]

My first thought was wondering if you are on the right website. I'm sure there are lots of Dawkinites around to talk to.

I do follow lots of taboos. The first is not to get into debates with people who don't want to be confused with the truth.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='naralas' post='1703649' date='Nov 17 2008, 09:10 PM']I recently changed my MSN personal message to "There is no God" to invoke conversation. People have avoided commenting on it (every time I set a joke, I get several messages, but nobody wants to touch this one) and this fear of discussion religion is counter-intuitive to progress.
...
Thoughts?[/quote]
Put the shoe on the other foot.
Say someone put "I love Jesus with all my heart" as their personal message. Would you message them to dispute it?

I don't know all of your contacts, but maybe they're of the lassiez-faire variety. I can tell you that if I had a status that said something about my religion, be it "I love Jesus" or "God is a ridiculous myth, propagated by peons afraid of science", I wouldn't want people trying to dispute my theism or convert me to theirs. Perhaps those on your friends list feel the same way?

Or perhaps they are completely apathetic. Maybe it would be analogous (to them) to saying "There are few clouds at 5000 feet" or "DirecTV sells receivers and satellite dishes at affordable prices".

Or maybe they just respect your right to hold that opinion.

Either way, I'd say that having noone respond to your status on MSN is a poor barometer of whether or not religion is taboo.

Pax, and welcome!

[Jesus_lol]

heck, i have put up statuses like that. mostly just before or after a college physics exam i didnt study for. in every case it was in a joking manner, maybe your friends thought that is what it is.

or being good friends, they decided to leave a hot topic alone, as more often then not it would just end in pushing you apart, to challenge your views.

[jeffpugh]

Btw, I should say that I am one of the people who exists on Naralas' msn

[Guest]

Threre is A God.
Change the circle of people you talk to, to people who believe and love this God.
Gods people arent perfect, far from it, and those claiming they are perfect arent the type of people you want to look at for examples of christians.