Greetngs, Fellow Non-Believers!

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

I recently discovered your social networking site and wanted to see what things are like here and possibly participate more.  I have been a lifelong explorer of ideas, a Skeptic since I was about age 15, and became an Atheist in college at age 22 after reading George H. Smith’s book  Atheism: The Case Against God. 

I’ve been an Atheist and a supporter of Reason and Naturalism ever since (I’m 53 now,) but have always been hard-pressed to find like-minded people and forums friendly to free and rational inquiry.  (Even in the 90’s Internet hey-day, usenet mailing lists devoted to Atheism, Freethought, and related subjects have always had people every bit as dogmatic and authoritarian as any Fundamentalist Religionist, just on different topics with different idols.)  I hope to find something different here.

I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

[JadeBlackOliveParticipant]

Another site is atheistuniverse.net where I’m known as Mrs.B. It’s quiet there, but not as quiet as this one.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

JadeBlackOlive wrote:

atheistuniverse.net

Good luck to them, but that’s the noisiest, busiest thing I’ve ever seen.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

@theencogitationer – what are your particular interests?  All I care about is atheist morality.  I’m writing a book about it: an alternative formulation of morality for ordinary people, outside of the religions and traditional moral philosophy, based on evolutionary psychology and anthropology.  I also enjoy philosophy in general.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Wow!  Those are some fast replies!  This seems like an active place!

Greetings, JadeBlackOlive!  Thanks for the tip on AtheistUniverse.net!  Oh, and I saw your latest message on your profile page.  Please be careful in B.C.

And Greetings, Simon Paynton!  You have some interests I share as well, namely, philosophy and all of its branches of Metaphysics, Epistemology, Morality, Ethics, Political Economy, and Aesthetics.  (And Science is an interest too, since Science was once called Natural Philosophy.)

Evo-Psych I haven’t gotten into much, but I hear some unique thoughts from practitioners.

Atheist morality is easier than than one might think.  After all, Atheists don’t believe in a Cosmic Totalitarian who forbids humans the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Also, speaking as a Naturalist, if the Natural Universe works on natural laws with no Supernatural Creator or Potentate, it follows that, contrary to Matthew 19:26, not everything is possible, therefore, not everything is permissible either.

So far, you folks sound like good, thoughtful people.

[JadeBlackOliveParticipant]

@simonpaynton

”Good luck to them, but that’s the noisiest, busiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

No, it isn’t. I don’t know where you looked, but the site I’m on is very quiet.

 

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Welcome to the site. We go through a few lulls every so often. I am an big admirer of George H. Smith for his clarity of thought. He can sum up the ideas of the major philosophers in a very understandable way. I use quite a bit of his work in my own debates with theists.

My favorite is that when someone tells you that they believe in a god, all they are telling you is their psychological state of mind. It is of no relevance to me what they believe. All I want to know is why they believe what they say they believe.

If people want their beliefs to be taken seriously by others, then they must offer something other than their subjective opinion. “It is only by giving reasons that you can free your beliefs from the bonds of subjectivity and earn the respect that comes from objectivity”. If not, then it cannot be examined by others. If one does not want their beliefs to subjected to critical review then do not broadcast them. Do not knock on our front doors on Saturday mornings and expect us to believe what you believe, if you cannot justify those beliefs to us. Do not start ranting about being persecuted because we see your beliefs as delusional. As we say in Atheist Ireland, “You have rights, your beliefs do not”.

[JadeBlackOliveParticipant]

@TheEncogitationerParticipant

See how quiet it is here? That profile info on my page is very old news.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Greetings, Reg the Fronkey Farmer,

George H. Smith’s work is filled with great insights like that.  Another I also like is that, since Negative Atheism is not a belief, but an absence of belief, every human being is born a Negative Atheist.  Atheists have Theists outnumbered in the maternity ward 100 to 0, (though, of course, the numbers drop precipitously after that.)  🙂

I am surprised George H. Smith’s name hasn’t been cited more recently, since The Four Horsemen made Atheism more ubiquitous.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Jade,

Oh…I see.  Well, still, be careful.  Fires can dispatch tons of Sodium Hydroxide (kitchen lye) into the ground and water table.

 

 

[JadeBlackOliveParticipant]

Yes, we’re very cautious here, as the drought conditions still exist. We are fire ready every spring now.

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