An Atheist Nation?

 

One of our members posted this on Facebook:

An Atheist Nation

1. There will be more schools
2. There will be more hospitals
3. More kindness to people
4. No wars about religions
5. No suicide bombings
6. Less poverty, as people will work very hard for this only life
7. No fall back position so people will be working hard also
8. No time wasted thru praying.
9. No funds wasted for icons, images and unneccesary stuff for worship like Mecca trips, Prosisyon, rebulto and the like
10. Less suicide, people who believe in afterlife think they can make it better in the second life.
11. Maybe less schizophrenics in the hospitals
12. More gizmos, more computers, more science developments
13. More science researches to cure illnesses
14. Less crime, as people will be too afraid to go to prison and spend their lives there as there is only one life to live
15. More rationality and critical thinking..
16. More women empowerment as women were oppressed by religions
17. There will be no population explosion as ‘there is no – go and multiply”, thus, we will have quality NOt quantity.
18. More scholars, geniuses as the resources are there.

I felt the need to address this post because, in my opinion, this does not help us one bit, and will only do more damage to atheists as a group. One can say that this is a pretty arrogant post to make (no offense to the OP). So I’d like to break down each point:

#1 & #2: There will be more schools and hospitals

Non sequitur. Just because religion is gone doesn’t mean there will automatically be more schools and hospitals. In fact one can even argue that there might be LESS, since religion’s main goal is to spread itself, and what better way to do it than to indoctrinate children (schools) and to put up a facade of caring (hospitals)?

#3: More kindness to people

Again, non sequitur. Why would people be kinder to each other just because there is no religion?

#4: No wars about religions

Well, this is quite obvious since if there is no religion, nobody will fight about it. However, there will still be wars over ideology (of which religion is just one part of)

#5. No suicide bombings

Why? Plenty of people have killed and died for ideologies other than religion (nationalism, racism, anti-abortion, etc). So, there will still be suicide bombings (maybe not as frequent).

#6 & #7 Less poverty, as people will work very hard for this only life and No fall back position so people will be working hard also

Working very hard is not the only factor in eliminating poverty. To say that because people will work hard because they will know that this will be their only life (which in itself is quite a stretch), and to assume that working hard will solve poverty is oversimplifying the case.

#8 No time wasted thru praying.

Well I can agree with this.

#9 No funds wasted for icons, images and unneccesary stuff for worship like Mecca trips, Prosisyon, rebulto and the like

I can also agree with this.

#10 Less suicide, people who believe in afterlife think they can make it better in the second life.

Hmm, as far as I know, suicide is rewarded with Hell, according to Christian Mythology. So, I don’t know how this holds up.

#11 Maybe less schizophrenics in the hospitals

Why?

#12 More gizmos, more computers, more science developments

Probably.

#13 More science researches to cure illnesses

I can agree with this.

#14 Less crime, as people will be too afraid to go to prison and spend their lives there as there is only one life to live

Again, an overly simplistic view.

#15 More rationality and critical thinking.

Probably.

#16 More women empowerment as women were oppressed by religions

I can agree with this.

#17 There will be no population explosion as ‘there is no – go and multiply”, thus, we will have quality NOt quantity.

Not necessarily. I don’t think a significant portion of people “multiply” just because the Bible says so. We enjoy sex, and a healthy sexual appetite + ignorance of RH = unwanted babies. You could argue that many religions’ position of contraceptives do contribute to population explosion, but not the “go forth and multiply” line.

#18 More scholars, geniuses as the resources are there.

Maybe.

My point here is not to defend religion. My point here is that we should not assume that if we eliminate religion, all our problems will be solved. Atheism is merely the lack of belief in deities. It does not guarantee that atheists are good, rational, civilized, intelligent, law abiding citizens. We do not have a rulebook that dictates how we should act and what we should do. Each of us has our own set of convictions, beliefs and principles. And because of this, an atheist can be just as bad as the worst religionist.

It would be wise to avoid the type of self-promotion as the one above, because it only serves to reinforce the idea that atheists are arrogant. As Astronomer Phil Plait said:
Phil Plait

“DON’T BE A DICK” 🙂
Don't Be A Dick

9 comments

  1. Excellent post, John! This only proves that not all atheists are into the same oversimplistic biases that many religious sects seem to employ.

    I would like to add my own thoughts, if I may:

    #4: No wars about religions

    "Well, this is quite obvious since if there is no religion, nobody will fight about it. However, there will still be wars over ideology (of which religion is just one part of)."

    Agreed! But I'd like to add that the existence of several religions does not necessarily mean people will be fighting over it. Both warfare and religion (or some form of it) are as old as society, but true religious war is comparatively new. Most ancient polytheistic societies were pluralistic and had no need for religious-motivated warfare.

    #9 No funds wasted for icons, images and unneccesary stuff for worship like Mecca trips, Prosisyon, rebulto and the like

    Naturally. But people will always find other things to "waste" their money on. An atheistic nation will not necessarily be more economic.

    #12 More gizmos, more computers, more science developments

    Probably is right. Atheism and technology/science are not inseparable twins.

    #13 More science researches to cure illnesses

    Maybe, but not necessarily. Japan is a fine example of a religious nation that is both secular and science friendly (or if you want it the other way around: a secular and scientific nation that is religion friendly).

    #16 More women empowerment as women were oppressed by religions

    If you mean misogynist religion, sure. But not all religions are misogynistic. There are several that stress gender equality, some that are gender neutral, and some that are feminine oriented.

  2. I have my own issues with organized religion, but it does not follow that no religion = a better world. Atheism is not a magic pill (neither is theism, btw) – it's simply a lack of belief. And having encountered people of various beliefs and and views, I can say that it's not so much what you believe in but what you do that makes you good.

    • [but it does not follow that no religion = a better world. ]

      IMHO, religion is just a symptom, not the disease. Peel away its layers, you'll often see a tradition that draws power from dogma and blind obedience – two criteria that can be said of any ideology taken too far. So while a country that's outgrown religion is lovely for me, I'd be just as horrified if it was replaced by another form of extremism.

      Does Stalin ring a bell?

      • Exactly. When we cling to an ideology and insist that the world would be a better place if everyone followed that ideology, well that makes us no different from the religious zealots that we so like to bitch about here. Any ideology taken to an extreme becomes dangerous. We need to remember that none of us are our ideologies.

  3. hit the nail on the head dude. that's why Freethinking is not anti-theism per-se… its about encouraging people TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES instead of letting dogma do it for them. People will find other organizations to do their thinking for them, whether it be political, social, or what-have-you… even if you eliminate religion altogether, it doesn't automatically make the world a better place.

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