Has Islam lead to an increase in Atheism?

by nicolaou 71 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  nicolaou

  Whatever it is about ourselves that gave rise to religion and god will still be with us even if we get rid of religion/god.

  Not true quietlyleaving. For example, whatever gave rise to our need for a vermiform appendix is clearly no longer with us and we are now left with a vestigial and redundant organ which may eventually disappear - I think. Whales certainly do not need the legs their ancestors once had and evolution has properly made those skeletal limbs shrink to almost nothing. ( 'c' are the Whales hind leg bones!)

  

  I honestly believe that humanity can not only be rid of religion and god but also be rid of the need for them and the causes of them!

  One day.
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  nvrgnbk

  Is there a way of knowing, a way of experiencing it, in the absence of religion

  I would like to think so but maybe we would call it religion - actually scientific philosophy sounds better.

  A few quotes from The End of Faith by Sam Harris:

  "At the core of every religion lies an undeniable claim about the human condition: it is possible to have one's experience of the world radically transformed. Although we generally live within the limits imposed by our ordinary uses of attention- we wake, we work, we eat, we watch television, we converse with others, we sleep, we dream- most of us know, however dimly, that extraordinary experiences are possible.

  The problem with religion is that it blends this truth so thoroughly with the venom of unreason........

  But a more profound response to existence is possible for us, and the testimony of Jesus, as well as that of countless other men and women over the ages, attests to this. The challenge for us is to begin talking about this possibility in rational terms." p. 204.
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  poppers

  The largely silent response of fellow Muslims to those who usurp its tenets is deafening. Unless, of course, its tenets actually do encourage violence, and then their lack of response makes perfect sense, making them complicit as well.
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  nvrgnbk

  The largely silent response of fellow Muslims to those who usurp its tenets is deafening. Unless, of course, its tenets actually do encourage violence, and then their lack of response makes perfect sense, making them complicit as well.

  poppers
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  metatron

  As to being Sufi, it's a matter of practical politics. I think a mass movement towards Sufism might be

  acceptable in the Muslim world whereas atheism is not - and otherworldly Sufis might be vastly

  preferable to suicide bombers.

  metatron
• 

  Little Drummer Boy

  I like the thought of us all being connected.

  Just wanted to throw in here that sometimes I feel a little "connected" to everybody and everything when I ponder the possibility that everything in the universe started from a single singularity. All matter that has ever existed coming from one single point. You are me and I am you and we are the stars themselves...or somesuch.
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  quietlyleaving

  Nicalaou

  Not true quietlyleaving. For example, whatever gave rise to our need for a vermiform appendix is clearly no longer with us and we are now left with a vestigial and redundant organ which may eventually disappear - I think. Whales certainly do not need the legs their ancestors once had and evolution has properly made those skeletal limbs shrink to almost nothing. ( 'c' are the Whales hind leg bones!)

  

  good point nicalaou

  but will we still be human?
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  nvrgnbk

  You are me and I am you and we are the stars themselves...or somesuch.

  Beautiful thought LDB.

  "everyone is a burning sun"- a line from a song I like.
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  lonelysheep

  It has certainly caused a lot of people to really think about the need for a diety in their life.

  The largely silent response of fellow Muslims to those who usurp its tenets is deafening. Unless, of course, its tenets actually do encourage violence, and then their lack of response makes perfect sense, making them complicit as well.

  If you think about how you looked at things as a jw with doubts, where you knew things people did weren't quite right and did not think that way, let alone act on it yourself, then you understand why some people remain Muslim today. There are a lot of balanced individuals who still feel it is wrong to participate in what others consider a jihad, and those individuals use common sense-participating in their own religion while not doing the same as the nutjobs within it.
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  Narkissos

  To the topic:

  In France where the major struggle between secularism and religion (mostly Catholicism) took place over one century ago and resulted in the complete "privatisation of religion" and a practically a-theistic public space, I would say it's almost the opposite. I mean, the increased conflictual visibility of Islam seems to have made many people more conscious of cultural diversity through its religious aspect. I don't think it has had any significant impact either way on the (already high) rate of atheism though, because that is not the issue.

  The real political option as we are starting to perceive it, imo, is the choice between global secular standardisation and cultural diversity including religion. The religious form of resistance to globalisation came as an unpleasant surprise to the previous generation of Marxist thinkers who assumed that the future could be nothing but secular.