but I also do see all the good and bad atheism has done, how its views of "survial of the fittest" and "natural selection" can be "perverted" and have been by some.
PSacramento: You did say Atheism has a view of survival of the fittest and natural selection. Those are not atheist views. You did say those views have caused bad in the world (how could they do that if they were not taught). So, in fact, you did say Atheism teaches something (a viewpoint that has caused bad in the world).
However, you are incorrect as those are views of evolutionists, not atheists (they are not necessarily one in the same). A view is something we observe. Evolutionists did not teach survival of the fittest and natural selection as a moral code of behaviour. They observed this behaviour as already existing in the plant kingdom, and the animal kingdom (including the human animal kingdoms). The observations of these facts of existence carry with them no judgement of right or wrong, good or bad, they just are, they just exist, and to deny that they do is delusion. Atheists couldn't be the cause of them since those conditions have existed all through recorded history before atheism was even a word much less before anyone dared to admit they were one.
I'm not saving belief in God or religion caused those conditions either. I believe the religious stories were attempts to explain the world as we saw it. The facts are that animals have ripped each other apart for food and resources since time began, (including humans) and intelligent humans have tried to make themselves feel better about that fact by saying the victims deserved it because they were bad or had angered God. Or, don't worry about it because the people who are dominant, greedy and murderous are bad and God will kill them all eventually and give all the good victims back what they have lost and then some! Similiar explanations for random acts of destruction by natural forces.
Are these stories emotionally comforting to humans in their losses? Yes. It is understandable that they were made up in a time of limited knowledge of the natural world and its forces. They were the best explanations of the time. Are they factual? No evidence whatsoever. As more understanding is developed through human evolution of intelligence, then the stories do not hold up under scrutiny.
When human intelligence develops to the point where almost all can see that we are interconnected and share the same fate on this planet, so it is more helpful to work together collectively and cooperatively as opposed to competitively, then we may see a decrease in the amount of greed, dominance and violence on this planet.
Does atheism prevent this evolution from happening? I don't see how. Does religion prevent this evolution from happening? To the extent that religious belief teaches an "us versus them mentality" or that some humans are superior and deserve to live and have more while others are inferior and deserve to have less or die, then yes, religion does prevent good and cause harm. To the extent that religious belief teaches us to ascend beyond our animal natures and pursue the collective good (and by collective, I mean global collective), then that religion could be said to be making the world a better place. I just personally do not know of any religion that does not have some element of dominance and control attached to it.
Do we need belief in God or religion to pursue this agenda. No. Do we need to be atheists to pursue it? No. That's why I said in my earlier posts that belief in God and religion were somewhat irrelevant to the world being a better place. What we do need is a collective will to make the world a better place and an ability to suppress our animal instincts for dominance and power over others to achieve the collective good.
Questions for theists: Do animals have emotions. Can your pets be happy, depressed, enjoy their food, sex, experience pain? Does almost every single animal form from insect to human hunt and kill each other for food or, for the few vegetarian animals out there, be hunted and killed for food in a ferocious, painful, bloody quest for survival? If humans have reached this state through sin and fall from grace, how have the other billions of species on this planet also come to be in this state? Why would God change the innately peaceful natures of billions of species, all of whom are unaware of man's stories and reasonings, due to the fall from grace of one man and woman? (I'm using the Christian story here, but one could substitute the religious story of their choosing and ask similar questions as they all have similar themes).
