non-belief a threat?
Why is Atheism such a threat? Really?
I was “stumbing” and I stumbled upon an article about Ottawa saying that the transportation board is deadlocked in vote or rejected (depending on the article) an Atheist ad that has run in many cities that was saying “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
…Theresa Milligan argued against the ads, saying that it goes beyond freedom of speech.
“When statements are said that God probably does not exist, this is an implied statement of hatred towards all those who do believe that God exists.”…
Of course, this is not the first time I have heard this argument, but it still mystifies me.
How can saying that you don’t believe in something mean that you hate people who do believe in it?
Especially since they are not even taking a completely atheist stance and are saying that God “probably” doesn’t exist instead of saying that there simply are no gods.
What gets me is the double standard. By saying “When statements are said that God probably does not exist, this is an implied statement of hatred towards all those who do believe that God exists.” this Millagan woman actually blatantly implying that she hates people who believe in a different god than her. She may not believe that but by using her logic, if she doesn’t believe in Krishna or Zoroaster or a different god then the one that she believes in then she must hate Hindus and Parsis.
The thing is… Atheists don’t deny or hate whatever god. They simply don’t believe that gods exist. Atheists believe that religions and their gods are man-made and it is as simple as that. If religious people have a right to say “God/gods exists” then Atheist have as much a right to say “gods do not exist”. It is a statement of belief and truth on both sides, and neither are meant to be a threat.
When a humanist group says “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”, I really think that they are saying that life should be lived because it is worth living. It is as simple as that.
As expressed many times on my blog in the past, kids don’t learn right and wrong through rewards and punishment. With rewards and Punishment, children learn how to manipulate and what not do do to not get punished or how to get what they want by doing something but don’t learn the real lesson meant to be taught.
Taking away religion from ones life is taking away the rewards and punishment aspect in our own lives and instead of doing things based on outward motivation, we are free to live life in the richest way possible and do things because they are simply the right thing to do.