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Happy Easter from ASF!

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Happy Easter everyone.

I hope you all enjoy your long weekend and take care of what is truely important in your life (hint: it has nothing to do with the markets).

:xyxthumbs
 
skc said:
Happy Easter everyone.

I hope you all enjoy your long weekend and take care of what is truely important in your life (hint: it has nothing to do with the markets).

:xyxthumbs
Click to expand...

Happy easter SKC and all of ASF!
 
Happy Easter to you too, Joe, and to everyone on ASF.

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe long weekend.

------------------

The most important days on our Christian calendar.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This event is the heart and soul of the Christian faith

Pietà

Michelangelo's_Pietà,_St_Peter's_Basilica_(1498–99).jpg


https://www.facebook.com/ArchMMXII/videos/1061241223947272/
 
Joe Blow said:
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all have a relaxing long weekend with family and friends. Please be safe on the roads.
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Happy Easter to you too Joe, and to all the members of ASF. Enjoy your long weekend everyone!
 
Thanks Joe and to you and all members, have a good Easter/ secular celebration. And go out for a run to work off those Easter eggs. :xyxthumbs
 
Thanks Everyone, and a Happy Easter to All at ASF.
By all means, binge on chocolate, but leave some for your partners and kids. And if you're seeing the Easter Bunny, you've likely binged on something else ...
 
SirRumpole said:
Thanks Joe and to you and all members, have a good Easter/ secular celebration. And go out for a run to work off those Easter eggs. :xyxthumbs
Click to expand...

Secular Celebrations

This got me thinking…

What does an Atheist think around Easter?

Why is religion an apparently universal feature of humans conditioning from the ancient Egyptians to the Aztecs to the Romans and beyond, is it evolutionary or are we conditioned from birth by our parents or social surroundings.

Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and even Scientologist have revolved around some concept of at least one god with or without a corresponding supernatural world involving aliens !!

There is an evolutionary explanation why human minds generate religious beliefs and why we generate specific types of beliefs, and why our minds are prone to accept and spread them. In the past when we didn’t understand something we attributed a god to it

Charles Darwin (MY HERO) and Science gave me a clear understanding of how we evolved and why our minds produce and accept religious ideas and why we will alter our behaviour and even die for and kill for these ideas.

All religions have sets of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe that begin with belief in a god that is capable of interacting with us, able and willing to intervene in our lives, to hear our silent wishes, and to grant them, and capable of doing literally anything.

Myth 1
The first myth is that god is paternal and like a good father, loves us unconditionally.

Usually, though, he only hears our prayers if we worship him hard enough, make sacrifices of some sort, acknowledge that we are highly imperfect and thank him profusely (whether or not he grants our wishes), and believe that we are all born bad. This god makes decisions based on not only our prayers but also the prayers of every other human being, or at least every other human being who shares the particulars of our beliefs.

Even when he refuses our wishes or needs, we continue to believe that whatever occurs is in our best interests, even if it doesn’t seem that way, and that this invisible god has a purpose for everything. And all of this goes on in our mind even when we’re not thinking about it.

This is why we are so willing to believe in an invisible god that does all of that, and more. Even when we are distressed, we turn to a god that hears our prayers, grants our wishes, protects our loved ones, and reassures us of reward no matter how adverse our troubles.

That’s what I call a bit of nice salesmanship and why wouldn't we want to believe.

I’ve experience firsthand religious people dump their faith when the cards didn’t fall their way.

My silly way of thinking -- in times of stress religious people would call on their faith rather than question it or dump it.

It’s easy to believe in a god, love a god, fear a god, envision a god, pray to a god and assume prayers would be answered, create rituals to worship a god and even die and kill for a god -- and -- for most believers it’s extraordinarily difficult to have an alternative view and depart from those beliefs, even if and when you are so inclined.

I’m an Atheist and saying it out loud was a difficult day for me but that confirmation of being an Atheist was liberating – liberating in a way I would find difficult to put into words.

I’m not a fallen angel but as the evidence overwhelmingly shows I evolved along with all other living things from the waters that covered the earth, where life on earth really began.

From a purely scientific viewpoint, we are apes as we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees while sharing our DNA with common ancestor that lived millions of years ago who are now extinct.

As an ‘Atheist’ one thing I don’t do at Easter is think about Joshua Ben Joseph, (Joshua Ben Joseph was his real name for the man we know as Jesus of the Bible) the man whom the Jews nail to a tree (a common criminal of his day) dying for us and in doing so shielded us from the fear of death, assuring our salvation, and provide an afterlife that more than compensates for all of our human suffering here on earth --- nope I don’t think of that at all at Easter.

Myth 2
Jesus birthday is the 25th December -- Don’t get me started on Christmas, December 25th the pagan Sun god birthday – a date that was hijacked for convenience in 325AD aligning the birth of Joshua Ben Joseph and the Sun god to give commonality with the Pagans – that’s the Second BIG Myth

In many ways, a god is our imaginary friend and understanding the attachment is just the beginning of understanding the ways in which our mind can be tricked into belief.

I know most religious people believe in one true GOD and in ‘essence’ they are an Atheist when it comes to all the other wacky religions – I just take my Atheistism one more religion further than they do.

Looks like I’m going to Hell..

opps… I forgot ‘THERE IS NO HELL’ not even a purgatory.

DISCLAIMER

I should say DYOR - but if you find this post offensive, just remember it was written by a non-believer.
If the post is not offensive it’s an alternative view espoused by many.
Gods can’t be proven or disproven but on a PROBABILITIES scale -- god doesn’t even rate

Myth 3
As god can’t be proven to exist, religion invents a BELIEF system that we get suckered into..

Myth 4
When we don’t believe – we are told that it’s just the Devil doing his work.

Myth 5
We are made in Gods image when really man has created a God in their own image

Have you ever wondered what could make an Angel fall from God’s grace -- or -- ever wonder if an Egyptian ever achieved immortality ?

Have you ever noticed that God was so active with our ancestors -- BUT -- so silent today, it appears the more we know the less relevant God is.

Happy Easter from a Reverent Atheist

skate
 
Joe Blow said:
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all have a relaxing long weekend with family and friends. Please be safe on the roads.
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And to you also Joe! And to all the worthies in here. Is there a better democracy anywhere than ASF? All opinions are aired here.

A special Vale to late ASF poster Julia. I still miss the contributions of that fine woman.:(
 
I agree with your way of critical thinking, Skate.
What you describe under Myth 1 applies IMHO to all "Faiths of The Book" that claim their particular scripture as the only true "Word of God" that must not be doubted because it's the written-down true "Word of God." A perfect example of circular reasoning - if we may take liberties with the concept of "reason".
The fantastic fiction of one L.Ron Hubbard proves the point by copying the very concept and driving it to absurdity, for everybody to see.

You mentioned Salesmanship. That is IMHO the core of the matter inasmuch as the early (primitive) tribes needed a doctrine to keep them together and set them apart from other tribes intent on taking away their territory, food sources, animals, and women.
In antiquity, resources were scarce and cohesion and members' willingness to defend their clan to the death was crucial to a tribe's survival. The tribe with the better sales team and superior marketing department gave itself an edge. Ancient Jews added one more arrow to their bow: They wrote every fairy tale down and made it indelible part and parcel of "The Book" that persisted even past periods when they were soundly beaten and didn't have a leader.

One has to admire the psychology behind it:
Tell your subjects how wretched, bad, sinful they are. Make sure the kids hear nothing but the same from the day they're born. Then tell them about this "Big Brother" that is omniscient, omnipotent, and has a very vindictive nature. Don't step out of line. Obey your superior: Chief, High Priest, King, Kaiser, or simply "The Book" because this Big Brother has put everyone in its place. Keep the Status Quo because if you don't give your life for your tribe and The Book, you're eternally damned.
The peasants are far too busy making a living, paying their taxes, and raising their kids. They can't be bothered thinking own thoughts, least of all thoughts that go against everything they've ever been taught, hear from everybody in their social space, and face excommunication and ostracizing should anyone of the Ruling Class become aware of their doubts.

Brilliant concept. No wonder that other groups with powerful ambitions plagiarised the sales pitch. They only had to add their own differentiating spin. Christian doctrine added the promise of an afterlife (live with all the good souls in heaven). They also "borrowed" promises and feel-good myths from other religions and thereby attracted far more believers than there ever were members born into the Tribe Of Judah.

Two such precedents gave the third one enough to copy. And add his own spin to it. Enter another Big Brother who punishes every infidel. You can even increase the odds of it becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy: all you have to add is the rule that it's okay to cheat or even kill infidels. And in addition to the promise of eternal bliss in Paradise, you add a bunch of rules that make every red-blooded male's heart beat faster.
To be fair though, the new "Rules" include a few that must be considered sensible in the context of what passed for Science at the day: Take time off for exercises. Don't risk food poisoning or spreading infections. Pork and shellfish go off very easily in the heat. And when there is little or no water to keep your hands clean, use one hand for this and the other for that.

My final comment is mainly semantic: I don't call myself an Atheist, but prefer the term Agnostic. I don't really KNOW whether there's something "out there" beyond the Universe we can see, analyse, calculate. Human psychology being what it is, we'll probably never stop wondering. I avoid the term Atheist because I don't have anything AGAiNST people who believe in a God, as long as they do so in private and don't bother me with it. I'd much rather live in a secular society where Law and Religion are kept separate. But if a holiday is called Easter or Christmas, I do wish my friends a Happy Easter or Merry Christmas - because that's the name for it. For the same reason that I don't call Wednesday (i.e. Wotan's Day) Midweek or shun the link to Wotan's wife Frigg in our "Friday".
 
pixel said:
I don't have anything AGAiNST people who believe in a God, as long as they do so in private and don't bother me with it. I'd much rather live in a secular society where Law and Religion are kept separate.
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Well said pixel and Skate.

I actually think that it's more likely that there is a God than isn't , but the practise of various groups claiming him for themselves and invoking his power for their own benefit is absurd, and is simply a power struggle for dominance of the clergy over their flocks.

Religion like politics will probably have to go if mankind is to advance
 

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