I have a friend that's an atheist, and he has beliefs that I feel are contradictory...?

Question

He says that he believes there is no God, but that nature has processes that take care of itself, that is what he believes in. He says that nature makes no mistakes and believes things prosper for a reason. He's a big believer in survival of the fittest, yet he's a large advocate of homosexuality. More so in woman than men (I believe that's hypocritical, but thats beside the point). Well, he states that nature will take care of itself, but homosexual lifestyles are not self-preserving, so can he support survival of the fittest and support homosexuality, when at it's roots, it can maintain life with merely natural means?

If the planet is overpopulated should not determine whether or not homosexuality is correct or not. In should be one of the other in both circumstances. For instance, you can't say killing is bad when there's 5 people left on earth, but okay when there are 5 billion.

To clarify my point, my friend supports organisms that can continue their race without outside help. That nature will take care of them. He feels that those are the strong beings that should inherit the earth, but by that reason, wouldn't he look down up homosexuality because they cannot survive without other means.

I don't totally prescribe to the survival of the fittest line of thinking, because if you were to use the separate planet scenario, the lesbians and homosexuals would not be able to survive. Unless they breeded, but that wouldnt seem natural to them, would it?

Anyway, thanks all of you for answering. It's given me a lot of insight on the topic.

Answer 1

I think you are concerning yourself far too much with your friend's opinions. That said, yes, you can support homosexuality and still believe in survival of the fittest.

It seems you are implying that support for gays means that we would be upsetting the balance of evolution and nature.

That's like saying that we should no longer support people that have a chemical imbalance and are suicidal... let them just kill themselves already so they won't reproduce, pass on those depressive genes and screw up survival of the fittest.

Answer 2

The fact that homosexuality has existed for thousands of years despite the fact that it does not aid in the survival of the species is a good point: Obviously, it has not been bred out because of natural selection. But a lot of other things that exist and are not needed for the survival of the species are still around: humans have an appendix and it does nothing for us. Men have nipples: what for?
I don't see any contradiction in your friend's beliefs. I do, however, see a huge contradiction in people who believe that God created everything, good and bad, but somehow had nothing to do with creating homosexuals.

Answer 3

Survival of the fittest?

Then why save the whales, if they're not fit to take care of themselves?

Then why lock up a criminal when he has to kill somebody in his chosen "life style", if the "victim" wasn't fit enough to survive his attack?

Take God out of the picture, and you lose all reason or morality.

But concerning homosexuals, I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if you put all the homosexuals on their own planet, and all the lesbians on THEIR own planet, and all the heterosexuals on THEIR own planet, guess which planet will have a population in a hundred years?

Answer 4

Just because he supports the right to be homosexual doesnt mean he cant be a scientific atheist. I myself am proud to be an Atheist and i strongly believe in Homosexual rights.
Not everything is aobut survival, at least for Humans. We have evolved to a degree that our technology has enabled us security and comfot, allowing us to develop other areas. Arts, Music, Literature, Politics, everythign we think of is a by product of technological evolution, it is a fact of human existence that we do this.
Yes, they prosper for a reason, to survive to the next generation. Their is no great purpose to life except passing on genes but that doesnt meanthats all we should do, does it?
Of course nature has processes it takes care of, that doesnt mean some God is involved. Photosynthesis happens without any real plant input, does that mean god is involved in that?

Im sorry to say it mat, but i can see his argumetns more clearly then yours

Answer 5

It totally makes sense to me

Hes horny so he supports lesbians as most men do

the gay thing is an abberation due to the overpopulation of the planet and is taking care of itself by not allowing a percentage of the population to reproduce... what are you saying is contradictory?

He agrees with survival of the fittest. That doesnt mean gays instantly die from the predators... they just dont get to breed. Nothing contradictory there. They survive and die. Survival of the fittest is more or less along the lines of weak creatures die out. The gays spawn from normal natural relationships. So in essence they wont die out unless we started to kill tons of people.

Answer 6

wow, I can understand your dilemma...
it sounds like your friend is pretty confused about what he believes in and why. Have you ever asked him why he believes those things...? Im a Christian, so my response is pretty biased...but I will do my best to help. Alot of people who believe in survival of the fittest tend to also have the belief that they themselves are of a "God nature" simply because they survive... If nature is self-sustaining how the heck did it start? who created the trees to begin with? I dont know what you believe, but my advice to you is to love him where he is at. It doesnt matter if he believes in or loves God, God still believes in and loves him. so should you. And lets just hope he finally realizes that what he believes is contradictory and hopefully you'll be able to help him along the way.

Answer 7

Your friend is lost in a whirlwind of ideas and doesn't know what hes talking about. In order for one to be able to see and acknolledge the truth they must first be honst with, and about themselves and think about what they say which in his case he's not thinking at all. I think the real reason he advocates homosexuality is because he is one and he feels good about it therefore he believes in it, not because he's thought about it logically.

The survival of the fittest today does not mean as much as it did before because of human being's technology and social engineering. The law of cause and effect however, does indicate directly that there must have been a cause for this world existing and working as it does today and that cause i believe is God and the only way you can deny this is to say you don't believe in cause and effect which would men you don't believe in the law on which much of today's science is based upon.

Going back to your friend, he's contradicting himslf and not thinking about what he says and just says it because he likes to, not because he has a good justification for them.

Answer 8

It is possible to believe in both at the same time:
Being homosexual doesn't limit one's ability to reproduce, they just have no desire to find a mate and do so.
If someone who was homosexual chooses to reproduce they may do so, otherwise their genes/blood line will cease to move beyond themselves.
Believing or disbelieving in God has nothing to do with this concept.

Answer 9

Sounds like a Christian who bought into evolution but clung to the homosexuals are abominations doctrine.

(edit)
Also hypocritical. By saying homosexuality is wrong because they can't reproduce, then any post-menopausal women, sterile men, infertile women and pre-pubescent children are just as wrong.

Answer 10

Think about this though: The world is overpopulated.