Shouldnt atheism be encouraged?

Question

Atheism in my humble opinion should be accepted. Shouldn't that be the pre-requisite?. How can know that what we believe is indeed valid? How do we know what we believe is not conspiracy and we are not being fed by Mindlessness. We should always question and have inquisitive minds. We follow our countries, our beliefs or whatever because we are in that environment. How can we trust media, religious people or anyone else who may well be emotionally attached to whatever thing and may be selfish and not mindful in supporting them. Only when we become atheist, there is a real chance of understanding God. Otherwise we may believe in a God that our ego has imposed on us. Dont get me wrong, i am not trying to take away hope just curious on reality!
Only when we become atheists we give ourselves a chance to listen, therefore, Shouldn't atheism be encouraged?

Answer 1

This is a remarkably good question.

In fact, the first step to having religious faith is to recognize that you do not have evidence, let alone proof of the existence of the gods you have always believed in. Atheists have taken that step: most believers have not.

As an atheist, I do not believe that there are any gods, but if I do come to believe eventually that there are, my faith will be genuine, because I have genuinely accepted the fact that my former assumptions were merely that.

Answer 2

No!
The problem is not a "scientific" problem, it is glorifying
science to the extent that a definite pre-supposition is
certainly being made. Actually, it is not possible to
not have a pre-supposition if we really think about it!
Atheism supposes that the natural and the scientific are
the only reality, the religious supposes that there is
a spiritual cause to life, then both of them study and
observe more and more. We just can not get away with not having a basic starting point no matter what we do! Either there is spirit or there is not spirit. Spirit can not be proved
through science since spirit is not of natural matter, it
is cause and matter is "effect". We can only see a
reflection of a cause in an effect if we only have an effect
to study! There are too many suppositions about the ego
being the cause of religion and this is just not the case - religion has merely been USED that way as anything
else can - as any type of authority or power (power corrupts).
Don't throw the "baby out with the bath water"
Ego actually leads more towards the worship
of knowledge in general; it naturally runs away
from spirituality and runs towards any type of pride - religion is very valuable for at least attempting to make us more aware of life and perspective of cause/effect - to really face
ourselves in the grandness of spiritual aspects and
mystery!

Answer 3

You make some interesting points, but as an Agnostic who believes in God, I have to tell you that I believe it is not possible for us to prove or disprove the existance of God, and I believe we cannot comprehend God either, except in a very intuitive way.

My response to your question would be that tolerance and fair-mindedness must be encouraged to people of all reasonable religious and spiritual persuasions, as well as atheists. Also, their beliefs can be discussed and questioned in a friendly and productive way.

Answer 4

I don't think you need to be an atheist to be inquisitive. I don't trust media, I trust my judgment. I don't need to be in a church to pray, and this country doesn't actually support Christians anymore, in care you've completely missed what's going on. Many non-Christians have become intolerant of religion that isn't like their own. People whining about Christmas trees, menorahs. Sorry, but the only people I've ever had trying to shove religion down my throat are the LDS who come knocking door to door. If you want to be Atheist, good for you, but government has no business telling anyone anything about religion. Government shouldn't be involved in alot of what it is in, health care, schools, drug use in sports?!? I don't need more parents or "Big Brother" to take care of me or endorse/deny my religion

Answer 5

Yes abdul as usual I agree with you completely, atheists should be encouraged simply because they aren't harmful to anyone, they believe in human rights and that in my opinion is the most important thing.

BTW by encouraging I do not mean to say that everything else is wrong I'm just answering the question asked, I also believe any religion should be encouraged as long as you believe in it, and it's fine by you, and you don't force or hurt others with it.

Answer 6

I am an open minded christian. I see where you are coming from but i still disagree with you. I see it as this, there are no consequences that come with being a christian only perks and also fake or real would you rather be safe after death or sorry because you thought what if and theres no proof. People should always be open to there own opinions and decisions though.

Answer 7

not outrightly yet.

i thought the people areud me were pretty tolerant of my nonbeleif...then all of a sudden recently im getting a backwash of dislike and intolerance about it. the guy who does payroll cut me an amazing amount of hours 9which im reporting to the boss as soon as he gets back from his trip) and in a recent car trip to a job site someone told me that people like me have no morals.

believe it or not people really are ignorant about atheism. i mean to an extreme level. all of the idiotic things that you and i know about that are used to make atheists look bad? those things work...ive been asked if im a communist, if im going to steal from someone, and many other odd things.

so people really are bothered by it still.

i think the old saying that the only difference between humand living now and humans in the medieval times is our level of technology...i think thats pretty true.

and the odd thing is that all of the stuff i mentioned above has happened in the past few weeks.

so no, idiots...i mean people arent ready...

but i think people will be in the near future...

Answer 8

Good point. But atheism can be as fanatical as religion and will blind people.
What should be considered, is leaving religion a private affair (like a sex life, for example). If no forces or persuasion are exerted on an individual, they will come to their ultimate faith organically. When it is their choice, they are more devout and feel that connection you are talking about.

Answer 9

I would rather see objective thinking encouraged. Yes, I know, I'm an atheist, but too many people just accept their religion, norms, laws and what little they know without thinking about them, and those that do, don't do so objectively.

I don't mind you believing what you want, but you should do so knowing the facts.

Answer 10

I do not think it should be encouraged. I also do not think it should be persecuted. God gave us free will to make choices. He wants us to choose Him. He does not want to force his beliefs on anyone. What joy can there be from forced love? You are write when you say we should question what is going on today. When you do you will find that God has the answers to those questions.