Imagine a world without organised religion, where it doesn’t affect people’s lives, but atheism still exists. What purpose would atheism fill in this scenario?
I don’t really understand the question. What purpose does atheism serve now? Who gave it that purpose? Who is the arbiter of such things?
Atheism serves as much purpose in my life as my eye color. It’s just a natural part of me and has been as long as I can remember. If I wasn’t an atheist, I wouldn’t be me.
As far as I can tell, the whole concept of ‘purpose’ when it comes to humanity as a whole is basically a religious one anyway.
If I wasn’t an atheist, I wouldn’t be me.
Atheism thus must have some identity purpose.
What I don’t understand is why it is an identity (apart from opposition to organised religion).
Why does it have to have purpose?
It’s a weird question.
The purpose of religion is to control society through communal beliefs. The sense of “purpose” that adherents are made to feel serves to further that control.
Atheism isn’t a religion and it doesn’t have a purpose.
It isn’t part of my “identity” any more than gravity is.
Atheism doesn’t replace religion… and trying to give it purpose is a little weird. In fact, there are a few atheist religions out there.
Yes, atheism obviously isn’t a religion and I see how it is a weird question. I mean purpose not in a way that resembles devotion or submission, but as an explanation for its existence.
AFAIK, gravity was understood differently before Newtonian physics, right? Different concepts of gravity serve a purpose.
It feels like you’re coming at this from the position of religiosity being the “default” and non-religiosity being abnormal, which I think is a flawed premise.
What I don’t understand is why it is an identity (apart from opposition to organised religion).
It also feels like you think of atheists as being anti-religion, which is also flawed.
Atheism is an identity only insofar as Christianity is an identity. Christianity isn’t what a person believes, it’s the word we use to describe their beliefs, to give a general idea of their culture. Atheism is just a way to describe the absence of that particular aspect of thought. The labeling isn’t important in and of itself, it’s just an identifier.
Are you suggesting that being atheist is unnatural? What do you mean by “actual purpose?”
Is this a high thought? It sounds like a high thought.
It feels like you’re coming at this from the position of religiosity being the “default” and non-religiosity being abnormal, which I think is a flawed premise.
Yes, that would be a flawed premise, but I hope I am coming from a position of neither being a default for the sake of the discussion.
What I don’t understand is why it is an identity (apart from opposition to organised religion).
It also feels like you think of atheists as being anti-religion, which is also flawed.
Anti-religion is just a subset of atheism; one could frame my question also as what remains in atheism without anti-religion.
Are you suggesting that being atheist is unnatural?
Of course it is unnatural or do you believe apes have strong opinions about theism? Same goes for theism. Naturality is mostly irrelevant for complex sociocultural views, IMO. I find atheism beneficial, though.
Is this a high thought?
I wish.
Why must it?
Also, why do you think atheism is an entire atheist’s identity and not just a small part of it? I’m an atheist. I’m also a Trekkie. I’d say Star Trek is a much bigger part of my life than atheism.
Also a much better source of morals (if you don’t think they are innate).
I don’t consider it an identity, but it is a stable state for me: I do not believe in the existence of gods until further notice. This is what I mean when I say “I am an atheist”. It’s a shorthand way to express this stable state about me.
Moreover, opposing organized religion is not the primary reason that I don’t believe in the existence of gods.
If there were no religions, there would be no atheists. Or everyone would be, but they wouldn’t make up a name for it.
It’s just a title used to differentiate from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc. An atheist is the “None of the above” option.
If some people could breathe underwater, we would identify as air breathers, not because of any purpose that it fills, just so people know we don’t breathe underwater.
Atheism isn’t serving a purpose. It’s an evidenced-based reality.
Why do you feel it must serve a purpose?
What is termed “militant” atheism, where someone argues against religious ideas or actions, wouldn’t exist because there wouldn’t be anything to argue about. But atheism itself would exist as a default, and already does in reality. No baby is born with a belief in any religion. So the only thing that changes in your hypothetical is the baby never gets indoctrinated with such beliefs.
Because religious people needed a word for the unimaginable absence of their favourite hobby in other people. Non-believer was already used for people who believe differently relative to them, so a different word was made for those who are even worse and defy divinity. It is useful to sum up your stance towards religion for religious folks but indeed carries no meaning in non-religious contexts.
By living, I am antimortality.
If death didn’t exist, what pupose would antimortality have?
Your question is nonsense.
The word atheist is just a term for a rejection of a specific proposition. There’s no reason why that would logically need a purpose. We find purpose elsewhere.
What’s the actual purpose of not believing that pineapples grow on trees? Or not believing that the Moon is made of green cheese? or not believing in any other false statement?
I’m being cheeky to highlight a point: at the core atheism is the belief on a single epistemic statement, “there’s no god out there”. (Or the lack of belief in the opposite statement. Once you go past the “ackshyually” they’re the same deal.)
You don’t need a “purpose” for that.