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The Growth of Atheism and What it Means for Our Future

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posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 07:12 PM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


I agree with you and find myself worried about such a future as well. Atheists always whine about religion when they are adhering themselves to one. :sigh:

This is a quote from Manly P. Hall's book titled "The Secret Teachings Of All Ages"



In the ranks of the so-called learned there is rising up a new order of thinkers, which may best be termed the School of the Worldly Wise Men. After arriving at the astounding conclusion that they are the intellectual salt of the earth, these gentlemen of letters have appointed themselves the final judges of all knowledge, both human and divine.

This group affirms that all mystics must have been epileptic and most of the saints neurotic! It declares God to be a fabrication of primitive superstition; the universe to be intended for no particular purpose; immortality to be a figment of the imagination; and an outstanding individuality to be but a fortuitous combination of cells! Pythagoras is asserted to have suffered from a “bean complex”; Socrates was a notorious inebriate; St. Paul was subject to fits; Paracelsus was an infamous quack, the Comte di Cagliostro a mountebank, and the Comte de St.-Germain the outstanding crook of history!

What do the lofty concepts of the world’s illumined saviors and sages have in common with these stunted, distorted products of the “realism” of this century? All over the world men and women ground down by the soulless cultural systems of today are crying out for the return of the banished age of beauty and enlightenment – for something practical in the highest sense of the word.

A few are beginning to realize that so-called civilization in its present form is at the vanishing point; that coldness, heartlessness, commercialism, and material efficiency are impractical, and only that which offers opportunity for the expression of love and ideality is truly worth while. All the world is seeking happiness, but knows not in what direction to search.

Men must learn that happiness crowns the soul’s quest for understanding. Only through the realization of infinite goodness and infinite accomplishment can the peace of the inner Self be assured. In spite of man’s geocentricism, there is something in the human mind that is reaching out to philosophy – not to this or that philosophic code, but simply to philosophy in the broadest and fullest sense.


AYE
edit on 16-6-2011 by AYEforeignEYE because: to break into paragraphs



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:13 PM
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reply to post by AYEforeignEYE
 


Thank you for that. You "grok".

And what is it, about such ideas and pursuits, which stirs us to the core..?

Because it's congruent with our own innermost heart's desire and felt experience.

"Seek and you shall find."



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:13 PM
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Originally posted by Student X

Originally posted by nicolee123nd

There's no debating that America is becoming less and less religious.


But more spiritual.


Do you think this is good or bad?


Its good and bad.


What would you say is up for the future?


The noosphere aka the Divine Milieu.


I am definitely with you completely, except that last comment you wrote...i never heard of that, just resently been reading up on and looking into things that are more spiritual in nature...guess i will be doing some snooping on the web...


and to everyone else:

Why do people think that they have to have a religion to have Faith? I just don't get that one.



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:26 PM
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reply to post by dizzie_lizzie79
 


Read "The Phenomenon of Man" by Pierre Tilliard de Chardin, and "The Nature and Destiny of Man" by Reinhold Neibhur, both modern day prophets of the early 20th century. Set aside any anti-religious bias, and probe these writings for a new synthesis. It's there just waiting in the wings now for reappropriation.

The word "noosphere" is from Chardin's book.



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:35 PM
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reply to post by AYEforeignEYE
 


Not all atheists are hanging on to atheism in a religous fashion. Just in this thread a few have posted that all it would take is some proof. What that would be would be personal though.



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:42 PM
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Originally posted by 15FORreal
reply to post by Sundowner
 


They could easily join us if they wanted...but I really doubt that they will want this...as far as I know and have seen..anything that goes against them is shut down and is called a lie or something else...i would gladly have science and religion team up..it would probablly get more done than just science...but at the moment..they are just stopping us from advancing


Can you show me why and how sceince is being stopped?



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 08:49 PM
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Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by dizzie_lizzie79
 


Read "The Phenomenon of Man" by Pierre Tilliard de Chardin, and "The Nature and Destiny of Man" by Reinhold Neibhur, both modern day prophets of the early 20th century. Set aside any anti-religious bias, and probe these writings for a new synthesis. It's there just waiting in the wings now for reappropriation.

The word "noosphere" is from Chardin's book.


Thank you..i had already done a search and was thinking of ordering the first one you mentioned, but thank you for directing me to those specific ones!

I don't consider myself religious...never have really...i myself wasn't raised religious even though my family is of Catholic background...i have always felt like there is a creator of some sort, and that i didn't have to worship the creator for Him/her/them to Love me as long as i live my life by being true to myself and all that i come into contact with, and even though i am not religious i feel compelled to abide by the 10 commandments for some reason...so i don't think that being anti-religious is a problem....i seek out truth and what feels right inside through my intuition. I have always believed in some sense of reincarnation(and even more so most recently) and how humans have evolved (atheist) So i would say i am pretty open minded...

Do you think thats open minded enough?

edit on 16-6-2011 by dizzie_lizzie79 because: added text



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 09:43 PM
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Great Post.

I think it's a very good thing. Religion is the source of much of the worlds problems and should be phased out in as such as people should not live their lives by it. It's fine to retain religious traditions but to actually believe all that nonsense shows not only lack of intelligence but an almost dangerous propensity toward pack mentality and tribal warfare.

Also it can be noticed that the well educated tend to be less religious. It seems the more aware someone is of the ways of science and physics and history the less likely they are to continue the childish superstition of religion into adulthood.

In my personal experience most religious people tend to be functioning whack-jobs. Sorry. I give them all a wide berth because religion and flakiness go hand in hand, they tend to be very unreliable. As soon as I find out someone is religious I kind of see them as a wee bit mentally ill. I know that sounds awful.

It's almost like pitying some primitive backward culture from an early Star Trek episode. Maybe we shouldnt interfere and just let them all kill each other ?



edit on 16-6-2011 by angus1745 because: grammar



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 10:04 PM
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reply to post by daskakik
 


I didn't mean to lump all atheists together because there will always be anomalies. I have had a good friend that was an atheist, that would look into the research I presented him. I fear the atheist that says "That isn't possible." about everything they haven't read in 'New Scientist'.

Also, I agree, the problem today is that the personal truths all of us come to know cannot be explained to someone outside of that experience and it's all becoming a lab environment. If I never had something profoundly spiritual happen to me, would I be an atheist today? That's a good question and it leads me to a place of understanding toward atheists.

In the end we will have balance. For all the completely religious folk, there will be completely non-religious folk.

Here is a documentary trailer that may provide information for atheists and non-atheists alike about research into '___'.

'___': The Spirit Molecule

AYE



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 10:17 PM
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Originally posted by AYEforeignEYE '___'
Is that where you found God?

I know what '___' does do a body, but sure feels like magic as well.



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 10:35 PM
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Originally posted by AYEforeignEYE
I fear the atheist that says "That isn't possible." about everything they haven't read in 'New Scientist'.


Me too.


If I never had something profoundly spiritual happen to me, would I be an atheist today?

The complete opposite happened to me. I became an atheist because of a spiritual awakening.

I think the angle that many fail to see is the person who may be soul searching and realizes that the religions that they come across don't explain some of their spiritual experiences and maybe they come across ideas that have spirituality or at least something non-material at their core but not "a god" then they are in fact atheists.


edit on 16-6-2011 by daskakik because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 10:47 PM
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Killers are killers...anyone who kills in the name of God is in no way, shape, or form "religious". Anyone who thinks war will calm with the end of religion is...IGNORANT!!! All wars are fought because of IGNORANCE!!! God is for us to find individually...not collectively.



posted on Jun, 16 2011 @ 11:09 PM
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It still, and perhaps always will baffle me as to why there is any sort of organized religion to begin with. What are the pros? Because there are certainly many cons.



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 12:05 AM
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reply to post by gentledissident
 


What we understand today may have been called "magic" yesterday. No I didn't find god through '___', I merely stated it was interesting information. I think it's valid because of '___''s biological effect.

We use words to describe and then people represent those words in agreement with their fellow man. What I mean when I say "god" probably doesn't mean what you mean when you say it.

AYE



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 12:15 AM
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reply to post by daskakik
 


I just replied to the post above yours in the same fashion. It's hard to not have a long conversation when you say "I don't believe in a 'god' in the traditional sense."

It's interesting to read that you've had a spiritual awakening at one point. I would like to know more about it if you wouldn't mind telling that story.

I don't call myself anything really, too many times I have done more research and found that I do not fit into what I "know." In order to fit I would have to stop learning, therefore I know nothing.

AYE



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 12:56 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


You're welcome. I should have thanked you before, so thank you.

I think it's just connection that spurs us on. To gain an understanding of ourselves and then to offer that to your neighbor, it's a beautiful thing. In the future, to be shunned as the non-believers in the traditional god were in the past, not able to share your spirituality because it isn't testable, measurable, that's a nightmare.

I like the idea of having a philosophy but not labeling yourself an 'ism'.

By the way, I'm glad to have been a part of one of the few topics inciting endless discussions that will never be pinned down, that is immortal.

AYE



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 02:04 AM
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reply to post by nicolee123nd
 


Atheism is the new gay/bi-sexual. It's trendy and encouraged by the media and government as a way to break you down because you no longer have a common moral base in society.



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 02:17 AM
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No good will come of this rising trend! Just think of all the wonderful things that religion has done for humanity over the years!




edit on 17-6-2011 by Torgo because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 04:33 AM
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It just means people will have to conclude morals are relative, and if that is indeed the case it's the one who has most power who makes the morals. This will lead to another bloody power struggle later on.



posted on Jun, 17 2011 @ 06:02 AM
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Originally posted by ObvTruth
reply to post by kykweer
 


Religion clouds peoples mind from everything else thats around him. Anything in the future that seems unholy or anything that seems wrong to them they would surly try to Demonize it. If there was no religion it would be a way for us all to unite. No arguing about if there is a God or not.


Give me an example of something you see as the future that a modern christian will find demonic? And don't say LHC




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