What is the meaning of life?

There is no meaning to life until you die, then we are led to believe all will become clear.

really? this tired nonsense again?

If your only motivation to behave ethically is through fear of a deity/vigilant father figure ready to dole out punishment on the unworthy, then you are not civilized, you are a slave, or a sycophant.

It is a chilling and scary thought that there are actually religious people out there who are truly thinking "why, if you don't believe in god, aren't you out on a killing rampage right now, knowing that god is watching me is the only thing keeping you all safe, i feel like i would snap at any minute without my god/behavioral safety net."

This is so far removed from what could be considered a strong religious argument for religion being a guide for ethical behaviour, if you are balancing on some knife edge of instantaneous unstoppable murder & pillage spree with only god to keep you balanced, then i honestly hope you don't lose faith in your god, because you are the one who is dangerous, Not those who can go about their daily lives successfully without god nor murder in their hearts.

I suspect that you and your religious brethren are probably more civilized than you give yourself credit for, and would manage to avoid killing people were you to lose your faith, but perhaps i just have more faith in you than you have in yourselves.

The idea that Judeo-Christian values have some bearing on civilized behaviour is undone by the civilizations that were untouched by judeo christian values. There are still to this day isolated communities that manage to survive without these so called values, when Europeans first travelled to America, there were numerous native American Indian cultures that were thriving, without ever having heard of the ten commandments. there were many cultures that had well established religions of their own, which rejected any religious influence from outside such as the taoist, budhist and confusionist and Sikhs of Asia all who would scoff at the notion of their civilization having to wait around for judeo christian values to turn up, when they had rich histories of civilized behaviour before the ten commandments were supposedly being given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

You even Quote Socrates, a Greek Philosopher who would have been brought up to worship the gods of his city state, and who was put on trial and accused of being an atheist due to his politics and philosophies. hardly the poster boy for Judeo Chistian values, he lived about 400 years before Jesus was born!

Religion doesn't make you a good person, neither does secularism or atheism, however, the reason that religion not making you a good person is so much more damning than atheism not doing so, is because if religions were true and their gods were real, religion should make you a good person, and that particular failing is such a glaring flaw in the argument for religion promoting ethical or moral behaviour.

Why does there have to be a meaning to it all? Shit happens.

Someone had to ---- the answer is 42.

Aye. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, it's just a bunch of stuff that happens.

There's been like 5 threads on atheism and morality in the last year. It comes down to mutual respect. If you wouldn't want it to happen to you, don't do it to someone else! Dead simple stuff. Fortunately most people are capable of following this rule of thumb.

As for a meaning to life - why do you need one? Have as much fun as you can without negatively impacting anyone else's ability to have a nice life. Crackin'.

And as the next question is always "Don't you fear death?" - No. I fear not living enough.

No point in fearing or worrying about the inevitable. Death will last for eternity. Why ruin life by dwelling on it?

really? this tired nonsense again?

 

Thanks for that shining example of fundamentalist atheist openmindedness and toleration. How dare anyone question whether life has meaning. Of course it doesn't have any meaning in the atheist religion. But you lot are a minority so stop trying to push your dogmas onto the rest of us. Thank you.

There's been like 5 threads on atheism and morality in the last year. It comes down to mutual respect. If you wouldn't want it to happen to you, don't do it to someone else! Dead simple stuff. Fortunately most people are capable of following this rule of thumb.

 

As for a meaning to life - why do you need one? Have as much fun as you can without negatively impacting anyone else's ability to have a nice life. Crackin'.

 

And as the next question is always "Don't you fear death?" - No. I fear not living enough.

No, there haven't; there has been approximately ONE thread on that topic. The topic of my thread is about the meaning of life. It was a call for people to think about the meaning of life and how that ties in with the social and economic order in which we live; it was not a call for atheist fundamentalists to come and gatecrash the thread and preach their pseudointellectual crap about there being no meaning to life. Thanks, after what Stalin, Mao Tsi Tung and Pol Pot did, I think we already know that you place little or no meaning or value on human life.

 

There's been like 5 threads on atheism and morality in the last year. It comes down to mutual respect. If you wouldn't want it to happen to you, don't do it to someone else! Dead simple stuff. Fortunately most people are capable of following this rule of thumb.

 

As for a meaning to life - why do you need one? Have as much fun as you can without negatively impacting anyone else's ability to have a nice life. Crackin'.

 

And as the next question is always "Don't you fear death?" - No. I fear not living enough.

No, there haven't; there has been approximately ONE thread on that topic. The topic of my thread is about the meaning of life. It was a call for people to think about the meaning of life and how that ties in with the social and economic order in which we live; it was not a call for atheist fundamentalists to come and gatecrash the thread and preach their pseudointellectual crap about there being no meaning to life. Thanks, after what Stalin, Mao Tsi Tung and Pol Pot did, I think we already know that you place little or no meaning or value on human life.

 

Good grief you're a bellend.

No point in fearing or worrying about the inevitable. Death will last for eternity. Why ruin life by dwelling on it?

Meaning in life stands on its own merit without the need for any discussion of death. Also, when I alluded to spirituality yesterday, I was not talking about an afterlife (which is something I don't believe in). Spirituality is part of this life. Indigeneous peoples all over the world know this and integrate a holistic approach to life, but it seems industrialised nations with their sophisticated technology and self-important existence (to the detrement of the rest of the planet) have problems understanding this.

 

No point in fearing or worrying about the inevitable. Death will last for eternity. Why ruin life by dwelling on it?

 

Meaning in life stands on its own merit without the need for any discussion of death. Also, when I alluded to spirituality yesterday, I was not talking about an afterlife (which is something I don't believe in). Spirituality is part of this life. Indigeneous peoples all over the world know this and integrate a holistic approach to life, but it seems industrialised nations with their sophisticated technology and self-important existence (to the detrement of the rest of the planet) have problems understanding this.

 

Fair comment. And I think the farther we travel down the road of what we would call "modern living", the farther removed we become from our spirituality, connection to nature and our ability discern what is really important. We think of those who lived centuries ago as unenlightened. I don't agree with that. We have gained a great deal of knowledge and comforts but we have lost much of our affinity with nature and our senses associated with that have become dulled.

 

 

There's been like 5 threads on atheism and morality in the last year. It comes down to mutual respect. If you wouldn't want it to happen to you, don't do it to someone else! Dead simple stuff. Fortunately most people are capable of following this rule of thumb.

 

As for a meaning to life - why do you need one? Have as much fun as you can without negatively impacting anyone else's ability to have a nice life. Crackin'.

 

And as the next question is always "Don't you fear death?" - No. I fear not living enough.

No, there haven't; there has been approximately ONE thread on that topic. The topic of my thread is about the meaning of life. It was a call for people to think about the meaning of life and how that ties in with the social and economic order in which we live; it was not a call for atheist fundamentalists to come and gatecrash the thread and preach their pseudointellectual crap about there being no meaning to life. Thanks, after what Stalin, Mao Tsi Tung and Pol Pot did, I think we already know that you place little or no meaning or value on human life.

 

Good grief you're a bellend.

 

Is that the best counter argument you can come up with? Profanity and insult? This is the problem with atheists who have turned their backs on the creator, they lose all caring for their fellow man as they attempt to destroy the community spirits created by generations of spiritual leadership inspired by the creator. Mankind can only work together and live peacefully when it has a common grounding and appreciation for the cosmos that created us with a purpose. When that purpose is lost amonst selfish and uncaring attitudes like yours, with no tolerance for your fellow human beings, it results in misery for others, but as an atheist you wouldn't care about that.

Never mind

Someone give me a 'Brownie Point' for not going down a path I really would like to have gone down?