BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Atheist Random Thoughts

Thanks Francine!

Hello my fellow hoi polloi members,

There has been something that I have been pondering about for quite awhile and it is about to become actualized very soon. You see, Random Thoughts has been in the process of evolving into a higher domain of freethinking with a focus on ethical issues, both near and far from home.

As such, that new entity will require a lofty platform akin to Mount Olympus. Consequently, LanceB-Alter Ego's new home will be located at the Philosophy Forum as he will introduce to one and all, non-theist and theist alike, a growing yet unborn thread that will be called Random Ruminations.

Like at RT, the thinking and discussion processes at RR will range from the ridiculous to the serious to the sublime in a somewhat familiar amorphous fashion. Utilitarian-speaking, that Kant be bad, eh?

Probably (but no guarantee as randomness has no fixed linear parameters) the first topic at RR will be ruminations about integrity.

Hence, LanceB-Alter Ego will cease to exist at RT but hopes to metamorphosize into another form of freethinker at RR.

Hope to see all of you RT participators and lurkers at RR.

Coming to your consciences and living sentient souls in the next day or two.

Below you will find a post that LanceB.-Alter Ego recently submitted on Random Ruminations at the Philosophy Forum. As you will soon discover, it definitely deserves equal billing on the A/A Forum. Incidentally, I have taken quite a few philosophy courses, primarily on ethics, and all were taught by A/Aers of the atheistic persuasion. One fascinating one that is accessible to all free is at the Open Yale Courses titled "Death" which is taught by Professor Shelly Kagan.

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What minority belief systems are the following renowned Western philosophers are said to have been adherents of?: Arthur Schopenhauer; Herbert Spencer; Simone de Beauvoir: Denis Diderot; Karl Marx; Eric Hoffer; Jeremy Bentham; William Godwin; John Dewey; Friedrich Nietzsche; John Stuart Mill; Jean-Paul Sartre; Ayn Rand; John Rawls; Bertrand Russell and George Santayana.

The above listing is just a small sampling of the historically well-recognized Western philosophers that are acknowledged as leaning towards either atheism or agnosticism.

According to the well-respected PhilPapers 2009 report, 73% of U.S. philosophy faculty surveyed accepted or leaned toward atheism, while only 15% accepted or leaned toward theism (12% were in the "other" category). Moreover, among philosophy graduate students, 64% accepted or leaned toward atheism, while 21% accepted or leaned toward theism (with 15% in the "other" category). Additionally, the numbers were about the same for undergraduates.

A good working definition of philosophy is the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being/existence, knowledge, or conduct/morality.


So, why do you think that similar to the field of science that the quite different "humanities" discipline of philosophy is/has been disproportionately represented by atheists and agnostics?

One of the first existentialists, challenging traditional morality and the foundations of Christianity were a hallmark of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy.

Who said that he did not have a sense of humor?

"Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?"

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

"Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual."

"One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive."

Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it is even becoming a mob."

"There is not enough religion in the world even to destroy religion."

"Faith: not wanting to know what is true."

"I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time."

"Fear is the mother of morality."

"A subject for a great poet would be God's boredom after the seventh day of creation."

"Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity."

"I would believe only in a God that knows how to Dance."

"There cannot be a God because if there were one, I could not believe that I was not He."

"Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love."

To the man in the little red house.

Great,I read everyone of your posts,surely not the the other way around

loong

Normand,

As your most recent unwarranted antagonistic comment illustrated and since your posts never add anything relevant to the discussion, would you please stop posting on this thread.

Talk about "funny" morality quotes by philosophers, albeit not of the atheistic variety.

Alija Ali Izetbegovic was the first president of Bosnia in addition to being a lawyer, political activist, author and philosopher.

In a chapter titled "Morality and Religion" from one of his books he states "morality can be based only on religion"...Atheism, after all, ends up as a negation of morality, and every true moral transformation starts with a religious renewal. Morality is a religion transformed into rules of behavior - that is, into man's attitude toward other man in accordance with the fact of God's existence."

Intended or not, that is funny!!!

I was just thinking about which works of fiction that I had read that have significant philosophical themes when randomly my mind switched over to works of fiction that I had read that have significant religious or lack thereof overtones. Those books and plays played a role in the forming of the values and belief system of this humanistic naturalistic atheistic agnostic.

In no particular order except that they are among my favorites are the following religious/spiritual themed (or lack thereof) works of fiction:

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

2. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

3. The Crucible by Arthur Miller

4. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

5. 1984 by George Orwell

6. Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

7. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy

8. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

9. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

10. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

11. Exodus by Leon Uris

12. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee

13. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

14. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I would have included The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), but it really wasn't one of my favorite pieces of religious fiction.

What are some of your favorites?

More random thoughts about fiction...

Why do you think that such classic dystopian novels like Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World, Zamyatin's We and Vonnegut's Fahrenheit 451 put atheism/godlessness in such a bad light?

From my perspective, there is nothing dystopian or utopian about godlessness, just realism.

OOPS! Just noticed that I wrote Kurt Vonnegut as being the author of Fahrenheit 451 instead of Ray Bradbury. I deserve to be taken to Slaughterhouse Five for that mistake and have my offal removed!

Also, after some rumination, to the list of works of fiction with religious/spiritual themes that impacted me, I would like to add the following:

15. Candide by Voltaire
16. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche