Athiestism is becoming mainstream to the heavy Cynical, pessimistic, and narcissistic nature of the public as a whole. But I should let you know that its all moot. When’s the last time someone did anything that was remotely christian? Rappers, politicians, and just basic sheep people use the religion as a scapegoat or a tool to fuel or validate there own actions. It has delusioned the masses which has let the door for atheist to come on in and make a sizable camp. Now I could talk about how people will be bad no matter what religion is dominating and will only mean one less scapegoat that people will use. And the fact that people need babysitting which is what religion did and without it things could get worse(Don’t believe me just wait till 2012 clicks a year or two closer)…Bah! What’s the point in saying anything? I’m just afraid of the growing hopelessness in people’s hearts. People don’t want to believe in anything. People only care about themselves. Popular topics involve death and destruction… I just get tired being the only one that still believe that things will turn around as long we act just and hope and pray for better while trying to achieve good…But its very hard being the only one who thinks that way…
I’m Sorry… I shouldn’t have said anything… p-pretend I was never here…
Aaron, atheism is not about hopelessness, cynicism, narcissism or selfishness. Atheism is about realizing that there is no god. Atheism doesn’t suppose that one religion has necessarily failed so much that the idea of a supernatural ruler/creator of the universe is not plausible.
Most people are essentially atheist in spirit and have always been. For example, most Christians “believe” that there is happiness after death for those who adhere to their teachings. However, all people (including those same Christians) are saddened by death itself. On a primal, fundamental level, we all know what death is, no matter what stories we tell ourselves to comfort ourselves. Atheists tend to be those for whom the stories don’t wash.
Wow, this one is right on the nose. I used to be part of an atheist community but I never fit in, I guess because I sometimes like talking about things that aren’t atheism. I left the community when I was told by a fellow atheist that I shouldn’t make fun of other atheists because there’s a war going on.
Of all the things to fight, why be an atheist activist? It’s a proxy war. Fighting the idea of god is fighting a battle that is to broad to ever really be won. What is god? Aaron has a point when he says that religion is a scape goat for basically irrational human motivations and actions. Removing god does not remove abuse of higher ideals or social coercion. People will follow atheist ideas with the same irrational, ignorant herd instincts that currently compel them to follow Christian beliefs. The battles we need to fight are about social, economic, and sexual freedom not if there is or isn’t a god. Soviet Russia was an atheist society, but they built proxy gods (the state, the revolution, Marx, Lenin) that inspired a level of social coercion and control that would make any church jealous.
soviet russia was an *enforced* atheist society, nobody had a choice, but that was because the people in power didn’t want anyone else influencing their citizens.
a true “atheist” society would be one where people are free to ask questions, engage in democracy, and have everyone treated with respect and equality. the “atheist” society is a secular one, that holds it’s own fate in it’s hands, rather than waiting for some invisible father figure to appear and solve all their problems on some arbitrary date like 2000, 2001…2012.
btw, when 2012 comes and goes and everything is still going as it was going before, how many of the true believers in this magic year will demand their money back on all the books and dvds they bought?
The commercialization of atheism already faded in 2005. With people like Darwin Bedford around, it’s not really cool anymore. The most that’s come out of it is a tacky bus campaign (?) and scores of pretentious, overzealous college freshmen who recommend The God Delusion as though it’s the best piece of philosophy ever written.
Darwin Bedford, by the way, is an amusing glimpse of what happens to one’s mind when overtaken by atheist fanaticism: http://www.atheists.net/
I think he’s stopped his one-man picket marches in front of churches, and now spends his time mostly filling up the comment sections of PZ Myers’s blog and the Richard Dawkins forum. Pretty much confirms that atheism can be just as nutty as fundie religions.
oh and atheism is an aspect of many religions and is therefore only a belief within a religion, not a religion itself. secular humanists are atheists that believe that mankind has morality without divine intervention. sure, in high populations, atheists can talk and won’t get lynched, but smaller communities still have issues with them…
Claw, sorry to say it, but the people that believe in the second coming will just push that goal post further back, just as they’ve done for the last 2,000 years.
i went through the atheism phase and got involved with some groups through meetup.com. talk about a lame (and generally dull) bunch of people. it’s like every second we must discuss the latest muslims that piss us off or be enthusiastic for some new article that supports the “cause” and pretend to be more scientific than everybody else. even though most of them got all their profound science education from skimming through popular magazines at borders. and why is it that every atheist has to annoyingly reiterate his atheism to make sure everybody is constantly aware of the status of his beliefs? we get it already! i’m exploring mahayana buddhism and much more open to the transcendent, it’s a very reflective school of thought
You went through an atheism “phase” and are now into buddhism, because it is more “transcendent”. Did you get your “atheism” from skimming those popular magazines at borders?
Positive atheism? Well accepting that there is no God means that one cannot rely upon exogenous excuses from the social for our problems – nor for the good stuff.
It’s funny how anything on the internet that suggests that atheism might not be some nutty fringe movement inevitably brings out the trolls with their stories about how atheists are a bunch of crazy fanatics. Anyone with any sense who has looked into the atheist position knows that the position is simply, “no, I don’t think I’m going to believe that without some evidence.”
Anyway, sorry to interrupt your trolling. lol internet, etc.
It is absurd to think that atheism can be as “extremist” as a religion.
Instead, what can happen is that there’s ritualistic creeps that push atheism into everyone else without really understanding it, just like how many fundamentalists don’t know the bible as well as an atheist that genuinely read it but doesn’t believe in it.
What we have there is not a hardcore atheist. We just have a prick. He’d be proselytizing for a religion had he believed in one, because it’s inherent in his prickishness.
Erm, it should go without saying that if you’re a member of any church or cult, you aren’t an atheist of any kind. The word “atheism” connotes an absence of belief. That’s it! The idea that it’s a substitute for or alternative to any religion misses the point rather entirely.
I thought Buddhism *was* atheist. I mean, it doesn’t worship a God, does it? Only a spiritual leader and various supernatural forces. The prefix “the” in “atheism” refers to a God, a supernatural intelligent being. Not just a force like karma.
Dharmic religions aren’t theistic in the sense Abrahamic religions are. They are more concerned with understanding the divine and maybe achieving unity with it, but they don’t really think listening to what divine people say and following their messages is all that important. For something coming from a decidedly collectivist background, they are rather individualistic.
Also, for further pointless pedantry: the prefix that refers to God is “dei/thei-“. :d
Honestly, I’ve never understood why it really bothers people so much what someone else believes in, doesn’t believe in, or only believes in when the lights are off and scary noises are heard.
Let others find happiness where they will in life.
Well, Atheism accepts uncertainty, but doesn’t create a religion to fill it, instead it uses reason to work things out. People can still choose to believe or not to believe science (creationist argument). So basically Atheism is a belief structure based on reason, instead of “supernatural” founder.
Believing in Reason is the underlying element of Aethism, and not to believe in reason and to believe in something else is what other belief structures are about.
Strangely in Opus Dei theology class in HS they actually take the time attack reason, i remember the lecture quite well.
Yes, that’s true– you can define God however you want. If you take the Bible literally, then the definition “God is love” must also be taken literally, meaning that God is an emotion, and therefore has no mind of his own, and did not exist before there were beings capable of feeling that emotion. But at least, by that definition, God certainly exists.
I consider myself an atheist, and I think they definitely could have come up with a better way to start a theological debate than the bus ads. Mostly because they play into the stereotype of atheists as smug jerks. Also, aren’t the ads cribbing from agnosticism when they say “There probably is no God” since the probably implies that they aren’t sure?
Meh… in an ideal world, people would realize that it really isn’t about identity or conformity or whatever, it’s about rational thought. Atheism should not be a battle, and if you really want to feel superior to religious people, then show your desired superiority with compassion, not pity; understanding, not mocking; calmness, not rantiness :P
Atheists, including me, would do better to sympathize with the emotional needs of religious people. You can’t reason with deep-seated emotion, even and especially when that emotion is irrational and illogical. This inevitably leads to battle, which is sad.
Well, see, you really shouldn’t need to feel threatened or overprotective of your identity. People cling to their identity so much so that they forget “me” is a work in constant progress. Evolution of personality and culture as a whole needs you to first let go of outdated or unneeded brick-a-brack in your mind as you go.
But this thinking out loud has gone on long enough. You probably get my point by now :)
How can atheism go mainstream if there is no mainstream?
I read that the three major consensus opinions in Western society are atheism, Christianity and the New Age. These are wide categories. I guess the point of mass communication and travel is that we can take from all these things and not be tied down.
A perfectly normal person can use tarot cards, believe in crystal healing, consider themselves enlightened and scientific, not believe in God, believe in an Heaven, think that Jesus was an important teacher and get married in a church. Who cares if these things contradict each other? They don’t have to form a coherent world view to form a pretty normal, every day identity.
Atheism isn’t any more rational than most religions in that it denies all of them. Only agnosticism allows for the possibility that an omniscient God might be able to hide His influence from those trying to measure it. But its total lack of faith makes it more hopeless than the ounce of faith required for atheism.
And faith in a religion makes much more sense than an atheist with morality. You don’t even have to take any part of the Old Testament literally to believe it.
Tired of ignorant people who think being Atheist automatically gives them the cachet of being intellectual and wise.
There are a large population of us who have never bothered to be worried with Deic Existence. Whether you’re one of those god bothering types or no-god bothering types, proselytizing is proselytizing. Both need a punch in the nose and a cork in the mouth.
April 30, 2009
I personally predict mass hipster conversions to Judaism.
April 30, 2009
i missed it?! who are the athiest jonas brothers?
April 30, 2009
Can we have our own leader who tells us what to think, how to vote and not to have sex?
April 30, 2009
Athiestism is becoming mainstream to the heavy Cynical, pessimistic, and narcissistic nature of the public as a whole. But I should let you know that its all moot. When’s the last time someone did anything that was remotely christian? Rappers, politicians, and just basic sheep people use the religion as a scapegoat or a tool to fuel or validate there own actions. It has delusioned the masses which has let the door for atheist to come on in and make a sizable camp. Now I could talk about how people will be bad no matter what religion is dominating and will only mean one less scapegoat that people will use. And the fact that people need babysitting which is what religion did and without it things could get worse(Don’t believe me just wait till 2012 clicks a year or two closer)…Bah! What’s the point in saying anything? I’m just afraid of the growing hopelessness in people’s hearts. People don’t want to believe in anything. People only care about themselves. Popular topics involve death and destruction… I just get tired being the only one that still believe that things will turn around as long we act just and hope and pray for better while trying to achieve good…But its very hard being the only one who thinks that way…
I’m Sorry… I shouldn’t have said anything… p-pretend I was never here…
April 30, 2009
“Can we have our own leader who tells us what to think, how to vote and not to have sex?”
yeah… christopher hitchens
April 30, 2009
Aaron, atheism is not about hopelessness, cynicism, narcissism or selfishness. Atheism is about realizing that there is no god. Atheism doesn’t suppose that one religion has necessarily failed so much that the idea of a supernatural ruler/creator of the universe is not plausible.
Most people are essentially atheist in spirit and have always been. For example, most Christians “believe” that there is happiness after death for those who adhere to their teachings. However, all people (including those same Christians) are saddened by death itself. On a primal, fundamental level, we all know what death is, no matter what stories we tell ourselves to comfort ourselves. Atheists tend to be those for whom the stories don’t wash.
April 30, 2009
“Can we have our own leader who tells us what to think, how to vote and not to have sex?”
Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins will start writing sex advice columns, then? Oh dear…
April 30, 2009
Wow, this one is right on the nose. I used to be part of an atheist community but I never fit in, I guess because I sometimes like talking about things that aren’t atheism. I left the community when I was told by a fellow atheist that I shouldn’t make fun of other atheists because there’s a war going on.
April 30, 2009
Of all the things to fight, why be an atheist activist? It’s a proxy war. Fighting the idea of god is fighting a battle that is to broad to ever really be won. What is god? Aaron has a point when he says that religion is a scape goat for basically irrational human motivations and actions. Removing god does not remove abuse of higher ideals or social coercion. People will follow atheist ideas with the same irrational, ignorant herd instincts that currently compel them to follow Christian beliefs. The battles we need to fight are about social, economic, and sexual freedom not if there is or isn’t a god. Soviet Russia was an atheist society, but they built proxy gods (the state, the revolution, Marx, Lenin) that inspired a level of social coercion and control that would make any church jealous.
April 30, 2009
Well, Richard Dawkins did marry Romana II, so he at least has good taste.
April 30, 2009
Let’s hear it for apatheism.
Or not.
April 30, 2009
soviet russia was an *enforced* atheist society, nobody had a choice, but that was because the people in power didn’t want anyone else influencing their citizens.
a true “atheist” society would be one where people are free to ask questions, engage in democracy, and have everyone treated with respect and equality. the “atheist” society is a secular one, that holds it’s own fate in it’s hands, rather than waiting for some invisible father figure to appear and solve all their problems on some arbitrary date like 2000, 2001…2012.
btw, when 2012 comes and goes and everything is still going as it was going before, how many of the true believers in this magic year will demand their money back on all the books and dvds they bought?
April 30, 2009
BraytonC – you just completely made that up, didn’t you?
April 30, 2009
Soviet Russia was a *secular* society. People weren’t forced to not believe in god.
Duh.
April 30, 2009
“Virginity in an adult is a deformity.” – Hitchens
April 30, 2009
Crap I didn’t know you could comment on these things now! This was a fantastic comic :D
Keep pushin’ your Atheist agenda you Socialist Nazis.
April 30, 2009
i still want to know who the atheist jonas bros are
April 30, 2009
The commercialization of atheism already faded in 2005. With people like Darwin Bedford around, it’s not really cool anymore. The most that’s come out of it is a tacky bus campaign (?) and scores of pretentious, overzealous college freshmen who recommend The God Delusion as though it’s the best piece of philosophy ever written.
April 30, 2009
Darwin Bedford, by the way, is an amusing glimpse of what happens to one’s mind when overtaken by atheist fanaticism: http://www.atheists.net/
I think he’s stopped his one-man picket marches in front of churches, and now spends his time mostly filling up the comment sections of PZ Myers’s blog and the Richard Dawkins forum. Pretty much confirms that atheism can be just as nutty as fundie religions.
April 30, 2009
But really, now, who are the atheist Jonas Brothers? Hanson?
Also, wouldn’t the mainstreaming of atheism mean capitalization? I mean, as in Atheism.
April 30, 2009
or are you saying the jonas brothers are atheists? ???
April 30, 2009
oh and atheism is an aspect of many religions and is therefore only a belief within a religion, not a religion itself. secular humanists are atheists that believe that mankind has morality without divine intervention. sure, in high populations, atheists can talk and won’t get lynched, but smaller communities still have issues with them…
April 30, 2009
Damn, what a great strip. I wish I would have thought of this!
April 30, 2009
Erm, no… never seen him there. Sure, he could be there under a pseudonym, but did you decipher it…?
I don’t read the RD forum, though.
April 30, 2009
Claw, sorry to say it, but the people that believe in the second coming will just push that goal post further back, just as they’ve done for the last 2,000 years.
April 30, 2009
i went through the atheism phase and got involved with some groups through meetup.com. talk about a lame (and generally dull) bunch of people. it’s like every second we must discuss the latest muslims that piss us off or be enthusiastic for some new article that supports the “cause” and pretend to be more scientific than everybody else. even though most of them got all their profound science education from skimming through popular magazines at borders. and why is it that every atheist has to annoyingly reiterate his atheism to make sure everybody is constantly aware of the status of his beliefs? we get it already! i’m exploring mahayana buddhism and much more open to the transcendent, it’s a very reflective school of thought
April 30, 2009
You went through an atheism “phase” and are now into buddhism, because it is more “transcendent”. Did you get your “atheism” from skimming those popular magazines at borders?
April 30, 2009
can i interest anyone in some nihilism?
it’s atheism for grown-ups!
April 30, 2009
marty might just be one of the atheists in question given that he’s purposely misconstrued just about everything i said — very typical.
May 1, 2009
Atheism just means not having a hobby involving an invisible friend.
You want positive atheism. Try science and humanism.
May 1, 2009
Positive atheism? Well accepting that there is no God means that one cannot rely upon exogenous excuses from the social for our problems – nor for the good stuff.
May 1, 2009
>Shii
>”Can we have our own leader who tells us what to think, >how to vote and not to have sex?”
>yeah… christopher hitchens
>Craig
>“Virginity in an adult is a deformity.” – Hitchens
Yes, because saying “You don’t have to listen to those who tell you not to have sex” is EXACTLY the same as telling people not to have sex.
May 1, 2009
It’s funny how anything on the internet that suggests that atheism might not be some nutty fringe movement inevitably brings out the trolls with their stories about how atheists are a bunch of crazy fanatics. Anyone with any sense who has looked into the atheist position knows that the position is simply, “no, I don’t think I’m going to believe that without some evidence.”
Anyway, sorry to interrupt your trolling. lol internet, etc.
May 1, 2009
>Atheist Jonas Brothers
Can it please be Smoosh? They are pretty awesome and made of 3 siblings.
May 1, 2009
You know, I was actually jealous of the kids with invisible friends…of course you needed rich parents to get good hypnotherapy.
May 1, 2009
there’s a third member in smoosh now?!
May 1, 2009
It is absurd to think that atheism can be as “extremist” as a religion.
Instead, what can happen is that there’s ritualistic creeps that push atheism into everyone else without really understanding it, just like how many fundamentalists don’t know the bible as well as an atheist that genuinely read it but doesn’t believe in it.
What we have there is not a hardcore atheist. We just have a prick. He’d be proselytizing for a religion had he believed in one, because it’s inherent in his prickishness.
May 1, 2009
I always thought only members of the Church of Satan were evangelical atheists. You mean there are other sects of atheism that are just as loud?
May 2, 2009
Erm, it should go without saying that if you’re a member of any church or cult, you aren’t an atheist of any kind. The word “atheism” connotes an absence of belief. That’s it! The idea that it’s a substitute for or alternative to any religion misses the point rather entirely.
May 2, 2009
For the sake of pedantry–absence of belief would better be described as agnostic.
May 2, 2009
I thought Buddhism *was* atheist. I mean, it doesn’t worship a God, does it? Only a spiritual leader and various supernatural forces. The prefix “the” in “atheism” refers to a God, a supernatural intelligent being. Not just a force like karma.
May 2, 2009
Dharmic religions aren’t theistic in the sense Abrahamic religions are. They are more concerned with understanding the divine and maybe achieving unity with it, but they don’t really think listening to what divine people say and following their messages is all that important. For something coming from a decidedly collectivist background, they are rather individualistic.
Also, for further pointless pedantry: the prefix that refers to God is “dei/thei-“. :d
May 2, 2009
Sz don’t even get them started.
May 4, 2009
BLEH!
That is all.
May 4, 2009
yeah. atheism is without god. therefore you can be hindu and be atheist, monotheist or polytheist.
agnosticism is to doubt a higher power’s existence without proof.
May 4, 2009
Honestly, I’ve never understood why it really bothers people so much what someone else believes in, doesn’t believe in, or only believes in when the lights are off and scary noises are heard.
Let others find happiness where they will in life.
May 4, 2009
Well, Atheism accepts uncertainty, but doesn’t create a religion to fill it, instead it uses reason to work things out. People can still choose to believe or not to believe science (creationist argument). So basically Atheism is a belief structure based on reason, instead of “supernatural” founder.
Believing in Reason is the underlying element of Aethism, and not to believe in reason and to believe in something else is what other belief structures are about.
Strangely in Opus Dei theology class in HS they actually take the time attack reason, i remember the lecture quite well.
May 5, 2009
wait..You had an opus dei theology class in high school? or does HS stand for something different? when did that become elective?
May 5, 2009
if a god exists totally depends on your definition of ‘god’.
May 7, 2009
Yes, that’s true– you can define God however you want. If you take the Bible literally, then the definition “God is love” must also be taken literally, meaning that God is an emotion, and therefore has no mind of his own, and did not exist before there were beings capable of feeling that emotion. But at least, by that definition, God certainly exists.
May 7, 2009
Well, yeah, that’s true.
If your definition of god is “pistachios”, then yes, “god” exists.
But if your definition of god is – you know – “god”, then no, probably not.
May 8, 2009
That is a good idea, actually. From now on I worship pistachios. *yum yum crunch*
October 16, 2009
I consider myself an atheist, and I think they definitely could have come up with a better way to start a theological debate than the bus ads. Mostly because they play into the stereotype of atheists as smug jerks. Also, aren’t the ads cribbing from agnosticism when they say “There probably is no God” since the probably implies that they aren’t sure?
November 5, 2009
Meh… in an ideal world, people would realize that it really isn’t about identity or conformity or whatever, it’s about rational thought. Atheism should not be a battle, and if you really want to feel superior to religious people, then show your desired superiority with compassion, not pity; understanding, not mocking; calmness, not rantiness :P
Atheists, including me, would do better to sympathize with the emotional needs of religious people. You can’t reason with deep-seated emotion, even and especially when that emotion is irrational and illogical. This inevitably leads to battle, which is sad.
Well, see, you really shouldn’t need to feel threatened or overprotective of your identity. People cling to their identity so much so that they forget “me” is a work in constant progress. Evolution of personality and culture as a whole needs you to first let go of outdated or unneeded brick-a-brack in your mind as you go.
But this thinking out loud has gone on long enough. You probably get my point by now :)
January 6, 2010
How can atheism go mainstream if there is no mainstream?
I read that the three major consensus opinions in Western society are atheism, Christianity and the New Age. These are wide categories. I guess the point of mass communication and travel is that we can take from all these things and not be tied down.
A perfectly normal person can use tarot cards, believe in crystal healing, consider themselves enlightened and scientific, not believe in God, believe in an Heaven, think that Jesus was an important teacher and get married in a church. Who cares if these things contradict each other? They don’t have to form a coherent world view to form a pretty normal, every day identity.
September 13, 2010
Dang! I came here to read the comic, now I can’t stop reading the COMMENTS!
November 25, 2010
Atheism isn’t any more rational than most religions in that it denies all of them. Only agnosticism allows for the possibility that an omniscient God might be able to hide His influence from those trying to measure it. But its total lack of faith makes it more hopeless than the ounce of faith required for atheism.
And faith in a religion makes much more sense than an atheist with morality. You don’t even have to take any part of the Old Testament literally to believe it.
June 12, 2011
you guys are hella annoying (except for the kids who can’t stop wondering who the atheist jonas brothers are)
the comic is fantastic, though.
October 1, 2013
Tired of ignorant people who think being Atheist automatically gives them the cachet of being intellectual and wise.
There are a large population of us who have never bothered to be worried with Deic Existence. Whether you’re one of those god bothering types or no-god bothering types, proselytizing is proselytizing. Both need a punch in the nose and a cork in the mouth.