A Truly Atheist Society

Sitaram,
just a small remark before I readily acknowledge your in depth analysis-
buying a 200$-dollar watch-well I consider it rather misanthropic too-just a little twist in the calculations...the essence is the same though. Another elaboration-you cannot declare officiallly the imperative nature of the humanistic standpoint...or force the notion of evilness on a person devoid of this sensitivity to human suffering...the effect will be the same as the capital punishment-blaming, you will doubtlessly leave the perpetrator innocent in his view,the victim,which makes him invulnerable to any accusations.......Avoiding examples...my generalization is the following:
THe natural way excludes any pointing...we cannot hope that wickedness is realized without facing it...just as truth is only reached- never...linguistically imposed...
Here is the religion distortion- that communication-/which I believe is religion in its unmodified form/-is pointing...its premises -communication between you and the venerable priesthood/be it in the incarnation of some "artistic" posters of heroes or the more historically-authoritative one of the state.../ in all the cases communication is assumed to be pointing...Here is where I see the viciousness...you can easily control someone who neglects communication with his self -thus the manifestation of divinity-to direct it outwards as some of you mentioned...to believe that the flowing of knowledge is bestowed on someone...thus we can explain...why so many forms of religion as you carefully ennumerated...indeed people seek the truth of their existence -but how do they seek it-

Calmly sitting with the hands modestly clasped all in humble readiness to LISTEN - what a pious view...sitting and watching...

certainly now is more easy for me to explain to myself some decadent processes in the world from a long time ago and why this despair in man who cannot find meaning in his life

we live in a religious world...

I believe that religion is necessary, because not all people are the same. Some people need something to help them feel stronger and have courage to deal with the problems they face. They need something to organize their thoughts about things they don't understand. They need answers, for they couldn't handle not knowing what will happen after they die, or knowing that maybe evil people will never have the punishment they deserve. Other people find these answers in other things, like science, philosophy, arts. I am not religious for I find more comfort in philosophy and psychology, but I do think that the world would be worse if we had no religions at all. Of course, there are fanatics, but they are not the majority. Fanatics are, in my opinion, the dark side of religions.
Another thing that people should be careful about is when religion is used to disguise the real reasons for wars (which are always power and money) and prejudice. They may use religious arguments to convince the honest, ordinary people, to support a war. And there is the money issue, of course. There have been one too many religious leaders (specially christian ministers, where I come from) who have become rich with the money from hard working churchgoers.

You may be right in some ways if not all regarding the need of a religion, and from some points of views religions create disputes, conflicts and frictions and in some cases it creates harmony, coherence and a sense of community and belongingness.

It us very hard to be judgemental of this fact.

I grew in an environment wherein religions taught me to be tolerant and maintain equanimity and equidistant with all as if all are equal and at the same time I was taught advsersity, enmity and the like.

Religious leaders at times have been aggressors, despots, fanatics, fundamentalists. Some schools of religious thoughts indoctrinate the vulnerable people.

Religiousness has both attributes and therefore I can not judge it is to be religious or not.

You've simply given the name 'religion' to the human desire to belong. They are not the same thing. I might as well say the need to eat is religious, therefor all people are religious.
We're pack animals with an inbuilt instinct to belong to a group. The sophistication of out minds and our societies allows this to be expressed in a multitude of ways. Religion is one of them, and nationalism is one of them, that doesn't make nationalism religion any more than it makes religion nationalism.

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Originally Posted by Sam?

You've simply given the name 'religion' to the human desire to belong. They are not the same thing. I might as well say the need to eat is religious, therefor all people are religious.
We're pack animals with an inbuilt instinct to belong to a group. The sophistication of out minds and our societies allows this to be expressed in a multitude of ways. Religion is one of them, and nationalism is one of them, that doesn't make nationalism religion any more than it makes religion nationalism.

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This is what I believe in. We are natural beings and live in a pack the way hosts of animals live in nature and we evolved differently, mutatively to be distinct from animals and in reality we are simply animals under the skin.

Somehow I imagine a atheistic society being equally fanatical as a religious one.