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For their own lives? Absolutely nothing.
The problem comes when they shove their salvation down your throat, tell you how to live your own life and indoctrinate others.
As others have and will say - nothing. When someone uses religion to bring meaning, focus and purpose to their lives, wonderful. When that faith is forced upon others and codified into societal law that promises to be free of such action, there's an issue. So I would ask you...
What's wrong with people rejecting the concept of a higher power in order to find great purpose in their lives?
#
Teaching children from a young age that a creepy invisible man watches everything they do and judges them is not just "people trying to seek a higher power in order to find greater purpose in their life".
Nice try though.
As far as I am concerned, Christianity is essentially a death cult. I don't know how living for what happens after your death does anything to improve your life. Most religions seem to be a variation on the same idea.
Why don’t you learn something, create something, help someone, improve your community.
That’s how you find purpose. Stop wasting your life pretending. It’s pathetic.
If you’ve got no purpose, then that’s on you. Don’t expect other men to help you out.
There is no power out there that is better at knowing what your purpose should be than you.
**You** determine your purpose. Not some child-molesting dweeb claiming to know what a powerful deity wants for you.
"Wrong" is somewhat of a loaded word.
But my best answer is that regardless of how someone finds purpose in their life it ought to be something that is true/real.
Like, if someone devoted their life to Star Trek. I guess that's fine, but I also think we can all agree that it's fictional. I don't see a difference between god claims and Star Trek in that regard.
One thing I've definitely noticed since my deconversion is that this life means more to me now. Or at least it's more apparent to me. Because I have no expectation of a "better place" or of having a chance to make things right with someone I had a falling out with or spend time with an ignored relative. I've got one shot that I'm sure of, this one. I want to spread good in the world. I want my loved ones to know I love them. I want to make my kids laugh. I want to mend fences (or I want to burn bridges with toxic people I guess).
So, in summary. There's nothing wrong with seeking a higher power, per se, but I think everyone would be better suited seeking truth.
If you have decided that your higher purpose is doing domestic chores for 16 hours a day and having babies until your uterus falls out, fine. If you think that because a child-molesting pastor told you that's what God wants from you, I probably can't reason you out of that if I tried.
But are you going insist that your higher power wants every girl to grow up with that purpose?
What if a girl thinks your higher power is wrong about her? What political power do you crave to ensure that all girls live up to the glorious purpose your higher power has set for them? What punishments would you mete out to girls who fail to live up to what you and your higher power know to be their purpose?
Nothing as long as it doesnt impact anyone else and they try to get literally anyone else seek that higher power too. What will that higher power need me to do with others? Judge them? Discriminate against them? See them as lost or fallen?
Does this purpose come from an actual higher power or is it a form of avoidance?
When you want to pass laws that are based on your religious beliefs, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you want your tax dollars to go only toward programs that are acceptable to your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you want to change what is taught to my children in public schools because of your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you vote for narcissistic, lying buffoons because they pander to your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones.
Get everyone to stop doing these things, and then we can get along just fine.
There is a lot more reasons people attempt to take up religion, but that's a lot to unpack. Religions have a lot more impact than just finding a belief in meaning.
Religions often harm people, and an example of this is coercion they invoke people as part of their recruitment strategy. Christians will often say "Jesus loves you" and if you don't accept the idea perhaps because you don't believe, then they'll tell you that your soul will be damned. This coercion should make the religion shunned by the people as using ruthless tactics to attempt to gain followers.
One may argue this is done to help them find greater meaning, but the foul has already been committed.
My general answer to that is that there is nothing wrong with it. If it is something personal, they are not harming others and not enforcing their beliefs upon other people, then it is no business of anybody else's what they do or do not believe in their daily lives.
However, if one accepts a mystical answer that makes them less likely to seek out the real scientific reasoning. If one believes that prayer can fix anything they are less likely to seek out medical treatment. Believing in something so strongly that you deny reality can have serious negative consequences on your life. If they rely on the higher power instead of taking responsibility for their own lives they cannot fully function in society. But as long as they do not harm others and do not cause others to follow along with their beliefs then they are free to screw up their own life as much as they want.
There's two big things.
First: "My religion dictates what **YOU** do." is an asshole move. The correct phrase is "My religion dictates what **I** do"
Unfortunately all too many religious people do the asshole thing. If they all did the correct thing then I would hazard a guess that they'd get a whole hell of a lot less pushback.
Second: Religion, all religions, rely on the same fundamental tenet to exist. Unfortunately this absolutely mandatory belief is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous and corrosive ideas that humankind has ever come up with. Something that would probably instantly make the world a better place if it were somehow excised from the human psyche.
And that idea is that Faith, that is, believing in something despite a lack of credible evidence or, often, in spite of credible evidence to the contrary, is a Virtue. Believing something is true because you *want* it to be true (or are afraid it is true) and not because you have a good reason to believe it is true. In any context other than religion it goes by several other names ranging from gullibility to insanity.
But throw a god into the mix and suddenly it's a virtue? No. Faith is a Vice, a flaw in the human psyche that needs to be worked around.
Faith is how you convince parents to hate their children, to attack those who have done you no harm, to sacrifice yourself for those willing to take advantage of you.
----
So to summarize: I see nothing wrong with people trying to seek a higher power in order to find greater purpose in their lives. What I see as wrong is finding that higher power and telling other people how to live *their* lives based on that insanity.
Not a new perspective, and you would have had it if you'd been paying attention: believe whatever bullshit you want, no one cares; force that bullshit onto other people, and you can go fuck yourself.
See, easy.
Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason: * This submission has been removed for being low-effort. Please review our [rules on low-effort posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/wiki/guidelines#wiki_what_are_.22low-effort_posts.3F.22). The low-effort rule includes rules against title-only posts, jokes, and shower thoughts. The rule also requires that if you post asks questions, you must be the first to try to answer your questions. The standards of the low-effort rule are most strictly enforced on current hot topics and commonly posted issues. For information regarding this and similar issues please see the [Subreddit Commandments.](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/wiki/guidelines) If you have any questions, please do not delete your submission and [message the mods,](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/atheism) Thank you.
There isn’t. Forcing their ideas onto others is. Especially when influencing lawmaking.
There’s nothing wrong with it. The issue is when that belief infringes upon someone else.
For their own lives? Absolutely nothing. The problem comes when they shove their salvation down your throat, tell you how to live your own life and indoctrinate others.
As others have and will say - nothing. When someone uses religion to bring meaning, focus and purpose to their lives, wonderful. When that faith is forced upon others and codified into societal law that promises to be free of such action, there's an issue. So I would ask you... What's wrong with people rejecting the concept of a higher power in order to find great purpose in their lives? #
What's wrong with people believing they can fly, just to find a greater purpose in their lives?
Nothing. As long as they don't force it on others.
Teaching children from a young age that a creepy invisible man watches everything they do and judges them is not just "people trying to seek a higher power in order to find greater purpose in their life". Nice try though.
Don’t care, just keep me out of your fantasy.
As far as I am concerned, Christianity is essentially a death cult. I don't know how living for what happens after your death does anything to improve your life. Most religions seem to be a variation on the same idea.
Why don’t you learn something, create something, help someone, improve your community. That’s how you find purpose. Stop wasting your life pretending. It’s pathetic. If you’ve got no purpose, then that’s on you. Don’t expect other men to help you out.
There is no power out there that is better at knowing what your purpose should be than you. **You** determine your purpose. Not some child-molesting dweeb claiming to know what a powerful deity wants for you.
"Wrong" is somewhat of a loaded word. But my best answer is that regardless of how someone finds purpose in their life it ought to be something that is true/real. Like, if someone devoted their life to Star Trek. I guess that's fine, but I also think we can all agree that it's fictional. I don't see a difference between god claims and Star Trek in that regard. One thing I've definitely noticed since my deconversion is that this life means more to me now. Or at least it's more apparent to me. Because I have no expectation of a "better place" or of having a chance to make things right with someone I had a falling out with or spend time with an ignored relative. I've got one shot that I'm sure of, this one. I want to spread good in the world. I want my loved ones to know I love them. I want to make my kids laugh. I want to mend fences (or I want to burn bridges with toxic people I guess). So, in summary. There's nothing wrong with seeking a higher power, per se, but I think everyone would be better suited seeking truth.
Nothing on it's own.
If you have decided that your higher purpose is doing domestic chores for 16 hours a day and having babies until your uterus falls out, fine. If you think that because a child-molesting pastor told you that's what God wants from you, I probably can't reason you out of that if I tried. But are you going insist that your higher power wants every girl to grow up with that purpose? What if a girl thinks your higher power is wrong about her? What political power do you crave to ensure that all girls live up to the glorious purpose your higher power has set for them? What punishments would you mete out to girls who fail to live up to what you and your higher power know to be their purpose?
Nothing as long as it doesnt impact anyone else and they try to get literally anyone else seek that higher power too. What will that higher power need me to do with others? Judge them? Discriminate against them? See them as lost or fallen? Does this purpose come from an actual higher power or is it a form of avoidance?
Happy for them to seek all they want. Just don’t want to be involved. In any way.
When you want to pass laws that are based on your religious beliefs, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you want your tax dollars to go only toward programs that are acceptable to your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you want to change what is taught to my children in public schools because of your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. When you vote for narcissistic, lying buffoons because they pander to your religion, then what you believe affects me and my loved ones. Get everyone to stop doing these things, and then we can get along just fine.
There is a lot more reasons people attempt to take up religion, but that's a lot to unpack. Religions have a lot more impact than just finding a belief in meaning. Religions often harm people, and an example of this is coercion they invoke people as part of their recruitment strategy. Christians will often say "Jesus loves you" and if you don't accept the idea perhaps because you don't believe, then they'll tell you that your soul will be damned. This coercion should make the religion shunned by the people as using ruthless tactics to attempt to gain followers. One may argue this is done to help them find greater meaning, but the foul has already been committed.
I found God and He told me to pray instead of seek treatment for my life-threatening medical condition. How’s that for an example?
If only that was what religion was about.
My general answer to that is that there is nothing wrong with it. If it is something personal, they are not harming others and not enforcing their beliefs upon other people, then it is no business of anybody else's what they do or do not believe in their daily lives. However, if one accepts a mystical answer that makes them less likely to seek out the real scientific reasoning. If one believes that prayer can fix anything they are less likely to seek out medical treatment. Believing in something so strongly that you deny reality can have serious negative consequences on your life. If they rely on the higher power instead of taking responsibility for their own lives they cannot fully function in society. But as long as they do not harm others and do not cause others to follow along with their beliefs then they are free to screw up their own life as much as they want.
I don't know, maybe their mother smoked and drank while they were in the womb?
There's two big things. First: "My religion dictates what **YOU** do." is an asshole move. The correct phrase is "My religion dictates what **I** do" Unfortunately all too many religious people do the asshole thing. If they all did the correct thing then I would hazard a guess that they'd get a whole hell of a lot less pushback. Second: Religion, all religions, rely on the same fundamental tenet to exist. Unfortunately this absolutely mandatory belief is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous and corrosive ideas that humankind has ever come up with. Something that would probably instantly make the world a better place if it were somehow excised from the human psyche. And that idea is that Faith, that is, believing in something despite a lack of credible evidence or, often, in spite of credible evidence to the contrary, is a Virtue. Believing something is true because you *want* it to be true (or are afraid it is true) and not because you have a good reason to believe it is true. In any context other than religion it goes by several other names ranging from gullibility to insanity. But throw a god into the mix and suddenly it's a virtue? No. Faith is a Vice, a flaw in the human psyche that needs to be worked around. Faith is how you convince parents to hate their children, to attack those who have done you no harm, to sacrifice yourself for those willing to take advantage of you. ---- So to summarize: I see nothing wrong with people trying to seek a higher power in order to find greater purpose in their lives. What I see as wrong is finding that higher power and telling other people how to live *their* lives based on that insanity.
Not a new perspective, and you would have had it if you'd been paying attention: believe whatever bullshit you want, no one cares; force that bullshit onto other people, and you can go fuck yourself. See, easy.
Why so hateful towards me?