Right away I would say that in embracing atheism atheists are not acting intelligently.
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Easy. Atheism doesn't limit science. If it weren't for atheists, or at least secularism, more likely than not, we'd still think diseases were a plague from God.
Intellectual honesty, freedom to watch porn and masturbate without having Jesus watching you, and the joy in knowing that nobody is going to hell, and you're not going to lose any friends because you're witnessing to them.
"Because what are the advantages to an atheist in embracing atheism?"
None. Why do you need advantages? Are you seriously saying that the only reason you believe in Christianity is because it gives you some kind of concrete/promised benefit? If so...don't you realize how petty that is?
"Behaving intelligently" would include choosing what to believe based on rationality and evidence, not on what suits us the best.
What's my benefit for not believing in trolls, mdejess?
But to answer your question:
I could write a thousand more.
Oh hi Pascal, haven't seen you in a while, how's your wager going?
You can't decide which religion to pick to win because none have offered compelling proof that they are actually valid and the others aren't? Well in that case, just go with the one with the best heaven, thats what I did.
Pasta beer and strippers forever, RAmen.
Why?
Because what are the advantages to an atheist in embracing atheism?
The second sentence does not qualify as an answer to the first.
Here are a few advantages to being an atheist.
1. I save 10% of my money that would otherwise go to tithes.
2. I'm able to construct my own system of values and morality rather than abdicating that responsibility by caving to the pseudo-morality offered in the Bible.
3. I can experience a much wider ranger of emotions, sensations, and philosophies than theists who are locked into prearranged and prepackaged ideas.
4. I'm not compelled by divine command to inflict on others my personal view of morality.
Lie-in every Sunday.
No longer having to care what the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks.
Prominent atheists (e.g. Richard Dawkins) significantly less embarrassing than prominent Christians (e.g. Fred Phelps).
Don't have to ascertain people's sexuality before deciding whether I can be friends with them.
Lack of belief in any kind of afterlife is an excellent incentive to make the most of the life I've got now rather than sitting around waiting for Jesus.
Happy in the belief that my deceased relatives are in a state of peaceful oblivion rather than eternal damnation.
To be called an atheist one needs to already have embraced atheism. You should have said: "What are the advantages of a person embracing atheism?"
You won't have looked any less thick, but at least you would have been grammatically correct. By the way, the answer to your question is this: the alternative is fundyism and believing that a self-contradicting fairy tale is the truth and nothing but the truth.
"Because what are the advantages to an atheist in embracing atheism?"
Oh, y'know. One or two things:
1- Thinking for myself, not what someone else says what I should.some standing in society.
...shall I go on, mdejess?
Let's consider tithing .
Typically on planet Earth, when someone tells you to do something, they have agreed to pay you for your efforts.
Now, being a good religionist, you give some asshole 10% so that he can tell you how to live, 24/7... I simply don't get it. What's the advantage in that?
@ ladnil
Could there be red wine too? And are there male strippers? If so I'm IN!
"Because what are the advantages to an atheist in embracing atheism?"
Oh, y'know. Thinking for yourself. Not allowing a book, or those who promote such, to tell you what to do - or think. Treating others as you'd like them to treat you.
Reveling in the wonder of scientific facts. And thus reality.
What are the advantages to a fundie in embracing ignorance?
The lot of them don't seem to me to be so immersed in bliss; life hating, depressed, confused, bigoted, cranky, wilfully stupid fairy tale believers. I work with one. Grumpiest old fart in the store, pissed off at the world because everybody isn't just like him.
And if everybody was, I suspect that would piss him off.
What are the advantges, according to you, to embrace anything instead of being a potato coach, I wonder?
That's an excellent question mdejess. Might I suggest that you talk to some atheists in a non-judgemental way, get to know them as individuals and try to understand their view of the world.
Yeah, like that will ever happen.
Getting on with life in the very firm belief that this is the only shot at it we will ever get?
That should be more than enough, but other advantages include not having to go to church on Sunday and the smug knowledge that we are smarter than you. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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