Monday, November 17, 2008

Can atheists be nice?

Here is an excellent article by Paul Bloom on what makes us behave nicely to others. No - its not religion - and atheists can be nice too:



Ah...but the US is the odd ball:



Here is the resolution:




I think this is an excellent point. I've had many (ok - may be several) conversations with Muslims, both in Pakistan and in the US, who are very happy to be identified as cultural Muslims - but feel that they get pushed out of the community for the lack of overt piety. Perhaps Paul Bloom can be invited to give some public lectures.

Read the full article here.


Sky said...

I'm an atheist. I don't believe my soul will survive in any capacity after my death; I'll be worm food, nourishing the earth - a different form of energy. ;)

And I would like to understand how a self-described atheist reconciles the position that there is no evidence of a god and therefore why they don't believe one exists but can manage to believe their soul lives on without any evidence of that either.

Sky said...

Oops, published comment too quickly. Wanted to add this:

I'm always puzzled as to why people have no trouble accepting that they didn't exist for the 13 billion-plus years this universe existed before they were born, but now that they have been born, they'll "live on" in some form forever. It's just odd.

Salman Hameed said...


I guess its more of a wishful thinking than any thing else. But it is curious that a majority of American atheists believe in the survival of soul after death .. huh!?

Unknown said...


Are they American Buddhists perhaps?

Salman Hameed said...

Are they American Buddhists perhaps?

Quite possible. But still that is no excuse... :)

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Anonymous said...

I like what you write, just found your site. As a Swedish Atheist I dont believe in any god or spiritual being. I dont believe in anything supernatural or that we have souls. I think that when we die our electrical impulses in our brain stops and we then start to decompose =) Its true that most people in Sweden dont believe in any god but some believe in "something". They dont belong to any religion but feel that they are not sure about the big question. But like I said most people are atheists.
Its a cultural tradition to be baptised in church as babies, by doing that we "belong" to the church and have to pay church taxes until we are over 18 and can leave church if we want to. I left church and so did my mom and the rest of my family. But she baptised us because she wanted us to decide for ourselves if we believed or not. And if you are not a member of the church you cant get married in there or have your funeral in there. Both things people do for the pretty and special "atmosphere". You can still be buried on church ground though.
I have only in my fairly long life ever met one person who truly believed in god. That was an old classmate of mine who were mormon. Even the priests here say that the creation story is not to take literally.
But anyway, I´m a vegetarian for ethical reasons and would never hurt a soul (lol) and it kind of bugs me when people from religious places such as US assume that atheists such as myself are immoral or even evil. I dont understand why that is. But of course there are cultural differenses but still.. Like religion is the only thing stopping people from running around committing rapes and murders. Thank you for your interesting articles! I´m adding you to my favourites ;-)

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