I talk about some deep issues with Atheism in a practical sense.
Hello my fellow Atheists! I want to talk about two (2) things that we are all doing wrong as Atheists. There’s probably more than two in total, but I want to talk about only two of them. I won’t waste your time, here we go:
One (1): Guilt. We see “work” as something necessary but hard and unpleasurable. To some extent, there’s an aspect of puritanism which all western societies have internalised. However, increasingly we’re seeing things like: Sleep is good. Being relaxed helps you think. Having fun means you’re learning more. We’re hurting everything around us by keeping these long held and scientifically ignorant beliefs. We have schools which are no fun and are bad at teaching. We have workplaces which eschew balance and embrace a modified slavery, and we all go along with it! Because “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”, because hard work is its own reward, because anything worth doing must be dull and laborious.
What’s worse is we do it to ourselves. We’re in a world where our bosses come in to ask us out for a beer, or to go home or stop working so hard, because all the data suggests that we’re costing them money until we get a full night’s sleep, and we’re still at it. Maybe not because of religiosity, but cultural conditioning. Atheists, we need to get one piece of advice well and truly out there: Relax! Friday? Relax! Sunday? Relax! Monday? RELAX!
Two (2): Hanging out. Currently, in both Pirate Party policy, and Secular party policy, we are going to remove tax breaks for religious institutions. In so far as they are doing charitable work, we will continue to offer tax exemptions, but not for religious organisation. However, if there’s one thing that we know from the data it’s that people who are members of religious organisations tend to live longer because of the association itself! In addition to removing the tax breaks, we need to also offer some tax breaks for “hanging out”. Got a soccer team? Tax breaks for hanging out! Starting a workshop for friends to make things? Tax breaks for hanging out! In fact, any community activity with a fair number of members should get some kind of tax break, and allow tax-deductible donations.
In conclusion, Atheists shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when dealing with religious institutions, and shouldn’t accept religious dogma even though it is deeply woven into society.