Just like Igor( it’s pronounced eye-gore) in Young Frankenstein said, the name on the brain’s glass container was “abby-someone”. ABBY-NORMAL, I’m sure that was the name. As atheist’s, are we the “abby-normal” ones, or is it everyone else? If we really count as 13% of the total population, does that mean that the other 87% are the crazy ones? With all of the current crap going on around the globe, it very well could be.
Do you consider yourself to be one of the “abby-normal” people in this world, or is it everyone else? I am definitely not “normal” in any way, I never have been. I actually prefer being the black sheep in any situation or gathering. It never stopped me from working a full-time job or raising a family, which is considered “normal”. I have never done anything just because it was popular at the time. I don’t care what other people think about me, just my family.
An atheist? Probably leans towards uncommon, however many are secretive or label themselves “non-religious”…
Things about me are uncommon and some, unique. Other qualities are common coming out of your ears common.
Had not so many been “raised” to believe in a god - how common would theists be? If so much of societal power, influence and money were not god/religious driven, how common would it be?
‘Atheist’ is only a word which describes something about me. It does not define me.
As a general principle, imo atheist who consider themselves superior because of their atheism tend to be suffering from a delusion of grandeur.
OF COURSE we may be superior to some human beings in all kinds of ways because human beings are demonstrably not equal. However, that has nothing to do with atheism, imo.
By virtue of the sheer weight of numbers, you cant help but notice we atheists are in the minority, so that alone suggests our abbynormality.
Why are we like this?
Is it our genes? Are we the mutants of our own particular species pandemic? Was it inevitable that folks like us would have to appear as our species’ population levels grew and increased the probabilities of genetic variation? Could secularism have something to do with DNA? Is Nature’s purpose to make us become increasingly more secular? Are we all missing the same synapses in our brains or have we gained too many?
In the past it was folks like us that suffered at the hands of the mob, got burned at the stake or singled out for the next crop sacrifice. It was a matter enduring those sorts of threats under silence, while more enterprising members of our lot became shamans and cult leaders taking full advantage of our understanding of the blind belief of other’s through our own acquired disbelief.
So what the fuck is wrong with us?
The beliefs of others offer absolute certainties, life eternal, enduring emotional and intellectual support, the comforts and assurances of being BFF with the fundamental forces of nature or at the very least with an omnipotent deity full of love and a nasty disposition for avenging slights against its vanity with eternal punishments and making insane requests for things like genital mutilation…what a minute…
I don’t know what normal is. I imagine the people who chase the idea to be a bit strange. I think I was just having that conversation with someone. His comment to me was "I have a job. I have a mortgage. … " Is that not an attempt at justification for “I am normal?” Is that what “normal people do?”
I have this idea that being normal is a bit like an IQ test. The average score is 100. As long as you score between 85 and 115 (One standard deviation.) from the 100 mark. (YOU ARE ONE OF US) You are normal. You want the house, the marriage, the car, the family, and all the bullshit that goes with it. These days it seems to mean, ‘the expensive divorce,’ as well.
My IQ is outside the ‘Normal’ range, as is my ‘lifestyle.’ I don’t know many people who live ‘normal’ lives, unless it is the parents of the students I am teaching. People who have settled down, purchased homes, and who have decided to remain in the same place the rest of their lives with the same partner. How interesting a life choice? Not one I would make. But very interesting.
Is that normal? Are they happier than me? Am I happier than them? Who has a better life? All I can say about any of it is that our experiences are different. But then, everyone’s experience is unique, regardless of the choices they make. So… where exactly does normal fit into the equation?
Apart from the overly extreme ones, I don’t see much difference in behaviour between average theists and atheists. Normal sort of “fades” into the abnormal along a vague spectrum. The population is too diverse to just separate on that basis.
common.