Reply by Timm Simpkins on April 27, 2010 at 6:36am
Well, my ideas aren't necessarily all that unique. I am more of a libertarian than anything else, and it often seems that atheists are mostly liberals. I happen to lie somewhere in between on social issues, and very conservative on fiscal issues. In other words, most of what I differ with are political ideas, although I do disagree with some of the things atheists say.
As an example, I believe that there are good reasons to be against abortion that are not religious, which is something I had to wrestle with within myself. It was rather difficult to reconcile why I felt that abortion was a terrible thing considering that I don't believe in a soul. A search for the word abortion on my blog will get you to my reasoning. On the other hand, I believe that gay marriage should be allowed, which is a liberal position. I don't buy into the idea that gay marriage is a fundamental right though, and that is a purely legal position. I believe that homosexuals feel it is a fundamental right, but that doesn't make it a fundamental right under the law.
I think Glenn Beck has turned into a cry on demand sensationalist asshat, but I find Rush Limbaugh to be generally entertaining and informative. Michael Savage is a narcissistic windbag, but Mark Levin is rather generally humorous in his surliness. I actually find myself hating politics over the last few years, even though I used to love it previously. I can't find anyone that I agree with enough to listen to regularly anymore. Both conservative and liberal politics disgust me so often that I find myself shutting off the radio or television.
One thing I am somewhat different about that isn't related to politics is the fact that I think that atheism does offer happiness. I wrote a post on my blog about it a few days back where I discuss how I understand that atheism is not a set of beliefs, but as a response to harmful belief systems, it actually has quite a bit to offer.
I am in the middle of a post now where I discuss feminism's self contradictory attitude when it comes to modesty. I think that modesty actually works against what women should want, namely the freedom to do what one wants and feels comfortable with. (Prompted by feminist responses to boobquake.)
Anyway, there are just too many things to list here that I find myself being contrary to the views generally held by atheists. I've been an atheist for about a decade now, and I have to admit that it has had an effect on my political views, but I find no reason to align myself entirely with a party that only represents a couple of my views, especially when those views aren't anywhere near the most important issues to me. It seems to me that liberalism is generally a superficial position to hold.
Okay, now I'm sure I've pissed some people off, but there it is.
http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/hello-from-the-mormon-capital?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A812230
Reply by Timm Simpkins on April 27, 2010 at 6:36am
Well, my ideas aren't necessarily all that unique. I am more of a libertarian than anything else, and it often seems that atheists are mostly liberals. I happen to lie somewhere in between on social issues, and very conservative on fiscal issues. In other words, most of what I differ with are political ideas, although I do disagree with some of the things atheists say.
As an example, I believe that there are good reasons to be against abortion that are not religious, which is something I had to wrestle with within myself. It was rather difficult to reconcile why I felt that abortion was a terrible thing considering that I don't believe in a soul. A search for the word abortion on my blog will get you to my reasoning. On the other hand, I believe that gay marriage should be allowed, which is a liberal position. I don't buy into the idea that gay marriage is a fundamental right though, and that is a purely legal position. I believe that homosexuals feel it is a fundamental right, but that doesn't make it a fundamental right under the law.
I think Glenn Beck has turned into a cry on demand sensationalist asshat, but I find Rush Limbaugh to be generally entertaining and informative. Michael Savage is a narcissistic windbag, but Mark Levin is rather generally humorous in his surliness. I actually find myself hating politics over the last few years, even though I used to love it previously. I can't find anyone that I agree with enough to listen to regularly anymore. Both conservative and liberal politics disgust me so often that I find myself shutting off the radio or television.
One thing I am somewhat different about that isn't related to politics is the fact that I think that atheism does offer happiness. I wrote a post on my blog about it a few days back where I discuss how I understand that atheism is not a set of beliefs, but as a response to harmful belief systems, it actually has quite a bit to offer.
I am in the middle of a post now where I discuss feminism's self contradictory attitude when it comes to modesty. I think that modesty actually works against what women should want, namely the freedom to do what one wants and feels comfortable with. (Prompted by feminist responses to boobquake.)
Anyway, there are just too many things to list here that I find myself being contrary to the views generally held by atheists. I've been an atheist for about a decade now, and I have to admit that it has had an effect on my political views, but I find no reason to align myself entirely with a party that only represents a couple of my views, especially when those views aren't anywhere near the most important issues to me. It seems to me that liberalism is generally a superficial position to hold.
Okay, now I'm sure I've pissed some people off, but there it is.
http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/hello-from-the-mormon-capital?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A812230
Personally, I think that marriage is a fundamental civil right and I feel that same-sex couples are entitled to it as much as my husband and are.
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