Part of the reason atheism looks the way it does now, and is so lacking in warm fuzzies like “Love and Completeness are Your Spiritual Right,” is because it is a refuge for people who think warm fuzzies are bullshit.
What about people who want to reject the claims of religion but still want warm fuzzies? Maybe atheism wouldn’t get such a bad rap in the public eye if it felt more welcoming for people who want truths but also want the sense of community provided by religion.
Interesting idea, but identifying as pagan will probably raise as many eyebrows as atheism, if not more. I think it would be better if there was more “The universe isn’t concerned about us, so it’s our job to be concerned about each other” among the atheist community, or something else that sounds welcoming and friendly.
I haven’t once in my life made a good decision based on feel good thinking. Naturally I may be an outlier but overall models of the world that “feel good” are generally wrong models. I value having a accurate map even if it isn’t useful (yes having a wrong map can be instrumentally valuable, and a positive outlook actually often is).
Also warm fuzzies are one of the easiest way to manipulate someone. When someone tries to shower me with them I nearly indistinctly try to counterbalance them. Hm, now that I think of it that pattern matches to being a cynic.
-- Dave Gottlieb
What about people who want to reject the claims of religion but still want warm fuzzies? Maybe atheism wouldn’t get such a bad rap in the public eye if it felt more welcoming for people who want truths but also want the sense of community provided by religion.
Paganism? It seems like one of the more accepting groups, and you don’t need to actually believe to celebrate/be in a community.
Interesting idea, but identifying as pagan will probably raise as many eyebrows as atheism, if not more. I think it would be better if there was more “The universe isn’t concerned about us, so it’s our job to be concerned about each other” among the atheist community, or something else that sounds welcoming and friendly.
Humanism?
So true, I totally think that way.
But warm fuzzies are bullshit.
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I haven’t once in my life made a good decision based on feel good thinking. Naturally I may be an outlier but overall models of the world that “feel good” are generally wrong models. I value having a accurate map even if it isn’t useful (yes having a wrong map can be instrumentally valuable, and a positive outlook actually often is).
Also warm fuzzies are one of the easiest way to manipulate someone. When someone tries to shower me with them I nearly indistinctly try to counterbalance them. Hm, now that I think of it that pattern matches to being a cynic.
I would have expected things to go your way every now and then simply by chance.
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Sure.