John Lennon - A thought from Imagine

[TheRealityOfMan]

Imagine there's no heaven...

I recently watched the series of videos based on Richard Dawkin's interview in Canada. Two religious reps and a psychologist respond to The God Delusion and lay all sort of well known charges against Atheism/secularism in general. The psychologist talks about religion being a great "romantic" force in our lives - one we presumably need.

I also have been reading a serious of articles by a British religious guy saying how great religion can be compared to the dryness of physics say.

I'm a bit of a romantic :) and as a Christian and now as an Atheist I still have a great interest in philosophy/comparative religion etc. so I can understand where they are coming from.

I think if we want to advance secularism we should be sensitive to people's spiritual side (though I hate this term). I think it is possible to do more to promote the romantic side of Atheism so that 'religious minded' people (like me) can be more attracted to a rational world view. I know Dawkins tries to do this - to talk about the awe and majesty of a naturalistic universe and I think we should work harder on this line.



So in quoting John Lennon, we should not say to people "hey stop imagining there's a heaven"... we should say "imagine there's NO heaven".

[Half-Life]

Imagine there's no heaven...

I recently watched the series of videos based on Richard Dawkin's interview in Canada. Two religious reps and a psychologist respond to The God Delusion and lay all sort of well known charges against Atheism/secularism in general. The psychologist talks about religion being a great "romantic" force in our lives - one we presumably need.

I also have been reading a serious of articles by a British religious guy saying how great religion can be compared to the dryness of physics say.

I'm a bit of a romantic :) and as a Christian and now as an Atheist I still have a great interest in philosophy/comparative religion etc. so I can understand where they are coming from.

I think if we want to advance secularism we should be sensitive to people's spiritual side (though I hate this term). I think it is possible to do more to promote the romantic side of Atheism so that 'religious minded' people (like me) can be more attracted to a rational world view. I know Dawkins tries to do this - to talk about the awe and majesty of a naturalistic universe and I think we should work harder on this line.



So in quoting John Lennon, we should not say to people "hey stop imagining there's a heaven"... we should say "imagine there's NO heaven".


Well according to theists, John Lennon's life was meaningless because he never accepted Christ as his own personal savior and did LSD.

So there we have it, the whole purpose of life is to see who goes to Heaven and Hell and everything else is meaningless.

I can just imagine God in Heaven right now: "What's wrong with those silly humans? Listening to John Lennon's music and calling the Beatles a great band. Don't they know he was a vile sinner and a druggie?!?!?! He's burning in Hell now and he's loved on earth by a lot of humans! That really gripes me and gets my godly hair to stand on end!"

:Cheeky:

[DancesWithCoffeeCups]

Imagine there's no heaven...

I recently watched the series of videos based on Richard Dawkin's interview in Canada. Two religious reps and a psychologist respond to The God Delusion and lay all sort of well known charges against Atheism/secularism in general. The psychologist talks about religion being a great "romantic" force in our lives - one we presumably need.

I also have been reading a serious of articles by a British religious guy saying how great religion can be compared to the dryness of physics say.

I'm a bit of a romantic :) and as a Christian and now as an Atheist I still have a great interest in philosophy/comparative religion etc. so I can understand where they are coming from.

I think if we want to advance secularism we should be sensitive to people's spiritual side (though I hate this term). I think it is possible to do more to promote the romantic side of Atheism so that 'religious minded' people (like me) can be more attracted to a rational world view. I know Dawkins tries to do this - to talk about the awe and majesty of a naturalistic universe and I think we should work harder on this line.



So in quoting John Lennon, we should not say to people "hey stop imagining there's a heaven"... we should say "imagine there's NO heaven".

Atheism is a lack of belief in god(s). There is no romance involved.

I'm a human being. I have emotions. I'm romantical at times. :blush: It has nothing to do with my lack of belief in god(s) and everything to do with experiencing what it's like to be human, a complex and fallible human. I can draw upon my emotions/feelings any time I like just as I can choose to engage my rational thought processes. If other humans are not capable of discovering and experiencing the majesty of nature or able to experience awe, perhaps they might consider looking into why that is.

I myself don't push my atheism on anyone nor am I interested in promoting any particular worldview. As always, I have no idea what a spiritual side might be or even look like so I can't comment on it. I stick with relating to other humans through communication and action.

[Underseer]

[...]


Well according to theists, John Lennon's life was meaningless because he never accepted Christ as his own personal savior and did LSD.

So there we have it, the whole purpose of life is to see who goes to Heaven and Hell and everything else is meaningless.

I can just imagine God in Heaven right now: "What's wrong with those silly humans? Listening to John Lennon's music and calling the Beatles a great band. Don't they know he was a vile sinner and a druggie?!?!?! He's burning in Hell now and he's loved on earth by a lot of humans! That really gripes me and gets my godly hair to stand on end!"

:Cheeky:

Let's not forget Lennon's greatest crime against Christianity: opposing the Vietnam war, and encouraging others to also oppose it. Surely, he is roasting in the deepest pit of hell for making baby Jesus cry like that.

[john_v_h]

All of art, imagination, romance and "spirituality" exist in this natural universe, whether or not one happens to believe in Big-Daddy-In-The-Sky. Take comfort in that fact.

[Joan of Bark]

I became an atheist in my late teens partially as a result of seeing the magnificence of the universe while studying astronomy. Many great romanticists are non-believers (science fiction writers, for instance).

What we need is less religion and more spirituality.

[TheRealityOfMan]

So many believers claim that religion is so awesome because it has inspired the greatest works of art. How many works of art of the twentieth century have been inspired by traditional religion though? Pollock, Picasso, you name it - Andy Warhol ... John Lennon!

If you look for the inspiration behind it all it is as far from traditional religion as you can get. If Van Gogh can show us a universe of pain and beauty in a bunch of sunflowers why do people need to heark back to magic gods on crucifixes all the time?