National Ask An Atheist Day - a day late, of course.

[Thorne]

Yesterday, April 13th, was apparently National Ask An Atheist Day. I missed it! Nobody asked me anything! Nobody baked me a cake! Nothing!

Well, I found this at the Digital Cuttlefish blog and thought some here might enjoy it. I won't claim everything there applies to me (I'm generally not too fond of poetry, for example) but it's a pretty good fit nonetheless.

Enjoy.

What Do Atheists Believe?
It's National Ask An Atheist Day, so I threw this together over coffee... I believe in coffee.

I believe in love and kindness
I believe in helping hands
I believe in strong opinions
I believe in taking stands
I believe cooperation
Overcomes the steepest odds
I believe we have a fighting chance

I don’t believe in gods.


I believe in education
I believe in learning science
I believe we see much further
When we climb atop of giants
I believe in writing poetry
And verses praising love
I believe that there are mysteries

But not a god above.


I believe in art and music
And the power of a voice
I believe in nature’s beauty
I believe we have a choice
I believe we have a future—
We’re in charge of how it looks—
I believe in sharing knowledge, too

But not in holy books


I believe we came from nothing
And to nothing we’ll return
I believe we don’t know everything
But much of it, we’ll learn
I believe we’re all connected
I believe all sorts of stuff
I believe we are humanity

And isn’t that enough?

[thir]

Sorry about the lack of cake ;-)
I did not notice either.

I like that poem! As all poems, it speaks volumes in a few words.
It tells us that humanity and humane feelings and behaviour is not depending on gods.
But most of all I like this:

I believe we have a choice

A choice to let go of hells and devils and other forces to control our lives.

I do not believe, though, that we have to stand on giants to see far.

[Thorne]

thir, my sentiments exactly, except for that last part. We do stand on the shoulders of giants, so that we don't have to repeat their mistakes. Every step forward for civilization is made possible by the steps taken by our forbears.

If you like the poem, though, go visit that website. She (I think it's a she) has hundreds of them, mostly topical and always enjoyable.

[thir]

thir, my sentiments exactly, except for that last part. We do stand on the shoulders of giants, so that we don't have to repeat their mistakes. Every step forward for civilization is made possible by the steps taken by our forbears.

Hmm...there is again this idea that civilizaton (what is that, anyway??) is always moving 'forward', as if anything that happens is always better than what went before.

Certainly knowledge builds on knowledge from those who went before, but they are not giants, just intelligent people, and knowledge without wisdom is not a good thing. What I mean is, that technology is a power for both good and evil, and we need to make sensible choices.

If you like the poem, though, go visit that website. She (I think it's a she) has hundreds of them, mostly topical and always enjoyable.

I will.

[Snark]

Yes, physically I shall return to dust. But spiritually I shall soar to the Heavens. Sorry to miss you!