The most moral thing you can be is spiritual non religious. The only atheist thing is AI.
Hi,
I don’t think it’s possible for a human to truly be an atheist. We have creativity. We enjoy stories like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. We enjoy music. We love. That alone suggests something deeper is going on.
I think religion is immoral because it always creates hierarchies. There will always be people who want to maintain those hierarchies, and that inevitably leads to fascism — the preservation of hierarchy through violence. In Abrahamic religions, women are placed in a passive role. All they have to do is have babies and agree with their husbands. It’s an easy, comfortable position, which is why so many people accept it.
A good person will never be religious, because a good person is uncomfortable with hierarchies.
Religion also leads to colonization every time. It tells believers it’s their duty to convert people who don’t share their beliefs, by force if necessary.
Atheism, on the other hand, often creates more religious fanatics. It pushes people further into religion. I cringe at many atheists because they act as if they are naturally superior to religious people. In trying to look more intelligent, they alienate ordinary people — the ones whose jobs don’t require much complex thought and for whom religion actually works.
I think it’s important to acknowledge that religion was once very useful. But instead of promoting atheism, we should teach that we can be spiritual. That includes self-help books, religious texts, and anything else that helps people discover what it means to be human.
Saying “I’m an atheist” just isn’t true for humans. We dream. We create art. There’s a clear hunger in us for something that isn’t practical but is beautiful. That hunger is what makes us spiritual. An AI can’t truly appreciate music or art the way we do, so maybe an AI is the only thing that could actually be atheist.