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How can atheist make this world a better place?

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0

I think many of us are already doing that just by being who we are.
Every day, in a million different ways, atheists are showing that one doesn't need
to be an adherent to religious dogma to care about the people around them and the
space that we all share. We show that we are not the stereotypical immoral, hateful,
baby-eaters, that we've often been portrayed as being. Many atheists are active within
their communities, doing worthwhile things to improve the lives of all sorts of people.
Non-belief is increasing among the populace, and the invisible sky-daddy hasn't brought
another flood to wipe us all out. We must be doing something right.
If you are looking for something that you can do, just find a cause that you believe in, and
get involved.

You do realize that all the bad shit that happens is all being cited by the religious as punishments for sinful behavior, right? It may not be a global flood that they believe is possible, but it's still a punishment from god and a warning of a bigger disaster.

10

Be a good Human🙂

This ^^^

@Sacha What is the up v's? I don't even know how to duplicate them.

@Leutrelle If you are on a computer, should be the symbol above the number 6 ^^^ 🙂

10

Simply show kindness whenever you have the chance. Approach everyone with positive regard. That doesn't mean be blindly trusting and get taken for a fool. But it does mean, figure when people do selfish or hurtful things, they are acting, not out of sheer malice, but rather just doing the only thing they understand of how to try to meet their needs. For me, fostering that outlook helps me move quickly past any resentments, so that I have more energy for constructive things in life.

6

In the same way that all people can.
Put simply. Do unto others....

Use a bit less.

Recycle more.

Think about what equality really means and act upon it.

And remember, if you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem.

6

Personally, I like donating time or money to charities when I can. I use the website charitynavigator.org to make sure the organization I'm giving to is on the level, and then I either give when I have the spare cash, or plug them into smile.amazon.com, which donates a percentage of all your purchases through them to the charity of your choice.

Right now, my Amazon account is supporting Polaris, a group dedicated to ending human trafficking. I also volunteer a bit at the American Red Cross in town.

Super cool, @Nebroxah!

5

Well, most scientists are atheists. We can always use more science.

seems to me the joke like always with science got it wrong... shouldn't be the werewolf instead? Just saying... when you are wrong you are wrong.

@GipsyOfNewSpain Various vampire movies and traditions say that sunlight kills vampires, but during the day, werewolves were simply normal looking humans.

@birdingnut Sure, when science is wrong it's wrong, unlike Gipsy who only seems to be wrong when he's talking.

@birdingnut the tradition is... first ray of sunlight at dawn. Just that first ray, you leave it to hollywood and to believe hollywood as dogma will make you believe that thumbs up is good and thumbs down is bad... In ancient Rome was thumbs down meant put your weapon down and do not kill the gladiator... thumbs up meant raise your weapon and strike but hollywood got it wrong and here we go... now you believing vampires are killed by sunlight even the one reflected in the moon. And science claiming the credit... he, he, ha, he. science stealing honor. he, he, ha, he, he, ha.

@GipsyOfNewSpain (sigh) It's just a joke. Not to be taken seriously.

@birdingnut I know it was just a joke but...

@GipsyOfNewSpain
Actually there are a few legends in that department. The main theme is direct sunlight, period. The one thing Holy-weird used to get right was that no one would see vampires at all during the day because they'd all gone to ground to avoid the sunlight. The assumption was because the direct light would likely kill them. Bouncing off a moon isn't direct so it's fine. There is a whole science behind why they believed in vampires having to do with post mortem bodily bloating and fluids but it's pretty gross and I really don't want to get into it.

AS to the thumbs up/down thing... I think that was more a social understanding thing than an honest history thing. For several generations, certainly since movies started rolling, thumbs up has been a sign meaning "Ok" or "Go For It" or "Carry On" in most societies today while the thumbs down means "No" or "It stinks/sucks" or whatever other negatives you can throw in there. Translating that into the big screen so people understood, especially back in the days of black and white, was more important to the producers than conveying actual history. They were entertainers, not historians.

5

Same way anyone makes the world a better place. Savor experiences. Share them with others. Try not to be wasteful. Try to give more than you take. Move with hope rather than fear. Be the person your favorite grandma figure thinks you are.

Maybe make cookies.

Chocolate chip made from fair trade ingredients.

@Unfoldingchaos - when you get to the peanut butter cookies, drop me a message and I'll be right over!

4

An atheist certainly can. There are good people of all stripes.

3

You can start buy exercising regularly and eating all your vegetables, Limit sugary snacks,Don't Litter. Keeping your bird feeders full in the winter and remembering dogs are people too.

I give you 850 thumbs up for the "don't litter." One of my biggest pet peeves. I cannot, for the life of me, understand the mentality that says "I'll throw this here -- right here in this beautiful forest -- or right here on this crowded sidewalk even though there is a garbage can six feet away."

3

Same way anyone else can?
I like to think that at the end of my time, the world will have been that tiny bit better for my having passed through it. If we all did that, all 7.5 billion of us, the future would be most awesome.

The existence of humans is necessarily bad for the Earth; it is nearly impossible to leave this place better than you found it. I think maybe the aim should be to not destroy it as much?

@JeffMurray I agree it seems near impossible, I came from the corporate world of international trade and finance, seeing what was going on, illegal imports of rare timber and so many other things. 12th of May this year marks 30 years since I left that, and have only worked on minimal wages in the not for profit sector ever since. My first work was setting up new financial institutions and writing their loan and investment policies ensuring the money was not available for socially or environmentally negative purposes, they have been applied to all sorts of institutions and in my region alone as of the end of last year there is 666 million managed under my policies. Nation wide is it many times that. Hmmm, didn't notice the number previously -ominous. I have had nothing to do with it for well over 25 years but raised the first 2 million. After that I hit the disability support industry and turned it inside out making the largest company in its field 9 times for efficient. More recently I worked in environmental restoration, endangered habitat and get paid for less than 10% of what I do. My own home is carbon negative exporting 40kwh of solar to the grid daily and we are self contained for water and waste, grow 80% of our own food and give away more than 1/2 of that we grow to a local food bank. I do drive a car and fill it 5 or 6 times a year, last set of tyres lasted 10 years and am waiting to move to an electric vehicle. I know all of these things consume far too many resources, and I have to justify the use in my head. I consider whether I should stop doing what I do and not have the vehicle. I am currently the sustainability coach in my region, it is an unpaid position and each week advise people how to reduce their impact on the environment. I realised that on my own I made negligible impact, so try and be a catalyst or lever. The only reason I have included some of my activities is to show that we can all do things to make a difference. I can't give up no matter how hopeless it seems, this is the purpose I see for myself. I agree totally with your comment "The existence of humans is necessarily bad for the Earth;" industrial society exist on environmental destruction, pre-industrial civilisations could be sustained, I just want to see a shift that puts us back to being at least neutral environmentally.

@Rugglesby That is all super awesome, and yes, everyone should follow your example. You may be in the tiny, tiny percentage of people that could leave it better than you found it, but only because you may impact others to be less harmful to the planet than they otherwise would have, thus mitigating whatever negative impact you have. But, considering the best thing that could happen to the planet is the immediate death of all humans, your reduction of their bad behavior pales in comparison. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen anytime soon, so you are an excellent example of how to human. I am not. I saw the writing on the wall long ago. Humans are insanely stupid. They have not provided the proper motivation to do the right thing across the country (and world) and with how selfish they all are, without that motivation (like having to pay a per pound or per bag fee for trash, having to pay additional taxes on energy sources that are used to subsidize sustainable energy, etc.) people will just be increasingly terrible for profit and/or convenience. They actually ended the recycling program in my area, both pick up and drop off- there is no where to recycle. I would have to drive my recyclables to another city, which kind of defeats the purpose. Because of all of this, I don't feel bad about driving a 500hp Cobra that gets 8mpg or using tons of electricity to keep my house nice and cool in the summer while I watch my giant TV.

@JeffMurray I am jealous re the Cobra, that is style. I always wanted a Stingray.
Sadly I agree re the people, I would love to see a plan that reduces the human population down to 300-400 million globally over the next few generations. For me it is a personal thing, I can only do for me, so if I don't make it worse, then I justify my existence to myself.

@Rugglesby Yeah, I don't expect we should ask or comply with mass suicide, but restrictions on the number of kids we can have makes a lot of sense to me. I also think we need to come together as a global society and come to the hard realization that we shouldn't be spending 5x the resources and produce 5x the waste to keep people alive in beds than we do on people who can actually contribute to society. It sounds harsh, until the question changes from 'should we keep this person alive' to 'should we keep this person or those people alive'.

2

I feel an atheist is less likely to want to withhold medical treatment, housing, employment, services, or abandon family/friends due to their ideology. However, people are individuals regardless of any group that they can be placed into so how an atheist tries to making the world a better place is up to them just like anyone else. Personally, I thinking working on finding solutions or making things better for situations that bother you is a great place to start. For example, I find it sad/disheartening that homeless people in the land of plenty go without so I donate to our homeless center in town.

2

This next statement is not a criticism of atheists but is a statement of fact. The word 'Atheist ' applied to YOU only means one thing- obviously that you do not believe in God. However by coming on this site we can deduce that there is a whole lot more information to find about you.

If you have what other Humans want most -love, compassion, friendliness etc then look inside yourself to find out what you can give these to others. Examine how you got to where you are now then get out there and change people one at a time to be more enlightened of the possibilities. You will find yourself changing too and know when you are doing the right thing. Good Luck!

2

Thats not my job really - I feel I am doing well enough at my end to not put my disappointments in life out on other people - try to be a good citizen and presume that goes for everyone atheist or religious.

2

Why not by beIng a good person In all ways and be satIsfIed you have contrIbuted your "lIttle bIt" to the betterment of mankInd?

2

By teaming up with an agnostic.

exactly as we have no mad beliefs to leave behind, only logic.

2

By not contributing negatively. Also it's important to lead by example. You may not reach a large platform but someone may be watching and following in your footsteps.

Sooooo very true.

2

Stop talking about god or religion for a start.

2

As long as they weren’t like Stalin or Mao Zedong I supposed they could. Couldn’t get much worse than those two.

Mother Teresa is worse.

@JeffMurray Mother Teresa shouldn’t even be compared with Stalin and Mao who were extremely ruthless and killed millions of people.

@Trajan61 She killed millions of people, too.

1

I would think just to be a kind person and do what’s right simply because it’s the right thing to do and not expect a reward in return.

1

Prove there is nothing to believe in.

@Donotbelieve You are a very nice looking lady, I wish I was 20 years younger. 😉

1

if we are going to save the life on this planet including ourselves and all without exception work as one with the same reasoning, meaning leaving any of our personal beliefs and prejudices behind or life on earth is doomed or most of it. its never going to happen but it should.

1

I guess the question is what do you see as a better place? Look around and see where others need help because that would do it. Just because a person is an atheist doesn't mean they stop caring about other people or treating those around them well. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, and if you can, volunteer somewhere or at least get into some profession that is geared towards righting wrongs, fixing the broken, healing or feeding those needing it. Supporting feedom of choice and standing up against needless destruction and harmful behaviors are a good start.

AmyLF Level 7 Feb 10, 2018
1

By saying "I am an Atheist". This will bring - eventually- the courage in others who are also Atheists but afraid to tell it to the world.

Safety in numbers is great.

1

By acting ethically and living a morally good life. Seeking peace and understanding between all factions. Opposing those things which restrict the freedom and opportunity for all persons to pursue their own happiness, life and liberty.

I agree with "acting ethically...." but you can rest assure the believers would say "you are a good christian." their ability to reason is non-existent... So, don't expect them to see such behavior as nothing but "christian".

@OnaM That would be their problem, not mine.

@DUCHESSA The believers can think and say as they wish, it doesn't make any difference to me. I do what I do because it pleases me. Believers are allowed to be wrong, it's not the first time that they have been mistaken.

0

There’s only one way. Educate those who don’t understand the need for betterment.

0

One simple reason that leads to a certain mindset. If you believe Jesus is your co-pilot thrn you will have zero hesitation in some how fucking me!

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