Here is a quote from another thread concerning the lack of morality in gangster thugs and amoral attitude of atheist geeks. The argument is that if these types were somehow indoctrinated with religion that they would most likely have a better moral compass:
Being indoctrinated with any kind of education, whether philosophical or religious, will result in a better moral compass. What makes the difference is getting people to
think about what constitutes right or wrong.
Would there be less thuggery on the streets of the inner cities if they could be somehow indoctrinated with religious morality? Hey its possible isn't it? :shrug:
Personally, I think that religious ministers and secular thinkers should consider more collaboration in this cause. There should be as many philosophers out in the street as evangelists. To tell you the truth, I think that us seculars have been very lazy in our cause. Our time would be better spent on spreading our ideas than on railing against arrogant, lying bastards who probably don't even truly believe their own bullshit.
Do you, atheistic geeks, see the world as a 'jungle'?
I think the majority of them see it as a lot of shiny things. They will enter the House of Sindri after Ragnorok, in the final reckoning.
I have a theory on the attitude of gang members who believe their church going neighbors to be delusional and cowardly suckers. It seems that there is an overabundance of churches in poor communities especially in black and hispanic neighborhoods. I think a disenfranchised youth may see the church as having a pacifying affect on their neighbors which they may attribute to being a sucker, settling for less and not being more aggressive against a system they see as oppressive (racist with economic and judicial injustices).
Like I have said elsewhere, low limbic levels of norepinephrine compared to other catecholamines is more likely than inefficient transmission of 5-hydroxytryptamine to result in suicidal behavior. In extremely harsh times, it's better for your health to
be angry. Therefore, ironically, these youth actually are smarter than their neighbors. They just haven't been given a productive channel for that rage. If you ask me, they should spend it on helping younglings get ahead in school and keeping them on the straight-and-narrow. It may be too late for them, but some younger brother or cousin could still go off to college and maybe give them some sense of vindication someday.
Something that us seculars could do for them, though, is tell them it's okay to want to fight back if it feels like the world is against them. There are just more efficient ways to fight than with guns and knives.
But this doesn’t explain you atheistic geeks.
Our intellectual/moral development has simply grown in a different direction. When we think about the world in a spiritual or transcendental light, we think about starships or enlightened societies. To us, "Heaven" is a society of philosophers where high technology coexists peacefully with nature. "Apocalypse" is an alien invasion that could theoretically happen, breaking Fermi's Paradox. And we often have a deep passion for truth. Atheistical nerds have a religion of their own. They just don't call it by such a name.
