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Originally Posted by willravel
Atheism leads to addiction? Not in the least. The loss of self control leads to addiction. The use of theism in breaking addiction is about replacing one control with another, one dependence with another.
I require no spiritual comfort the same way I don't require the force from Star Wars. It's fictional.
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Addiction, to me, refers to a physiological condition that someone is born with or without, though it can also be created through heavy drug use. It doesn't really have anything to do with self control. Someone who looks at an addict and thinks the addict lacks their self control is like someone with a fever of 99.5 looking at someone with a fever of 104 and saying, "I've got a fever too. It's not so bad. Get off your butt and get back to work." There are several firm scientific grounds for the disease theory on addiction that I'm not educated enough to repeat to you right now, but I'm sure if you look it up you won't have much trouble finding information on it. I know a few important things though. For one, "addicts" are true responders. The euphoria they feel on any substance is greater than the effects another would feel. Another is that their bodies acclimate to the substances faster than other people would. Finally, there is a chemical in their brain that seeks to metabolize euphoria inducing substances, and when they aren't found, the mind will forcefully seek out more. It's much more chemical than I had thought before I heard all the science mumbo-jumbo.
In the words of Mitch Hedberg, "It's funny. Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you get yelled at for having. 'Damn it Bob, you're an alcoholic!' 'Damn it Bob, you have lupus!' One of those doesn't sound right."
As for the sudden rise of atheism, atheism isn't a novel concept. It's not like it just recently came into existence. However, that doesn't mean the media isn't beginning to focus on it more. Personally, I don't see much of an "atheist bandwagon" out there, except in the high-school goth crowd where kids just want to feel a little more grown up by choosing a 'grown up' religion. Other than that, I don't see many people declaring themselves to be atheist because it's 'the cool thing to do'.
I thought this was relevant, but didn't think of a way to work it in: in a recent survey, 2% of the population reported their religion to be atheism, meaning the belief in no God, as opposed to agnostic, "I believe in God, just not sure about much else."
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Originally Posted by papermachesatan
I think you will find that more and more people are willing to "come out of the closet" and reveal their lack of religion.
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Originally Posted by dictionary.com
Religion: a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects
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I would argue that atheism is a religion. It's a person's set of beliefs about the nature of the universe. Lack of religion may not be entirely accurate.