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I really like fanfiction. Reading and writing it. Nobody in my life knows and I plan on keeping it that way.

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[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Atheism runs a long gamut of epistemic positions. Rare are those who hold a fast believe that God doesn't exist (by any definition). The default atheist position is that we don't know and the standards we use to test or hold positions of belief regarding other things we don't know about (from the nature of ball lightning to the possibility of cyptids or -- to cite some common thought experiments -- invisible pink unicorns or fairies at the bottom of the garden) can also be applied to spiritual and supernatural elements like human souls, Hell and God.

This may sound agnostic, and as per other identities, we are each free to choose the identity name we prefer. But what we have established from centuries and centuries of observation stacks pretty heavily against the supernatural assertions of popular religious faiths. We can expect that Jesus didn't likely actually rise from the dead, just as much as we can expect neither Zeus nor Thor nor Adonai command the thunderbolts (rather they seem to hold fast to electrostatic mechanics, and replaceable grounded lightning rods do a lot of heavy lifting redirecting lighting away from the big iron bells in steeples and bell towers... or doing too much damage to Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janero.

Classical agnosticism comes from a Christian tradition, asserting we don't know which interpretation of scripture is right, or if there's another explanation, but that is part of the test of faith. In the modern day as Dawkins noted in his 2002 Call to Arms TED lecture, agnostic is atheism lite, not willing to admit that God as He is (They are) understood to be by most folk, is not just improbable, but infinitesimally probable based on our knowledge of the mechanics of the physical world...and on the conspicuous silence of the supernatural (We checked! A lot!).

So a safe differentiation might look like this:

Agnostic: I believe there's a 10% chance Jesus was resurrected by divine miracle.

Atheist: I believe there's a non-zero but insignificant chance Jesus was resurrected by divine miracle

I'm a naturalist, which is to say, I haven't been able to find any evidence for supernatural events, and regard them much the way I would the notion there are invisible pink unicorns that live in Angeles Crest Forest. This is not to say science has figured out everything (we still struggle to make sense of ball lightning, though it's definitely a thing in Missouri) but much of what we figured out points away from all the other common models.

I can speculate there is a God (or a pantheon of gods) but this gets classified with a range of other possibilities, such as the simulation hypothesis, or Azathoth's dream. (We may all be figments of Azathoth's imagination, but if so, Azathoth has provided for a robust dream-scape that is extremely consistent with its physical mechanics, even when we try to break reality.) Any of these could be true, but for sake of day-to-day living, our world appears consistently to behave as material, and nothing else.

[-] PoliticallyIncorrect@lemmy.world -2 points 10 months ago

What's the real difference(evidence) between Religion and Schizophrenia?

[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

What’s the real difference (evidence) between Religion and Schizophrenia?

This is something of a problematic question, and my first take on it is that it was asked contemptuously, or in bad faith. It's also very easy to infer you imagine schizophrenia as Hollywood insanity, what is used to justify Mrs. Voorhees or Michael Meyers as slasher killers rather than as an actual mental health diagnosis from the DSM. I can't help but wonder if you regard all persons who suffer from mental illness as violent or degenerate or otherwise less of a person than those who are undiagnosed.

So one difference between religion and schizophrenia is this: The psychiatric sector estimates one in three-hundred people worldwide content with schizo-effective disorders. 251 people in three-hundred are associated with an organized religion. As identities and clubs go, religions are way popular.

In fact, there are multiple fields of study about the interaction between religious practice and mental health, including abnormal psychology, or the study of mental illness, so I'm not going to imagine I can infer the meat of your juxtaposition.

Diagnoses are not intended for any other use than to inform treatment for the patient. They are especially not used to deny civil rights to a given person because they received a diagnosis from a medical professional. In order for someone to be committed (in a modern, civilized society) they have to be an imminent danger to themselves or others, which has to be established beyond a diagnosis.

Schizophrenics are statistically less of a danger to themselves or others than the general population. They are represented disproportionately among victims of violence, including officer-involved violence. And schizophrenics can sometimes operate heavy machinery, including firearms, safely and expertly. That doesn't mean they aren't affected by their illness, just that in some cases, it doesn't interfere with their career. Contrast religious people who, as a demographic, are more violent than the general population and are convicted of violent crime more often than the general population, but not by much, since most of the general population is religious.

Irreligious people, like tabletop role-players are just not very violent.

All that said, I don't know what exactly you were trying to ask. I read it something like what's the difference between an orange and a sparrow egg? Well, one's bigger?

this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
195 points (97.1% liked)

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