http://www.religioustolerance.org/apatheism.htm
What do you guys think of this guy's take on it?
A mixed view of Apatheism by a Unitarian Universalist minister:
The Rev. Mark Stringer of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines sees positive and negative aspects of Apatheism. In a 2004 sermon he said, in part:
"On the surface, apatheism sounds like a good idea, and compared to the rigidity of fundamentalism, it is definitely a cultural improvement. Certainly most of us would agree that, throughout recorded history, enormous amounts of damage have been done by humans wound too tightly in their own religious zeal. An increase in the number of people who are committed to more relaxed religiosity, who do not see it as their religious duty to separate the saved from the unsaved, the sheep from the goats, the pure and holy heterosexuals from the wicked and evil homosexuals, just to name one currently pertinent example, can’t be anything but good, right? The rise of apatheism, then, could be seen as a welcome indication that more and more people are not taking religion so seriously and frankly, in a world where those holding fanatical religious views can put entire countries on the defensive, it’s about time. ..."
"As I have pondered the concept of apatheism this week, I’ve come to see that I’ve moved away from it as a descriptor for my own beliefs because I now realize that there is too much at stake to be indifferent about matters of religion."
"I recognize that I can’t be an apatheist because, while I don’t wish to deny your individual perceptions of the God you may follow, I do care and am affected by what you think the God you may follow feels about me, my friends and companions, and this earth we share."
I need to be something more than indifferent, for example, if your God is telling you to discriminate against, withhold civil rights from, or persecute people simply based on their gender or sexual orientation, class, race, or politics.
"I need to be something more than indifferent if your God requires you to support wide-ranging censorship or the disregard of scientific fact in favor of creationism."
"I need to be something more than indifferent if your God requires you to support unfair distribution of income or privilege."
"Or if your God sanctions misuse of the planet or doesn’t question a lack of environmental responsibility."
"Or if your God is calling upon you to take up a crusade or holy war against another people, whether the facts support this crusade or not."
"My ever-evolving Unitarian Universalist faith has helped me see that in all of these cases, and many more, I need to be something more than indifferent, something more than apatheistic." 7
Wow! Very interesting--I have not heard of that word or movement--if one could call it that. I'm drawn to some aspects of it. But then, when I thought a little about it, it may be the default setting of most people on any particular subject--I just don't give a shit. I've uttered this myself when a subject or incident was brought up that I did not care about. I mean, consider that when I bring up that very vital issue of baseball and the DH rule, I often get this glassy eyed look and a response of --'huh? Oh baseball, I just don't give a shit!", which shakes me to my foundation! How can a person feel that way about baseball???? I mean the refrain can be deafening--Did you hear about---I just don't give a shit! The twin towers..............I just don't give a shit! The flood in...............I just don't give a shit! Yep, the 'I don't give a shit' birds are everywhere--and they don't give a shit about everything! Or it may be the manifestation of the typical willful ignorance of the average person. Is the US in north or south America--I don't know and I just don't give a shit. Could be. But then again, I could be wrong--I just don't give a shit!
It's how I identified for a little while as a teen. I prefer "secular humanist" as a label these days, because I prefer to identify but what I think rather than what I don't. So "apatheist" is as useless as "atheist" to me.
This handy flowchart actually made me realize I was more of a naturalist than a humanist. I had never heard of apatheism until I saw the flowchart and looked it up.
http://cdn.visualnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/worldview_survey.jpg
Quote from: TomFoolery on May 27, 2015, 01:12:11 PM
http://cdn.visualnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/worldview_survey.jpg
Existentialist.
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md1fa1ct9V1qgiq62o1_500.gif)
I had never heard of the term apatheist. I do care about people's religious beliefs because I am very interested in how people think.
The term Apatheism is more of an attitude, vs. a theological perspective.
Be that as it may; it's a perfectly valid term to be used when describing a persons belief in gods.
"I don't give a shit" holds nearly the same value as "There are no gods". imo.
Quote from: TomFoolery on May 27, 2015, 01:12:11 PM
This handy flowchart actually made me realize I was more of a naturalist than a humanist. I had never heard of apatheism until I saw the flowchart and looked it up.
http://cdn.visualnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/worldview_survey.jpg
Although that flowchart is far from perfect, asking a lot of biased questions such as "How are you saved?" when people can believe in a God and not think they need to "be saved" because they were never damned in the first place.
And here I was thinking Apatheism was the belief that AllPurposeAtheist is a god. Learn something everyday.
From what I understand from the interesting link, I'm not an Apatheist. Mainly because in a world in which theism and religion hold great power and influence, and often in a negative way, not caring about the issue is not an option to me.