Religion and Veeky Forums

How come is Veeky Forums so religious? Maybe my prejudice about rampant atheism on most other boards is wrong (ignore /pol), but people here seem surprisingly tolerant towards, and even interested in, religion.

Is it because of great philosophers? Or is it a bit like poetry - trying to dance around the limits of language? Is it a counter-reaction to the Dawkins-tier fedora tippers?

To be quite honest I'm an atheist in the epistemic and metaphysical sense yet I share your, well, being drawn towards mysticism, for a lack of a more accurate word. As for religion's role in society I'm just extremely conflicted.

It's impossible to have a nuanced understanding of at least the Western canon without an understanding and appreciation of Western religion. Ask your Lit professor what he thinks about atheism and he'll probably at least touch on the decline in bible literacy and subsequent unpreparedness to deal with the imagery in most western literature.

There's also a sizeable contingent of /pol/ shitposters who have latched onto Christianity as an identity talisman and reaction to the death of higher meaning, which they blame on Cultural Marx and the Frankfurt School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

So you have those guys too. At least the bronies stay on their quarantine board.

Religion is important and interesting, especially in a literary context.

A very strange author from my country, Mircea Eliade actually wrote about the history of religion.

Posts like this are why I haven't abandoned lit entirely yet

>It's impossible to have a nuanced understanding of at least the Western canon without an understanding and appreciation of Western religion.

This.
Also I was a militant atheist in my teens as well but slowly I transitioned into agnosticism and then deism and nowadays I have no idea about what's true but militant atheism is a sign of absolute ignorance anyway since religion helped and is still helping civilization in numerous ways.
As far as I know a lot of great scientists were/are at least deists, atheism is not a sign of higher intelligence. It's fine if you don't believe in anything supernatural but disregarding everybody who does to a healthy degree is just retarded.

I'll be honest, I'm no Christian but Veeky Forums has made me consider reading the Bible. I can quote from it when it suits me but only because I memorised the passages that argue le epic fedora atheism; I've never read it in its entirety. Nowadays I'm agnostic and, although I'll never believe in the Christian god, I would still say that I maintain Christian values. Believe what you like but the Bible is the basis of western civilisation's moral framework.

I don't believe in a God but recognize the importance of Christian values and support them.

Most of it was obfuscation and lies and misinterpretation. Nicely written, sure, but also very wrong. If you're into occultismcand mysticism, Eliade is a must tho.

Si daca o dai si cu literatura lui, tempulamea, e la nivel telenovelistic.

Descartes literally proved god's existence a few centuries before nietzsche ended philosophy then wittgenstein ended it again
Oh, and that "god" is staying uncapitalized. Don't try and correct me unless you're willing to debate, and be forewarned, I don't pull punches.

*tips mitre*

>and be forewarned, I don't pull punches.

You sound like a faggot.

Never been a believer, never will. But the beauty and art and even science that it has produced is essential. My favorite books, films, pieces of music, sculptures, paintigs, etc. are either religious or heavily draw on it. Distancing yourself from it is edgy, ignorant and arrogant.

>don't pull punches

Kek, post it.

It's a pasta.

"Veeky Forums" is "religious" because it's intellectually rebellious, counter-(wider-internet)-culture. It's the opposite of being cool and that's what makes it cool.

Philosophically, there is no difference between the main religions and fiction except that we are coerced into taking the former seriously because old books are srs bziness and one or more (abstract) authorities told us so and being anti-social is bad for the feelz.

So much for the philosophical and psychological aspect.

As for ivory tower lit grads, I say leave them in peace to enjoy their "imagery". They are simpletons only capable of abstract thought when it makes their vaginas tingle.

>As for ivory tower lit grads,

STEM faggots are at it again because they can't appreciate art.

>you can't appreciate art if you're not a humanities grad
Whatever makes you not kill yourself serving my morning coffee, champ.

reddit never cease to be a quality source of memes

What's it like being an unaware caricature of what you actually belive in?

That's the one

Tho you can't help but notice the similarity in tirades against atheism and the meme pic re "anti-sjws are just as bad as sjws because they hate things", simply substitute "hate" for "believe" and you have the exact same course of discourse. Any man of higher intelligence of course spots the false equivalence right away: Religion is groupthink and as nonage the antithesis of enlightenment per Kant's definition. Christposters are not Spinoza/Kant/Leibniz. They latch onto one or the other (perhaps the great philosophers themselves) intellectual authorities without themselves having the intellect and original thought to back it up and the atheist essentially is left to argue with shadows. In the end, it becomes clear that both sides are on the losing side. Cases, many such.

Holy... I want more

t. never read Kant once

What the fuck did his writing have to do with anything. He just wanted to boast about his shitty fedora-core navel gazing.

Actually I did read him once before I read him twice but sadly to reply to this sincerely I only undermine myself.

*Sigh* Sometimes it's not easy being enlightened.

People who devote their lives to literature, or really to just about anything that rises above acceptance of the modern status quo and its day-to-day hedonism, are typically more open to the idea that the sacred dimension of life has become lost to humanity.

People who prefer chasing after the sacred to learning to accept the profane are open to all sorts of different ways of conceiving it. Mysticism, forms of religious "truth" that are not discursive or rational (such as the purely affirmative, intuitive knowledge of mystical experience), and plain nostalgia for the "enchanted" world where things had meaning and people had purpose.

Veeky Forums attracts a lot of people who have general Weltschmerz. Veeky Forums attracts the kind of guy who is excited to think about how robots will automate his ass-wiping and algorithmically generate better Netflix shows for him in the future, Veeky Forums attracts the person who wants inner cultivation. Veeky Forums worships the self, Veeky Forums wants to transcend the self.

Well, it's sad to see not even two readings helped you understand him. Kant argued against dogmatism and specifically against basing morality on religious authority instead of reason. The ideas of God and transcendent soul being being absolutely necessary components of reason. Honestly, I'm not a religious person, but your whole post is just one big mess of slightly spiced up fedoratism.
>*Sigh* Sometimes it's not easy being enlightened.
*tips*

ibn al arabi did not say this you ignorant swine

What's "very strange" about Eliade?

Jesus Christ these people have no self-awareness

We're too smart to be atheist. Christianity provides the only framework to resist Islamization, the soiling of the gene pool by third worlders, moral degeneracy, and Marxism.

Not him but not much. Wasn't anywhere near Jung when it came to depravity and weirdness

>Christianity provides the only framework to resist Islamization, the soiling of the gene pool by third worlders, moral degeneracy, and Marxism.

Ahh yes, too "smart" indeed.

t. max weber

You're not a Christian.

this. Even as an agnostic I agree with this post and others that talk about Christian morality and ethics.

I studied under someone who studied under Wendy Doninger, one of his more famous students.

The thread could have stopped here.

...

Kant believed in God, he believed that the universal moral laws were implemented by God and were deducable by human reason, and this is coming from an atheist.

The thing about atheists is that you can destroy them by posting a neckbeard in a fedora. The atheist movement which peaked back in the mid 2000s can never recover from the fedora meme.

The thing about atheism is that it was counterculture in 2006 or whatever, but since then it's lost all its teeth and relevance.

Jesus Christ.

this

the tip meme is the endgame of atheism

>/pol/ is full of retards
Wow what an insight. I'm so glad someone spent hours of their life putting this image together.

Eh, let them LARP. If even one of them becomes a genuine follower of Christ, all the shitposting will have been worth it.

>-221 points

Excellent post.

I agree with the poster above, but I would also add this.

I am a Christian, and in my experience, Christians tend to read a lot.

I'm not saying we have generally Veeky Forums-certified tastes, but when you grow up reading scripture from a very young age, reading literature, poetry, and philosophy comes naturally. Even historical readings are second nature.

Most of the Bible is far better understood in its historic context. There are also several segments which require an understanding of Biblical, or ancient world, symbolism in order to comprehend. Likewise, so much of the content is abstract in nature that philosophic contemplation becomes facile - so long as the Christian is actually investing themselves in the study of the Word and meditating on its content.

These things lend themselves well to the analysis of the symbolism in art, poetry, and more. I don't know that everyone will agree with me on this, but it is my suspicion.

There can be no greater superstition than a belief in the inevitability of the disappearance of religious behavior.

>Christianity as an identity talisman and reaction to the death of higher meaning
Veeky Forums does the same exact shit with the Philosophia Perennis, an amulet against the dreaded accusation of wearing a fedora.

Ideology to protect you from ideology, because the States are still imprepared to believe in the existence of the irreligious.

Your experience is the product of growing up in an educated background where the Bible is actually taught (I also had to read excerpts and learn prayers as part of my upbringing)

I'm not sure however it's something that can be extended to all christians as it does seem that in america especially there seem to be a lot of christian groups who read very little, or worse you have people who adopt christianity simply because it coincides with their ideology, such as thisPersonally I hate people who adopt beliefs because it suits their ideology, it shows weakness in character and the inability to think for themselves

>Veeky Forums attracts a lot of people who have general Weltschmerz. Veeky Forums attracts the kind of guy who is excited to think about how robots will automate his ass-wiping

lmao

Because religion is the primary way to structure our world (at least in my case) when it comes to matters like meaning, purpose and dignity.

Now, I fully accept that these concepts are completely subjective and vary from person to person, but it is one of the few areas in which religion works very well. When it comes to making people aware of caring for those below you, and developing a certain sense of responsibility, two concepts which aren't really measurable, but are nevertheless extremely important to us, narratives, as opposed to raw data, is really useful, to ourselves, and those around us.

Oh, and ignore the CINOs on here and on /pol/. Whenever someone begins to fire away verses at you, without explaining the context or the message behind them (which is usually much more complex than DURR UR WRONG UR GONNA BURN), you can be pretty sure that they know absolutely fuck all about either Christianity or religion in general

>Whenever someone begins to fire away verses at you, without explaining the context or the message behind them (which is usually much more complex than DURR UR WRONG UR GONNA BURN), you can be pretty sure that they know absolutely fuck all about either Christianity or religion in general

Whenever I see somebody doing this it's almost always from an atheist telling somebody else not to judge or pray in public or some other stupid shit.

But where is the connection to Veeky Forums? Is it narratives? Or perhaps a better question is "what kind of people does board culture attract".