Has atheism made the world a better place?

[Cameroi]

there was a world before humans invented belief. billions of them actually, but humans have a bad habit of not looking very far beyond their own noses.
this was also before humans invented agriculture (or learned by watching other creatures and exploring the what if we combined some of their behaviors)

the question is has the concept of hierarchy made the world a better place.
ach, anytime you talk about "the" world, a lot of assumptions are being made about missing terms.

i can only observe what it has and has not done.
it has made infrastructure possible.
it has also made organized warfare and mass killing possible.

when you add "ism" to the absence of hierarchy, that's making a belief out of it.
for the most part, that is completely beside the point to do so.

granted there are people who believe nothing non-physical can even exist.
that's kind of beside the point too.

its not that the unknown being unknown prevents anything from existing, its that whatever does, owes nothing to what we tell each other.

[US-SSR]

You can thank the legions of enslaved Africans who worked land taken from Native Americans for making the US as prosperous as it is. Fixed it for you.

So the entire United States was one huge sugar plantation?

Cotton was king, the most widely-traded commodity in the world. Three-fifths of US export earnings for much of the antebellum period came from cotton; cotton planted, tended, picked, processed and packaged by enslaved Africans. Industries throughout the US sold cheap clothes and farm impements South. Financial institutions issued bonds backed by the lives of the enslaved that traded in the capitals of Europe. Towns, businesses, schools and churches North and South were built and flourished thanks to the profits of enslaved labor.

Those of us who were taught in school that the US is exceptional because of the Protestant work ethic and good old Yankee ingenuity while the slave labor system was backward and inefficient were sold a bill of goods. The historical facts don't fit the national myth. Recommended reading: The Half Has Never Been Told.

[Salus Maior]

So the entire United States was one huge sugar plantation?

Cotton was king, the most widely-traded commodity in the world. Three-fifths of US export earnings for much of the antebellum period came from cotton; cotton planted, tended, picked, processed and packaged by enslaved Africans. Industries throughout the US sold cheap clothes and farm impements South. Financial institutions issued bonds backed by the lives of the enslaved that traded in the capitals of Europe. Towns, businesses, schools and churches North and South were built and flourished thanks to the profits of enslaved labor.

Those of us who were taught in school that the US is exceptional because of the Protestant work ethic and good old Yankee ingenuity while the slave labor system was backward and inefficient were sold a bill of goods. The historical facts don't fit the national myth. Recommended reading: The Half Has Never Been Told.

Yeah, Cotton was King for the South. The North relied on industry, which is why the North won and the South lost.

[Minimark]

So the entire United States was one huge sugar plantation?

Cotton was king, the most widely-traded commodity in the world. Three-fifths of US export earnings for much of the antebellum period came from cotton; cotton planted, tended, picked, processed and packaged by enslaved Africans. Industries throughout the US sold cheap clothes and farm impements South. Financial institutions issued bonds backed by the lives of the enslaved that traded in the capitals of Europe. Towns, businesses, schools and churches North and South were built and flourished thanks to the profits of enslaved labor.

Those of us who were taught in school that the US is exceptional because of the Protestant work ethic and good old Yankee ingenuity while the slave labor system was backward and inefficient were sold a bill of goods. The historical facts don't fit the national myth. Recommended reading: The Half Has Never Been Told.

Farming and agriculture at this time, no matter how broad, was most likely holding nations back. Nations that failed to industrialize and continued to rely on agriculture, i.e. the Ottomans, fell into dissaray and collapse. If anything, slavery was economically holding the U.S. back from advancement. Thats why those Southern areas are so ridden with poverty today, failure to fully industrialize and embrace 19th century ideals. Yes slavery was an atrocity, but economically was unsustainable and would lead to the U.S.'s eventual downfall.

[The Grims]

You can't conclude that it's a myth. It might be true; we just don't know.

The Bible itself doesn’t seem to want to make the conclusion that Adam and Eve were the first humans either. When Cain is tossed out of his family, he’s worried about other people killing him. Cities exist in the early Genesis before Adam and Eve even die.

I think Adam and Eve are meant to be more symbolic of humanity rather than literal people.

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

[Albrenia]

The Bible itself doesn’t seem to want to make the conclusion that Adam and Eve were the first humans either. When Cain is tossed out of his family, he’s worried about other people killing him. Cities exist in the early Genesis before Adam and Eve even die.

I think Adam and Eve are meant to be more symbolic of humanity rather than literal people.

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

Uhm... the world existed before white people, so no it doesn't. YEC believe the entire world has only existed for a few thousand years, so there'd be no other creatures to evolve from.

[The Grims]

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

Uhm... the world existed before white people, so no it doesn't. YEC believe the entire world has only existed for a few thousand years, so there'd be no other creatures to evolve from.

That is modern day YECs. The ones from the abovementioned slave era believed blacks were descended from pre-adamite beasts and therefore not human. It was used to justify slavery.

[Albrenia]

Uhm... the world existed before white people, so no it doesn't. YEC believe the entire world has only existed for a few thousand years, so there'd be no other creatures to evolve from.

That is modern day YECs. The ones from the abovementioned slave era believed blacks were descended from pre-adamite beasts and therefore not human. It was used to justify slavery.

I did not know that. Interesting.

[Kowtowannia]

there was a world before humans invented belief. billions of them actually, but humans have a bad habit of not looking very far beyond their own noses.
this was also before humans invented agriculture (or learned by watching other creatures and exploring the what if we combined some of their behaviors)

the question is has the concept of hierarchy made the world a better place.
ach, anytime you talk about "the" world, a lot of assumptions are being made about missing terms.

i can only observe what it has and has not done.
it has made infrastructure possible.
it has also made organized warfare and mass killing possible.

when you add "ism" to the absence of hierarchy, that's making a belief out of it.
for the most part, that is completely beside the point to do so.

granted there are people who believe nothing non-physical can even exist.
that's kind of beside the point too.

its not that the unknown being unknown prevents anything from existing, its that whatever does, owes nothing to what we tell each other.

[Neanderthaland]

there was a world before humans invented belief. billions of them actually, but humans have a bad habit of not looking very far beyond their own noses.
this was also before humans invented agriculture (or learned by watching other creatures and exploring the what if we combined some of their behaviors)

the question is has the concept of hierarchy made the world a better place.
ach, anytime you talk about "the" world, a lot of assumptions are being made about missing terms.

i can only observe what it has and has not done.
it has made infrastructure possible.
it has also made organized warfare and mass killing possible.

when you add "ism" to the absence of hierarchy, that's making a belief out of it.
for the most part, that is completely beside the point to do so.

granted there are people who believe nothing non-physical can even exist.
that's kind of beside the point too.

its not that the unknown being unknown prevents anything from existing, its that whatever does, owes nothing to what we tell each other.

You forgot the question mark.

[US-SSR]

(Image)

You forgot the question mark.

punctuation doesn't work within ns spoiler tags

[spoiler=see what i mean?]

[/spoiler]

[Neanderthaland]

You forgot the question mark.

punctuation doesn't work within ns spoiler tags

[spoiler=see what i mean?]

[/spoiler]

Was a joke, m8.

[Stylan]

no

[Salus Maior]

The Bible itself doesn’t seem to want to make the conclusion that Adam and Eve were the first humans either. When Cain is tossed out of his family, he’s worried about other people killing him. Cities exist in the early Genesis before Adam and Eve even die.

I think Adam and Eve are meant to be more symbolic of humanity rather than literal people.

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

What do white people have to do with anything I said?

[Rojava Free State]

The Bible itself doesn’t seem to want to make the conclusion that Adam and Eve were the first humans either. When Cain is tossed out of his family, he’s worried about other people killing him. Cities exist in the early Genesis before Adam and Eve even die.

I think Adam and Eve are meant to be more symbolic of humanity rather than literal people.

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

Getting dangerously close to Christian identity

[Europa Undivided]

The Bible itself doesn’t seem to want to make the conclusion that Adam and Eve were the first humans either. When Cain is tossed out of his family, he’s worried about other people killing him. Cities exist in the early Genesis before Adam and Eve even die.

I think Adam and Eve are meant to be more symbolic of humanity rather than literal people.

Not the first white people? Those evolved about 8000 years ago, so that even fits with the young earthers view.

No, just the first people. Its just that whoever makes the paintings of Adam and Eve would naturally use what they're used to.

Christianity has historically been a European faith (Middle East and North Africa, *cough*), so seeing Adam and Eve depicted as white is not surprising at all.