negative aspect = being close minded about the existence of a god/higher power, missing out on the benefits of spirituality. What I've learned is spirituality is a key aspect to being balanced.
its a truly amazing thing to ponder the universe and really see it for what it is in your minds eye. all of the processes that keep it going perform in such a way that i am always amazed. and the true mystery of it, at least in my opinion, cant be experienced if you believe that a god in the sky made it all. to me, that trivializes the universe
i agree with what you said, except the part about
needing it to be balanced. i see where youre comin from though. the benefits of spirituality can also be experienced in other ways that dont require a deity, such as meditation or drugs.
I guess if I had to put something on the negative column strictly from a non biblical world view i would think that being athiest would mean that you are accountable to no one but yourself so they would have the tendency to care less about the people around them as long as they felt they were ok. With that being said though it all depends on the type person it is, being athiest doesn't mean you have no morals so you could still be a good person.
that is true. people can be greedy at times. and i mean greedy loosely. most people live in their heads, mostly worried about themselves. they reach out to others either to benefit themselves later, or just out of the goodness of their heart. of course, these qualities can be taught without religion, and one does not
need religion in order to be a giving person. yes, most religions do promote giving to others. but this does not mean religion is the sole cause of this.
why cant we have a society where people are good to one another because we are all made of the same atoms? we are all essentially made of the same exact building materials. i do not think it is necessary to have an all-seeing god watching over us, forcing us to be good to one another. we can do it ourselves.
/rambling
thanks for the input guys