Hello everyone. Evowizard here. I just wanted to ask about whether or not to post this as my own blog on my own fimfiction page.

I'm a big Carl Sagan fan and of his work. I've always have been, but I'm rather nervous about it. {I've been ostracized on a number of occasions for admitting I was an atheist.} Yet, I thought this video was rather beautiful and I wanted to share it with my viewers. I just wanted to ask whether I should or not or any posts even hinting at it.

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Well the internet tends to be more atheist-friendly than real life. You'd probably be fine. Worst case scenario is that you'd start some kind of argument in the comments section. I seriously doubt anyone would harass you for it and it's unlike more than one or two would unfollow you.

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Personally, I welcome any sort of backlash or opposition I may face. I will not yield to the ignorant masses, nor will I apologize for being right.

I'm opinionated, and oftentimes, and bit too pushy about my opinions, but in my experience, it has only been the willfully stupid that have made much of a fuss over what I have to say. I get a kick out of people who try to use the Bible to convince me that the Bible is truth, or people who fervently rail against civil rights. For these people, I give no fucks.

As for the universe 'not being made for us', I can't help but think of my mindset back when I was Christian. Once upon a time, I felt secure in my belief in an after-life, because I couldn't imagine living simply to die. At other times, times of doubt, I became angry at the universe for the cock-tease of an ending existence. Unfortunately, however, it's more logical to assume that the universe simply doesn't care. It's not a sentient thing. My disbelief doesn't pander to my wishes, but to reality, and it's very possible that reality dictates that a cold, unfeeling universe can be 'cruel' enough to pop sentient life in and out of existence, not giving a damn about what we perceive as a tragedy.

We can never really be certain, however, that this is the case. A more tangible, easily observable example of the coldness of reality comes in the form of the predator/prey cycle within the animal kingdom. If there is a god, and this god designed this process, then that god is a psychopath. We could dress it up all we want, we could talk about the 'circle of life' (awesome film, as The Lion King was) but at the end of the day, it's a pretty horrifying concept.

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5200341 I really want to thank you both for your feedback. It really does mean a lot, since I don't often get to talk with other atheists.

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There's lots of us here on FiMFiction!
Can't say's I've ever really run into any problems for it. Even back in the days of posting in the Christian Bronies group, when it was actually deserving of that name.

5200348 True. I felt like posting this video after a little argument with a friend. He's a Biologist and Paleontologist major and he said he used to be an atheist until.....the facts didn't match up. I honestly have no idea how he could come to that conclusion. While we don't know everything, right now those fields don't result in proof of a god and people leading said fields, for the most part, are atheists or agnostics.

5200384 Was this person ever religious in his life before becoming an atheist?

It took me quite a while to have both feet in on disbelief, and I've seen others I know sway back and forth. The desire for everything to match up with the concept of a god and an afterlife can easily override reason. Scientists, for the most part, are simply better than most of us at recognizing the human tendency towards manipulating facts to suit one's comfort-zone and fighting against it.

Basically speaking, I'm pretty sure that you're friend is deluding his or herself, and if that's true, then it's not going to be something that they realize that they are doing. I can remember making good grades on my science tests at school, while seeing evidence for the religious narrative I'd been taught, in everything.

Not just with religion, but with stuff like politics and other things we feel strongly about, we often subconsciously ignore everything that rails against conventional wisdom, or our perspective, and we often focus on everything that even remotely appears to support what we think is right. When reality becomes uncomfortable for us, we often try to bend it to our whims.

5200400 He never mentioned if he was once religious, so I wouldn't know. A part of me is afraid of bringing it back up, since we kind of got into an argument over whether religion is needed or not. He's incredibly intelligent and talented, yet I don't know why he would come to that conclusion. He kept himself vague on that and was kind of on the side that humans do need religion to keep morality or at least the majority. It didn't sound like his usual self, because he's usually quite upbeat and informative. I don't know whether to show him some Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, or talk to him about it more or keep silent about it and let it die.

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on the side that humans do need religion to keep morality or at least the majority.

If it were me, I would have thrown this one back in his face. There's literally nothing to back that one up, and quite frankly, it's pretty damn easy to find evidence to the contrary with a simple Google search.

Religion oftentimes teaches people the wrong things. Religion is why we have ISIS. Religion is why we have people bombing abortion clinics. Religion is often the go-to justification for discrimination and persecution based on race, gender, and sexual religion. Even when people stick their heads in the sand on all the nasty bits and only read into the good, people still act on their own natural impulses, often rationalizing petty crimes, dishonesty, and shady behavior after the fact. It's been my experience that the majority of Christians I meet are hypocritical, judgmental, and are shielded by a bloated sense of self-righteousness.

The two major factors in whether or not someone turns out to be a moral person just boils down to genetics, and how they're raised. Religious human beings prove time and time again that a belief in Hell, or an all-knowing watcher aren't enough to prevent them from behaving badly. Hell, being religious never stopped me from being an overly-aggressive, violent prick in high-school.

What religion does, is what social conservatism does in general—it causes people to keep up appearances in public. In fact, it's this aspect of our social being that 'shotgun weddings' were born from. Basically speaking, a shotgun wedding doesn't erase the 'sin' of fucking out of wedlock, but rather, it's a way to save face in front of a congregation.

Sorry for the rant, but you brought up one of my pet-peeves.

5200661 Exactly. I did kind of want to push it, but again, he was my friend for two and a half years. I didn't find out about this until I mentioned I was an atheist and I commented that I found the concept of a "Evolutionary Creationist" incredibly weird since the likes of Richard Dawkins and such are adamant that intelligent design is hogwash. I apologize for bringing it up, but it really agitated me as well.

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I apologize for bringing it up,

I think you misunderstood me. My rant-y agitation is aimed at those who would make such an argument, and not at you.

5200748 I tend to do that.

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Should you share such a video?
Well, do you want everybody to like a fake you, or some people to like the real you? That's what it comes down to, when your opinions may be unpopular.

5201340 Yeah, you're right. I did decide to post it and I seem to have worried myself over nothing.

5199961 Should you share it? Maybe. Personally I would risk it... but if some drama is sired up by it, I cannot recommend not getting involved enough. Intelligent conversation and debate? Sure, that's fun! But the last thing you want is to be known as that author who started something, so just be careful who you indulge.

5200343 Well there's plenty of us here ready to talk if you like? In fact I even think we have a Skype chat somewhere.

Wait... we don't!? Huh.
Might need to do something about that.

5202283 That's very much true. I'm rather hesitant to respond, especially since I did get a religious answer. {Complete with them saying there was proof of God.} And I don't want to start an argument, so I think I might try and not get my hands dirty.

5202486 Hum... if they're not too aggressive over it it might be worth interacting with them from a certain approach. Ask them what they mean by proof and give what they say a think over. If what they have to say makes seance, well be sure to stop by and share before you head off to church. If not, just say so but don't say why, let them ask for the details. Pushing your thoughts out turns it into a debate, a verbal battle to be fought, people are far more likely to take what you have to say seriously and think about it if you let them come to you out of curiosity.

Edit: Alternatively you could let me do it. Browsing this fellows argument is giving me an itch...

5203240 Perhaps I will. I'm still a little hesitant, but maybe I'll give it a try.

5203250 It really depends on what your comfortable with. Just be sure to back out if it feels like things are escalating is the best I can recommend.

However in this specific case... looking at the wording of the argument (an eloquently worded god-of-the-gaps type claim) he certainly seems fairly set in his ways and if I were to guess has probably gone over this type of argument before. I would advise discretion.

5203301 Perhaps I should avoid this argument with this person. Thank you for the advice. Honestly though, the only time I've ever had an argument, since I usually avoid it, was with a friend who turned out to be an evolutionary creationist. A part of me want to keep that at bay and not bring it up again and another part of me wants to ask about this, maybe create a thread so I can get more opinions because his argument didn't make sense.

5203309 Like I said, best I can tell is it's a god-of-the-gaps argument. We don't know how the universe came to be so there for god did it, while relying on cause and effect to hold it in place. How that relates to us being the centre of the universe is a leap of logic (or faith) even I can't quite rap my head around. To that end he uses some sort of circular logic and the observation that everything else being big doesn't make us insignificant, which is true but doesn't mean we're the centre of the universe or... you know what? I am way to tiered to try and understand this right now. Think I might try again later when I've had some shut eye and a good breakfast.