Motivation (x-post from R/T)

[darkstar3]

With Christmas and its supposed war approaching, and with the current crop of atheist billboards kicking the sticks found in so many asses, a great many claims are being made about atheists and atheism in general. I won't get into specifics with this OP, but if you've read any of the R/T posts lately or any of the GD posts regarding billboards you have seen many posters treat atheism as the motivation behind acts of cruelty, arrogance, intolerance, and indecency.

In this "festive" time, I'd like to more closely investigate the concept of motivation. Specifically, I would like to know how anyone suspects that the lack of belief in a deity can act as any kind of motivational idea or force.

For an example, let's take a look at the topic du jour: Billboards. What motivation do we suspect for these atheist billboards? If the billboards in question were meant to tell non-atheists what beliefs they should leave behind, then certainly the motivation behind these billboards would be atheism itself and nothing more. But if the billboards in question are meant to tell other atheists that they are not alone, not a freakshow, not anything being spewed about them by the religious right, then the motivation becomes something much more common: The human desire for inclusion, community, and support.

I see the motivation behind these billboards as being the exact motivation behind the gay pride parade: It's OK to be YOU, and other people should think that's OK too.

But while they are a good example here, let's not focus on just the billboards themselves. I'd like for everyone who reads this thread to ponder this question: How can the lack of a belief in a deity serve as motivation for anything by itself?

[laconicsax]

1. Stalinist.

:P

[darkstar3]

2. I'm expecting that to pop up any time.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. I was thinking Pol Pot

:)

[salvorhardin]

4. It doesn't

Belief or the lack thereof in deities is a conclusion. It is a destination point. It says nothing about how you got there anymore than saying, "I'm in Toledo" tells anyone whether you arrived by train, bus, air, car or the USS Enterprise's transporter. Now, the reason you went on the trip, how you got there and the places you stopped off at along the way can speak to your motivation. But atheism is just where you're at.

[realisticphish]

5. *imaginary recommended*