My fellow Atheists - In order to live a rational life, does the trade-off have to be our imagination/sense of wonder?
by 
EvangelineOFire
ANSWERS: 14
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No! Of course not,Evangeline.I am still very creative,and I found out the truth MONTHS ago! :);)*
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Not at all. Many creative people are atheists. You can still be in awe of the workings of matter around us also figuring out its own way to the current stages.
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Absolutely not. Imagination and a sense of wonder can be deepened when you look at the universe without the constraints of dogma or superstition. There are many exciting and awe-inspiring questions to be investigated. Just understanding some of the deep questions about existence in our universe can be exhilarating.
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Hardly. There is a world of difference betwixt wonder, and gullibility.
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Au contrare. Imho, imagination is intrinsic to a "rational life"! ;-)
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Evangeline, I am not an athiest, but it would seem to be that the actual danger would be for a theist to lose his or her sense of wonder. Wonder being, in part, the contemplation of the inexplicable -- or even that which is explainable in its individual parts but which still kind of blows your mind in the aggregate. :-)
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I have quite the imagination, and I'm fascinated by certain things on a regular basis. So no. ;)
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What is more damaging to imagination and a sense of wonder than already knowing the answers? Where does the light come from? "God did it." Why do we suffer horrendous diseases and die? "It's God's will, he works in mysterious ways." Or, by imagination and wonder, we explain the stars, travel to them and make our own light. We understand disease and our genetics and the organisms that co-evolved with our species and begin to correct and cure maladies that we are afflicted with based on what we've learned. No, I prefer to use and I hope that others will use their imagination and sense of wonder in a rational way to find the answers to the questions. Others can eschew a rational life and imagine and have a sense of wonder about a Sky Daddy who has and will give all the answers--but I think that's the truly deadening path for humankind.
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I don't see how our imagination can be compromised by not believing in an imaginary deity. In effect it gives us more time to wonder about more plausible things in life.
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Not at all! For me, I just look at the stars, and I am in awe of our universe. I look through a microsope, and am in awe of our bodies. Some of the most creative/imaginative people have been atheists.
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Not an atheist here. But this is a great question, I have to say. :) I don't think that a belief in deity is necessary to have or maintain a sense of imagination, wonder or awe at the natural world. In fact, it may be certain types of theists who are more at risk of this type of loss. Look at all that "subdue the Earth" crap; the belief that "God" just put stuff here for us to screw with however we want. It's no coincidence that the biggest opponents of environmental concern for this precious planet happen to be right-wing religious types. Their belief in "God" and some fantasy afterlife has led them to blindness and neglect of the very gifts "God" has placed in front of them in the here and now.
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Not at all, but I understand how some might see that. Especially being an ex religious junky, I had a hard time taking back my creativity and imagination because I had intwined it with religious doctrine. That's one of the things that angered me the most about my past, it robbed me of many of my favorite things like writing music. It has taken much effort to get to where I was before I fell, but the freedom is well worth the effort.
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Not at all. If anything, compared to the more conservative Christians who try to ban books and films like Harry Potter or the Dan Brown and Philip Pullman books, my imagination has a freer life.
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oh no it makes us just imagine the fact that every little choice everything made led to this and if just one different fish had been killed 65 million years ago we might not look the same as we do today and the difference is we know the difference between fantacies to comfort us and things that are self contradicting, scientifically contradicted and historically contradicted so badly that they cannot possibly be true.
Moongrim 
HoboJoe 
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