Would you die for your non-faith?

Atlas

Master Poster
Atlas
Joined
Jan 31, 2004
Messages
2,223
I love being a free thinking human being but right now, as I'm thinking about it for the first time - I don't think I'd lay down my life for my non-faith. When I was a fervent Christian I believed I would to save my soul. Anybody care to comment on that?

I prefer the term wisdom to cowardice. Was I so brainwashed before?

Who goes by the sig: So many cults - so few comets

I thought it was funny til this all struck me.
 
I feel people will die for something as long as they feel some good will come of it. Be it the selfish good of going to heaven (suckers) or the sacrificing good to save a life, protect the freedom of a country or whatever. What others may die for can be different from what you would willingly die for and I can respect that.

The beauty of being a Free Thinker is that YOU now have the freedom to decide what is worth dying for. What is worth dying for is no longer dictated by a set of rules written in a Book. So start thinking and make a list of what is worth dying for to you.

Personally, I am dying for a big slice of cheesecake. And as high as my cholesterol is - I really AM dying for it. Not the most honorable thing to give your life for, I know, but hey, as a Free Thinker I have that freedom to choose. You may not die for a slice, but please, respect me for what I am willing to die for - Right or wrong.
 
I wouldn't die for my non-faith. But I'd fight and kill someone who was trying to kill me for my non-faith.
 
saying you lay down your life for your non-faith and actually doing it are definately two different things.
 
Yahweh said:
I would be unwilling to die to prove a point...
Click to expand...
That's probably what it comes down to. It seems a powerful example of how an eternal soul or lack of one makes a difference in my thinking. Something that I really wasn't aware of.
 
Would I, if stuck in a room with someone who said, "Say you believe in God, or I'll shoot you," refuse to say it. No. I like living.

I could see some situations in which I would be willing to die for "non-faith," or at least for my right not to have faith. I could see myself fighting and possibly dying in some armed conflict to prevent the rise of a true theocracy, or to affect the dissolution of same. I don't think it's likely I'll have to, but if the time comes, I'd call that a fight worth having and a death worth dying. Not to prove a point, but to provide others with the freedoms I feel they should have.

Of course, I say that now. When the revolution comes, I'll probably come up with some excuse or another. :D
 
I'm not sure I would die for my "non-faith".

But I may be willing to risk my life for a lot of the things I care about, like freedom of conscience, liberty, people I care for and human progress.
 
Like Paul Eldridge said, "man is ready to die for an idea, provided that idea is not quite clear to him."
 
Would I go to certain death for any reason what so ever? No, I don't think so.
Would I do something with a large risk of death if I thought I couldn't live with myself if I didn't? Maybe.
Do I know what I would choose? No, but I can make up situations and tell you what I, at this point, would like me to choose in such a situation.
 
As a Buddhist my “faith” is compassion, loving kindness and respect for all beings. Would I lay down my life for other beings, yes if it was logical and done purely for compassion.

Would I lay down my life for Buddhism, it does need my help nor ask for it as no belief should demand suffering of a follower to “prove” themselves.

Just what I believe.

On a similar topic 'To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man.' [Michael Servetus]
 
Am I wrong or is there a suggestion that there is some kind of "moral strength" to dieing for your beliefs? Well, people have died for christianity, islam, communism, nazism, manifest destiny, the glory of the fatherland, the honour of their house and so on ad nauseum. People have even died for their faith in their greatuncle Rodney who smoked 40 a day and died fit as a fiddle at 97.
Life isn't a joke - the important bit doesn't have to be the punchline.
 
No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have much to gain from it after dying.
And besides, I might be wrong =)
 
Dying for an idea is plain stupid.

The idea itself is manifest in your head. If you're dead, it's gone.

You killed effectively what you wanted to preserve. As long as you live you might change the world, if you're dead the world changes you. Maybe not the world but the worms. ;)
 
ingoa said:
Dying for an idea is plain stupid.

The idea itself is manifest in your head. If you're dead, it's gone.

You killed effectively what you wanted to preserve. As long as you live you might change the world, if you're dead the world changes you. Maybe not the world but the worms. ;)
Click to expand...

Not fully true, if you give up your life through selfless compassion to save others you have planted a seed that will grow, flower and spread.
 
It is all too easy to make grand claims about how one will die for this, or kill for that from the safety of a PC terminal. However, I doubt that very few of those who make such claims would actually follow through with them if the situation really presented itself.

As for me, I really do not know if I would be willing to die for my non-beliefs; I tend to get plenty scared when I face death.
 
Pahansiri said:


Not fully true, if you give up your life through selfless compassion to save others you have planted a seed that will grow, flower and spread.
Click to expand...

Well in this case you're dying for other people and not for the idea. I've been in the military, but martyrdom just to provide a punchline is not my cup of tea.
 
ingoa said:


Well in this case you're dying for other people and not for the idea. I've been in the military, but martyrdom just to provide a punchline is not my cup of tea.
Click to expand...

Many times if not most, wars are not to die for others who need help it is to die for the powerful, for greed and desires to control.
 
Marquis de Carabas said:
Of course, I say that now. When the revolution comes, I'll probably come up with some excuse or another. :D
Click to expand...
When the revolution comes, you'll be one of the first against the wall...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom