John Doe, I think he is the author of this blog, wrote this post, which I came across from vjack's twitter feed (who writes atheist revolution). His post is intriguing, and has many things wrong with it considering why atheists are so vocal about atheism. He doesn't seem to understand why atheists bother arguing about the existence of god. Aside from the fact that it's interesting to speculate about and talk about with people of differing opinions, the real point of interest comes up in the comments, where John Doe (among others) seem to perceive atheists as equal to solipsists: if atheists believe others are just gobs of flesh, why do we bother being vocal about atheism, why do we care about what other people do?

Methinks atheists doth protest too much.

In my first comment, I directly addressed the atheist movement: we want to be recognized, treated humanely by theists, be allowed to maintain our dignity, etc. But John Doe became obsessed with the "gobs of flesh" metaphor -- and he really wanted to know why I, among other atheists, do not perceive other humans as just meatbags, as it were.

I answered that question, directly applying it to myself. I'm expanding upon my answer here because I feel that it really is an important question and the answer is even more important.

“All you said is that you don’t consider them globs, but you didn't say why not.” I don’t consider other humans to be gobs of flesh because it is inhumane to do so, and we are so much more than that. We are not just gobs of flesh — we are capable of thought, creativity, originality, love, hate, reason, superstition, etc. We recognize that one day, we will end. We cherish what we have now (or don’t depending on who you are) because we know that one day, we will no longer be here. As far as I know, we are the only species on earth that knows we are going to die, and what that means.

Humans are very different from gobs of flesh because of this. If I throw coffee on someone, slap them, then stomp on their foot, it elicits a reaction: anger, a wtf moment, maybe a sense of betrayal if I know this person. More that that, though, that person is capable of a variety of reactions: they can choose to forgive me, laugh if it off as if I were being funny, punch me, murder me, or any number of reactions. The reaction is what registers with me, though -- and that's how I know that other people are like me: capable of feeling, reacting, thinking, judging, and forgiving.

If I smile at someone who is having a bad day, their day becomes brighter. That, in turn, makes my day brighter. We've evolved to care about the people around us. When we see someone having a bad day, we want to make their day better (well, I speak for myself here -- there are genuine jerk-offs who don't care -- but that's just it, we're all of us different). I, for one, don't like seeing other people having a bad day, so I reach out to them in some small way -- like a smile -- and it let's them know that not everything is really terrible. It provides a small comfort, a sort of relief, in their day. And that makes me feel good about myself.

My point there is that you don't have to be religious to want to reach out to other people. Kindness and religion are not mutually exclusive, and I am unable to fathom how this idea came to be.

When a small child walks up to me, smiles and tells me I have a pretty smile, I feel warm inside. My day has been brightened. This child is doing exactly what I did in the other paragraph -- reaching out in some small way. Just plain human kindness touches me, and it touches other people. Don't you feel warm when someone smiles at you? When you hear a child laughing in delight? Why should religion influence how we feel when we see other people experiencing the small pleasures that make life worth living?

We all feel pain, love, anger, betrayal, vengeance, guilt, shame, joy, sadness, nostalgia, passion. We all cry, rage against things that make us angry, laugh joyously, tell jokes, and sit in solitude ruminating about our futures and past.

There is a difference between atheism and solipsism. All humans matter in atheism, we are a collective of peoples regardless of what each individual believes. I don't see how the idea that atheist == solipsist came about. Why is it that some theists believe only religion can provide basic human kindness? Just because I do not believe in god doesn't mean I'm going to go about kicking people who are in my way, steal from my neighbors, and automatically consider everyone else less than me. Sure, there are atheists who are solipsists, but there are also christians who are solipsists and people from other religions who are solipsists.

This world would be a pretty damned lonely place if I was the only person I considered to be real, worthy of respect and dignity. And if every atheist truly thought that way, there wouldn’t be an atheist movement. We wouldn’t care that other atheists were struggling to be recognized. After all, why would we?

I wouldn’t be here, writing this passionate argument about why I think theists who believe this idea about atheists are so very wrong.

I truly believe that every single human being is worthy of respect, love, recognition, and dignity because all of us are here for such a short time and then it’s over. Why would I want to take that away from someone else when I know just how much it means to me? Even someone who I disliked immensely? What gives me the right to take that away -- the only thing we ever truly have in this world: our time here? That's something that cannot have any price -- life. It's so precious, it's so rare, and it's so beautiful. What each of us makes of it on our own is up to us. We have nothing but what we have now — and this thought drives me to make life the best it possibly can be, to make it wonderful, brilliant, worth living. It makes me want to make our world a better place so that those who come after me have a beautiful place where they can thrive.

That's why I fight for atheism to be recognized. Not because I want to change theists into atheists, but because I want them to know that, regardless of belief, we are all the same, that life is precious, and that we have to work together to make the world a better place.