Actually met a flat earth creationist today.

Some things are certainly better than ever. Computers are better than ever. Special effects in movies are better than ever. There is more knowledge available more easily to more people than ever. And atheism has definitely made great strides in recent decades. Other things are not better than ever. The war in Syria is an incredible mess, with so many conflicting loyalties that you can't really tell whose side anyone is actually on (does Turkey oppose ISIS or are they just trying to harm the Kurds, does Russia oppose ISIS or are they just trying to support Assad, does al Qaeda really oppose ISIS and what can they get out of this conflict, and so on, it is an endless morass). Mass shootings or bombings in the US seem to continue endlessly. The oceans are so heavily polluted that it is dangerous to your health to eat too much fish (which otherwise would be the most nutritious kind of food). The sea level is slowly rising and it appears really unlikely that the world is going to escape serious climate related disasters, despite the recent Paris environmental agreement. The European Union is struggling with two very serious crises, one of insolvent member states and the other of unmanageable influx of refugees. Brazil has had its credit rating downgraded to junk status. Civil war rages in Ukraine, with Russian involvement. The economic, political, and environmental problems of the world are all connected and all seem to be approaching a critical phase. This does not in itself necessarily mean that people are getting worse as individuals or even that nations are getting worse; it may only mean that problems which have been developing in some cases for centuries (as in the case of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere) are all reaching a crisis point. But I really do not believe that things are better than ever. I don't want to be overly apocalyptic about it either; I think that it may still be possible for the human race to get its act together before it is too late, but I do think that we are collectively running out of time to do that. Too many people still turn to violence rather than cooperation, to solve their problems.

/r/atheism Thread Parent