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The new atheist just doesn’t care
National Post ^ | March 26, 2015 | John Moore

Posted on 03/26/2015 8:07:40 AM PDT by rickmichaels

In his Saturday column Conrad Black inveighed against “militant atheists”. He called them “shabby” and “shallow”. He attacked their “gratuitous disparagements of Christianity”. I’m not sure who set Black off this time. To be sure there is a species of self satisfied nose-tweakers on the atheist lecture and debating circuit but frankly militant atheism is just so passé. The fastest growing religious identity in the world is the new atheist. We really just don’t care.

Black and others have insisted non belief is a faith in and of itself. I can’t speak for all non believers but I have neither a holy book nor hymnal. I observe no special holidays and attend no services. My atheism is simply an absence of religion in my life. Outside of leaving me a few hours to myself on Sunday mornings this absence is not some kind of void that must be filled with something else.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...


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To: rickmichaels

Thank you for posting this article. It describes me to a “T”.


21 posted on 03/26/2015 9:40:42 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: rickmichaels

He’s right. That’s how I landed on atheism, it was more of a realization than a decision. I would join something, be hot on it for a couple months and then drift away, then a few years later I’d decide to try again, lather rinse repeat. Then I really looked at it and realized I’m just not that guy, I was most at peace when I’d drifted away, so that’s where I stayed. As long as other people’s religions aren’t interfering in my life I don’t care, if you’re happy with your religion good for you, I’m happy having nothing to do with it.


22 posted on 03/26/2015 9:41:34 AM PDT by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: angryoldfatman
There’s a simple test to tell if one is an agnostic or not. Do you think you know for sure if any gods exist?

You either have knowledge of the existence (hard evidence) or you don't.

23 posted on 03/26/2015 9:45:06 AM PDT by Poison Pill
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To: angryoldfatman

There’s a crowd of atheists who have probably been around a long time but they’re not terribly vocal whose answer to that question is “don’t care”. We’ve accepted the fact that we’re just not God worshiping people and whether or not there is one or a bunch just doesn’t matter. Maybe we need a new label, Uninterestedists or something.


24 posted on 03/26/2015 9:47:12 AM PDT by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: Poison Pill

Christopher Hitchens was asked what he would say if he found himself standing before God after his death. He replied that he would say, “You didn’t give me enough evidence, Lord.”

Hitchens went to his grave like many others, lacking faith. I suppose if he had been Muslim—or a member of Phil Robertson’s congregation—the faithful might have murdered him in service to Allah/God.

Religion Poisons Everything.


25 posted on 03/26/2015 9:50:27 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: rickmichaels

To be religious requires faith. To assert the null hypothesis of a true atheist requires much more faith. The rational position of those without faith is agnosticism.

Most atheists if faced with the illogic of asserting that absence of evidence is evidence of absence will accept agnosticism, an open but doubting mind, instead of their faith.


26 posted on 03/26/2015 9:53:43 AM PDT by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: tumblindice
I suppose if he had been Muslim—or a member of Phil Robertson’s congregation—the faithful might have murdered him in service to Allah/God.

Religion Poisons Everything.

False equivalency poisons discussions. Saying Phil Robertson’s congregation has killed people is an outright lie and vicious slander.

By the way, non-religion has done a pretty good job of killing people in the last 100 years (see: USSR, Nazi Germany, Red China, Cambodia, etc.).

27 posted on 03/26/2015 9:57:50 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: Poison Pill
You either have knowledge of the existence (hard evidence) or you don't.

True, but that doesn't mean that we are without clues.

Applying Occam's Razor, I've concluded that random chance does not offer a plausible explanation for the advanced structure of our DNA.

What is the alternative to chance? There is a more plausible answer...

28 posted on 03/26/2015 10:06:15 AM PDT by jonno (Having an opinion is not the same as having the answer...)
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To: angryoldfatman

The term I came across recently that I like is “Igtheist.” To the question, “Do you think you know for sure if any gods exist?” the igtheist answers, “What do you mean by “gods”? You have to be able to define something before you can argue whether it exists or not, so let’s get to a definition of “God” before we proceed.


29 posted on 03/26/2015 10:16:29 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep
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To: jonno
What is the alternative to chance? There is a more plausible answer…

Which to some sounds like you're just throwing up your hands and saying, "It's too complicated for me to understand. It must be magic."

30 posted on 03/26/2015 10:25:17 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep
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To: rickmichaels
this absence is not some kind of void that must be filled with something else

He's filled it with himself.

31 posted on 03/26/2015 11:10:57 AM PDT by tbpiper
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To: discostu
As long as other people’s religions aren’t interfering in my life I don’t care, if you’re happy with your religion good for you, I’m happy having nothing to do with it.

I read through comments looking for something that I think needs commentary or rebuttal, and when I see it, I then look to see who wrote it. Lo and behold, here you are again.

I'm not even going to say what I was going to say. I will just mention that your commentary is consistent with the picture I have of you in my mind.

32 posted on 03/26/2015 11:14:55 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: discostu

And again I pause where I feel I should say something and again, it turns out to be you.


33 posted on 03/26/2015 11:16:11 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: kosciusko51
By the way, non-religion has done a pretty good job of killing people in the last 100 years (see: USSR, Nazi Germany, Red China, Cambodia, etc.).

The Atheists in power in the Soviet Union killed 20-50 million people, depending on who you are reading. The Atheists in power in China killed 50-100 million people, again, depending on who you are reading.

Suffice it to say, Christians are pikers compared to Atheists.

34 posted on 03/26/2015 11:18:51 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep
Which to some sounds like you're just throwing up your hands and saying, "It's too complicated for me to understand. It must be magic."

"Magic" is as good a word as any for much of what goes on in the Universe. I've long been aware that there are certain characteristics of our Solar system that makes life possible on Planet earth, and the other day I saw an article where they noted there are approximately 200 of these relatively unique characteristics, the lack of which would have prevented Life from developing on Earth.

At the quantum level, we have numerous weird effects (such as quantum superposition) that might as well be characterized as some sort of "magic."

Both Macroscopically, and Microscopically, we see weird and bizarre events that we simply can't explain. "Magic" is as good a description as any.

35 posted on 03/26/2015 11:24:48 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: rickmichaels

It reminds me of the atheist in the Monty Python skit who was surprised by something and he says,” Oh my lack of God!”


36 posted on 03/26/2015 11:30:24 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: Da Bilge Troll
Atheism is a denial of God’s existence — which is a belief requiring faith.

Faith in what? Faith in your own hubris?

Faith in your own Narcissism?

To me, Atheists have only faith in their own hubris and that is not faith in anything, thus it's no faith at all. It places "self" at the top and everything else revolves around it, so it's a total lack of faith and is therefore only basic hubris or one could describe some of them (militant) as being anti-faith. Or Faith haters..

But I see no rational way to describe Atheist thinking as a faith. It's not like mathematics. You can't have (-faith)= (faith-faith)+ (hubris)

In religious terms, you either have faith or you have no faith.

IMO

37 posted on 03/26/2015 11:35:48 AM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: rickmichaels

Atheist = Narcissist.


38 posted on 03/26/2015 11:38:41 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: DiogenesLamp
I've long been aware that there are certain characteristics of our Solar system that makes life possible on Planet earth, and the other day I saw an article where they noted there are approximately 200 of these relatively unique characteristics, the lack of which would have prevented Life from developing on Earth.

Sure, but in an essentially limitless universe, it's almost inevitable that the right conditions will be met somewhere. If I roll snake eyes 200 times in a row among a set of a hundred trillion dice rolls, it might seem amazing, but it's just random.

39 posted on 03/26/2015 1:17:18 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep
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To: DiogenesLamp

Well of course, you’re a flame war junky. So you’re not really looking for something to comment on, you’re looking for something to object to. And there’s very few things in this world more objectionable than the simple truth.


40 posted on 03/26/2015 1:18:23 PM PDT by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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