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 ...
And an atheist might say that believing you're a miraculous creation of a Supreme Being is a pretty narcissistic position.
The "magic" is that we happen to be living in that hundred trillion to one condition. We are all lottery winners.
That's one theory. Another is that I believe erroneous ideas and assertions need to be challenged because it serves the best interest of our society. (And therefore the best interest of me and mine.)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
And where is the easiest stage of intervention? At the level of ideas. When you have to fight masses determined to act on those ideas, the effort just gets harder.
As I have said, we could have stopped Hitler at the Sudetenland. Because we didn't, we ended up having to stop him at the Battle of the Bulge. It would have been easier still to stop him when he was preaching Nazisism and before he came into power.
I Object to your ideas as advocated on this thread and on other threads. It is just a quirk that it is you who happens to be advocating them. Or perhaps not.
You are decidedly Libertarian in outlook, and Libertarianism is just the lesser evil cousin of Liberalism.
And there’s very few things in this world more objectionable than the simple truth.
Ain't that the truth.
Atheists can enjoy their religious belief system, I’ll enjoy mine.
Wow two post and you’ve already run to Hitler. That’s the fastest Godwin I’ve seen in a while.
And note, you haven’t actually objected to ANY of my ideas. You’re only going for personal attacks. Because you’re a flame war junky.
I don’t know if y’all are trying to discount what I posted or not. Those weren’t my words, those were from:
http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/a/Atheist-vs-Agnostic-Difference.htm
Which was written by an atheist (a secular humanist, to be precise):
http://atheism.about.com/bio/Austin-Cline-5577.htm
So don’t argue with me about definitions of atheism and agnosticism, since I’m just another stupid Christian on FR, argue with that smarty smart smart atheist.
I don’t really care what about.com says. I’m pointing out that the situation is more complicated than that. That was written by one type of atheist. Like every other belief and philosophy out there there are variations on the theme. Some atheists are like Hitchens, very in your face, for them yes, absolutely, it’s a religion and it’s all about saying there is no God.
But plenty of atheists are like the article is talking about. We just don’t care, it’s just not part of our life. We’re not bothered by people of religion (well so long as they aren’t actually BOTHERING us with like pamphlets or trying to ban stuff we enjoy), we don’t look down on them. We just don’t participate. All that religion stuff, including militant atheism, is just not in the ven diagram of our lives.
I don’t think anybody here called you stupid. I sure didn’t. I don’t look down on anybody for being religious. I’ve got many friends that span many levels of dedication to many religions. I’ve even participated in a few of their ceremonies (mostly weddings and funerals, a few Seders), I’ll say the words and be respectful. I don’t believe the words, but at those times I’m in Rome so I go with it. I don’t think I’m smarter than them, I just know I can’t do it. I’ve tried, it didn’t stick. I was born again in high school, a couple months later I wasn’t going to church anymore. I really think it’s genetic, some folks need religion, some don’t, some folks can be religious, some folks can’t. I think the militant atheists are folks who on some level have the genetic need for religion but for whatever reason are rebelling against it, it’s why they’re such jerks about it. My history says I can’t be religious. Don’t know if it makes me better or worse, it’s just how I am, brown haired, hazel eyed, left handed, and incapable of worshiping anything or anybody.
I think it's a simpler but baffling explanation that can be compared to a person who quits smoking and becomes a Nazi (smoking Nazi).
I certainly don't see it as a religion, but more of a personal issue that for some reason they redirect toward someone they don't even know..like the spiteful bastards that they are...
Thanks for being courteous and considerate.
That said, it seems you attribute too much to genes and not enough to frontal lobes. If you attribute too much behavior to genes, then the only solution to unwanted behavior becomes elimination.
Simple Darwinian solution.
It plays right into the hands of leftists, in particular the leftist elite. We are already seeing the outrageous reactions they have to disagreement and dissent, their wishes of violence and death upon us.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=twitter+death+threats+against+conservative
Once you take away the ability to decide how to think and put in its place the robotic mechanisms of DNA, it’s a small step to death camps from there.
These new atheists are far from “not caring.” They seem to have a rabid hatred of anything even associated with organized religion — not only the worship of a deity, but anything signifying authority, hierarchy, moral conduct, gender roles & differences, inequality of abilities (read: income). If it’s not something they can rationalize, like traffic laws, they dismiss it as nonsense. They hate G-d because they hate the real world & are trying to invent their own, based on moral relativism. Basically, they just want total freedom — the ultimate of malignant narcissism.
One would have to be omniscient to know for sure that there is not enough knowledge to draw a conclusion as to the existence of God. So to say that it is a "state of being", as opposed to a mere claim about a state of being is nothing more than a claim of omniscient ignorance.
Not claiming to know for sure is just as much a claim as a claim to know for sure. One would have to have searched everywhere at all times and places to know for sure that there is not enough evidence to know for sure. It is self-refuting.
Cordially,
Not necessarily. As DL alludes to, we on the planet Earth have truly been winners of at least one "universal lottery" - winning against astronomical odds.
Is it not reasonable when considering the design of our DNA that there was a Designer? Considering the odds of our design happening by chance are to me as silly as entering the lottery (which by comparison, the chances of me actually winning are much, MUCH more higher).
So no, concluding that a Designer is more logical than chance doesn't mean that I've thrown up my hands, or thrown in the towel, or that I abrogate my critical thinking.
On the contrary; like many others I approach life having a confidence that nature is ordered, that there is structure and purpose, and that if I choose I can dive into the mysteries, exploring that structure and try to gain an understanding.
The alternative? Well let me ask you this: have you thrown your hands in the air claiming "there CAN'T be a designer!". And have you made "Time" your "God"? Because - as you suggest - given enough "Time" EVERYTHING seems to be possible.
The future of atheism is kneeling on a prayer rug facing Mecca. :)
You can't fight a belief with a non-belief.
Not at all. They just hate Christianity. Silly fools don't realize that it is the only religion that will ever put up with them. Islam will tolerate none of their objections. They will either "Obey" (Which is what Islam Means) or they will be killed.
Belief in the absence of God is still a belief. Sounds like faith to me.
Great comparison. You nailed exactly the thought that was trying to form in my head.
Yes, that's true. There certainly is knowledge out there that we can't and don't know. Someday we may know it. Maybe we never will. But for now, there isn't enough hard empirical evidence to suggest to me that there is a God. Because of that, I don't have a basis upon which to form any kind of a supernatural religious belief.
Thanks to the three of you for some interesting discussion without the tedious name calling. I do appreciate it. Gratuitous invective on the religious theme threads has become an unfortunate feature of life here on FR.
You seem to view Agnosticism as merely a transitory step. I see it as more than transitory -- as a state in itself - a lack of ability to have faith.
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