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Are atheists really fundamentalists?
Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | December 5, 2009 | Nigel Farndale

Posted on 12/06/2009 6:47:01 AM PST by Schnucki

If you had to come up with a subject for a debate, one that would persuade more than a thousand people to leave their firesides on a wet winter evening to sit in a draughty sports hall, what would you plump for? It would have to be something pretty charged, you would imagine. Or at least salacious. About Katie Price, perhaps, or Tiger Woods.

But no. The motion that had them standing in the aisles and dangling from the rafters at Wellington College was: "Is atheism the new fundamentalism?" True, this was an Intelligence Squared debate, and there was a good line-up: Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford, and Charles Moore of The Daily Telegraph for the motion, Professors A C Grayling and Richard Dawkins against. But still. Atheism? When did this become such a crowd-puller?

The answer seems to be: "After September 11." At one point, indeed, Dawkins said that the next atheist slogan he would like to see on the side of a bus is: "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings." He got a cheer for that, as he did for most things, the atheists in the audience outnumbering the believers by a wide margin. That didn't surprise me. What did was their lack of courtesy. There was even the odd jeer when the Christians were speaking. I had assumed that part of the point of being an atheist was that you were tolerant of the views of others.

In fact, while it was a gripping debate, I was struck by how little empathy there was between these two groups of wise and worldly men. The professor of philosophy seemed to have no idea how insulting he was being to the bishop when he compared his belief

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: atheism; fundamentalism
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1 posted on 12/06/2009 6:47:02 AM PST by Schnucki
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To: Schnucki

I had assumed that part of the point of being an atheist was that you were tolerant of the views of others.

Wrong, the whole point to being an atheist is hating the God you insist doesn’t exist.


2 posted on 12/06/2009 6:49:58 AM PST by freedomfiter2
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To: Schnucki

Atheism is the belief that there is no grand deity. You cannot PROVE a negative (That’s that logic type stuff that Dawkins loves so much). Hence, athiests cannot prove their beliefs. To adoopt their beliefs, one must have....faith. And thus we arrive at religion.


3 posted on 12/06/2009 6:51:00 AM PST by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: Schnucki

I do not understand how people CANNOT believe in God. There seems to be an overwhelming amount of evidence. The Bible is not only just a religious book that forms the basis of the entire Christian religion, it is also a book of HISTORY. Denying there is a God is like denying the Holocaust ever happened.


4 posted on 12/06/2009 6:52:45 AM PST by Ev Reeman
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To: Schnucki
I've been wondering the same thing. If so, then it explains why atheists are so tolerated by theists.

"Do we really want that fellow in our church?"

"I tell you one thing: I'd rather have them making us look bad from the outside than them making us look bad from the inside."

5 posted on 12/06/2009 6:53:27 AM PST by danielmryan
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To: domenad

It is true, Atheists have nothing to prove. The burden of proof is on those who believe in the supernatural.


6 posted on 12/06/2009 6:54:20 AM PST by IronKros (Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. ~Adam Smith, The Wealth)
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To: Schnucki

What did atheism have to do with flying men to the moon? Weren’t some of the astronauts religious men? I mean, I’d want a little faith in a God if I was flying in some of those frightening contraptions...


7 posted on 12/06/2009 6:54:47 AM PST by swatbuznik
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To: freedomfiter2

“Wrong, the whole point to being an atheist is hating the God you insist doesn’t exist.”

So instead of the athiest saying calmly “There is simply no God” (Of which Isaiah calls a fool), the athiest is really saying, with great anger, “No, God!”


8 posted on 12/06/2009 6:55:15 AM PST by Fred Hayek (From this point forward the Democratic Party will be referred to as the Communist Party)
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To: domenad
Atheism is the belief that there is no grand deity. You cannot PROVE a negative (That’s that logic type stuff that Dawkins loves so much). Hence, athiests cannot prove their beliefs. To adoopt their beliefs, one must have....faith. And thus we arrive at religion.

There is no logic in this sentence but there are two misspellings.

9 posted on 12/06/2009 6:55:34 AM PST by Misterioso (The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. -- Ayn Rand)
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To: swatbuznik

The father of the Wright Brothers was a Minister.


10 posted on 12/06/2009 6:59:36 AM PST by Youaskedforit
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To: Schnucki

My definition of atheism: people who get worked up over nothing.


11 posted on 12/06/2009 6:59:37 AM PST by Blind Eye Jones
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To: Schnucki
The atheists I know are intollerant, borish, bullying fundamentalists.

Oh....And they are the strongest defenders of compulsory attendance, compulsory tax-funded, atheistic, Marxist-driven government K12 schooling.

12 posted on 12/06/2009 7:01:15 AM PST by wintertime
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To: Misterioso

Quick! Call 911! We need the spelling police immediately!


13 posted on 12/06/2009 7:05:19 AM PST by wintertime
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To: Misterioso

When you have no argument, go for grammar. Nice to see you keeping that tradition alive. Douchebag.


14 posted on 12/06/2009 7:12:48 AM PST by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: Fred Hayek

“Wrong, the whole point to being an atheist is hating the God you insist doesn’t exist.”

So instead of the athiest saying calmly “There is simply no God” (Of which Isaiah calls a fool), the athiest is really saying, with great anger, “No, God!”

The way I see It,

LIKE an Angry Child Standing With A Clenched Fist in Defiance,the Atheist Must Not be Subjected to ANY Constraints , Laws or Law Giver.


15 posted on 12/06/2009 7:17:15 AM PST by bravotu (Have a Nice Day !)
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To: Schnucki

In a Benny Hill bit there was a wall with writing on it. The writing on the wall said “God id dead.” - Fred. Then the camera pans down to more writing on the wall and this writing says: “Fred is dead.” - God.


16 posted on 12/06/2009 7:17:42 AM PST by Ev Reeman
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To: IronKros

I ain’t gotta Prove Nuttin,
just hope atheist have Asbestos Underware!


17 posted on 12/06/2009 7:19:56 AM PST by bravotu (Have a Nice Day !)
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To: Schnucki

The vast majority of ‘atheists’ have no clue and less consistency since they invariably go for the Christian God without mentioning or even considering other religions/deities including Buddha, Vishnu and especially Allah.

One would THINK that post 9/11 Allah would be highest on the list for atheists to disdain especially given the attendant level of violence from Islamists but ‘atheists’ here would rather carry on their childish campaign against their Christian neighbors.


18 posted on 12/06/2009 7:21:25 AM PST by relictele
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To: Schnucki
"Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings."

I see that more as a poke against organized religion than against God.

19 posted on 12/06/2009 7:21:45 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Misterioso

Try to lern the dipherence betwene BAD spelling and BAD typing. That is why publishers actually have PROOF REEDERS.
I reed FR because of idears, not correkt spelling.


20 posted on 12/06/2009 7:24:29 AM PST by CaptainAmiigaf (NY TIMES: "We print the news as it fits our views")
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