(July 22, 2014 at 7:54 pm)Blackout Wrote: Why do some theists, particularly religious ones, like so much to point out and accuse some atheists of being fundamentalists (similar to religious ones)? Don't they realize atheism has no dogmas, therefore there can't be any fundamentalism? Stop using that word theists, I don't think it means what you think it means!
(specially when talking about Mao Zedong, Stalin and other political leaders who were/are against religion)
If you adhere to the fundamental ideas or principles of anything you could be said to be a fundamentalist.
Language is not static, it is dynamic and associations change over time, I agree that fundamentalism began with 20th century American Protestantism but it has come to mean more than that. People who talk about Islamic fundamentalists are not suggesting that these people are Islamic followers of a 20th Century Christian movement, they are using it in a broader sense. If it can be applied to Islam then it can be applied to any ideology.
If you are a fundamentalist in the boarder sense and you assert atheism then you can be characterised as a fundamental atheist, without that being an allusion to some kind of atheist ideology.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
