http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/a...ss_8_2.htm

Besides not believing in God, an atheist can come in all shapes and sizes.  The author of this article surprised me when he suggested Lewis's ignorance about true atheism can be laid at the feet of atheism's failure to educate people about true atheism.  This could be interpreted in many ways.  One interpretation that probably won't work is a school of atheism..  That's what I think of when you say educate. Having a school of atheism is like having a flock of eagles. How do you interpret this?

I think he means be outspoken about what it means, not to teach it in school.
Only recently have atheists really become vocal about what it really means. So in part I think he's correct. However, it is very difficult to actually get some theists to understand at all that atheism really is a simple lack of belief in deities. For a variety of reasons, they misunderstand or simply cannot wrap their head around this simple fact. It does not mean we worship Satan, it does not mean we are just angry at God, and so forth. These are still common misconceptions held by many theists despite the attempts from actual atheists to explain that Richard Dawkins is not our prophet and we don't worship evolution. So, I'd say it's still at least half the theists fault, as many of them simply can't grasp it or want to pervert the meaning of it for their own ends.

My mother even told me she doesn't think I've lost belief in God, simply that I'm searching, or struggling, or something.

(April 18, 2015 at 5:55 pm)Aroura Wrote: I think he means be outspoken about what it means, not to teach it in school.
Only recently have atheists really become vocal about what it really means.  So in part I think he's correct.  However, it is very difficult to actually get some theists to understand at all that atheism really is a simple lack of belief in deities.  For a variety of reasons, they misunderstand or simply cannot wrap their head around this simple fact.  It does not mean we worship Satan, it does not mean we are just angry at God, and so forth.  These are still common misconceptions held by many theists despite the attempts from actual atheists to explain that Richard Dawkins is not our prophet and we don't worship evolution.  So, I'd say it's still at least half the theists fault, as many of them simply can't grasp it or want to pervert the meaning of it for their own ends.

My mother even told me she doesn't think I've lost belief in God, simply that I'm searching, or struggling, or something.

And we can't distance ourselves from Dawkins or evolution in an effort to prove to Christians that we're ok.  Considering the reprehensible things their leaders and clergy do, we really don't have to prove anything.

Christians believe that God is the only reason to act morally. They have to believe that to convince people that they need God.  So the idea of a moral atheist...well they have to find fault with that.  Your actions are right but your motives are wrong. You're just trying to prove you're more righteous than God. etc.

I've read most of C.S. Lewis at one time or another, mostly in my teens and twenties. He's big on mythology, and feeling. I'm pretty sure he was an atheist. He felt there was no god. Then thanks to desire and J.R.R. Tolkien, he felt there was one.

What Lewis never was, is a skeptic.