(August 27, 2015 at 12:47 pm)ScepticOrganism Wrote: Hello everyone, Hope you're all having a good day
I've often encountered individuals who parsimoniously claim that atheistic fundamentalism is an actual thing. But what does fundamentalism mean in the first place? According to dictionary.com, and several other lexicons, it is the strict adherence to any basic set of ideas or principles.
Just on that alone, you would get the impression that atheism is anything but fundamentalism. Atheists are intellectually flexible by nature.
Any atheist would tell you that if sufficient evidence/scientific consensus becomes present, they would change their beliefs in a heartbeat. But I think the key phrase here is " intellectually flexible by nature " With the emphasis being put on " Intellectually".
Sure, atheists might be willing to change their ideas based on reasoning and scientific/critical thinking, but what about those who harbor excessive hatred to not only religion itself, but to individuals who happen to follow it.
Does that in itself, constitute as fundamentalism?
How could you be a fundamentalist about lack a belief? There's no dogma to be fundamentalist about.
In fairness I know there are some atheist humanists that have something that looks like dogma, but they're tacking all sorts of stuff beyond the definition of atheism on top. They are atheism plus, plus, plus. Whereas religious fundamentalists are we hold everything in the scriptures to be true. Atheists have no scripture.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.