What is to be done about religion?
March 11, 2016 at 9:51 pm
(This post was last modified: March 11, 2016 at 10:43 pm by Whateverist.)
So the protracted discussion on C_L's objective morality thread makes me wonder just how popular this feeling is that religion is something that atheists must band together to push back against. Perhaps you feel that they'll get us if we don't get them. Maybe you feel they are an impediment to the advancement of the human race. Maybe you just don't like that kind of human?
I go the other way. There is something about a non-fundamentalist Christian I just find endearing. Anyone who can find meaning in all that stuff without abandoning science or assuming a cocksure, know-it-all stance is pretty okay in my book.
More than that though I am critical of that portion of the new atheist movement which seeks to reduce god belief to a simple scientific hypothesis and then toss it aside since it can't succeed as that. Anyone with an ounce of curiosity should want to know why it has been so prevalent for so long, and a facile dismissal as primitive science from a time when we were stupider is pretty lame for my money.
But I'm curious how we stack up on the question of what atheists should be doing about religion. These are the choices I came up with but feel free to specify somewhere between two of them or something more extreme on either end. Better yet please say what your thoughts are.
1) Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the fields .. do everything reasonable to end the dark night of religion.
2) Speak up whenever possible to encourage those who will listen to leave behind the crutch of religion.
3) Live and let live. Hang with the ones you like. Criticize those you don't when the opportunity arises.
4) Discuss and criticize theology with those who want to talk about it, but with a mind to improve it, not end it.
5) Whatever they may believe, everyone's beliefs are on the same plane and worthy of respect.
Oh .. and this is a public poll. Everyone can see how you vote. And only one vote each.
I go the other way. There is something about a non-fundamentalist Christian I just find endearing. Anyone who can find meaning in all that stuff without abandoning science or assuming a cocksure, know-it-all stance is pretty okay in my book.
More than that though I am critical of that portion of the new atheist movement which seeks to reduce god belief to a simple scientific hypothesis and then toss it aside since it can't succeed as that. Anyone with an ounce of curiosity should want to know why it has been so prevalent for so long, and a facile dismissal as primitive science from a time when we were stupider is pretty lame for my money.
But I'm curious how we stack up on the question of what atheists should be doing about religion. These are the choices I came up with but feel free to specify somewhere between two of them or something more extreme on either end. Better yet please say what your thoughts are.
1) Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the fields .. do everything reasonable to end the dark night of religion.
2) Speak up whenever possible to encourage those who will listen to leave behind the crutch of religion.
3) Live and let live. Hang with the ones you like. Criticize those you don't when the opportunity arises.
4) Discuss and criticize theology with those who want to talk about it, but with a mind to improve it, not end it.
5) Whatever they may believe, everyone's beliefs are on the same plane and worthy of respect.
Oh .. and this is a public poll. Everyone can see how you vote. And only one vote each.
