Jeff Sparrow on the need to save ourselves from the sickishness of the New Atheists

[abaris]

So you're unaware of any "sea change" in the attitude/posture of atheists before and after Dawkins and company?

There's one, and only one point, he's got right in my opinion. And that's in the last sentence of your quote in the OP. They're preaching from the Ivory tower. A less polite definition would be jacking off in front of a mirror. They won't convince anyone to become an atheist.

As for the delusional part, yes, I would subscribe to that definition. There's something like a positive delusion. I for one was rather disappointed when I finally noticed that christianity simply doesn't compute. It was a mild disappointment, but nonetheless, religion had offered some kind of delusional comfort. And I never was a fervent believer to begin with.

Marx? Well, I guess he refers to the one and only quote associated with Marx and religion. Often quoted out of context and shortened to "opium of the people". Penned down in 1843 in A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

So, Marx offers understanding of religious people and only explains his point of view instead of attacking.