The reason for this pole was...
Several months ago I joined a local atheist group. I'd never joined such a group before and admit thinking that the other members would be like me, in the sense that they decided they were atheists because they thought believing in religion was foolish and dangerous and that they thought one owed it to oneself and society to advocate for atheism and against religion. The only question I had was, just how aggressive might they be in such a role.
So, I was astonished to find that several (about half?), of the 8 or 10 who showed up that evening stated they were not at all 'activist' in their atheism; that they simply didn't believe in god. And yes, some even said they thought to argue against faith was being inconsiderate of others' rights to believe.
I assume many in the current forum have heard of the four famous new atheists, (sometimes called the "four horsemen of the non apocalypse"); Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (RIP), Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. Anyhow, if you read their books; to me, it becomes undeniable that belief in god is not just foolish, but dangerous and a tremendous burden on humanity and the world. (Even without reading these guys, simple adult reflection on the question should result in the same conclusion.) Once this realization is gained, it seems unconscionable to me to have a passive attitude about it: 'I don't believe in god, but I don't care if others do.' It seems to me that if one has that attitude then you are either not being honest with yourself, or you don't care about the damage that religion does. And I ask myself, Why would I want to associate with such a person?
Several months ago I joined a local atheist group. I'd never joined such a group before and admit thinking that the other members would be like me, in the sense that they decided they were atheists because they thought believing in religion was foolish and dangerous and that they thought one owed it to oneself and society to advocate for atheism and against religion. The only question I had was, just how aggressive might they be in such a role.
So, I was astonished to find that several (about half?), of the 8 or 10 who showed up that evening stated they were not at all 'activist' in their atheism; that they simply didn't believe in god. And yes, some even said they thought to argue against faith was being inconsiderate of others' rights to believe.
I assume many in the current forum have heard of the four famous new atheists, (sometimes called the "four horsemen of the non apocalypse"); Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (RIP), Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. Anyhow, if you read their books; to me, it becomes undeniable that belief in god is not just foolish, but dangerous and a tremendous burden on humanity and the world. (Even without reading these guys, simple adult reflection on the question should result in the same conclusion.) Once this realization is gained, it seems unconscionable to me to have a passive attitude about it: 'I don't believe in god, but I don't care if others do.' It seems to me that if one has that attitude then you are either not being honest with yourself, or you don't care about the damage that religion does. And I ask myself, Why would I want to associate with such a person?
