An interesting read concerning atheism in america.

[brewer]

That was an interesting read, brewer. Thanks for sharing.

I learned of Ernestine Rose for the first time. Can't believe I hadn't heard of her before. She's fuckin' awesome.

I also found this bit interesting:

This kind of apophatic theology has a lot in common with godless mysticism, Gray argues, because saying that God does not exist is not so different from saying that we cannot comprehend God’s existence. In both cases, the material world may be characterized by limited understanding and limitless wonder. That is the charity so seldom extended to atheists in America: the notion that they, too, may be awed by and struggling to make sense of the human and the cosmic. “A godless world is as mysterious as one suffused with divinity, and the difference between the two may be less than you think,” Gray writes.

One of these days I'm going to make a thread about what I call "realistic mysticism"... like that of Thoreau... that holds the natural world as its divine object rather than a god. Not that I practice that sort of mysticism or anything. But I find it interesting, and think it's defensible.

Using divine/divinity/mysticism causes an immediate negative knee jerk reaction for me. Also 'saying that God does not exist is not so different from saying that we cannot comprehend God’s existence'.

I haven't read Gray's work and doubt that I will, it appears to be pop psychology and he's another purveyor of woo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_...an_author)

https://www.famousauthors.org/john-gray