Atheism +

[DeistPaladin]

Does anyone else see this turning into South Park?

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-epi...-go-god-go

I was just thinking the same thing, wondering if when atheism becomes the majority, that we'll splinter into warring denominational factions bent on each other's destruction.

It also reminds me of what I experienced being on the ground floor of what seemed at the time the most broad-minded and inclusive of free-thought movements. It had a terrible name but I liked the concept. It was trying to bring together free-thinkers of all stripes in a union against the fundamentalist theism. This was right after 9/11 and the early Bush administrations efforts to tear down the wall that separates church and state.

The movement's message was, at least at first, "think for yourself". We rejected supposed divine revelation or getting your information from some holy book, traditional beliefs or organized churches. Atheists were part of our group but being one wasn't necessary. You could also believe in God or entertain spiritual instincts, being a deist, pantheist or even a transcendentalist. The line we drew was against "I believe X because it's written here that... or my priest says...etc."

Sounds like a really broad-minded group, doesn't it?

No chance for some egotistical dickhead trying to use it to build a cult of personality, try to enforce superfluous ideology or start kicking out wrong-thinkers, right?

Think again.

I wasn't the leader of this group but was one of higher ups, enough to see the early warning signs of what was happening to the founder. I remember counselling him against some of his bad ideas and cleaning up the mess he made when he tried to execute them anyway. Later, I put my head down to work on my book and, a few weeks later, I looked up to find the organization imploding. The founder had gone out of control and pissed off nearly all those who'd joined. It was over.

So tragic to see that the same problems we see in religion can crop up in the very organizations that oppose them.