(March 5, 2013 at 8:41 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: Atheists can't be grouped together. Tell me what these people have in common (apart from a lack of belief in god obviously):
Atheist Buddhist
Atheist who believes in paranormal events (ghosts etc)
Atheist whose philosophical world view is solipsism
Atheist Taoist
Atheist who supports communism
Atheist who supports democracy
I would distinguish between the atheists who are Buddhist and Taoist from the western atheists.
That is true that there are differences between atheists that believe in paranormal events and that culture.
In my mind, the vast majority of atheists that I meet in America (I realize, not the center of the world or exhaustive of the atheist movement) fall into the category of people that put great stock in enlightenment epistemological notions (this would include liberal and left wing atheists). I would see the atheist movement as being composed, probably 80% by people that follow some sort of enlightenment influenced understanding of evidence, proof, epistemology and the nature of science.
