Atheist Fundamentalism

[Simon Moon]

So, Bill Maher has been on the new quite a bit recently with his "anti-Islam propaganda".

I don't see it as "anti-Islam propaganda". He never states that the vast majority of Muslims mean us harm. They are like everyone else, just trying to get by, raise a family, have a career, be healthy, etc.

Maher, Harris, Dawkins, et al speak out against the Jihadists and Fundamentalists, because their form of Islam is dangerous. He and Harris make this abundantly clear in the now infamous exchange with Afleck.

What that makes me think of is the argument I’ve seen from Harris and others in that clique which is, more or less, that they have a better handle on what Islam actually mandates — and that the millions and millions of Muslims who would disagree with their interpretation are in reality shirking elements of their faith that make them uncomfortable.

Well, here’s the thing: That statement is indicative of the extreme lack of sophistication that is exhibited by people like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher when it comes to religion in general and Islam, specifically.

It's not Harris, Dawkins, Maher's fault that a minority of Muslims decide to take the Qur'an literally.

Harris, Dawkins and Maher are very aware that the majority of Muslims do not take it literally. They do not speak out against those Muslims because they are not dangerous.

Atheists often forget the myriad of ways a religion can be followed. NOT extracting your morals from the holy book is the basic lesson of religion - something you learn on your first day.

We completely understand that theists of all stripes will cherry pick their religious texts.

And thanks for the unsophisticated view of atheists, Reza.

Maybe Mr. Aslan should travel to Syria or Iraq and explain this to the ISIS. Oh that's right, he'd probably be stoned for being an infidel.

The idea of following the holy book dogmatically and taking it literally are forms of fundamentalism. Since that is what atheists expect religious people to do, they are proposing another kind of fundamentalism - one that applies to others, not themselves.

Another unsophisticated generalization about atheists from Mr. Aslan. Bigoted much Reza?

I don't ever expect theists to be dogmatic followers of their holy books. I wait for them to tell me. That's what non-bigoted people do.

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