@Intrepid,
Quote:I know that Setanta's demeanour in no way reflects upon atheists in general.
Reflect upon this Intrepid--
It is Laurence Stern writing about one of Walter Shandy's many "notions of the comick kind". A Hobby Horse. In this case it is to do with Mr Shandy's notion that given names can influence a person's character. I think Sterne is sympathetic to the idea, as I am, which he certainly isn't with all of the others Tristram's father is depicted as having. And acting upon.
Quote: To work with them in the best man-
ner he could, was what my father was,
however, perpetually forced upon ; ----
for he had a thousand little sceptical no-
tions of the comick kind to defend, ----
most of which notions, I verily believe,
at first enter'd upon the footing of mere
whims, and of a vive la Bagatelle ; and as
such he would make merry with them for
half an hour or so, and having sharpen'd
his wit upon 'em, dismiss them till an-
other day.
I mention this, not only as matter of
hypothesis or conjecture upon the pro-
gress and establishment of my father's
many odd opinions, -- but as a warning to
the learned reader against the indiscreet
reception of such guests, who, after a
free and undisturbed enterance, for some
years, into our brains, -- at length claim
a kind of settlement there, ---- working
sometimes like yeast ; -- but more gene-
rally after the manner of the gentle pas-
sion, beginning in jest, -- but ending in
downright earnest.
Whether this was the case of the sin-
gularity of my father's notions, -- or that
his judgment, at length, became the
dupe of his wit ; -- or how far, in many
of his notions, he might, tho' odd, be
absolutely right ; ---- the reader, as he
comes at them, shall decide. All that
I maintain here, is, that in this one, of
the influence of Christian names, how-
ever it gain'd footing, he was serious ; --
he was all uniformity ; -- he was systema-
tical, and, like all systematick reasoners,
he would move both heaven and earth,
and twist and torture every thing in na-
ture to support his hypothesis. In a
word, I repeat it over again ; -- he was
serious ; -- and, in consequence of it, he
would lose all kind of patience whenever
he saw people, especially of condition,
who should have known better, ---- as
careless and as indifferent about the name
they imposed upon their child, -- or more
so, than in the choice of Ponto or Cupid
for their puppy dog.
I think this is exactly right in the case of the militant atheist. The notion enters, when young, on a whim. To persuade a young lady to laugh at the Christian teaching on sexual morality. Which is likely to be more common than the taking on of an authority figure such as a father. Or a teacher in order to look smart in front of the class. And the Christian religion is very easy to take on so long as the tried and tested methods are employed which have on Ignore the incomprehensible, by now irreducibly complex, relationship between a religion and the society which nourished it and in which it grew. And it is surely the duty of a militant atheist to make that the essence of his appeal because otherwise we are being asked to take a step into the unknown.
Kant was adamant that a preacher must allow that he will persuade everybody before he preaches. And then to decide whether to preach or not. It's impossible to disagree with that unless in a system which encourages minority viewpoints to be expressed vehemently as a form of social control. A system which can absorb them because they all cancel each other out.
I will preach, for example, that people should be careful about the amount of saturated fat they consume. Particularly adult men. I am in favour of everybody being persuaded to agree. I'm confident they will be better off by being persuaded.
Is Setanta confident we will be better off if he wins the argument and 308 million atheists are running loose where you are? People have admitted that they converted to atheism in an instant. Ricky Gervais for one. ( A very unfunny gentleman in my opinion.) There is no law which says the process has to be gradual.
A non-militant atheist is another matter. One cannot give faith to another who does not have it. They either find it or they don't.
