Fri 1 Jul, 2016 11:42 am
Can an atheist be spiritual? The Godless have had a real PR problem for centuries. Up to this point in human history, atheism has lacked the wide, warm and consoling embrace that mystics, sages and religious leaders have been able to provide. Not that not believing in God has gone without its high-profile proponents. Whether it was Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, Sartre or Einstein, there have been plenty of role models. But it’s been a quiet tutelage, done so mostly in private, on the written page or at smoky back tables.
More recently, there’s been the militant atheism espoused by the likes of writer-raconteur Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011, and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who once told a crowd to “ridicule” and “mock” people of faith. Edit [Moderator]: Link removed
This poses a question of survival. When atheists come to the brink of eradicating "believers" the Bible gives an insight to this unmoral movement.
" Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape." (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
@Expert2,
Dawkins is a religious fanatic.
He assumes his religion supercedes all others'.
@Expert2,
Quote: The Godless have had a real PR problem for centuries.
The people of religion has it both ways; they can't prove their god, and accuse those without religion of godless people. A PR problem for sure by the very people who can't prove their god exist.
@mark noble,
Quote:Dawkins is a religious fanatic.
Atheism is not a religion. Dawkins cannot therefore be a religious fanatic.
Expert2 wrote:Can an atheist be spiritual?
More often than not, they are.
Religious people don't get jokes..
@Tes yeux noirs,
That is logically invalid Tes. That is like saying that since Argentine isn't a religion the pope cannot therefore be a religious leader.
Religious means putting faith in supernatural. There are many atheists who are religious.
@Tes yeux noirs,
Tes - Anything done 'religiously' is a 'religion'.
@mark noble,
He has a very good and logical point tess. Atheism is done with 'religious vigor'.
@maxdancona,
I wouldn't say 'religious.' I'm prone to believe in karma.
@cicerone imposter,
What goes around comes around. And here we go again!
@maxdancona,
Quote:Re: Tes yeux noirs (Post 6215892)
That is logically invalid Tes. That is like saying that since Argentine isn't a religion the pope cannot therefore be a religious leader.
Religious means putting faith in supernatural. There are many atheists who are religious.
Where has Richard Dawkins expressed faith in the supernatural? (That's what I thought we were discussing). Also, what is wrong inaccurate or illogical about saying that 'atheism is not a religion'?
@Tes yeux noirs,
“Dawkins is utterly consistent in rooting out intellectual error and utterly blind to the emotional dimensions of religiosity,” he told me. “I would desperately like him to reform his ideas.”
@timur,
Quote:Expert2 wrote:
Can an atheist be spiritual?
More often than not, they are.
The Sea of Faith movement is living proof that they can be.
@Expert2,
Quote:He has a very good and logical point tess. Atheism is done with 'religious vigor'.
My name isn't Tess.
By that reasoning anything that someone is sufficiently enthusiastic about might be called a 'religion', such as the Grateful Dead, (I've met some Deadheads), organic food, square dancing, certain weird diets, political ideas (have you met any full-on Ayn Rand zealots?). However people seem to be trying to make this mean that Richard Dawkins is some kind of hypocrite or fake. He is an atheist who does not "believe in and worship a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods", which is the principal and main meaning of what makes a person 'religious'.
consumerism is the new religion
@Tes yeux noirs,
Quoted from the link able2know removed. If you have an issue, take it up with able2know and demand the link from them. Atheism is all about mind control and controlling the conversation. Especially in schools, young minds are ripe for molesting.
Those godd*amned atheists! They should be taken out and shot!
@Setanta,
Open dialogue to the atheist is forbidden fruit. Heaven forbid if there is another viewpoint, so they shut it down.
@Setanta,
Sounds like persecution envy to me
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