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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
 Posted - 12/17/2006 : 13:12:41
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Click on link to listen. This was just broadcast on
National Public Radio this Sunday morning....
http://www.onthemedia.org/
God No!
No longer content to silently disavow religion, the so-called New Atheists are on the offensive. Borrowing tactics from the faithful, nonbelievers have taken to proselytizing in books and in the media. And yes, they're even in foxholes.
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"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
 Posted - 12/17/2006 : 15:55:14 [Permalink]
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We need to be very clear in how we respond to the claim atheism is just another religion. It's the same when the religious claim science is just another religion.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2006 : 17:32:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
We need to be very clear in how we respond to the claim atheism is just another religion. It's the same when the religious claim science is just another religion.
Not only clear, but paradoxically cautious about it, as well. One thing we need to avoid is the old problem of explaining the fact that atheism is not a religion, then finding that people want to give no protection to us, as they might to the religious beliefs of others. "Freedom of religion" needs to be explained as including freedom from religion, with non-believers due the same kind of legal and cultural tolerance as anyone else. All beliefs on the subject of religion are equally deserving of tolerance by society.
Now, obviously, freethinkers and tolerant religious people have no trouble with this simple concept, but the fundies try to confuse the issue, while many others are honestly confused.
After explaining our position that we are not religious, and preferably in front of others who are honestly confused, ask a fundy this: If atheism were a religion, why wouldn't it deserve the same protection, and respect, as any other religion? Maybe that, if nothing else, will get them to rethink secular humanism being a religion.
Edit: Some of what I wrote above was covered by the radio broadcast. This should teach me to listen first, then comment! Basically, I support the "New Atheists," but fault them for overreaching at times into intolerance, as with Dawkins' charge that a religious upbringing is, per se, child abuse.
Fundy leaders who call atheism a religion are just liars.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 12/17/2006 18:22:11 |
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