| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/22/2007 8:38:59 PM | A friend of mine mentioned he thought it was funny how atheism has become trendy. I hadn't realized it was.
I grew up as the only atheist at school (I met a guy I thought was an atheist who turned out to be a Satan worshiper") and still I'm the only atheist I'm aware of in my everyday life. Penn & Teller (Entertainers) and Michael Schermer (sp? well, sort of a celebrity) are the only famous atheists I'm aware of. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/22/2007 8:55:39 PM | | There are lots of famous Atheists. Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens come to mind. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/22/2007 11:03:44 PM | It's not that it is "Trendy" to be an Atheist, but instead, more of us are coming "out of the closet" about it.
Many of us got fed up with pretending to have respect for religion, and listening to their garbage with a respectful indifference.
Still, according to some statistics, less then 10 percent of the US population call themselves Atheists.
As for your friend the "Satan Worshipper," so called modern Satanists are just Atheists with a flair for the dramatic. They don't believe in the supernatural either. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/23/2007 6:47:31 PM |
As for your friend the "Satan Worshipper," so called modern Satanists are just Atheists with a flair for the dramatic. They don't believe in the supernatural either.
You're not supposed to tell! Didn't you get the EVIL memo.
I think John Donne, whose posthumous manuscripts were first comprehensively published in 1633, was agnostic. He was born Catholic in England at a time that Catholicism was often fatal. He eventually became Dean of St. Paul's (Anglican) Cathedral, because, IMO, he needed courtly favour to make a living as a poet, and he was really good at writing anti-Catholic polemics.
I know it's a mistake to assume anything about an author from the written work, but he was quite public, and wrote:
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?
Why should intent or reason borne in me make sins, else equal, in me, more heinous?
And mercy, being easy and glorious to god, in his stern wrath, why threatens he?
But who am I to dispute with thee, oh god, oh of thine only worthy blood and my tears
Make a heavenly lethean flood and drown it in my sins' black memory.
That thou remember them some claim as 'debt'.
I think it mercy if thou wilt forget.
Even if I'm reading in what I want, questioning the state-sponsored divinity is old.
His last name is pronounced 'done'. His wife was named Anne Moore, pronounced 'more'. I see him questioning god's ability to woo him in the face of earthly delights when he wrote:
Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run, and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done, for I have more!
I love his not-so-subtle sarcasm.
I would truly pity someone who chooses belief about the creator of the universe based on popularity. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 1:54:50 AM | | There's been several books of late -- Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and most recently Hitchens. I wouldn't call it trendy, but the debate has opened some. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 12:58:50 PM | I think some people are starting to realize how full of shit the churches are, and realize therefore the message might be a bunch of BS too. Non-Christians are (and always have been) prevalent in other areas of the world. It's only in the US that it seems to be a "new" idea.
The newest load of crap the church is shoveling out: "Without God, there are no good morals."
Really? How you figure? You mean - every unsaved person thinks murder and theft is morally acceptable? What a bunch of hoey. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 3:37:31 PM |
Many of us got fed up with pretending to have respect for religion , and listening to their garbage with a respectful indifference
Nice to know that you're tolerant and accepting of others beliefs.
The newest load of crap the church is shoveling out: "Without God, there are no good morals."
Really? How you figure? You mean - every unsaved person thinks murder and theft is morally acceptable? What a bunch of hoey.
Not that I think all non-believers are without morals or that all Believers live up to God's code of conduct, but I do think that more non-believers tend to have relative morals rather than definitive ones, so yes there are persons who based on the situation will justify theft and murder.
Now to get back OT:
There are plenty of famous atheists, two that come to mind are George Soros, and Ted Turner, and yes I do think it's becoming trendy.
I think it's a trend that will continue to grow. I would even go so far as to say there is a multitude of phrophecy that has already declared the emergence and growth of the atheist/agnostic view into mainstream society, but I'll leave that for another thread. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 7:13:08 PM |
Nice to know that you're tolerant and accepting of others beliefs.
This is just stupid. Are you implying we should be tolerant and accepting of everyone else's beliefs? Moses commanded his tribe (Jews) to murder & rape people. The bible tells us it's okay to sell our daughters into slavery, and that women are to be silent in church. I'm supposed to be "tolerant and accepting" of this?
so yes there are persons who based on the situation will justify theft and murder.
Your implying the church promotes moral supremacy by NOT justifying murder, but the church DOES justify - even PROMOTES murder depending on the situation.
Technically - everything that happens is God's will. Therefore ALL evil & immoral things are his will. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 7:56:43 PM | | Such anger from the anti-church crowd. Didn't you know stress can take days off of your life. Relax, don't hurt yourself. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 9:42:28 PM | I am an atheist and it's amazing how many religious people think a Satanism is all about devil worshipping. When actually its being the opposite of a sheep.
I know the above will be difficult for many to find the depth of meaning. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 9:44:42 PM | | Mer4a goodcause, obvious your religious knowledge is based on religous dogma and not merit based on academia. STUDY RELIGIOUS HISTORY and you too can become enlightened and perhaps smarter. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/24/2007 10:39:42 PM | | you say this as if knowledge and truth are your excluvive allies and foriegn to those of faith? what makes this so obvious to you? as if you know who I am and to what degree I have (in your position declaring to what degree have I not) questioned the logc of my faith? Tell me, are you claiming to know me better than myself? | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/25/2007 12:16:16 AM |
the atheist/agnostic view
These are two very different things. Athiests are people who believe that there is no god. Agnostics are people who do not know if there is a god. "Religious" people believe in thier god(s), but they are all agnostics except those who believe in the "right" god. After all, agnostics, like those believing in the wrong god, simply don't know.
So, to summarize, atheism is a subset of agnosticism, as are all religions (except yours, of course). | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/26/2007 1:19:33 PM | Trendy? Nah... just safer to admit to in a world where there is no more religious monopoly
I hope open mindedness becomes trendy :) | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/26/2007 1:34:31 PM | PS - Atheism is not a new concept. It's been alive and well for a LONG time. It just went dormant for a while, because kings in the dark ages started killing people who didn't accept the national religion.
As a matter of fact - for every person converting to atheism here, there's someone converting to some religion in Russia (where people were told to be Atheist by their former government). | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/26/2007 3:23:36 PM | Have the symptoms of atheism become trendy?
"I've read Stephen Hawking/Michio Kaku/Carl Sagan."
"Existentialism is pain, man. Nothingness is coiled around the heart of man like a worm. I'm a tragic hero."
"I see the real universe, not the fairy-tale of the weak-minded faithful."
"I have a degree in evolution. It's a difficult concept, but if you have the mental faculty like I do, you'd see the utter fallacy in your beliefs."
"Christians are in charge - FTW!"
It's trendy to be anti-establishment/counter-culture. However, if you espouse atheism because of its cachet, you've really missed the point. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/27/2007 4:54:27 AM | atheism trendy? probably not as trendy and popular as it deserves to be. maybe whats happening is that the mostly scientifically illiterate and a-rational masses are slowly catching up with the enlightenment at last.
any proper thinking individual that would call themselves educated and rational should be enraged that a significant proportion of the human population STILL believe in the gamut of supernatural causations and phenomena dreamed up by man. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/27/2007 5:08:03 AM | It's about as useful/trendy as Christianity in my book...
IMO being agnostic is much more fun.
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/27/2007 5:43:32 AM | | Pshyah! That's why MTV and CNN cover atheist issues all the time and E! has a Best Of What Dawkins is Wearing This Week special. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/27/2007 7:16:34 AM | Maybe so, but outright denial is closed-mindedness.
Agnostics are usually regarded as open-minded.
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/27/2007 8:08:17 AM |
Or agnosticism could be ontological fence sitting.
Yep! Nothing wrong with sitting on the fence... you get to see the panoramic view from every vantage point. I am a spiritual being and philosophy is the only way to make sense of it all. :0) | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/28/2007 7:22:51 AM | | No not really...it's just that now you can come out of the closet and not be put to death for your thoughts on some parts of the planet. Atheism in secular societies does tend to be fatal. | |
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| Has atheism become trendy?
Posted: 7/29/2007 12:23:34 PM | | I don't believe it's becoming trendy. But I am coming to believe that it is becoming a religion in and of itself. | |
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