Wow! As a non-believer myself, I'd say this is the best discussion of this issue I've ever come across. Much more helpful and reasonable than simply rhyming off all the evils committed by religious people and declaring that this proves religion is always bad. I really appreciate this blog.
Keith Parsons is, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, the best thing about my blog. He's posted more often than all the other guests combined--and he hasn't had anything close to a clunker yet.
Thanks for the good words. Unfortunately, I have known some atheists who were just as dogmatic as the religious fundamentalists. When rhetoric gets heated, it is tempting to tar the other side in the darkest possible tones. Of course, atheists are often traduced. I have heard even educated Christians say that people are atheists because they want to have sex without the guilt. Hey, guiltless sex sounds good to me, but as an analysis of why people become atheists it is, oh, a tad dismissive. Likewise, I have heard some unbelievers indicate that religious people are either fools or knaves. David Hume's Natural History of Religion remains one of the most insightful works on the subject. Hume says that, while the religious impulse is not a fundamental natural drive, like sex, its roots lie deep in human nature. Ancient polytheism, while superstitious, was generally tolerant and easygoing. The monotheistic religions, on the other hand, incline towards intolerance because if there is only one true God, then all other beliefs must not only be false but pernicious.
Wow! As a non-believer myself, I'd say this is the best discussion of this issue I've ever come across. Much more helpful and reasonable than simply rhyming off all the evils committed by religious people and declaring that this proves religion is always bad. I really appreciate this blog.
Keith Parsons is, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, the best thing about my blog. He's posted more often than all the other guests combined--and he hasn't had anything close to a clunker yet.
I certainly appreciate all I've read from you too :-)
Thanks for the good words. Unfortunately, I have known some atheists who were just as dogmatic as the religious fundamentalists. When rhetoric gets heated, it is tempting to tar the other side in the darkest possible tones. Of course, atheists are often traduced. I have heard even educated Christians say that people are atheists because they want to have sex without the guilt. Hey, guiltless sex sounds good to me, but as an analysis of why people become atheists it is, oh, a tad dismissive. Likewise, I have heard some unbelievers indicate that religious people are either fools or knaves. David Hume's Natural History of Religion remains one of the most insightful works on the subject. Hume says that, while the religious impulse is not a fundamental natural drive, like sex, its roots lie deep in human nature. Ancient polytheism, while superstitious, was generally tolerant and easygoing. The monotheistic religions, on the other hand, incline towards intolerance because if there is only one true God, then all other beliefs must not only be false but pernicious.