Bruce Sheiman doesn't believe in God, but he does believe in religion.At least this guy is willing to allow religion in American life as opposed to the atheists that are trying to get "In God We Trust" off our public buildings and our currency, or are trying to keep high school seniors from mentioning "Jesus" in their valedictory addresses.
Setting aside the question of whether God exists, it's clear that the benefits of faith far outweigh its costs, he argues in his new book, An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off With Religion than Without It.
"I don't know if anybody is going to be able to convince me that God exists," Sheiman said in an interview, "but they can convince me that religion has intrinsic value."
The old atheists said there was no God. The so-called "New Atheists" said there was no God, and they were vocally vicious about it. Now, the new "New Atheists" — call it Atheism 3.0 — say there's still no God, but maybe religion isn't all that bad.
Faith provides meaning and purpose for millions of believers, inspires people to tend to each other and build communities, gives them a sense of union with a transcendent force, and provides numerous health benefits, Sheiman says. Moreover, the galvanizing force behind many achievements in Western civilization has been faith, Sheiman argues, while conceding that he limits his analysis, for the most part, to modern Western religion.
"More than any other institution, religion deserves our appreciation and respect because it has persistently encouraged people to care deeply — for the self, for neighbors, for humanity, and for the natural world — and to strive for the highest ideals humans are able to envision," Sheiman writes.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Atheism 3.0
Believe it or not, this might actually be an improvement:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
Psalm 14:1 & 53:1
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,”
They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
There is no one who does good.
I wouldn't call him Athiest 3.0, I'd call him an apologist.
Religion is not a force of good or positiveness in the world.
Religion doesn't teach people to care for and look out for each other - as evidenced by the Mormon and Catholic Church's continual efforts to prevent gays and lesbians being equal under the law.
Religion doesn't teach community either - look how many religions there are - they aren't one community - they are all factions competing against each other for members - and the CC just did a major outreach to poach disaffected Anglicans.
and let's look at the honor killins in Islam - this week a man in Arizona ran over his 20 year old daughter for being too Westernized - a few months ago, a man in Toronto murdered his second wife and his three daughters because one of the girls dated a white boy - and by second wife, I mean he had 2 wives and they claimed the second one as the nanny for immigration.
Pedophile Priests, Missionaries, Crusades, Witch Trials and the list goes on.....
humans are intolerant and sexist - and religion is more often than not the justification and inspiration for that behaviour.
You can be good for it's own sake, for what it contributes to your community.
If you are being good in hopes of being rewarded in heaven or avoid punishment in hell, then you are actually only seeking reward/avoiding punishment - and not actually doing good at all.
be good for it's own sake
you can be good, and more often than not, it's without any gods
if you do any reading about gods, you will learn that they are murderous, jealous, petty, egotistical, intolerant and really, not anyone you'd want over to your house for coffee and cake.
http://ntrygg.wordpress.com
Until the religious prove their "god" exists, religion is nothing more than an ideology: a controlling, money hoarding, misogynist ideology that seeks to force people to participate and punish, exile or kill those who refuse to join.
That is exactly what Bertrand Russell meant when he said, "Communism and christianity oppose each other so strongly because they are so similar."
religion :
the most evil invention of man
ignorant men imitating their vile, petty gods
WOOHOO....
Enough time has passed where I can at last pine about the atheist of old, who saw the evils of religion and understood what it meant outside of the specific god belief.
Oh Boy...imagine
A forced and perceived outline of the way things are "supposed to be",..so much so they'll need to write it down so the new, just born atheists can be taught what it means to be....Atheist (even though they got it straight out of the womb).
It'll be no time till we can claim to be "Ratholics" "Blaptist's" "Latter Day Aint's" Scientifecologist's"
"Chrisovah Hitchense's"(cause you know ole Chris wouldn't mind traipsing door to door)
Will there be prayer? Tent Revivals for the "middle 0' nowhere atheist?"......*{shakes head}*...
I'd like to end my sermon with this..
A cartoon shows two people standing on a front porch, showing the homeowner a handful of pamphlets, which are blank. One of them explains,“We’re atheists.”
Post a Comment