I am in agreement that there is nothing as perplexing as an “evangelical” atheist.
It’s more than that, I think. I find the attitude in many atheist today toward Christians akin to the attiude in Germany toward Jews before the war. I think it’s a bit frightening.
I’m an atheist but the last thing I want to see happen in this country is its secularization like that of Europe. I think it is dangerous to take all of a person’s values away, even if the source of them is mistaken. You can at least reason with a person who believes in something, the people of Europe believe in nothing, and what you get is a society of subjectivist hedonists with no values and nothing to live for but the next immediate pleasure.
“prefer my own source”
The other is not “my source” because I distrust most statistics. Personally I don’t care about the numbers and the original point was that for most very serious scientisits, their religious position, whatever it might be, in my experience at least, is a separate issue from their science.
Thanks for interesting and reasonable comments, by the way.
Hank
The one I cited seemed more applicable to what “Scientists” believe (those being faculty at elite Universities), and the other to what members of the National Academy of Sciences believe (high muckety-muck faculty at elite Universities).
Anyway I disagree with the premise that both hardcore atheists and hardcore “cdesign proponentists” attempt to promulgate that most/all Scientists are atheists. It just isn't the truth that has been polled, and it isn't the truth that I have experienced in my professional and academic life as a Scientist.
Sorry if things got heated on the other thread(s). I suppose I can come off as a condescending jerk sometimes, but I know what I know and I know what isn't so and it is hard for me to “suffer foolishness gladly” without having a bit of fun. I try to always AT LEAST be reasonable and interesting, if not always tactful or diplomatic. ;)
Diplomacy: The fine art of telling someone to “go to Hell” in such a way that they look forward to the journey.
Our society is suffering from another ailment: political correctness. It infests people across the board, a psychotic liberal phenomenon we’re all aware of; where people bend over backwards to not offend someone and often end up offending everyone.
Reminds me, I need to get one of those bumper stickers: “bitter clinger”!
Anyway, we’ve all been afflicted by it, guilty of it, but mostly victims of it.
Recently, (I’m a hospice nurse) a nervous old lady has her mother on hospice (Mom’s late 90’s, she’s late 70’s, early 80’s) and asked everyone on hospice what their sign is. I told he Aquarius, the SW hers, and she made the comment “everyone in hospice is so kind and they don’t get mad with me when I ask (about their horoscope), you know some people are really religious”.
So she’s afraid of offending, then does EXACTLY that!
That tickled me, I wanted to say lady I’m religious but it doesn’t offend me if you’re a satan worshipper, but of course...I could only laugh at and with her.