Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion," supports a London bus ad campaign questioning the belief in God.
Posted on 04/03/2010 5:36:23 PM PDT by SkyPilot
(CNN) -- While millions of Christians worldwide will celebrate Easter this weekend, David Silverman has other plans.
Silverman will join about 300 atheists in a Newark, New Jersey, hotel ballroom to proclaim another message: The atheist movement in America is growing.
Silverman will participate in the 36th annual American Atheists National Convention at the Newark Liberty Renaissance Hotel. He'll also try to clear up a misconception: Atheists aren't immoral, and they don't worship Satan.
That's what many people assume when he tells them that he belongs to an atheist group, Silverman says.
"We have a lot of wonderful people," he said. "I haven't sacrificed any Christian babies. I haven't danced naked under the stars. I haven't stolen anything."
What Silverman is doing instead is talking up the "resurgence" among atheists. He says atheists once felt isolated and misunderstood.
Two events changed that, he says: the rise of the Internet and the election of George W. Bush.
Bush's polarizing presidency showed people how bad things could turn "if religion was in charge," he said. The Internet showed atheists that they weren't alone, as they sought out and encouraged one another.
"Closet atheists are coming out all over the country," Silverman said, estimating that his group has 4,000 members. "Anybody can go on the Internet and read blogs, Facebook pages, and know that there are millions like them."
Those who ask why people need God are also raising their public profile in other ways. Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion," and Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith," have best-selling books questioning the need for religion.
Silverman says a coalition of groups, including American Atheists, met with White House officials in February to discuss more tolerance for nonbelievers.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion," supports a London bus ad campaign questioning the belief in God.
Two events changed that, he says: the rise of the Internet and the election of George W. Bush.
Bush's fault!
Atheists and Homosexuals appear to suffer from the same disease, They have this unquenchable desire to out themselves , to get in the public eye, for some reason they cannot just go about their business and keep their mouths shut.They want to wear a sign telling us that they are different.
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Get your own holiday weekend, you sad sacks.
“We have a lot of wonderful people,”
All according to your own standards. Hitler thought of himself as the savior (of course he meant savior of the arian race).
...wonder if he bothers Muslims?
Can anyone recall any overt Christian actions, laws, Executive orders, events, etc. during the Bush administration? Did we try to take over any corps.or health care in the name of Christ? Did Bush take tax dollars to support the RNC? What the heck is their beef?
I am not particularly religious. That is why I am not an Atheist.
Atheists aren’t immoral, and they don’t worship Satan.
From Booklist: New Atheists Richards Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris get their comeuppance from philosopher Feser in the spirit with which they abuse believers. “Their books stand out for their manifest ignorance” of the Western religious tradition, he says, “and for the breathtaking shallowness of their philosophical analysis of religious matters.” Far better than such no-quarters rhetoric, however, are the review of pre-Aristotelian philosophy and the summary of Aristotelian metaphysics and Thomas Aquinas’ refinements of Aristotle that make up the heart, soul, and bulk of the book. Feser chooses to argue from Aristotle because he was not arguing from any religious perspective and because Aristotle’s logic, his rationality, hasn’t been improved upon or refuted by modern philosophy. Aristotle’s proof that there is a prime mover or pure being—God—remains solid. Ignoramuses like the four horsemen of the apostasy, whose factual errors, half-truths, and mischaracterization Feser highlights with contemptuous glee, “refute” Aristotle only by changing the playing field from metaphysics to science, from philosophical realism to materialism. With energy and humor as well as transparent exposition, Feser reestablishes the unassailable superiority of classical philosophy. --Ray Olson
I have always found it amusing how atheists try to emphasize that there is no God. Why should they even care?
The sign on the bus states: ‘There is PROBABLY no God’. So they’re not even certain that God does not exist.
I personally know a few atheists (even a few on FR), and not one of them feels the need to whine and join activist-victim movements like the nutballs in this story.
Probably no God? LOL. What’s wrong with these people? If they are so confident of their faith they should just out and say there IS no God.
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There was a lot of talk about it on the left. Supposedly he used "code words" that cast his actions and motivations in Christian terms. I couldn't tell you any examples, but I did hear talk of this.
“What the heck is their beef?”
They are infuriated that some people believe in God.
Atheists have no beef. If atheists truly do not believe in God, then they should be able to walk away from this debate. The fact that they need to justify themselves is a strong sign that they have strong doubts about their beliefs.
More to your point, Bush did nothing to espouse Christianity in office. In fact Clinton was the president who was constantly around Christianity -- photo ops of him going to church, pictures of him carrying a bible and so forth. If anything, it was the Clinton Administration that should have made the atheists irate, not Bush.
“Probably no God” is better than “There is no God”, so these atheists sound like agnostics.
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