Posted on 10/03/2007 10:15:01 AM PDT by jacknhoo
Religion Must Be Destroyed, Atheist Alliance Declares By Matt Purple CNSNews.com Correspondent October 03, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Science must ultimately destroy organized religion, according to some of the leading atheist writers and intellectuals who spoke at a recent atheist conference in Northern Virginia. God is a myth, and children must not be schooled in any faith, they said, at the "Crystal Clear Atheism" event, sponsored by the Atheist Alliance International.
Some of the luminaries who spoke at the conference, held at the Crown Royal Hotel in Crystal City, Va., over the weekend, included Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, author Sam Harris and journalist Christopher Hitchens. The Atheist Alliance International describes itself as "the only democratic national atheist organization in the United States."
While most attendees on Friday night were adamant that God was a myth, the convention, attended by hundreds of people, brought into focus a divide among atheists as to their identity as a movement and the nature of the enemy they faced.
In his speech, Dawkins portrayed a black-and-white intellectual battle between atheism and religion. He denounced the "preposterous nonsense of religious customs" and compared religion to racism. He also gave no quarter to moderate or liberal believers, asserting that "so-called moderate Christianity is simply an evasion."
"If you've been taught to believe it by moderates, what's to stop you from taking the next step and blowing yourself up?" he said.
By contrast, Harris's speech was a more tempered critique of the atheist movement itself. While Harris said he believed science must ultimately destroy religion, he also discussed spirituality and mysticism and called for a greater understanding of allegedly spiritual phenomena. He also cautioned the audience against lumping all religions together.
"The refrain that all religions have their extremists is bull-t," Harris said. "All religions do not have their extremists. Some religions have never had their extremists."
Specifically, he noted that radical Islam was far more threatening than any radical Christian sect, adding that Christians had a right to be outraged when the media treated the two religions similarly.
Harris also criticized movement atheism and questioned the use of the word "atheist."
"Atheism is not a philosophy, just as non-racism is not," he said. "It is not a worldview, though it is frequently portrayed as one.
"Rather than declare ourselves atheists, I think we should emphasize reason," Harris added.
While the audience gave Dawkins a standing ovation, Harris received only polite applause. One questioner later declared herself "very disappointed" in Harris's talk.
But whatever differences the speakers had with each other, they were united in their contempt for religion and their belief that religious faith had to be challenged and ridiculed by secularism and reason.
"Religion is not the root of all evil, but it gets in the way of [determining] how we got here and where we find ourselves," Dawkins said. "And that is an evil in itself."
Dawkins was particularly critical of parents who raise their children as a "Catholic child" or "Protestant child." Children must not be labeled as subscribing to a particular religion, he said, and should be allowed to examine the evidence and determine their beliefs for themselves.
"If I said that's a post-modernist child, for example, you'd think I was mad," he quipped.
Other speakers at the convention included philosopher Daniel Dennett, evolutionary scientist Eugenie Scott, and Charles Darwin's great-great-grandson Matthew Chapman. There was also a performance by atheist rapper Greydon Square, who wore a shirt that read "The Black Carl Sagan."
Many of the attendees seemed to have developed an aversion to religion from conservative, Protestant Christians. Several of the atheists Cybercast News Service spoke to complained of living under fundamentalist parents who frowned upon any questioning of the Bible or any activity condemned in Scripture.
"It wasn't easy [telling my parents I was an atheist]," one said. "I still haven't entirely told them. I just say I'm a humanist, which they don't seem to mind."
Further emphasizing the attendees' distaste for conservative religion was the convention gift shop which, in addition to atheist materials, sold politically liberal-themed bumper stickers and pins, including "Impeach Bush" and "Stewart/Colbert '08."
A common decoration at the convention was the red letter "A," which was emblazoned on t-shirts and pins worn by several of the attendees. The "A," an allusion to Hester Prynne's punishment in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, is a symbol of the Out Campaign, a movement started by Dawkins to encourage Americans to proudly display their atheism.
Although Crystal Clear Atheism was well-attended, it received little publicity and media attention. The convention also experienced frequent technical difficulties, particularly during Dawkins' Powerpoint slideshow.
Atheists are still a small minority in America. A Newsweek poll earlier this year found that 91 percent of Americans believe in God. A more recent Pew Research Center poll found that atheists were among the most distrusted people in the nation, with 53 percent of Americans holding an unfavorable opinion of them.
But they are a proudly elitist and self-certain minority. When asked what the main difference between believers and atheists was, Dawkins had a quick answer: "Well, we're bright."
Regarding Cantor: I am talking about physical reality, not sets of numbers - numbers being a formless idea. Also, a finite region must have borders or risk being infinite. Even if there is no structural border an end to the region must be understood for it to be a region. What lies beyond that borderless-but-finite region called Space? Or is it actually infinite? Explain that... scientifically, of course.
In the macro sense we do not have the experience to have observed the Universe exhibiting a general entropy. But, in the micro sense we see the opposite happening regularly. New plant and animal life have occurred throughout measurable history, each time seeming to become more complex. How can this be? If you believe that the entire Universe will eventually experience the kind generalized entropy that the Second Law points to, considering the constant creation of new stars and systems, you have greater faith than I. Unfortunately, what you have faith in does not love you.
“Don’t know...I do know what real love feels like, though...unlike anything you or anyone else has ever experienced.”
So, no one else but you, in particular, know’s God’s love? Hmmm...
Destroy Atheism.
“NOTHING I’ve read from you supports that claim.”
Ok, so I have to surrender my reason and logic to fairy tales in order to be a good conservative?
“Right, you’re a Darwinist (and the reality is that evolution is the LEAST DANGEROUS aspect of the Darwinist’s agenda).”
Err.. how can believing in the truth be “dangerous”? Please explain. Or did God create the Earth (and the Universe) and fill it full of false evidence to lead us astray?
“Are you denying that Sanger was a eugecicist/Darwinist and is greatly responsible for the nearly 1 BILLION abortion deaths.”
Nope. She was all right. Just don’t know where you are getting the figures for a billion deaths. That sounds high. Are you counting all the fetuses not conceived due to her efforts at birth control as “deaths”?
“The fact that you seem to oppose most conservative principles.”
I realize that the existence of someone like me is anathema to you, but I assure you that I am right in line with nerly all conservatie principles, with the exceptions of euthanasia and I believe 1st-trimester abortions should be allowed, but severely discouraged. I am a *VERY* strong 2nd-amendment supporter and despise the lack of morals in todays society. I ***HATE** the democratic party, Marxism, socialism, and the idea of any democrat being in any public office. They destroy everything they touch, and hate this country and would surrender it to our enemies given 1/2 a chance.
Nice post.
Are these atheists the otters or the ones with the condoms on their heads?
RAdical atheistic agitprop. Hitler was born a Catholic and died a Nazi. He had plans to persecute Christians, July 6, 1945 - "The Nazi Master Plan: The Persecution of the Christian Churches"
Doesn't sound very Christian now does it?
Except religionists admit to faith while Dawkins and his ilk just say "we're brighter". Kinda funny no?
“Except religionists admit to faith while Dawkins and his ilk just say “we’re brighter”. Kinda funny no?”
Haven’t read much of Dawkins or his book. From the few quotes I have read - he does sound arrogant. In my experience, arrogance is the refuge of the insecure. However, he does have an enormous amount of empirical evidence to point to in support of evolution. That trumps “faith” any day in my book. Where I part ways with the true die-hard atheists is where they claim that they have actual proof that God does not exist. This is simply untrue.We can’t prove God’s existence or non-existence either way with any evidence we possess to date. God could exist, for instance, and not care at all about human suffering, nor reveal himself to us. So I guess the best way to describe me would be an extremely skeptical agnostic. I am always open to further evidence, should such arise.
Mosat of the Nazi High leadership, including Hitler, were Christians:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-120612042.html
Excerpt:
“MOST OF the Nazi leaders considered themselves not merely Christians but instruments of God’s will, proclaims Richard Steigmann-Gall, a young Canadian historian. Many people think that if the Nazis had any religion it was derived from Wagner’s operas and Teutonic mythology. Not so: the paganists were a minority, much derided by Hitler and Goebbels, who remained nominal Catholics and paid church taxes to the end. “
Bookmark
Kudos on one of the most utterly cogent posts I have read on FR!!!
I assumed you could read, evidently you can’t. The evidence from Nuremberg is clear, the Nazis had plans to persecute Christians. If you choose to go through life stuffing square pegs into round holes in order to justify your world view, that is up to you.
I consider anybody, with a passing acquaintence of the atcs Adolph Hitler and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who claims that Adolph Hitler was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth a loon. You my friend, are a loon.
Shh!! You’re not supposed to mention creation or creationism when talking about something to do with Intelligent Design. You’re letting the cat out of the bag!
I"m a Christian, the sort this group hates...and I've noticed the same thing you have. One word of warning, if you tell them that they are taking their position on faith they get quite angry and sometimes violently so.
Where did you read that? Most atheists I know, and today's prominent atheists like Dawkins and Hitchens, will claim there is no evidence to prove there is a creator, but as far as I know, none of them has ever claimed they can prove the opposite. Proving a negative is impossible. We can't prove there are no invisible unicorns either, but we can say it's extremely unlikely they do exist.
Hitchens was on TV just the other day and said exactly this. When asked, he agreed he could not prove that God does not exist, but turned the question around and asked how likely was it that God, if he did exist, cared who we slept with and what we ate.
I agree that Dawkins is an arrogant SOB, but I believe you misunderstand his claims about the existence of God.
The core values of an atheist are almost indistinguishable from most religious people in this country. Atheist liberals believe as Christian liberals, and yes, atheist conservatives believe as Christian conservatives, by and large. Political affiliation is a number better indicator of core values than the presence or absence of religious belief.
That's why when they do surveys of moral behavior, from things like viewing porn, illegally downloading music, to cheating on your spouse, the results from non-religious and religious people are the same.
Atheists simply don't go around saying, "I don't believe in God, so I therefore I should do xyz."
Most of them, however, have no problem at all schooling their children to have faith in big government.
If God’s idea of justice is anything like C. S. Lewis’ in “Screwtape Proposes A Toast”, Richard Dawkins and Fred Phelps will be sharing a bottle of sparkling Pharisee in the hereafter. As the liquid contents, that is.
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