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Re: Opinion piece: Atheism is a liberating world view

  • Subject: Re: Opinion piece: Atheism is a liberating world view
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 06:16:47 +0100
  • Newsgroups: alt.atheism, uk.philosophy.atheism
  • Organization: schestowitz.com / MCC / Manchester University
  • References: <1145447808.193515.187730@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <Xns97AB13AAF4D8martinmartinsewellco@84.92.1.10> <124tpccgb86qb2a@news.supernews.com>
  • Reply-to: newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • User-agent: KNode/0.7.2
__/ [ Jeffrey Goldberg ] on Wednesday 26 April 2006 04:14 \__

> [talk.origins removed from follow-up]
> 
> Martin Sewell wrote:
>> "JPG" <j_peasemold_gruntfuttock@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
>> news:1145447808.193515.187730@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> 
>>> Atheists are "seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large
>>> portion of the American public," according to a national survey
>>> conducted by the University of Minnesota.
>>> [...]
>> 
>> See:
>> http://www.ur.umn.edu/unsreleases/find.php?ID=2816&from=umnnews
> 
> This is one of the scariest things I've read in a while.  I showed it to
> my wife and she came up with the obvious (obvious once it's pointed out)
> explanation:
> 
> Religious people genuinely believe that moral behaviour comes only from
> belief in some god.  So while Christians might think that Muslims have a
> distorted moral framework, they think that atheists have no morals
> whatsoever.
> 
> So maybe atheists would want to focus efforts primarily on dispelling
> this misconception.  If, indeed, my wife's explanation is correct.

I  fully  agree with that assessment. I was in the States over the  Easter
(as  in "Spring") vacation and, while my family was perfectly fine with my
beliefs  (or  lack thereof), others whom I met were more  superficial  and
more intrigued by the supernatural. Atheism is best disclosed at the right
place  and the right time. It can otherwise be offensive to many. As  hard
as it may be for an atheist to conceive, very few find this intriguing. It
inspires curiosity at best and infuriates at worst.

Best wishes,

Roy

-- 
Roy S. Schestowitz      | "Black holes are where God is divided by zero"
http://Schestowitz.com  |    SuSE Linux    ¦     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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