Tarsonis Survivors wrote:Geilinor wrote:I've never seen an atheist proselytizer in my life. Meanwhile, I had Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door and preach to me for over 10 minutes last weekend.
This is a very narrow view proselytizing. Richard Dawkins' book T"he God Delusion" is a form of Proselytization. As a whole, Atheists proselytize as much as Theists, if only to justify their own lack of faith.
Okay, so a harmless putz in the UK publishes a book talking doo-doo about theism. Really, although I acknowledge that Dawkins is a schlump (I love my Yiddish loan-words),
The God Delusion ain't
bupkes compared with the shelves full of religious literature out there.
The problem that atheists face is that it's really very difficult to talk about it at all without insulting somebody. The entire basis of atheism is that religious, particularly theistic, beliefs are fantasies. Even though it's accurate, it's really hard to avoid the fact that it makes people angry.
That's one reason that I usually identify myself as a "secular humanist" because it makes a positive statement. It makes a statement that I think that human beings are really responsible for any good that might have come of religion. I think that human compassion is behind charitable giving associated with religion. I think that human kindness is really at the heart of all proactively moral human behavior. When I take the credit away from a deity or supernatural force, that gives me hope that human beings are really capable of being a great bunch if we would just get our act together.
Secular humanism isn't me saying, "God is stupid," but it's me saying, "God came from the minds of human beings." It's really a high compliment to the human race to say that we are capable of imagining such a complex and interesting set of concepts. I am continually amazed, the more I read about the world's religions and their historical roots, just how powerful and amazing human creativity really is. Human creativity has created beautiful and majestic temples, grand mosques, vast cathedrals, and many wonderful, incredible things.
Some people say, "How could you look at these things and not think that there is a God?" but I, the secular humanist, say, "How could you look at these things and not just love people? How could you not love them to pieces?" When I really look at the world the human race has created, I realize that I really love the crazy bastards. I want to listen to every note of their music and taste everything that they cook. I want to see everything that they create. I cannot imagine something about them not being worth my time.
Really, I think that
genuine, old-school, intellectually driven secular humanists are still somewhat rare. We are an eccentric bunch, even among atheists.
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:53 pm
I'm a somewhat hetero male myself, but I think we could work something out. I would in no way look feminine enough to pass off as female. How about you?
