Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Anti-Theism

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has a very interesting little bit at the On Faith Forum, in which he argues, from a reading of the Pew Survey on religious belief, that atheism is actually a much more vigorous, active proselytizing set of intellectual and emotional commitments than the kind of "Who cares?" attitude one would assume.

What I find personally interesting, and I hope Rabbi Stensaltz does, also, is the way the comment section - now up to 230 comments and growing - proves his point. The anti-theists over there are stumbling over one another to show how medieval and silly religious belief is (I just love all the comments about "some guy in the sky" - as if people with religious belief are all two year olds); Galileo comes up for a mention (as if there weren't more recent examples of religious persecution of new ideas). Here's a typical, almost archetypal, example:
Religion is a crutch for the weak to justify a narrowminded existence, used to enforce strict adherence to some arbitrary set of norms by the wicked.

Just as the author of this worthless article does, I think that most of the people who claim to be christians really aren't christians, because their behaviors aren't inline with the teachings of christ, they've just been told since birth that they are Christians, and that were they really to examine their faiths they would find God neither necessary or possible.

What's funny about this comment is the first sentence of the second paragraph, "the author of this worthless article" - doesn't claim to be a "christian" because, being a rabbi, he's Jewish.

I just love stupid people like this who tell us "christians" how stupid we are. And ignorant. And superstitious.

I just love it when a thesis is proved in the process of people trying to say what nonsense the thesis is.

Virtual Tin Cup

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