You may have noticed, I refrain from mentioning specific religions. I want to keep this blog emotion free. If I would challenge a religion, people of that faith would react emotionally. If this blog is an intellectual journey, why did I directly challenge atheism?
Can an atheist get emotional to challenges?
Is atheism an organized religion? Do atheists have a central belief system? Are
atheists connected to a political or institutional body? How emotionally connected can atheist be to their beliefs? Are people indoctrinated into atheism? Are there atheist communities? Are there atheist support groups?
Are there more physical benefits to being religious? (If an atheist only believes in the physical, why would they give-up pleasure for truth? Shouldn’t they fake belief for the benefits? What are the physical benefits from knowing the truth? Isn’t the desire for truth super-natural?)
[The Guitar Man] “If you were part of a religious community and you become atheist you would tend to cut yourself free of that community (at least the religious ritual aspect). You may actually lose friends from doing it as well. So I can't see the ulterior motive of atheists other than the desire to be free from the control of a deity they don't believe in and to free themselves from the control of the adherents who enforce what Christopher Hitchens calls 'this celestial dictatorship'.”
What percent of atheists fight to bring truth to the world? Are atheists fighting an uphill battle? Aren’t atheists outnumbered? What percentage of religious people try to promote truth? Don’t atheists deserve respect for their effort?
Are atheists on a spiritual quest?
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No, Atheists are not better than religious people. You may have to excuse the strident positions of people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. In fact their abrasive personalities have been focussed upon in many online forums. But you must put their abrasiveness in the context of centuries of religious arrogance and abuse of power. If you consider the outrageous and unjustified attacks the major religions have used against science and the common man/woman throughout the ages you too would be angry. Look at the wealth, power and privelge of the Catholic church and the flimsy basis for this.
Another thing that gets our back up is the plea for tolerance and respect by the religious lobby. Religious communities demand tolerance and respect yet many in these communities have no tolerance or respect for those not of their belief and especially not for the non-believer. The freedom to criticise unites the believer and non-believer in a common cause.
Atheism is most certainly not a religion. Just like not collecting stamps is not a hobby. Atheists are free thinkers. We take on board ideas of other Atheists but we don't have to accept them. As a Catholic you have to accept the dogma otherwise you are not a Catholic. Big distinction. Atheism is simply a position. Atheists can be completely disinterested or actively engaged in the science - religion discussion like myself or not. I would see active atheism as a continuation of the ideals founded during the Age of the Enlightenment. We are speaking up to uphold the values of reason which seem to have come under a attack from the religious and their lackeys in government. It is a paradox that in the 21st century millions and millions of people have benefitted from reason and the scientific method yet millions have turned their back on it and continue to live their life based on self-delusion and superstition (not just in organised religion but in New Age shams like astrology and healing chrystals). So yes it looks like Atheists are indeed outnumbered.
However, in Australia, according to the 2006 Census the number of persons claiming no religion was the third highest amongst all groupings - and as I write this they would constitute the second highest number after the Catholics. The growth in numbers in non-religious world wide in the last couple of decades is phenomenal and will continue to grow, and not just in secular countries like Australia. So we are really at the beginning of something.
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