it's like that pearl jam song

[phaballa]

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive!

Things at work have slowed down from the OMGOMGOMG pace of the past month or so, but I still have more to do than usual and not a lot of time (sadly) to spend on the internets. I'm improving, though! I am caught up on my flist (helps that I took ontd_ai off) and I even started writing both my Queen Bitch

Comments

[lurkitty]

I've come to realize, too, that it is not the religion I object to. I can name perhaps two religions that I have problems with (small sects that refuse medical treatment to babies). What I really object to is blind extremism. Atheists are just as likely to fall prey to extremism as the faithful, and I have meant many fervently faithful who are very tolerant at heart.

I really hate the term "Islamist extremist". The whole thing implies that it Islam had some causative effect. The religion wasn't the cause, the situation is. The religion is the excuse. Atheist extremism is the same way. Atheism isn't the cause, it's the excuse. Someone wants to control another person's life.It's not right. Sure, there is a need for watchdogs to make certain that majority religion does not steamroll over the the minority. Blaming the fact of faith doesn't help, though, and attacking faith leads to entrenchment.

[phaballa]

Blaming the fact of faith doesn't help, though, and attacking faith leads to entrenchment.

Precisely. I also find it baffling that these New Atheists think they can force people NOT to believe, in the same way that I find it baffling when evangelicals try to force me TO believe. Faith isn't something you can force; that's its very nature. Faith can be lost or found, but only by the individual. Any other motivation would be false and thus deny the very nature of faith.

[pensnest]

I think the "New Atheists" are generally misrepresented. They're not quite as aggressive as that, but a lot of the time, people with strong religious beliefs interpret "I don't agree" as ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK. Do you read any atheist blogs? I think you'd enjoy Greta Christina's, which is very cool.

[phaballa]

No, the New Atheists I am talking about aren't saying, "I don't agree," they are saying that religion is dangerous and needs to be eradicated for the good of humanity. I'm not exaggerating; these are the sorts of statements people who run national atheist organizations made to NPR in the piece I heard on the radio.

There are lots of atheists (myself included) who just don't believe in God and that's the end. And then there's this new and radical group of atheists who make us all look exactly the way religious folks have been depicting us for decades: like scary fundamentalists who want to take away your right to believe in God.

[asouthernthing]

I really hate the term "Islamist extremist".

Oh, me too. Like, huge pet peeve. Why isn't it good enough to just call someone an "extremist" and why is it that I never hear that label applied to these people who are killing people outside abortion clinics or killing their kids by denying them insulin and healthcare? (This is mostly rhetorical - I live in the deep south, so we know why things roll like that here. Ugh.)