Comments on: Transitional Atheism

By: George Skillman

George Skillman — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 00:56:26 +0000

boywonder uses the terms “strong” and “weak” atheist/atheism. I prefer “orthodox” and “liberal”. I am in between. I declare that there is no sentient god that can have a personal relationship with us, that designed the universe and that is going to spank all the naughty people that invoke his displeasure.

I find combating theists near imposible because when their religion is threatened, they deny the evidence long enough to quietly redefine their god and his heaven and then return to the foray as if their god is the same one they believed in all along. It’s hard to defeat a moving target. As a kid, Galileo was my hero. Before him, everone believed the universe was like a giant stadium, with man in the arena, god and satan sending their warriors to fight the great battle. Heaven was literally up in the sky. Man’s fall had only introduced imperfection here on Earth; up in heaven things were still perfect. Galileo points his telescope up in the sky to reveal that the earth is just another part of the heavens. There are other worlds besides this one.

This of course is why Jesus is taking so long to return; he keeps getting diverted to other planets where other Adams and Eves eat yet another apple and Jesus has to make a side trip to get crucified yet again. Imagine the surprise of the doubting Thomas on each successive planet who, although convinced of Jesus’s validity by sticking his hands in the holes where the nails went in, asks Jesus curiously where all the other sets of holes came from.

It’s time for a story. The identity of “god” is about to be unveiled. All the leading religious leaders have been invited to the unveiling. Of course, our hero, I Am, the high priest of the evangelical atheists is also present. The theists, who are utterly ignoring I Am, are bickering amongst themselves at to whether their particular god will be sitting in the chair of honor behind the curtain.

The momont of suspense is upon us; the curtain is raised! To reveal a giant slug, ingesting universes in its mouth and farting new ones out its anus as it crawls across the stage.

The theists yell and scream at each other to no avail. They are incensed that they were all wrong! What to do? As if on cue, they all turn to I Am, arms akimbo, and scream: “See, we told you so!”

George Skillman, San Jose, CA
gskillman@hotmail.com

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 26 May 2005 17:15:31 +0000

Modern atheism’s greatest contribution has been to declare undefinable terms such as sacred, divine, soul, God, etc. to be meaningless.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Thu, 26 May 2005 07:26:02 +0000

this reminds me somewhat of a comment reported by Quentin Crisp. After speaking with an audience in Northern Ireland (for those not aware, a province riven by a long-standing sectarian Christian rift) and announcing to them that he was an atheist, a woman in the audience asked him:

“Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe?”

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/catholicism/ (scroll down to find it - or google for numerous other references)

By: PhalsePhrophet

PhalsePhrophet — Thu, 26 May 2005 04:42:09 +0000

As a born again, militant, evangelical atheist, I think modern atheism is not only a lack of belief in a god, but a total rejection of any deity purported to have omi-powers over the universe. It includes recognition of the threat that faith in these deities creates and the desire to, at a minimum, speak up and rage against the machine.

By: Delta

Delta — Wed, 25 May 2005 18:37:13 +0000

A fanclub? We’ll definitely have to print t-shirts…