From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Sun May 08 2005 - 02:18:56 BST
On 7 May 2005 at 16:00, Sam Norton wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1474570,00.html
Thought that people interested in this thread might like to have a look at
this article, written by an atheist. Good conclusion.
msh:
The essay overall is really a kind of pathetic attempt to appease the
religious by setting up an aetheistic straw man "enemy" and giving
him a good bashing. The writer seems to be saying that aetheists
comprise a club, a cult, a "religion" all their own, complete with
their own rules and binding ideology. This is like lumping together
everyone who believes watching sports is a waste of time and
intellect, and trying to draw some penetrating sociological
conclusions from their one small opinion held in common.
I can almost hear the editors in selecting, or more likely
commissioning this piece: "We need something that looks like a whole
lotta critical thinking is going on, and yet comes down firmly on the
side of the angels."
And here's the conclusion...
"Atheists who attack religions for painting a false picture of the
world are as unsophisticated and immature as religious believers, who
mistake the picture for reality. The only mature attitude to religion
is to see it for what it is - a kind of art, which only a child could
mistake for reality, and which only a child would reject for being
false."
This is nicely written but devoid of a correlation with reality since
non-religious people seldom give believers a second thought, and
intelligent non-believers are already aware of the value of myth and
art. It's been suggested that things are different in England, but
here in the states I see no evidence of atheists attacking religion
except when religion butts its nose into government, public
education, and other supposedly secular affairs. In fact, here,
it's religion that is on a well-financed attack against all things
secular, and the result is a clear diminution of Quality.
In short, the piece is a bit of uncontroversial fluff passing itself
off as critical analysis. The author's intention is to appease, not
inform, and to earn himself a couple of quid in the process.
Best,
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
--
InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors
Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983
Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com
"What are the 7 deadly sins of Christianity? Gluttony, avarice, sloth, lust...
They are urges every man feels at least once a day. How could you set
yourself up as the most powerful institution on earth? You first find out
what every man feels at least once a day, establish that as a sin, and
set yourself up as the only institution capable of pardoning that sin."
-- Anton LaVey
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun May 08 2005 - 02:19:31 BST