While doing the weekly adds and deletes for the Atheist Blogroll this morning, I read a post about the Blasphemy Challenge on the new blog Atheist Reform. In the YouTube video referenced in the post, Sam denies the holy spirit, and goes on to say she hopes to see the end of religion in her lifetime. I’ve always thought that these video takes guts, but they are not my style. I’ve watched a few hundred, they give me hope.
The Blasphemy Challenge reminds me of a winter day in 1983. I was driving to work on the 405 fwy in the South Bay while thinking about sin and the absolute nature of the unpardonable sin. It seemed inconsistent with the message of Christianity to me even then. I shook my fist at the sky and did denied the holy sprit, God, and Jesus too. It felt pretty good then and the fact that I can remember doing it all these years later means it was important to me.
The post at Atheist Reform ended with the author calling young Sam a hypocrite. I don’t follow his logic. Perhaps you do?
Logging you in...
Susannah · 816 weeks ago
The blogger offers her a choice; no religion, or no atheism; as if she had to be just as accepting of one as of another. It doesn't work that way.
1. No disease, or everybody sick all the time. Choose! You don't accept "everybody sick"? Hypocrite! Or: a police state versus peace and cooperation. Choose! Not content with the police state? Hypocrite!
No. There are acceptable outcomes and there are non-acceptable outcomes. We don't have to just roll over and passively accept what comes in the name of "fairness".
2. The choice is not available in the real world. There will always be religion of one sort or another. And there will always be those who don't believe. Kill one, another will pop up. Sam doesn't know this yet. She will.
Lack of experience does not equate to hypocrisy.
Rox1SMF 42p · 816 weeks ago
Atheist Reform seems to be on the Accomodationist & Appeasement point in the spectrum of atheists/agnostics, and doesn't want to be represented by the likes of Dawkins and other anti-theists like PZ. Fair enough. Not everyone's cut out for being "militant" (perpetrating such terrorist acts as blogging, writing books and pointing out violations to our American liberties), or taking the consequences for ridiculing insane ideas. Especially when those ideas inform public policy and spread hate and distrust among Americans.
Those of us who are willing to be out and in-your-face on the subject of religious belief, sincerely welcome those who are not. To me it's my patriotic duty to exercise AND DEFEND my Constitutional rights - some of which have been trampled all over in 50+ years of increasing religiosity in what is supposed to be a secular government.
Jack 119p · 816 weeks ago
Patrick Craig · 816 weeks ago
Address the argument. How can anyone realistically expect the end of religion? How is it that we can condemn all religion when not all who practice it are against us? And how can we know that our world would indeed be better without religion?