You would think that atheism was simply the lack of religion, but it's not, atheism has become just another religion, and that trend is increasing. Does real atheism cease to exist if it becomes just another faith?If you search for atheism on youtube, or the blogosphere, or any other part of the web, one thing becomes very clear: the most vocal atheists aren't just pro-atheism, they're very, very anti-religious.
Atheistic evangelism has become a very active part of life on the web. I'll probably get a few hits and emails just for mentioning it. The problem is that if atheism becomes just another religion then it ceases to have any use as an alternative to religion.
When religious groups start tearing down other religious groups (as can be their nature) red flags immediately go up. They're labeled a hate group or worse and become targets of groups like the southern poverty law center or tolerance.org, but the same standard doesn't apply to atheist groups. When atheists attack other beliefs, it's called enlightened and reasonable.
I completely get that part of this is payback for all the crap religious groups have pulled over the years, but are we really improved when atheist groups start adopting the tactics of the Westboro Baptist Church? What's next? Will they adopt the tactics of Al Quaeda?Perhaps these patterns of behavior are so ingrained into the human condition that atheists had no choice but to fall into them. Atheists have given up on the search for their own ways of being and bought property on church row.
Go to a college campus. At the beginning of each new school year religious groups set up tables in public places so new students can find their own denomination to join up, and right in among them, the atheists have their own table advertising their own spaghetti suppers and bowling nights.
There was a time when atheism was a legitimate alternative to religion, but it has long since become a matter of them playing the same game as the religious, just with different jerseys. Don't be surprised if the next time there's a knock on your door, it's an atheist wanting you to give you a copy of his atheist watchtower pamphlet.
2 comments:
"the most vocal atheists aren't just pro-atheism, they're very, very anti-religious."
Also known as anti-theism. It is a very old trend. Secularizing society since 1789!
"The problem is that if atheism becomes just another religion then it ceases to have any use as an alternative to religion."
Anti-theism is an ideology that consists of three parts:
1) Religion is false
2) Religion is harmful
3) The previous two premises must be acted upon.
"I completely get that part of this is payback for all the crap religious groups have pulled over the years, but are we really improved when atheist groups start adopting the tactics of the Westboro Baptist Church?"
Your kidding right? Who would be dumb enough to protest a soldiers funeral claiming their deaths were punishment for the US having gays?
"Will they adopt the tactics of Al Quaeda?"
No need- victory can be gained peacefully and democratically.
Anti-theism is an ideology that consists of three parts:
1) Religion is false
2) Religion is harmful
3) The previous two premises must be acted upon
You realize this is precisely the same argument the Spanish Inquisition used against witches, blasphemers, Jews and Muslims?
Deciding that you're "right" about God is one thing, deciding that everyone else is wrong, and MUST BE STOPPED is quite another.
This is what frustrates me so about Dawkins. Early on he discovered rightly that most religious ideas are composed of memes and that was part of the problem, but rather than using this knowledge to protect his own ideas about religion from making the same mistakes, he takes those exact memes and re-labels them for atheism.
Why? Because they worked pretty well for religion so why re-invent the wheel?
Anti-theism promised to enlighten us, but then lead us into some really dark places like communism under Stalin and fascism under Hitler.
I don't know if atheists are going to hell, probably not, but they do have a heightened tendency to create hell here on earth because they refuse to recognize that they adopted for their own the very same tactics they hate so much about religion.
As for not being like Westboro baptist church, are you familiar with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who interrupt catholic services including baptisms and funerals as a form of protest?
Both could take a rational and civilized approach to their belief that the other is dead wrong, but neither do. As far as I'm concerned they're just different sides of the same coin, although the sisters do have better costumes and choreography.
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