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Since Conner and Draz have got us all thinking about religion...

Posted by GliderGuider (A) on January 3, 2007 at 05:57:52

Here's an interesting article from the IHT. Atheism is coming out of the closet in the United States, and the atheists who have opened the door aren't in the mood for multicultural ecumenism or inter-faith dialogue...

"[W]hen a figure of the scientific stature of Richard Dawkins writes a book called "The God Delusion" and the book climbs onto the New York Times best-seller list and stays there, for 14 weeks so far, you know something significant is taking place."

"...Christianity [is] a kind of malign nonsense..."

"...the grievous harm caused by religious conviction is what makes the honest criticism of religious faith a moral and intellectual necessity."

"Atheism as a necessary attribute of civilization — religion as the opposite of civilization — that argument is being stated more assertively and is being welcomed in some quarters more warmly now than at any time before."

"To atheists like Weinberg, Dawkins and Harris and their many avid readers, it is clearly disappointing that in America, unlike in most of Europe, rationalist, scientific ideas have not become the norm. Harris gloomily recites poll figures on this point: 53 percent of Americans, he says, believe in creationism, which to scientists is like believing that the sun revolves around the Earth. In what he sees as an illustration of mass self-delusion, 80 percent of the survivors of the Katrina disaster claim that the hurricane and flood strengthened their faith in God — rather than serving as powerful evidence, as it does for Harris, that God does not exist."

Of course there are many here who actively refuse to use reason in their everyday lives, and I expect such an article will have no influence on them whatsoever. But a few questions bear asking.

• Why is The United States the odd man out among all the world's developed nations when it comes to religion?
  
• Why has there been such a resurgence in intransigent fundamentalism precisely when the risks posed by the world require all our rational skills to address?
  
• Is this resurgence helping or hindering the United States in its relations with the rest of the world and the challenges posed by today's physical and geopolitical realities?

• Atheists throw down the gauntlet   (Open in New Window)

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