Atheism // Current

UPDATE: BBC IntelligenceSquared debate-Is the Catholic Church a force of good in the world?

Christoher Hitchens submission at link Today BBC World News broadcast a... more

SleepDirt
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1 day ago
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17 comments

Putting arguments using "faith" in its place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wV_REEdvxo

cefirak
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1 day ago
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13 comments

Why Europe is Dying: Neo-Darwinism

Europe is facing a population crisis because of attacks on religion by secular... more

frank_runyeon
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3 days ago
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1 comment

Playing God - Creating a Galaxy in Photoshop - Day 1

http://www.vahidlancaster.com/playing-god-creating-a-galaxy-day-1/

Vmdl_Web
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4 days ago
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The Atheist Recruiting Machine

From subway ads to “Blasphemy Day,” nonbelievers are proselytizing louder than... more

atomiclegion
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4 days ago
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From preacher to an atheist, Dan Barker speaks at RIT

Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation (www.ffrf.org), came to... more

V1ktor
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10 days ago
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Good Without God: A Positive Take on Secularism

As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of negativity that, in my perception, we often put forward to the rest of the world. It’s a concern I much share with Paul Kurtz, a secularist hero and my former boss at the Center for Inquiry in Buffalo, NY, who has long been worried about ensuring that humanists have positive, constructive messages to offer about the virtues of a life of unbelief.

So how fortunate to have just learned of the release of the Harvard humanist chaplain Greg Epstein’s new book Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. The book description suggests that it is exactly what I, and Kurtz, are looking for:

With the current state of the economy, the ongoing wars that rage across the globe, and the unsettling changes to the earth’s climate, questions about the role of God and religion in world affairs have never been more relevant or felt more powerfully. Many of us are searching for a place where we can find not only facts and scientific reason but also hope and the moral courage needed to overcome such challenges. For some, answers to the most challenging questions are found in the divine. For others, including the New Atheists, religion has no place in the world and is, in fact, an “enemy.”

But in Good Without God, Greg Epstein presents another, more balanced and inclusive response: Humanism. With a focus on the positive, he highlights humanity’s potential for goodness and the ways in which Humanists lead lives of purpose and compassion. Humanism can offer the sense of community we want and often need in good times and bad, as we celebrate marriages and the birth of our children, and as we care for those who are elderly or sick. In short, Humanism teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without supernaturalism, without higher powers . . . without God.

In this constructive response not only to his fellow atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris but also to contemporary religious leaders such as Rick Warren and Jim Wallis, Epstein makes a bold claim for what nonbelievers do share and believe. At a time when the debate about morality rages more fiercely than ever—and when millions are searching for something they can put their faith in—Humanism offers a comfort and hope that affirms our ability to live ethical lives of personal fulfillment, aspiring together for the greater good of all.As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of... more

hpseaton
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11 days ago
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4 comments

Atheism's own fundamentalists lead 'religion' of 'Not'

Forget God, let's talk about arrogance. That's not exactly the way Rice University... more

hpseaton
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11 days ago
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9 comments

Larry David Blasted for 'Curb' Episode Where He Urinates on Jesus Painting

"Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of... more

clish1
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12 days ago
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69 comments

Hitchens: Christianity is a fraud if it’s not literally true

If the story of Jesus Christ isn't literally true, then Christianity is a fraud that promotes "a positively wicked doctrine," conservative writer Christopher Hitchens told Fox & Friends Monday morning.

Hitchens, an avowed atheist whose 2007 book God is Not Great attempts to divorce conservatism from religious teachings, discussed the role of religion in American society in the wake of a recent study (PDF) that shows the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has roughly doubled in the past two decades, from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008.

The study, conducted by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, predicts that a full one-quarter of Americans will have no religious affiliation by 2028. The study notes that the number of non-believers among younger people is considerably higher than among older people, suggesting that the trend of Americans growing less religious will continue in coming years.

Those people who claim no religious affiliation are "not all atheists by any means," Hitchens told host Gretchen Carlson. "They're just people who don't attend a church, don't have a faith. I think it's fair to call them agnostics. The number of people, like myself, who think religion is false, that it's a delusion and that it's bad for you, is still pretty small."

Hitchens said Americans are increasingly turning against organized religion "because they want to push back against theocracy and the parties of God and the awful challenge they pose to us internationally."

"By the way, your side seems to be winning in public schools, at least across America," Carlson told Hitchens.

Hitchens appeared on Fox with pastor Douglas Wilson, who appeared along with Hitchens in the recent documentary Collision, which explores the battle of ideas between the religious and the non-religious.

The two came to an unexpected agreement on one issue: They both attacked the notion, popular among some secular thinkers, that Christianity is a socially positive thing even if it's not true.

"If Jesus didn't come back from the dead, then Christianity is appalling, it's an appalling fraud and delusion and every unbeliever should attack it," Wilson said. "Christianity is not good for the world because it makes people decent and sober and that sort of thing. At the end of the day, if it's not true, if it's not objectively true, then I don't have any more use for it than Christopher does."

Hitchens echoed that idea, but made it clear he does actually consider Christianity a fraud.

"They say, well the Bible story's not really true, they're morality tales. Don't listen to it, because if it's based on a fraud, if the virgin birth and the resurrection and the miracles did not occur, which they did not, then those teachings are immoral, they teach that sins can be forgiven by throwing them on to a scapegoat -- a positively wicked doctrine."If the story of Jesus Christ isn't literally true, then Christianity is a fraud that... more