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Thanks once again to the magic of StumbleUpon, I discovered a blog called Atheist Revolution. The latest post includes a succinct and sensible explanation of the difference between atheism and agnosticism. I recommend checking it out.
Matt Taibbi, who’s my hero when it comes to delivering smackdowns to terrible writers, read my mind and wrote a kick-ass response to Stanley Fish’s much-discussed New York Times column “God Talk.”
I was dinking around the WordPress tag pool when I came across a blog called The Curious Atheist, which linked to Taibbi’s post on True/Slant.
Consider this excerpt, which he wrote in response to the idea that since science can’t explain all the mysteries of life, and since life seems meaningless without religion, religion is necessary:
But this sort of thinking is exactly what most agnostics find ridiculous about religion and religious people, who seem incapable of looking at the world unless it’s through the prism of some kind of belief system. They seem to think that if one doesn’t believe in God, one must believe in something else, because to live without answers would be intolerable…. They seem determined to prove that the quality of not believing in heaven and hell and burning bushes and saints is a rigid dogma all unto itself….
I don’t have much to add. Taibbi is absolutely right; this is evidenced by the “it takes more faith not to believe” rhetoric spewed by many religious folks. I’ve encountered the idea many times before: people want to think that atheism and agnosticism require a whole separate faith that’s based in worshiping science or something. However, it’s been my experience that once you confront the fear of simply not knowing (especially not knowing what happens when we die), embracing the mystery is more comforting and awe-inspiring than religion ever could be.
Jacob’s and my friend Shawn sent me a New York Times article on the growing number of atheists who are not only admitting nonbelief but “shouting it from the rooftops” and organizing publicly. Once again, the American Religious Identification Survey was used as a jumping-off point. This short piece focuses mostly on an atheist group in South Carolina, Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which recently erected a billboard reading, “Don’t Believe in God? You Are Not Alone.” They braced themselves for hate mail, but instead received more support and interest than they’d imagined.
The NYT article also mentions the movement to turn secularism into a cause, not just an argument. I’ve been asked why I care about people’s religious beliefs, why I can’t just be quiet in my nonbelief and let everyone do their own thing. My response to that question is multifold.
“I grew up Jewish. I am Jewish. I went to an Episcopal high school. I went to a Baptist college. I’ve taken every comparative-religion course that was available. God? I have no idea.”
–Michael Eisner in Esquire, April 2009 issue (p. 122, “What I’ve Learned”)
Admittedly, I’m starting to write this without any notion of how deep this rabbit hole is going to take me. In lieu of the traditional method of reporting, wherein I pose the questions, do the research, report on my findings, and draw a set of conclusions in a clear and somewhat polished manner, I’m going to take you on the journey with me. I apologize if this gets boring.
Let’s start with atheism. What’s the definition?
My friend Cristina sent me a link to this article on CNN.com, which breaks down and discusses the results of the American Religious Identity Survey, which was conducted by Trinity College in Hartford, CT and published today. [Update: USA Today has excellent charts accompanying its story about the survey.]
Three in four Americans call themselves Christian, but in 1990 that figure was almost nine out of 10 (86%). One-third of Americans identify as Evangelical, with the number of people associated with mega-churches skyrocketing from 200,000 in 1990 to 8 million today — however, the number of “mainline” Protestants (Lutheran, Methodist, etc.) is shrinking. One in five people said they have no religious identity or did not answer the question, and 25% of people do not expect to have a religious funeral, according to the survey. CNN quotes Mark Silk of Trinity College (they don’t specify whether he’s a professor), who attributes the growing number of nonreligious Americans to several factors.
This warrants a longer post, but I highly recommend watching Religulous (pronounced with a soft “g”), Bill Maher’s documentary about religion. Despite the fact that Maher can get on my last nerve sometimes, I often love his ideas and his guts. Religulous is comprehensive, informative, and hilarious–and Maher pulls no punches.
Go forth and watch Religulous. And yes, this is what I did with my Saturday night.
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience, I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.
–Bertrand Russell, Collected Papers, vol. 11, p. 91
A continuous conversation between atheists 