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Christian Revival ?
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Did Richard Dawkins’s ‘New Atheists’ spark a Christian revival?
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What is what the author calls 'the impertinence for good'?
He's bandying some rickety old names about there. Alister McGrath's feeble attempt to discredit Dawkins' 'The God Delusion' amounted to a mere scrap of a book (65 pages) containing nothing more than a character assassination of the author - and a poor one at that. Mr Hobson is probably very wise to have his doubts about the new book.
If anyone is interesting in reading more about the book....
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Khandro - both you and the author are labouring under the misaprension that the average atheist is remotely interested in the sort of fervent "I've got something you need ..." position that you, and others on here, put forward on a tediously regular basis.
I believe the average atheist's attitude to religion is one of complete and utter indifference.
It's only fervents who constantly need to tell the world that they think that atheism is wrong, and Christianity is right, and they have to remind people of the fact that they are smug about knowing that about every twenty minutes.
Atheists as a rule don't care, they have better things to do with their time, and their keyboards.
You should try their approach, even if not their absence of belief, coupled with an absence of being remotely bothered.
The thesis is not to discredit Dawkins, but that his assertions are now becoming tired and threadbare. At the time Dawkins was pushing at an open door & recruits there were aplenty. The New Atheists easily got what they asked for, but like so many previous revolutions, many are now despairing of the results.
The New Atheist icon Ayaan Hirsi Ali among other prominent intellectuals (& someone of whom I have strong admiration) has caused a bit of a stir in the atheist group by her recent declaration that she has adopted the Christian faith, not that she has adopted irrational beliefs but for calculated reasons, such as that she sees Western civilization under the dangerous threat of, Putinism, the rise of radical Islam & "the viral spread of woke ideology which is eating into the moral fibre of the next generation".
She also wrote that an atheistic West lacks the tools to fight: " The only credible answer I believe lies in a desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition."
naomi - // ^I'm interested so just for the record I am not the average atheist - but then I never have been just the average anything..... ;o) //
I am very much the average atheist, and happy to be in the massive majority of people who really can't be bothered to wade through screeds of self-important nonsense about athesism versus faith, I absolutely could not care less.
Khandro - // ''... but for calculated reasons, such as that she sees Western civilization under the dangerous threat of, Putinism, the rise of radical Islam & "the viral spread of woke ideology which is eating into the moral fibre of the next generation".
That's basic common sense, you don't need to be a Christian to see that.
Khandro, as far as I'm aware atheists, 'new' (weird expression that means nothing) or old haven't asked for anything. It seems only the religious possess a gap in their psyche that is wanting.
//an atheistic West lacks the tools to fight: //
I don't think that's true at all. You don't need to be religious to appreciate and value a western culture and a western way of life.
//" The only credible answer I believe lies in a desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition."//
I think most western atheists do that. They don't need religion to tell them what they have or what they should value and protect.
naomi - //
andy-hughes, //I absolutely could not care less.//
As you've said many times. I wonder why you bother to repeat it so often? //
I'm like the fervents on here - petrified that if I don't remind people of what I think with mind-numbing pointless regularity, I think they might forget about me, or think that I'm not worth listening to, or that I'm not really important, and then my life would cease to have any meaning ....
(Are you buying any of this???!!! LOL!!!)
naomi - //
Khandro, as far as I'm aware atheists, 'new' (weird expression that means nothing) or old haven't asked for anything. It seems only the religious possess a gap in their psyche that is wanting.
//an atheistic West lacks the tools to fight: //
I don't think that's true at all. You don't need to be religious to appreciate and value a western culture and a western way of life.
//" The only credible answer I believe lies in a desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition."//
I think most western atheists do that. They don't need religion to tell them what they have or what they should value and protect. //
I would like to be associated with the remarks of this poster.
The theists of this world constantly miss the point. Atheism is not about coming together and forming like minded groups as theists do. We are only joined by the one thought that there isn't a god. Unlike the theists who spend their lives spreading the word and trying to convert others to their way of thinking, we have no need to constantly tells others how to think.
vulcan - // We are only joined by the one thought that there isn't a god. //
I don't think we are even bothered enough to be 'joined' by that.
Christians really do feel that identity, it is part of their lives, and fair enough.
But I don't believe that atheists do at all.
My atheism only ever crosses my mind when i contribute to threads like this - the rest of the time I don't think about it for a moment.
I don't need the bonding and identity cosiness that binds Christians together, I don't live in fear of a nasty vengeful deity, and constantly have to try and explain the daily occurences that fly in the face of his 'love' with the catch-all that 'We don't understand his purpose...'.
I am free from that need for a security blanket, and highly liberating it is too.
Right - back to re-editing my Cruise Talk about Elvis Presley - far more productive and enjoyable.
I think the last thing we need is a christian revival, as it would certainly not involve original christian ideas such as turning the other cheek and blessed are the meek etc. The american right-wing evangelists are not to be encouraged. We should be trying to muddle through by using our intelligence, not by promoting one religion at the expense of all the others.
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