Atheism – Atheism’s Misconceptions
Posted by astrivian on February 25, 2011
Atheism’s misconceptions
Dawkins and others i have read and heard confuse a belief in the Divine with religion. Religion is a system of dogmatic memes and rules. Belief does not have to adhere to these rules. There are plenty of people i have met in my life that believe in the Divine, but don’t care for a particular religion. (realizing of course that one’s personal experiences do not represent a statistical sample.)
So far, and i may be wrong about this, atheists in the west at least, mostly rant about western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism versus Greek and Russian Orthodox) and more recently Islam. This seriously degrades their arguments in my estimation. It seems to me that atheism is more of a reaction to the Religions of the Book, than an actual thought out argument against belief in the Divine in all its forms.
Additionally, when reading and listening to atheists, i have noticed they are fond of citing philosophy and the news media with the occasional peppering of the scriptures from, most typically again, the Christian Bible. When one quotes the Diamond Sutra, I will pay them more heed. It is apparent to me that most atheists are profoundly ignorant of the religions of the world. If they are content to not make such a fuss, then so be it. But one would think than an atheist like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris would at least be respectful to learn about what they are arguing so vehemently against.
Some Musician said
Atheists have no qualms with people having a belief in a Deity. The perturbance comes from religion. Christianity is the main focus in America because it has, somehow, permeated throughout society. Islam, or I should say Radical Islam, is a dangerous cult that should not be tolerated in an enlightened society. Dawkins, and I’m sure every atheist, does not care about belief (even though the atheist may find it silly), we care about religion being such a prominent role in society. This the reason why religion is addressed and not belief/spirituality.
Hensatri said
Dawkins spends 2 or 3 pages in the opening of The God Delusion answering this criticism. He takes great care to state that he disbelieves in any and all supernatural God claims, not just those institutionalized in religion.
Christopher Hitchens dedicates an entire chapter of God is Not Great to eastern faiths. He also writes in his book that faith in a higher power is a wicked belief no matter what form it takes, and he mentions this in almost every public presentation he has ever made.
Victor Stenger has an entire book called God the Failed Hypothesis that explains why all supernatural God claims, not just those of any particular religion, fail under scrutiny of the Scientific Method.
Matt Dillahunty, the Host of the Atheist Experience, has explained numerous times that he disbelieves all supernatural claims, and has also explained why their show deals with Christianity more than any other form of the divine.
The Reasonable Doubts Podcast has dealt with the idea of Poly-Atheism before, that is Atheism that applies to all concepts of God, not specific Gods of certain religions.
The Ask and Atheist Podcast has dealt with this question in a similar way to how the Atheist Experience deals with it.
It seems to me that you haven’t actually read or listened to any Atheists, or if you did you weren’t paying attention. This criticism is addressed in every single atheist medium and by almost every atheist thinker/speaker/writer/presenter I have ever heard.
astrivian said
Thanks for the comments. You’re right, i have not read or heard much about atheism and these posts are preliminary at best. It is a blog, though, not a scientific paper.
Stay tuned however. I have 11 more pages coming up on this topic. I appreciate your comments to what i have to say. Please comment on the rest, i welcome an honest discussion.
Hensatri said
I didn’t go into quite that detail, but yes, that is the consensus most Atheists reach. Religion is a problem because it is an institution, a force to be reckoned with. Five million people holding their own unique private beleifs is no problem. 100 people orgainized and passionataly devoted to a single belief can be a big problem.
That is why we combat religion and only passingly criticize belief.
But again, almost every Atheist speaker and writer talks about this at some point…how on earth did you miss it?
astrivian said
I do get into all this in later posts. The problem with Dawkins points is that he defines the Divine as “supernatural.” I don’t believe in a supernatural god either; i believe in the Divine. I also cited my sources in the first post, so i didn’t “miss it” i just didn’t read it. Again, this is a blog not a book. However, i am thinking of turning this into a book later on and in that case i will have to do much more research. Thanks for the books and authors, i will have to check those out.
Again, thanks for your posts on this. Stay in touch. I want to know what you think about the rest of my posts.
astrivian said
Oh, i should probably say as well: I think organized religion CAN BE (not “is”)a huge issue in society and cause a lot of issues (viz. fundamentalist Islam and evangelical Christianity). I agree with the atheists on this and i will get into it a bit later in more detail.
Also, sorry for my total ignorance of how to use WordPress. I “think” i created a category on the side so you can follow these posts more easily.
Thanks!