Silent no More: The Rise of the New Atheists

[Jagella]

I read some very good news in the April 2018 Scientific American. Michael Shermer writes in his Skeptic column "that 23 percent of all Americans have forsaken religion all together." The 23 percent figure is based on a 2013 Harris Poll and corroborated by a 2015 Pew Research Center poll. It is a "dramatic increase" from 2007 when only 16 percent of polled Americans said they were affiliated with no religion.

Why these poll results are so important to me is that the real good news is that America has a chance to lead the world with a new sense of social responsibility. We atheists can succeed where religionists have failed. As religion and superstition decline; science, critical thinking, and true morality can increase. We can level the playing field for all Americans granting everybody a chance to make something out of themselves. Let's leave religion and all its "bad fruit" behind forever!

Our efforts to turn the tables on Christianity appear to be working. Do you agree?

[alexxcJRO]

Atheism is a theological position.

Q: Atheism is what ?! )

Nonsensical again I am afraid.

Lets look at the definitions:

theological

/ldk()l/
adjective
relating to the study of the nature of God and religious belief.
"theological and pastoral training"
synonyms: religious, scriptural, ecclesiastical, doctrinal; More


https://www.google.ro/search?client=ope ... 8&oe=UTF-8



theological

[thee-uh-loj-i-kuh l]
Spell Syllables
Examples
Word Origin
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
adjective
1.
of, relating to, or involved with theology :
a theological student.
2.
based upon the nature and will of God as revealed to humans.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/theological


theology
[thee-ol-uh-jee]
Spell Syllables
Examples
Word Origin
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural theologies.
1.
the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God'sattributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things orreligious truth; divinity.
2.
a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/theology

Lets see :

Q: Does atheism relate with the study of the nature of God, his attributes and relations with the universe ?

A: No.

Q: Does atheism involves religious belief?

A: No.

C: It is safe to conclude that atheism is not a theological position.

[Goat]

I read some very good news in the April 2018 Scientific American. Michael Shermer writes in his Skeptic column "that 23 percent of all Americans have forsaken religion all together." The 23 percent figure is based on a 2013 Harris Poll and corroborated by a 2015 Pew Research Center poll. It is a "dramatic increase" from 2007 when only 16 percent of polled Americans said they were affiliated with no religion.

Why these poll results are so important to me is that the real good news is that America has a chance to lead the world with a new sense of social responsibility. We atheists can succeed where religionists have failed. As religion and superstition decline; science, critical thinking, and true morality can increase. We can level the playing field for all Americans granting everybody a chance to make something out of themselves. Let's leave religion and all its "bad fruit" behind forever!

Our efforts to turn the tables on Christianity appear to be working. Do you agree?

It isn't atheism that is dong that. Many of those people who don't associate with any religion might not even be atheists. However, it is the interaction with Christian Evangelists and their support for Trump that is driving people away. Oh, let's not forget the actions of men like Roy Moore, and the conservative Christian support for him too.

[Goat]

[Replying to post 1 by Jagella]

I would like to see this poll because "leaving religion" does NOT mean becoming an atheist. Many many people that believe in God no longer associate with an organized religion. I've no doubt that atheism is growing but it is probably misleading to use this poll to indicate to what extent.

The Jehovah's Witness religion continues in it historic growth unabaited.

JW

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/bad-ome ... ent-page-1

Bad omens for Watchtower as new Yearbook shows decreases for Canada, Australia and much of Europe

[bluethread]

Atheism is a theological position.

Q: Atheism is what ?! )

Nonsensical again I am afraid.

So, why are you not challenging Jagella on his indentifying an ideological group as "the New Atheists"? Is this an identifiable group based on a theological position or not?

[alexxcJRO]

Atheism is a theological position.

Q: Atheism is what ?! )

Nonsensical again I am afraid.

So, why are you not challenging Jagella on his indentifying an ideological group as "the New Atheists"? Is this an identifiable group based on a theological position or not?

Hold on a minute dear sir.

Q: Why so trigger-happy?

I don't read every post on every page on every thread.

Can you be more specific by pointing the exact post and expand a little bit on your idea. I don't follow you.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by Jagella]

I would like to see this poll because "leaving religion" does NOT mean becoming an atheist. Many many people that believe in God no longer associate with an organized religion. I've no doubt that atheism is growing but it is probably misleading to use this poll to indicate to what extent.

The Jehovah's Witness religion continues in it historic growth unabaited.

JW

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/bad-ome ... ent-page-1

Bad omens for Watchtower as new Yearbook shows decreases for Canada, Australia and much of Europe

So? So what?! Over the last 150 years we have been preaching increase in specific regions waxes and wanes due to any number of factors, but the overall global trend has always been up. Is there anything in the numbers over the last forty years that indicate this trend will not continue in the future?



JW

Official Jehovah's Witness website
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/book ... nd-totals/
2017 Country and Territory Reportshttps://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/2017-s ... territory/

[benchwarmer]

[Replying to post 1 by Jagella]

I would like to see this poll because "leaving religion" does NOT mean becoming an atheist. Many many people that believe in God no longer associate with an organized religion. I've no doubt that atheism is growing but it is probably misleading to use this poll to indicate to what extent.

The Jehovah's Witness religion continues in it historic growth unabaited.

JW

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/bad-ome ... ent-page-1

Bad omens for Watchtower as new Yearbook shows decreases for Canada, Australia and much of Europe

So? So what?! Over the last 150 years we have been preaching increase in specific regions waxes and wanes due to any number of factors, but the overall global trend has always been up. Is there anything in the numbers over the last forty years that indicate this trend will not continue in the future?



JW

Official Jehovah's Witness website
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/book ... nd-totals/
2017 Country and Territory Reportshttps://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/2017-s ... territory/

Maybe I just don't understand the terms in the documentation, but I don't see the actual number of JWs anywhere. Only 'publishers' (whatever that is) and mention of baptized and increases. I don't see anything that indicates how many left or just the raw number of active JWs at the time of the count.

For most groups, these numbers would be very hard to come by accurately, but it seems JWs have some sort of membership roster?

You know what they say: there's lies, damn lies, and statistics Just trying to make sense of what the numbers are actually saying.

[bluethread]

Hold on a minute dear sir.

Q: Why so trigger-happy?

I don't read every post on every page on every thread.

Can you be more specific by pointing the exact post and expand a little bit on your idea. I don't follow you.

That is understandable. However, the name of the thread is The Rise of the New Atheists. That implies a definable group, not just simple atheism. In addition the OP states, "We atheists can succeed where religionists have failed. As religion and superstition decline; science, critical thinking, and true morality can increase. We can level the playing field for all Americans granting everybody a chance to make something out of themselves." So, this thread is based on an proposed dichotomous conflict between two groups based on assigned theological positions, "Religionists" who are characterized as promoters of religion and superstition to the exclusion of science, critical thinking, and true morality, and "New Atheists" who promote science, critical thinking, and true morality to the exclusion of religion and superstition. As a kicker, the OP also presumes that the former is somehow denying opportunity to some Americans and the latter are set to liberate those people. That does not sound like a simple discussion of theism and atheism to me, but an attempt to evangelize based on specific claims regarding theology. Therefore, I would conclude that this "New Atheism" that the OP is talking about is indeed a theological position. Do you disagree?

[imhereforyou]

I read some very good news in the April 2018 Scientific American. Michael Shermer writes in his Skeptic column "that 23 percent of all Americans have forsaken religion all together." The 23 percent figure is based on a 2013 Harris Poll and corroborated by a 2015 Pew Research Center poll. It is a "dramatic increase" from 2007 when only 16 percent of polled Americans said they were affiliated with no religion.

Why these poll results are so important to me is that the real good news is that America has a chance to lead the world with a new sense of social responsibility. We atheists can succeed where religionists have failed. As religion and superstition decline; science, critical thinking, and true morality can increase. We can level the playing field for all Americans granting everybody a chance to make something out of themselves. Let's leave religion and all its "bad fruit" behind forever!

Our efforts to turn the tables on Christianity appear to be working. Do you agree?

In this world, there should be room for just about every belief, be it superstition, scientific, whatever. The problem is people can't leave others alone - live and let live as they say.
In a perfect world (as I see it) religion can coexist with atheism and agnostics and scientists, new agers, etc. as they all have positive things to add to life.
Unfortunately it's not possible.

From what I've experienced, it's not that atheists are doing anything to thwart religion, but religion crushing itself from its own weight of inconsistent and antiquated thinking and presentation.
I don't think religion will ever go away 100% - maybe it shouldn't - as there will always be needy people who want something else to believe in past themselves and what they're capable of doing in life. But, for many, it's much easier to believe in a floating invisible powerful man in the sky than yourself I suspect.

[historia]

Atheism is a theological position.

Theological positions involve a belief in a god of some sort.

I'm using the term theological in its narrow sense, as the study of God. Atheism is the position that God does not exist.