Bust Nak wrote:That may be so, but not because we are atheists, but because we are liberals - by and large we atheists articulate the same moral/ethical positions on almost all subjects with liberal theists.
“Liberal theist� is a laughable oxymoron. They overwhelmingly believe only in this world. They have neither experience nor knowledge of, nor faith in the other world. The liberal theist has to elevate the mundane to the miraculous such as the “miracle� of birth, an alleged extraordinary manifestation of divine intervention in human affairs that’s been done seven billion times in the past five decades
[eyeroll].
Most of all, they believe in a “god� who is not powerful enough to raise men from the dead. They should chuck theism for its opposite and then they would be honest.
Bust Nak wrote:I am going to ask you to give me some numbers on that. I googled it and only one article from 3 pages of results is written by atheist supporting the concept, and even there he calls it a proposal.
Several thousand, such as “Atheism as a Positive Worldview,� “AN ATHEIST'S WORLD VIEW Blogspot,� a YouTube video called “Atheist on the Atheist Worldview� explained that the Atheist world view was “it’s the exact same worldview – pretty much – as everyone else, except for we don’t think there’s a god.� Another says, “Atheist Ireland is an Irish advocacy group. We promote atheism and reason over superstition and supernaturalism, [. . .]. Atheist Ireland is a member of Atheist Alliance International, an umbrella organisation of groups and individuals in the United States and around the world committed to promoting and defending reason and the atheist worldview.� Another
The Atheist Missionary says, “For those who follow the discussion threads on this blog, you will see that several theist commentators have been criticizing the atheist worldview as devoid of meaning.� Andy the atheist says, "The atheist’s worldview is driven by pure rationality, reason, and the scientific method. The result of this is that most atheists hold the theory of evolution to be true, and they reject the possibility of the spiritual world and an afterlife." "[He] believes that atheism is the most rational and reasonable worldview, sometimes because of the ‘damage’ done by religion throughout the centuries, but mainly because it seems to be the most consistent with the observable world according to the scientific method." I can find more if you’d like.
Suffice it to say that the definition of “worldview� is varied. Oxford says, “a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.� Merriam-Webster says it’s “a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific standpoint.� Another said that a worldview was the word “commonly used to describe an individual's set of beliefs which affect the way they see and respond to the world.�
Atheist organizations have various and sundry stated purposes such as “to develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity,� which is a particular philosophy that is comprehensive in nature and for them is how they conceive or apprehend the world and how mankind should proceed to “promote the study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the maintenance, perpetuation, and enrichment of human (and other) life,� and “to encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society.�
That sounds like a worldview to me (and would to most reasonable people) and it comports with all of the definitions that I provided. As I stated previously you guys always have to address this because to say that “atheist worldview� is a nonsense talk simply isn’t true unless you guys introduce a novel definition of “worldview.� You are constantly having to address this because it is exceedingly hard to defend a manifestly false position, namely “There is no ‘atheist worldview’.� Clearly there is.
"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." -- Albert Einstein -- Written in 1954 to Jewish philosopher Erik Gutkind.
