Famous Atheists
November 18, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
If you didn’t view last Wednesday’s issue of the Humanist Network News, you may not have seen this You Tube video on atheists yet. Check it out.
8 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
November 18th, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
I always find it fascinating how many scientists and researchers are atheistic or agnostic. It truly does become harder to believe in an all-powerful supernatural something as you become more and more educated in the ways of science and nature. I love my heritage/family/community, and will always consider myself “Jewish,” but the more I educate myself, the more I read, I find the less I believe in the Spritual, and the more in humanity and science. This video is interesting, but Noell, you have been more of an inspiration in living out loud. Thank you.
November 19th, 2006 @ 8:02 am
Ahh, that’s so sweet, Allison. Thank you.
You know, my husband’s father was raised Jewish and become a Mormon when he was in college. So when my husband I abandoned religion, we actually considered his family’s Jewish roots and went to temple once, wondering if we’d ever be comfortable becoming Jewish! Many Jews are just secular Jews and it seems to be okay. You can’t be a secular Mormon.
Of course, we ended up just leaving religion behind altogether.
November 22nd, 2006 @ 11:59 am
Can’t be a secular Mormon? Sad but true.
Is it possible to be an atheist and at the same time embrace an LDS cultural heritage? Maybe not, but if it can be done, I’ll do it.
November 27th, 2006 @ 12:26 pm
I didn’t expect it, but the first few times I saw the video, I had tears in my eyes. It’s so emotionally powerful.
November 28th, 2006 @ 2:46 pm
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.
I think the video missed the point. The “fool” is not necessarily someone with a low I.Q. or no talent, but someone who says in their heart, “There is no God.” The person of Ps 14:1 doesn’t have a brain (knowledge) problem, but a heart (choice) problem.
You don’t have to be an Atheist to be smart. Isaac Newton believed in God. Also, just because you are smart in some things, doesn’t mean your smart in everything. Einstein was brilliant, but he was terrible at relationships. Solomon was given wisdom from God, but made many bad choices.
December 1st, 2006 @ 2:18 pm
Thanks for that link, Noell! I’ve having trouble finding a religious/spiritual identity since I left Mormonism, but that video reminded me that I _can_ identify as atheist–and be in good company.
In response to Ron, no, you don’t have to be atheist to be smart. There are smart, influential, and famous theists, too. But the point of the video was being an atheist doesn’t necessarily make you a fool. There are smart and foolish atheists, just as there are smart and foolish theists.
December 5th, 2006 @ 9:26 pm
In response,
Whether or not a person can be labeled a “fool” has a lot to do with perspective. You may have a 40yr old person who (through saving and wise investemnts) has a million dollars in his retirement accout, but eats McDonalds every meal. From a financial perspective, this person may be considered brilliant. However, from a health perspective he would be considered very foolish, regardless of his financial wealth. For what good is a retirement account, if you don’t live long enough to enjoy it.
From a biblical (or God’s) perspective, you are a fool if you say in your heart “There is no God”. Regardless of how much you possess in talent, or smarts, or good works. From the world’s perspective, the people in the video are awesome. But what good is it, if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul?
August 17th, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
These arguments are dealt with very compellingly in the Christian Science fiction novel, LEDNORF’S DILEMMA. In one case, for example, an atheistic biologist is confronted by a powerful question having to do with his view on a certain heinous act being necessarily wrong. And, from there, the questions move on to the ultimate realization that reasons (evidence, if you like)for God being a reality derive not from scientific reasoning, but rather from the heart opening that door. In which case, even though it seems philosophically risky to take that step, one comes finally to realize that the reason is in the risk. In other words, if we take that “step” of faith, we are not left hanging on a limb. God, you see, is not the author of confusion. However, LEDNORF’S DILEMMA deals with four major concepts, one of them being Lord Bertrand Russell’s Truism. It is a mathematical proof for the proposition that “either, all religions are wrong, or only one is correct.” The book also makes a strong case that, by using the intellect with which we have been blessed, we can rather easily make the logical choice. The author, by the way, had been investigating the Jim Jones cult for nine years prior to the Guyana holocaust. His novel is a result of subsequent and intense inquiries into the kinds of mental frailties that allowed postmodernist theologians and corrupt San Francisco politicians to pave the way for Jones’s rise to power in the Bay Area’s theological and political hierarchies.