I'm going to pillage an entire blog post from Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert), describing the recent elevation in status of atheists amongst Christians in the US. He also thinks Bill Gates, an atheist, should run for president. The post is entitled, "Atheists: The New Gays":
Here's a quote I laughed at: "God is still up there," on global warming.Is it my imagination or have the atheists come out of the closet (in the United States) since 9/11?
Prior to 9/11, it would have been career suicide for a public figure to come right out and say God is a fairy tale. Now it’s a feature of popular culture. You can see it on cable of course, in shows such as BullSh*t, Real Time, The Daily Show, and Southpark. But it’s also a feature of network TV. The main character on House is written as the most brilliant human on the planet, and he’s an atheist. The new show 3lbs has a similar character. I can’t remember anything like that ten years ago.
Famous atheist Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion is #5 on Amazon.com. Sam Harris is right up there with his books The End of Faith and Letters to a Christian Nation. They aren’t selling in numbers anywhere approaching the top religious books, but they are best sellers. When was the last time two books promoting atheism were best sellers at about the same time?
I think the hidden benefit of Islamic extremism is that it freed the atheists from their closets. The old mindset in the United States was that almost any religion was good, and atheism was bad. But since 9/11, atheism has moved above Islam in the rankings, at least in the minds of Christians and Jews in the United States.
Ask a deeply religious Christian if he’d rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don’t seem so bad lately.
I think that in an election cycle or two you will see an atheist business leader emerge as a legitimate candidate for president. And his name will be Bill Gates.
By then, Bill Gates will have done so much good for the world through his charitable works that combined with his business success he’ll appear more qualified than any other candidate. His early bachelor life and some of his business practices will come back to haunt him if he runs, but he can still win with this simple slogan: “Who would you rather have on your side?” He’ll confess to all of his past imperfections and say that presidents are poor choices for role models. He’ll advise you to look to your parents for role models while you let him run the country.
I doubt Bill Gates is considering a run for president right now, largely because it’s so hard to make a difference from that job. His charities will have more impact. But I think he’ll someday realize that the world needs a rational thinker in the top spot and no one else can win.
At least you’d know he wouldn’t be in it for the money or to speed up the Rapture. He has my vote.
One more thing: http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/
7 comments:
Johnny, Johnny....how-to-spell-ridiculous.com is not quite ready. I had to watch football yesterday.
Meh.
As for atheism, I don't label myself as an atheist. I'm not sure if agnostic is more appropriate or not. It just isn't a big deal to me. But if it helps, I am someone you can ask to help setup your wireless network.
I will say, as a self declared logical and rational person, that atheism sure makes a lot of sense. I can't picture myself one day explaining to my kid "You see, there is a magical being known as God, who sits up on a cloud in heaven. When you put your hands together and pray, he can hear you, and answers your prayers." "How do you know? Have you seen him? Have you talked to him?" "Err...you just have to believe."
Now try and help him/her understand the scientific method for science class.
As for an atheist president, well I should hope that doesn't matter much. Of course, it does. Religion is part of a persons identity, and it will change the way they think and the decisions that they make. If atheists are fundamentally more logical and rational, well, I suppose they would be a good person to be making decisions.
Despite my own beliefs, I don't think it's a law that atheists are always logical and rational, or at least more so than theists. I think there's value in being moderate with your beliefs - it takes logic and rationality to say, "this is what I believe, but you don't have to in order for me to respect you."
This is where fundamentalism of any kind fails, because it harbours the "my way or the highway" mentality. These are the people we should be boycotting, not the moderates. I mean, I'm a fan of Richard Dawkins' work to curb religious fundamentalism, but he does so by taking a fundamentalist atheistic approach. Yes, it might be necessary, but I don't think I'd want him for a political leader.
Well wait a minute, what is an atheist? Someone who believes there is no God(s), or someone doesn't believe in God(s)?
Because if it is the former, that certainly isn't a rational point of view. That is like saying "There are no mice with two tails." Now, maybe you haven't seen any mice with two tails, but others claim they have. And what logical grounds do you have to stand on saying "you are mistaken, there are no mice with two tails." "because...err...uhh...I said so." isn't good enough.
The more rational approach would be "I think it is unlikely there are mice with two tails. I realize some claim that such mice exist, but they could easily be mistaken, especially if they went out in search of such mice to begin with."
Okay, that was horrible. I suck at this. The point being...I agree, having moderate view, with an open mind, is most important. Unless you can back your shit up with hardcore evidence...its still shit.
Kevin, do you believe in God? It's a yes or no answer. If yes, you are a theist. If no, you are an atheist. How come? Well, you either believe in God or you don't. You either collect stamps or you don't. You are either atheist or theist. Agnostic is more of a word that people use when they don't want to be classified and bad people and it's a neutral position.
People often define it as "not knowing" if God exists or not. Well, if you don't know that God exists, you don't believe in God, making you an atheist. Atheist is nothing more than a lack of a belief in God.
Most atheists can logically suggest that there is no God. They feel that there is insufficient evidence to support the idea of such a being. For example, I can say that there is no fairy living under my fridge. Sure, I haven't really looked hard, but I am pretty sure there is no fairy. If you told me the fairy was responsible for the mold on my cheese, I might believe you until I discovered fungi.
As the God of the gaps slowly consumes less space, there becomes less and less reason to believe that such a God exists. It will reach a point where there is insufficient evidence to believe in God and people will become atheist.
Atheist is definitely not a belief that no God exists, it is simply lacking a belief in God.
Anyway, but to my hobby on not collecting stamps
from the world you live in. I'll make my few points as to why atheism is really wrong and why you should be forced to wear a fabric A on your chest whenever you leave your house.
point #1.
The vast majority of the population of the world believes in a God or higher power, and do you really think that 6.6 billion people are wrong? If so, then you are remarkably ignorant. Anyone that has read "The Wisdom of Crowds" understand that a larger population is correct in every matter.
point #2
Atheism is based on a rediculous premise called "science". It is common sense that the "truth" can't be proven my experimentation, its really got everything to do with your gut feeling. Gut feeling is always correct, and some people can focus this into an energy that has healing powers. These healers can save your atheist souls from the fire that awaits you upon death.
point #3
Logic is a fickle thing, and you are using it wrong, with your experimentation and mathematics. You have to go about it by gut feeling: for example, By using deductive logic, I can prove there is a higher being: The bible exists, and it was written by God, therefore there must have been a pen, which was designed by man, who was born from his parents, who came from africa, who used to walk on all fours, who used to have rodent-like features, who used to have a slimy-amphibian like layer, who crawled out of the ocean, who used to be fish-like, who used to be a single celled organism, which was too complex to have occured randomly, therefore, something must have created it, That something being an omnipotent being, God.
point #4
My gut tells me rediculous is not spelled r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s. And because my gut tells me, I must be correct.
point #5
Anyone that has any connection with atheism is a danger to society, and must be persecuted. Thus wearing an A on their chest would allow us God-fearing souls to recognise them and give them a taste of what hell will feel like, in hopes of making them see the light.
I thought A was for Adulterer. I mean, wearing an A without cuckolding [def] someone... what's the point?
Haha, I agree about radical fundamentalism. Quite oxymoronic. I think both of those terms are probably used to represent neo-conservatives in the US, with the fundamentalist one specifically pointing to the Christian portion.
PS: Dilbert is getting really lame. Just thought I'd point that out.
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