Speaking of the so called "New Atheists"

[Cain]

Thanks, so did I.  That many of the "new atheists", in particular Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens (not to mention a bunch of lesser atheist reactionaries, such as Charles Krauthammer and Karl Rove), buy into the War on Terror as the Defining Fight Of Civilization wholesale, especially the national security implications of that, this viewpoint becomes very interesting.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Care to elaborate on that?  I never heard that before.

[Cain]

Harris has called Islam a "cult of death" and advocates torture as a legitimate tactic.  Hitchens has long had issues with radical Islam, which has led him down a long and alcohol sodden path to advocating pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Iran, supported the Iraq War and helped whitewash some of the events there.  Krauthammer is 100% Neocon on foreign policy too.

Apparently, Karl Rove is Episcoplian, but it depends on who you ask (those close to him claim its nothing more than a shallow political facade) so I'll leave him aside.

Anyway, it seems essentially an inversion of the religious discourse of fear that was engaged by the Church, only now in defense of the state against religious extremists.  Apparently, the WoT is a civilizational fight to death between the rational, secular west and religious bigots in faraway lands (and hidden in our own countries), using WMDs ("dirty" bombs, biological weapons etc), and that dicourse replicates the logic of earlier arguments, down to the dirty, diseased and irrational comparsions, and that all tactics are sanctioned against an evil of this magnitude.  The same methods as the Vatican, in the name of another cause

[P3nT4gR4m]

Most of the thankfully few encounters I've had with the "new Athiests" gave the distinct impression that these people were very much of the "follower" mentality. Absolutely opposed to questioning their group creed, absolutely unshakable in their belief that their ideology was the one, right and true way of thinking.

Sound familiar?

[Tempest Virago]

Well, I'm not a "new Atheist" or even an atheist with a capital A, but I don't consider myself in a "group" at all.

Though I prayed on Thursday, showing myself to be a total hypocrite.   

[Jasper]

This is real.  I generally won't identify as atheist explicitly in front of people who don't know me well because of the social connotations attached to it.  Mostly I go by 'non-religious' to avoid being pidgeonholed instantly.

[Triple Zero]

i'm so unclassifiable i stopped distantiating myself from denouncing not identifying myself as "not really an atheist" before it became cool.

[Jasper]

i'm so unclassifiable i stopped distantiating myself from denouncing not identifying myself as "not really an atheist" before it became cool.

So you're classless?

[Cain]

My annoyance is typically two-fold, one practical and the other more logical.

The practical one is that there are roughly 5.5 billion religious people on this planet.  Going "ur wrong and stupid and Im going to rub your face in it lolololol" is neither clever, nor likely to convert them to my viewpoint, and in some areas will end up with me being put in a dangerous position.

The other is is summed up by "If Jesus, then Space Aliens."  Your rationality on a single topic does not assure either moral superiority, or even better application of rationality elsewhere (for example, a point I have made ITT, many Neocons are atheists, and this has not stopped them from believing in patently stupid shit).  Equally, people can believe in God, and still be smart, humane and otherwise rational.  Deists, for example. 

I generally tend towards atheistic agnosticism, with a touch of ignosticism, so this kind of annoys me.  The best way to convert people to your viewpoint is not to treat them as witless morons, nor to trumpet your own superiority to them at every chance.  I'm all up for atheists being more engaged on moral and ethical issues, but acting like a bunch of spoilt brats does nothing for the cause of atheism and is probably even harmful to those ends.

[Triple Zero]

i'm so unclassifiable i stopped distantiating myself from denouncing not identifying myself as "not really an atheist" before it became cool.

So you're classless?

hell no, those classless posers don't even yet realize their scene is dead.

sellouts.

[Corvidia]

I've run into a few of those sort of atheists and they've always made me want to punch them in the head, because I'm allergic to morons and proselytizers of all sorts. I simply label myself 'irreligious' (or "piscatarian" if they seem stupid enough not to get it) for those who ask. I'm an atheist, yeah, but I don't really care about religion at all, one way or the other.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

Most of the thankfully few encounters I've had with the "new Athiests" gave the distinct impression that these people were very much of the "follower" mentality. Absolutely opposed to questioning their group creed, absolutely unshakable in their belief that their ideology was the one, right and true way of thinking.

Sound familiar?

Exactly! Belief that "there is no god" is just as much a religious belief as "There is one God" or "There are several gods", and like any belief system attracts its own share of fundamentalists.

Ultimately, agnosticism (non-belief in any specific number (including the number zero) of gods/spirits/loa/whatever, and the admission that the entire matter is completely untestable) is the most levelheaded choice, I think.

[Thurnez Isa]

I usually identify myself as "non-religious"
unless I'm in a situation where describing yourself as such is a liability then I say I'm a discordist
Provided they don't know what discordism is they will think, "well that's cool he has some sacred book he's taking his morals from"
that is, if they don't know what discordism is

[Triple Zero]

hell, when people ask me what my religion is, I have to tell them I'm in fact so incredibly unique in my beliefs, I've actually gone right around the circle and are in fact exactly like them.

they usually tell me they don't believe that.

which proves my point exactly.

[Triple Zero]

"I'm so Atheist, I shit Gods."