The F-Bomb

Oh, its on now - humanist vs. atheist WWF style

Harvard’s Humanist Chaplain, Greg Epstein used the phrase fundamentalist atheist in a press release promoting the upcoming New Humanist conference. Reading between the lines he used the phrase to put atheists down and make humanists look better.

Here's a good smattering of links for all the juicy details:

Overveiw by the Friendly Athiest
Brian Flemming drops his own F-bomb
Greg Epstein's lame response on the conference website
New York Times article about this whole deal

Atheists, even Dawkins and Harris style atheists, are not fundamentalist. There is nothing dogmatic about the atheist perspective. Atheists just come off as jerks because we're rebuking what has been protected by culture for generations.

Isn't it weird that it's considered arrogant and rude to question someone's unsupported faith-based beliefs? Is it rational to believe that a god/man who was born from a virgin rose from the dead and ascended into heaven AND someday he'll return to earth to lay the smack down so you better worship him or you'll go to hell?

Its weird and irrational and totally messed up.

Sam Harris vs. Andrew Sullivan

There is a great email debate between Sam Harries and Andrew Sullivan (a gay moderate christian with his own blog) going on at RichardDawkins.net

Sam Harris is a great writer with a very tight debating style. I haven't been such a fan of anyone since my pre-teen obession with New Kids on the Block. I'm afraid Andrew Sullivan is getting his butt kicked.

Here are some clips from Sam:

"You spend the first two paragraphs of your last essay taking offense at something I did not say, culminating with, "spare me the thought that you know it [fundamentalism] better than I do." I did, in fact, attempt to spare you that thought when I wrote:

'First, many moderates assume that religious "extremism" is rare and therefore not all that consequential. Happily, you are not in this camp, but I would venture that you are in a minority among religious moderates. As you and I both know, religious extremism is not rare, and it is hugely consequential.'

Indeed, this was one of several places where I sought to communicate that I do not view you as a run-of-the-mill religious moderate. I was extending an olive branch, of sorts, and you have gone and poked yourself in the eye with it. What's a well-intentioned atheist to do?"

"I am, of course, unconvinced by your response. But this can hardly disappoint you, as it was not intended to convince me. You simply wrote to inform me that you have never doubted God's existence, cannot account for how you came to believe in Him, and are well aware that these facts will not (and should not) persuade me of the legitimacy of your religious beliefs. I now feel like a tennis player, in mid-serve, who notices that his opponent is no longer holding a racket."

There is much more substance in the debate than I'm quoting. These litte jabs just amuse me.