There are a myriad number of dead religions that we don't bother with because they are dead. We simply say we don't believe them, and yet somehow that is supposed to be a belief? How can the statement, "I don't believe you," be considered a belief? In what sense?
A religion by definition must be about supernatural beings and/or forces. Atheism therefore is not a belief nor a religion. I really don't know how much plainer I can get.
It’s striking to compare this disclaimer with the conclusion to The End of Christianity. That book has a “Commitment Page” (435).
COMMITMENT PAGE
Date__________
I __________, having read this book and/or the series as a whole, do hereby state for the record that I no longer believe. I am a non-believer. As a result, I commit myself to doing some or all of the following actions for the cause of unbelief:
I will tell people in my life at the appropriate moments that I no longer believe. I will set specific dates by which I plan on accomplishing this goal with specific people. We need more and more people to do this. There is power in numbers.
I will tell others about this book and/or this series of books. Christians won’t be convinced with sound bites. We must create within them enough doubt that they will want to read entire books like these rather than avoiding them.
I will get involved to help end Christianity in the following way(s):
I will seek out and become involved in a local freethought group.
I will get active in online forums and blogs.
I will donate money to good secular causes, or to humanitarian causes in the name of secularism.
I will get an education for the express purpose of making a difference on behalf of reason and science.
I will become politically active on behalf of the separation of church and state, or even run for an elected office.
On the face of it, it’s puzzling how one can be so committed to a nonbelief. How can a nonbelief become a cause to live for?
This “Commitment Page” bears a sneaking resemblance to the Convert’s Pledge Card that Billy Sunday used to employ. Also called the Decision Card, which the convert signs and dates. This often incorporated the Temperance Pledge.
Funny how a “nonbelief” parodies a full-fledged religious movement.
Hahaha
ReplyDelete"Christians won’t be convinced..."
ReplyDeleteConvinced of what? I thought we were already convinced and that they think they need to un-convince us. To believe something is to know something. To believe nothing at all is to have no knowledge. So we have a bunch of people who think they know something without believing anything telling us who both know and believe that we should give up believing what we know to be true. It's no wonder they have no clue about the impossibility of their endeavor.
What seems funny here is this statement is in fact a belief that the person now believes what they believed is no longer worthy of believing!
ReplyDelete"...having read this book and/or the series as a whole, do hereby state for the record that I no longer believe. I am a non-believer. "
I believe they believe they no longer believe. It is amazing just how quickly God can change all that! :)
Jim said: " So we have a bunch of people who think they know something without believing anything telling us who both know and believe that we should give up believing what we know to be true.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a quote! (:^D)
Verification: unders
One wonders if they are just as committed to ending Islam? Maybe they should take their commitment to the Sudan and see how it works for them.
ReplyDeleteI never realized how much effort goes into defending and promoting a "non-belief".
ReplyDeleteI've got to join me one of them freethought groups.
As I think more about this, at least two things occur to me for which we can be thankful for devout atheists:
ReplyDelete1. Lowering the numbers of non-Christians on church membership rolls.
2. Giving Christians the motive to stop focusing only on appearance and behavior and start focusing more on message and desire for God.
At least their commitment to promoting disbelief is helping to get the Church back on task.
I went and read the page promoting this latest effort to end Christianity.
ReplyDeleteIf Rauser thinks we need to take the book seriously then I have to ponder why?
My only concern is with such a low level of thinking and serious engagement with things, some people will be convinced by this so called scholarly work.
Many others will be like those who like Dan Brown's works. Already convinced so the book doesn't change their minds.
I mean is Carrier serious with saying the evidence proves lack of design. Many physics experiments, the reports complied since 2003, prove over and over again that there is good reason to believe that the evidence points us in the direction of a Creator Being. Not saying the physicists are theists as some hyper atheists like to claim I am saying.
Just saying the evidence gives good reason to believe in design and a Creator Being.
So the book is mainly a collection of ex-fundies still mad about what they left and trying to convince themselves they were right in living.
Shades of Chesterton's The Everlasting Man seems to be coming into view here.