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Please describe a 'militant' atheist perspective unironically. :) When you contrast it to any other type of 'militant', there is typically violence involved..

by beefok 7y ago

Please describe a 'militant' atheist perspective unironically. :) When you contrast it to any other type of 'militant', there is typically violence involved.. However, personally, I think the closest thing I could believe in is a "best self". Not that anyone chooses their beliefs, but the rest would be pretty hard to digest for any good reasons. Honestly, I just think giving up on the idea that you can do this by yourself (in the long term) is counter-productive. Especially if you have an existential crisis later in life and that 'higher power' was the only thing that kept you moving forward. Learning how to embrace self-respect/love/understanding/esteem would go so much further in the long run and would help in all aspects of your life. With each success, and learning to accept each failure -- you will be strengthening productive habits.

reggieband 7y ago
> Please describe a 'militant' atheist perspective unironically. :) I think of militant as unyielding and confrontational. This isn't some pejorative assigned to others, it is a term forwarded and embraced by proponents of that ideology. For an unironic perspective I suggest this New Yorker article "All Scientists Should be Militant Atheists" by Lawrence Krauss [1]. 1. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-should-be-militant-atheists https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-shou...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- thawaway1837 7y ago
  The first usage of militant atheist out there is in quotes. Which clearly indicates that the author doesn’t actually believe that’s an appropriate term, but is rather saying that if what is described by some as militant atheism (an adjective the author doesn’t agree with, hence the quotes) then all scientists should be atheistic enough to be described as militant by those people.
speeder 7y ago
Well... I did met violent militant atheists, so they DO exist. Thankfully that was many, many years ago, but stuff that happened to me: 1. Atheist stealing my bible then proceeding to play "soccer" using it as ball. 2. And Atheist + Vegan being physically threatening because I was eating meat and was christian. 3. I got hit on the back of my head with a chain, in middle of a university class, completely out of the blue, some time after an atheist classmate found out I was christian (he waited until I was busy reading something to attack me). 4. Had a group of atheists constantly bully me (for example stealing stuff, damaging my property, graffiti, etc...) All of that happened near "highly educated" people, for example inside school, academia, white-collar workplaces... After I started to interact with "normal" people (the average person of my country, that doesn't have college education, have blue collar work, or work in service industry directly in contact with people, etc...) this all stopped.
- komali2 7y ago
  If you wanna trade stories I can tell you about growing up atheist in South Carolina, but I don't think it's a productive or effective use of this forum.
  - speeder 7y ago
    I usually, don't talk about these situations, was only replying to the guy directly above me, that DID asked for that. In my country the population is mostly followers of african religions, although they don't know that (they all claim to be catholics, but don't go to mass, but often go to african-based holidays, festivals, etc... and often believe in african supersticions), atheists are a tiny minority, but they are important, "elite" places, like Academia, politics, mainstream media and so on, have lots of them, and many are blatantly militant, although I cited some anecdotes, during cold war we had atheist guerrilas and violence that needed to be handled by the army (that in turn commited their own atrocities). I wish people believed more in certain freedoms, for example atheists I know often interpret separation of church and state to mean "freedom from religion", instead of "freedom of religion", but "freedom of religion" should also mean freedom to not believe in anything at all. Also I wish people would stop conflating some things, for example many atheists I know are biologists (there is a important state-backed biology course in my metro area, often students are sent to MIT, Harvard, etc... in exchange programs), and many believe that biologists that have a religion are evil people that believe in fantasies... meanwhile had leadership in some churches I visited insist that science is evil because evolution and whatnot is not in the bible. I believe this is part of why we ended in the situation we are discussing on this thread: many atheists intentionally want to dismantle all forms of belief on higher powers, no matter what kind of powers they are, because they conflate being religious with evil.

by beefok 7y ago

reggieband 7y ago

> Please describe a 'militant' atheist perspective unironically. :) I think of militant as unyielding and confrontational. This isn't some pejorative assigned to others, it is a term forwarded and embraced by proponents of that ideology. For an unironic perspective I suggest this New Yorker article "All Scientists Should be Militant Atheists" by Lawrence Krauss [1]. 1. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-should-be-militant-atheists https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-shou...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
thawaway1837 7y ago
The first usage of militant atheist out there is in quotes. Which clearly indicates that the author doesn’t actually believe that’s an appropriate term, but is rather saying that if what is described by some as militant atheism (an adjective the author doesn’t agree with, hence the quotes) then all scientists should be atheistic enough to be described as militant by those people.

speeder 7y ago

Well... I did met violent militant atheists, so they DO exist. Thankfully that was many, many years ago, but stuff that happened to me: 1. Atheist stealing my bible then proceeding to play "soccer" using it as ball. 2. And Atheist + Vegan being physically threatening because I was eating meat and was christian. 3. I got hit on the back of my head with a chain, in middle of a university class, completely out of the blue, some time after an atheist classmate found out I was christian (he waited until I was busy reading something to attack me). 4. Had a group of atheists constantly bully me (for example stealing stuff, damaging my property, graffiti, etc...) All of that happened near "highly educated" people, for example inside school, academia, white-collar workplaces... After I started to interact with "normal" people (the average person of my country, that doesn't have college education, have blue collar work, or work in service industry directly in contact with people, etc...) this all stopped.

komali2 7y ago
If you wanna trade stories I can tell you about growing up atheist in South Carolina, but I don't think it's a productive or effective use of this forum.
- speeder 7y ago
  I usually, don't talk about these situations, was only replying to the guy directly above me, that DID asked for that. In my country the population is mostly followers of african religions, although they don't know that (they all claim to be catholics, but don't go to mass, but often go to african-based holidays, festivals, etc... and often believe in african supersticions), atheists are a tiny minority, but they are important, "elite" places, like Academia, politics, mainstream media and so on, have lots of them, and many are blatantly militant, although I cited some anecdotes, during cold war we had atheist guerrilas and violence that needed to be handled by the army (that in turn commited their own atrocities). I wish people believed more in certain freedoms, for example atheists I know often interpret separation of church and state to mean "freedom from religion", instead of "freedom of religion", but "freedom of religion" should also mean freedom to not believe in anything at all. Also I wish people would stop conflating some things, for example many atheists I know are biologists (there is a important state-backed biology course in my metro area, often students are sent to MIT, Harvard, etc... in exchange programs), and many believe that biologists that have a religion are evil people that believe in fantasies... meanwhile had leadership in some churches I visited insist that science is evil because evolution and whatnot is not in the bible. I believe this is part of why we ended in the situation we are discussing on this thread: many atheists intentionally want to dismantle all forms of belief on higher powers, no matter what kind of powers they are, because they conflate being religious with evil.