Friday, 16 September 2011

With God on Our Side.

I was browsing through some blogger profiles again tonight, and came across an American man who listed atheism among his interests.

I find this odd, since I’m not sure how the fact of simply not believing in something can be described as an ‘interest.’ Would it be reasonable to describe ‘not believing in aliens,’ ‘not believing in fairies,’ and ‘not believing the earth is flat’ as interests? Surely, a belief must have an essentially positive slant in order to qualify.

But then, I did say the man was American. I gather (and please, do correct me if I’m wrong) that American kids are indoctrinated from an early age to the belief that there is a God in heaven who supports the American Dream, the American Way, and American Foreign Policy. Bob Dylan wrote a song about it. If that is the case, then I suppose taking the anti stance might be said to have a positive slant.

2 comments:

Maria Sondule said...

I think atheism is more of a group here perhaps? In my experience athiests are really into their position on life and took a lot of time to think about it to work out the kinks. Then when they quiz religious people they think their logic is undeniable. Even if it is, it won't convince anyone.

JJ said...

I once heard an agnostic argue very convincingly that atheism is, ironically, becoming a religion. Personally, I think it all comes down to people needing the comfort of a group and the security of pretending to be certain. I have no time for either theism or atheism. My gut intinct tells me it really doesn't matter what you choose to believe of the unknowable. Maybe I'm wrong.