Wanted: A Theology of Atheism

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/opinion/sunday/molly-worthen-wanted-a-theology-of-atheism.html?_r=0

Molly Worthen
MAY 30, 2015



CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — ONE Sunday last month, I walked into an auditorium past greeters and a table loaded with coffee, fruit and cookies. Onstage two young men tuned their guitars. A blank screen hung down, a silent signal that not knowing the words would be no excuse for not singing along. But this was no typical church service.

I’d come for Sunday Assembly, a godless alternative to church founded in London in 2013. A cheerful woman with a name tag stood and promised a crowd of about 40 people “all the fun parts of church but without any religion, and with fun pop songs.” The band led us in secular “hymns” like “Walking on Sunshine” and “Lean on Me.” The day’s guest preacher, a Ph.D. candidate from Duke, described his research on bonobos and the biological roots of our species’ instinct to help one another — the “seeds of a nature that is good,” he told us.

Is this what secular humanism — the naturalist worldview that many nonbelievers embrace and religious conservatives fear — looks like in practice? In one sense, secular humanism is a style of fellowship intended to fill the church-shaped void, but it is also a strand of the liberal intellectual tradition that attempts to answer the canard that godlessness means immorality.

It’s no secret that nonbelievers still grapple with social stigma. Last year, more than half of Americans told pollsters that they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate if they learned he was an atheist. The nonbelievers I met were eager to challenge the stereotype of atheists as ill-tempered nihilists whose only sacred tradition is picketing the City Hall Christmas tree.

more at link

[beam me up scottie]

1. Who writes this stuff?

Atheism, like any ideological position, has political and moral consequences. As nonbelievers become a more self-conscious subculture, as they seek to elect their own to high office and refute the fear that a post-Christian America will slide into moral anarchy, they will need every idea their tradition offers them.

[phil89]

6. Atheism isn't secular humanism.

The author should try got get the basics right.

[beam me up scottie]

7. If she doesn't know how to check her facts maybe she should take an online course in journalism.

Credibility is essential.

I wonder how many email's she'll get in response to those obvious errors.

We can't be the only ones who noticed them.

[skepticscott]

8. Agreed...as soon as I saw that

she was cluelessly trying to conflate the two, I dismissed her as just another hack looking for page clicks. Unfortunately, some posters here eat that shit up, and then bring it over here without any filtering at all.

[longship]

2. Unneeded: A theology of atheism. nt

[cbayer]

3. I think theology is a bad choice of words here.

She never uses that word in the article, but speaks more about a humanist and moral philosophy.

[longship]

4. Maybe the dreaded article title editor?

They are insidious!

[cbayer]

5. Exactly. I like the article.

[skepticscott]

9. But you posted it here anyway

Because you love anything that tries to falsely paint atheism as a "religion".

[DetlefK]

10. Atheism is just a philosophical argument. It has no obligations whatsoever.

Atheism has no creed you are forced to accept. It has no dogma or infallible teachings you are supposed to memorize and follow. Every atheist is independent.

"X said that there is no God." Fuck you. That doesn't make you an atheist. Being an atheist means being able to do all the work yourself: You have to arrive at the the conclusion using your own intellect and you have to be able to explain in a rational argument WHY you are an atheist.

You are an atheist and you want your children to be atheists, then don't teach them atheism: Instead give them the tools and the knowledge they need to make their own conclusions.
Whether they believe in God because you said so or whether they don't believe in God because you said so, what would be the difference???


Atheism has no obligation whatsoever to replace the social and moral aspects of religion.
Atheism is just the conclusion of a philosophical argument.
Atheism tells nothing about community.
Atheism tells nothing about morals.
That's why you can't compare atheism to a religion or expect atheism to build a framework of teachings that former believers can comfortably slip into. Contrary to religion, atheism doesn't deliver a whole world-view: It delivers you ONE aspect of the world and YOU have to figure out the rest.

[cbayer]

11. I think what you say is true in general.

Every theist is independent as well. Some want some organization, guidelines, etc. That is true of some atheists and humanists as well.

The Sunday Assembly she describes does have a creed.

I don't think she is proposing that something be developed that would be imposed on anyone.

Sounds like it's not for you, and that's cool. But you can't decide that for anyone else.

BTW, you last part sounds a lot like dogma.

[Yorktown]

13. "Every theist is independent as well"? As long as he/she disregards his/her 'holy' books.

Which is the major flaw of your 'everyone's a darling' view of religions.

[Humanist_Activist]

12. I don't understand the message of this post. First, humanists don't necessarily have to be atheists.

Or even non-religious, there are religious humanists out there. Atheists aren't required to be secular humanists either, or join Ethical Humanism/Culture.

Also, I really don't understand, and indeed I'm completely mystified by is the need for a "Sunday service" type of structure for atheists. Never understood it. If I wanted to hang out with people on a Sunday, I would go ahead and do so, but I'd prefer a book reading, a debate club, a ball game(Go Cards!), a concert, a Smash Bros. Tournament, even a political meeting over a Sunday service. Its just my personal preference, and may be because when I was growing up, Church was boring as hell. All I really remember are sore knees, badly sung hymns, communion with a wafer that stuck to the roof of your mouth and sucked all the moisture out of it, stale wine, and a homily that half the time I didn't understand.

I also don't understand how realizing you are an atheist has moral or philosophical ramifications.

[Yorktown]

14. "you are an atheist has moral or philosophical ramifications."

You are right. There are no such ramiifications.

But some dishonest theists try that ploy of pretending it is the case.

So reductionist, so uninteresting.

[cbayer]

16. Agree. She does seem to conflate atheism and humanism, but her remarks seem

much more fitting for humanism and not really about atheism at all.

As you point out, the Sunday service is not for everyone, but it is finding an audience in some areas.

I personally loved church when I was a kid and my experience was clearly different than yours, but I'm not sure I would attend a non-religious sunday gathering. The UU's hold some appeal to me, though.

I don't think atheism has any moral or philosophical ramifications other than the negative and erroneous assumptions made by other. Humanism on the other hand does.

[Fumesucker]

15. OK, I do not believe in a God or Gods

There you go, that's the theology of atheism.

[cbayer]

17. Lol, that's your theology of atheism and it works.