All posts from July 22, 2008

Some of my favourite times as a reader are the moments inbetween books, when I’m trying to decide what to read next from all the great books out there. I guess it’s my grown-up version of being a kid in a candy store.

“It’s an unfortunate feature of a certain strand of contemporary atheism that it doesn’t treat religious believers as fellow humans with whom we disagree, but as tards who function primarily as objects of ridicule. And ridicule has its place. But sometimes it’s gratuitous. Sure, there are stupid/crazy religious people; there are also stupid/crazy atheists, and black people, and white people, and gays, and straights, and Republicans, and Democrats, and Sixers fans, and Celtics fans, and so on. Focusing on the stupidest among those with whom you disagree is a sign of weakness, not of strength. It seems to me that the default stance of a proud secular humanist should be to respect other people as human beings, even if we definitively and unambiguously think they are wrong.”

Sean Carroll via K. Tempest Bradford via David Moles

I couldn’t agree more. It’s because of this attitude, usually accompanied by an unhealthy dose of zealoutry, that I feel uncomfortable describing myself as an atheist, even though I’m not religious or spiritual. I guess I’m a non-practicing atheist.