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    • Who scares the religious right? Richard Dawkins, not Paul Kurtz

    By No Such Thing As Blasphemy • • 7 comments

     

    Richard Dawkins
    Paul Kurtz

    Which of these men has accomplished more?

    A recent article about a clash between a professor at the University of Central Florida and a student on matters of belief sheds light on certain issues concerning faith today.

    “Students in my class who openly proclaimed that Christianity is the most valid religion, as some of you did last class, portrayed precisely what religious bigotry is.”

    And guess what. We are not taking it any more.

    It also gives us a window into the mind of the Christian right.

    “There is certainly a concern about the increase of secular and nonreligious people becoming more vocal,” said Mat Staver, chairman of the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for Christian religious views. “What we have seen in the past few years is an aggressiveness among atheists and nonbelievers toward those who believe in God.”

    “I see a movement to a more secular society,” Staver said. “That is a continuing trend that should concern all of us.”
    Of course they should be scared. Their stranglehold on power is slipping away, and they know it.
    And what is this due to?
    Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason, said the rising profile of nonbelievers in the United States began around 2004 with several popular books by atheists and humanists such as Christopher Hitchens. Local groups of atheists, agnostics, humanists and freethinkers began springing up throughout the nation, and a movement to unify the different varieties of nonbelievers started in 2009.”
    Which bring me to my point about New Atheism versus Accomodationism.
    For decades, old school humanists such as Paul Kurtz pursued a path of not challenging religion openly and bring believers and non-believers to work together on issues of common interest. That approach now looks outdated. Simply put, Kurtz et al had their way for decades and there is nothing to show for it. The New Atheists started only in 2004 and look how far we have come.
    I understand that to some, the style of New Atheists, which directly challenges religious doctrine, is a matter of poor taste. On the other hand, from a purely consequentialist point of view, it is clear that the New Atheists have had the most efficient strategy conveying our message to the public and changing minds, by far. Granted, the rising tide of secularism has had factors other than the works of New Atheists; not least, 9/11 and the disastrous Bush presidency. Nonetheless, those who grasped this opportunity to make the case for secularism deserve credit for this historical change.

     

     

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    Article by: No Such Thing As Blasphemy

    I was raised in the Islamic world. By accident of history, the plague that is entanglement of religion and government affects most Muslim majority nations a lot worse the many Christian majority (or post-Christian majority) nations. Hence, I am quite familiar with this plague. I started doubting the faith I was raised in during my teen years. After becoming familiar with the works of enlightenment philosophers, I identified myself as a deist. But it was not until a long time later, after I learned about evolutionary science, that I came to identify myself as an atheist. And only then, I came to know the religious right in the US. No need to say, that made me much more passionate about what I believe in and what I stand for. Read more...