wenglund wrote:I would think that were godlessness obviously a more benefitial world view, then extolling its virtues (via positive evangelizing), rather than ripping on religion, would be the most effective way of getting religions supposedly off your back and help build them up and see more clearly?
In other words, if the godless wish to diminish the influence of their religionist competitors and increase their own market share in the marketplace of ideas, they may best do so by clearly demonstrate (by persuasively positive reasoning and more so by the fruits of the quality of their lives) the supposed increased value and superiority of their product--this assumes, of course, that the product of godlessness may evidently have increased value and is superior to religion. Resorting to smearing the religionist merely suggests that their (your) godless product can't compete on its own merits, and so it takes tearing others down so as to better compete with their (your) evidently inferior product. ;-)
Thanks, -Wade Englund-
I don't agree with this. A common trait of a lot of religion is a condemnation of culture outside of the religion, on religious terms. The religionists learn to judge everyone else by the standards of their religious thoughts. They thus cannot accurately judge the non-religious, or even the religious from a different faith, because they're seeing everything through the lens of their own religion. One simple, trivial example is movies. Two of my all-time favorites are "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile", both of which are rated R. For this simple reason, a lot of TBMs will biased against these movies, and never watch them, and assume they are filth. They will have nothing like an accurate understanding of the movies, or the movies' inherent quality. There are a great many other examples. When a religionist is so full of the explanations and judgments of things in terms of their own religion, then everyone else becomes "the World", "the great and spacious building", "the arm of flesh", etc. How could you expect anything like a realistic or positive comparison to be made?
I'm saying that atheists cannot demonstrate by the superiority of their "product", if you will, that their ideas are better, because the very values used to judge their product are inherently skewed to support the religionists' own beliefs. What example could the atheists use to demonstrate the superiority of their ideas to a hardcore Opus Dei member who whips themselves bloody every day in order to mortify their flesh and increase their slavish devotion to God? Is any example, by anyone else, going to have any convincing power?
On the contrary, Wade, I think that the key really is in arguing that the religionists' ideas themselves are wrong. The mind virus is so strong that no case, no matter how strong, could possibly convince some people, but others can still see it if presented in the right way. I doubt anyone could ever convince Osama bin Laden that in fact his religious ideas are wrong, but then, simply living a happier, healthier life wouldn't convince him either, as his religious values require him to condemn many aspects of the Western lifestyle, whether influenced by atheism or not.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen