Angry Atheists

[poliphilo]

A happy atheist- by which I mean an atheist confident in their unbelief- wouldn't continually be banging on about God the way Dawkins and Hitchens and Pullman do, they'd just let the matter rest and get on with their cheerfully Godless life, wouldn't they?

I read a piece by Dawkins the other day. (Thanks to chiller  for the link. ) It's very ecrasez l'infame- very shrill. Dawkins thinks he's got the Pope on the run and is giving chase with loud cries.

Philip Pullman is just about to publish a book about Jesus with a provocative title. I doubt that it'll be any good. Fictions about Jesus- for or against- never are. I enjoyed the Dark Materials trilogy, but the anti-God stuff was clumsy. As Eliot said of Matthew Arnold, Pullman is dealing with a subject "in (which) reasoning power matters, and it fails him."
 
I've been an atheist. I've dreamed that dream. The one where the bastille is tottering and you put just a little more weight on the crowbar and something gives and the masses come staggering out into the light of pure Reason. It's not going to happen.

Comments

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Aggressive atheism is as annoying and irrational as One-True-God-ism, and just as shrill and ill-mannered.

Ever notice how miserable both sides tend to look?

I'll have to check out the Pullman book. I did like his Dark Materials trilogy, but you're right about his handling of the anti-God element.

Personally, I'll stick with my cloud of myriad Small Gods, and Short-Duration Personal Savior Catch-and-Release program. :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good manners may be what it's all about.

I don't like shoutiness. If you're going to attack religion do it with sly wit. My hero is the wicked, surrealist film maker Luis Bunuel.

I like small gods too- and especially when they're smaller than I am.