I started this blog as a fairly new atheist, still reeling from the realization of my own finiteness and smallness in the universe. With my belief in God went a number of other things. It was a house of cards and as soon as I applied skepticism to a supernatural deity, the rest followed. Ghosts, Afterlife, "Energy," and a number of other things.
What finally tipped the scales when I began wondering if I had any real, legitimate reason for believing in God was an essay by J.L. Mackey by the name of "Evil and Omnipotence." For those of you who aren't familiar with the Problem of Evil, it basically points out that an omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent deity is incompatible with having created a world with evil such as we have.
Naturally, I had to look into the nature of benevolence, or goodness, when I began mulling this problem over. I soon saw many arguments from atheists that morality from religion is no morality at all. Despite this, theists often argue that without a deity as a moral compass, they would have none. I concluded that an atheist or secular morality would be better than the subjective (though theists claim it is objective) morality from religion.
With the latest division in the online atheist community, I have seen assholes on both sides (most on the radical feminists' side, though), and I'm just about fed up. I will not let people who call themselves "skeptics" demoralize an entire half of the population because of the actions of a few. I will not stand by while truly horrible things happen to women all over the world while white, upper-middle class women drink wine and whine about the patriarchy making them insecure with their photoshopping in fashion mags.
I'll be moving this blog soon. I'll be renaming it and taking it in a different direction because I just can't argue that secularism leads to better morals. The actions of FtBers, Skepchicks and now the Atheism Plus forums have shown me my own fallacy.
I'd be obliged if you'd let me, as one of your regular readers, know where I can find your blog once you move.
ReplyDeleteWhile you sometimes appear to write quickly and in the heat of the moment your instincts are sound and I'm always interested in your perspective.
I definitely will. I'll keep links to both on each. It will probably be awhile from now. I do often write in the heat of the moment and I don't proofread for typos and errors, so thank you for sticking with me through it all!
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand your frustration. We've learned some important things from the FtB/Skepchick/Atheism+ situation. Clearly, abandoning religion does not make someone any more rational, ethical, or enjoyable to be around.
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