This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Big Bad Hypocrite: From YKTTW
Grangan:There was an add for Ann Coulter's books on this page...
The Nifty: Cut this:
- Religious people, particularly those of a stringently conservative variety, are very often suspected or accused of being these.
- As are devoted atheists.
- Huh? Atheism is the lack of belief in God. There's nothing — no codified rules, no list of sins and abominations — for atheists to be hypocritical about. And "devoted" implies belief, ideological and/or religious. "Atheist" is a general label which means "thinks there is no god" (not a dogma one can be "devoted to — and many atheists are really tired of being shoehorned into that by religious people), with many atheists holding to vastly differing set of personal beliefs. Someone Did Not Do The Research, which is a shame because we have a fairly well-written Useful Notes page on Atheism.
- Some Christians are of the opinion that if you put an atheist in a really tight spot, he'll quickly turn his coat - the old "there are no atheists in the trenches"- epithet, that is. Of course there are plenty of atheists who can refute this idea with their own experiences of life-threatening situations. And then there's the idea that the religion to which an irreligious person will convert to when pressed is always Christianity - there's a plenty of opposing examples of that, as well.
- I think the point that the first respondent was trying to make was that although most modern atheists (as individuals) claim to be believers in some kind of secular ideal, based on logic or philosophical ethics, this isn't always the case. Although there are many atheists who are quite capable of defending their stances and proving their sincerity, there are many others who CLAIM to believe in the virtues of logic but have adopted their stance for personal, emotional or other entirely subjective reasons.
- Not all atheists claim to be believers in some kind of secular ideal, and while most have secular ideals, this troper knows of few who have actually bothered to have codified their beliefs enough to be capable of hypocrisy regarding them - furthermore, ideologies based on logic or philosophical ethics are hardly exclusive to atheism. Any implication that falsely claiming to believe in the virtues of logic belongs to the realm of atheism isn't just plain wrong, it's downright insulting. The only thing that determines atheism is a disbelief regarding the existence God - unless you actually do believe in God, yet claim not to (a bizarre and counterproductive stance), then as said above, there's nothing to be hypocritical about. One could no doubt be a false Humanist, but that's a different kettle of fish altogether.
- As are devoted atheists.
Flame Bait & natter, pure and simple.
