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I BELIEVE IN "ATHEIST WISDOM"---and proud to say so

To answer a question like "What do you believe in?", a helpful quick response can be "atheist wisdom" in preference to "atheism".

Religious folk often find the words "atheism" and "atheist" unsettling and alarming if not fully frightening, because of a perceived threat to their theism.

In the course of general conversation I have been asked by people who begin to suspect that I am not religious, the question "then what do you believe in?"

I have found it smarter to respond by announcing slowly and explaining that I have a logical and reasoned conviction as to the truths of "atheist wisdom"

rather than answering something like "I am an atheist . . . I believe in atheism" which they translate as a rejection of their theist-belief by replacing it with an atheist-belief.

This slight difference can elevate what begins as casual dialogue to a higher rational plane than otherwise; for there is much wisdom in atheism to stress and logically explain besides much common sense---and wisdom is to be emphasised at the start.

I posit that atheists are wise with their wisdom; that everything we stand for can be supported by rational inquiry, using real common sense and the truths of science, and there is no wisdom in theist beliefs because they are just beliefs.

Tags: atheism, atheist wisdom, wisdom

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Permalink Reply by The Nerd on August 25, 2011 at 9:48am

I'm going to be honest: this doesn't make a lot of sense, mainly because wisdom doesn't necessarily come from simply being atheist, but also from many years of experience. And to be honest, there is a lot of wisdom in popular Christianity, even if it isn't always right. (Notice I said "Christianity" and not "The Bible", because very few Christians actually stick to that old text these days.)

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on August 25, 2011 at 10:04am

Yes, that's OK (partly) . . .

but

it is the wisdom special to atheism, of the sort that Christianity overlooks, that scarcely or never reaches the brains of the bible thumpers and door knockers.

By the way, any "wisdom in popular Christianity" that "isn't always right" (as you put it) is not wisdom.

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Permalink Reply by The Nerd on August 25, 2011 at 10:10am

"It" being "Christianity", not "wisdom". Sorry for the ambiguous antecedent.

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Permalink Reply by Gila Guerilla on August 26, 2011 at 9:56pm

I rather like it. I interpret it as wisdom which is atheistic, rather than wisdom because it is atheistic. Words should mean what we mean them to mean. Give someone pause to ask: "Huh, what is this atheist wisdom ?" If people refuse to understand, I guess it doesn't matter what words or labels we use.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on August 25, 2011 at 9:04pm

Well, I question whether you can be wise and not be a rational thinker. As for intelligence, atheists have the edge over religionists:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence

Atheist wisdom is rationality, vs. irrational, and therefore unwise, beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on August 26, 2011 at 8:51pm

"39 studies since 1927 (out of 43) have found that the more educated a person is, and the higher one's intelligence, the less likely someone is to hold religious beliefs."

http://www.humanreligions.info/intelligence.html

I'm just saying.

Dr. Meaden said "...there is no wisdom in theist beliefs because they are just beliefs." He did not imply, "...that wisdom is then in deficit in every other aspect of a Theists life as well."

Although, again, I seriously question whether one can be wise and not be a rational thinker. However, I also doubt that all atheists are wise. Rational thinking can only confer so much.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on August 27, 2011 at 1:45am

Exactly. They're not wholly intelligent because they set aside the intellect in order to live up to an illogical faith's decree.

However, I agree that atheists are not apt to be wiser in everything they do. Dr. Meaden's statement "...that everything we stand for can be supported by rational inquiry..." is too sweeping. I know an atheist who believes in the soul. The sense that I come away from his statement with is that rational inquiry trumps belief. He may have made the point rather over the top. I think he would have been more correct in saying everything I stand for instead of we. All atheists are not of the caliber of Dr. Meaden. I think he was graciously including everyone.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on August 25, 2011 at 9:13pm

Well said Butterfly Ocean. I especially like this: "To think atheists corner the market on what amounts to intelligence, acumen and any other synonym one may apply with regard to "Wisdom", is ignorance cloaked in pretentiousness."