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Permalink Reply by paul babcock on April 17, 2011 at 6:30pm

A world free of dogma is something almost impossible to ever come to exist. Sam Harris characterizes a reasonable goal for this dogma to be maybe getting it to a state similar to belief in astrology or belief that Elvis is still alive. The thing is that there are, in fact, people who do still consult their horoscopes and maybe who still believe Elvis is alive. The distinction is that most of society anyway, looks at people who have these delusions to be off a bit anyway, whereas sufferers of religious delusion are not, not at all. They are, in fact, afforded extra respect for being pious.

I am sure you know of plenty of other cases where they are given extra slack and influence that they in no way deserve. Getting religion removed from its pedestal is our goal, I think. It is peoples own businesses the particular type of stupidity they wish to believe in. It is all the unfair advantages it is given that we hope to get stopped isn't it?

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Insurgency on April 24, 2011 at 7:34pm

Where I live there is a Unitarian Universalist church, but they validate all religions and atheism to draw in people who are struggling with finding a religion. The discussion groups teach critical thinking skills that inevitably lead to atheism in a few cases. Unfortunately, most churches teach families to shun anything outside their own selections of indoctrination material.

A couple of Christmases ago someone put a Nativity scene in the Illinois Capitol building. The response was a Festivus pole (From Seinfeld) and a poster on an easel by atheists that stated non-belief. Since then, the local news media decided to not report on whether or not those things showed up again. Nobody was the wiser and religion probably won due to lack of controversy.

The point is that local mass media refused to contribute to broadcasting to the local religious population that there be even an inkling of skepticism out there. I think they should be called out on that for starters.

It helps to ask open-ended "safe" questions that get people thinking about things not directly related to religion, but that inevitably lead to questioning society as a whole.

One example would be something like "We think we are free because we can choose, but we are limited by the choices we are taught. Are you truly free?"

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Moore on April 28, 2011 at 10:27am

 I really doubt that the world will ever be free from religion-even though such a thing is the closest to what I could imagine a utopia to be like.  We could never enjoy the tremendous power to indoctrinate others into our ways, however, because it is the very irrationality of their creeds that enflame the lusts of irrational people to follow them.  Rationality at best entices a few to join in, and at worst engenders widespread scorn and derision for depriving the many of their comforting self-deceits ("I just KNOW my little Johnny's in heaven with the angels-I just know it!").

  I do think that there is a possibility for nonreligious persons to number higher in our population than previously thought, but at best I think we'll always be in the minority.  But I'm glad, for one, to be in that minority-the company is better. 

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