There are atheists who look on a tragedy and cry, "There is no god," in despair. But we are atheists who look on beauty and complexity and awesome immensity and shout out, "There is no god!" and we are glad.
That's the distinction we've got to get across. We are fulfilled, happy atheists who rejoice in the superfluity of the old myths. We generally don't have a tragic backstory -- quite the contrary, we've come to our conclusions because we have found natural explanations satisfying and promising.
Clearly, this is a result of insufficient vigor in calling religion stupid. Redouble your efforts!
Seriously, if you're fullfilled and happy, act the part. Post something happy and fulfilling, instead of "Religion Is Dumb, Part Aleph-Nought." This isn't rocket science.
(I caught the post title on the "Most Active" list, and was going to note that you could put basically any plural noun into that title ("The limited representation of movie college professors," "The limited representation of movie Christians," "The limited representation of movie plumbers"), and generate a perfectly sensible blog post complaining about, well, the limited representation of move plural nouns. But that last paragraph is just stunning.)
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Please pass the popcorn...
Maybe you just don't read the ones that talk about being a fulfilled atheist, in fact there are blogs that talk largely about just that, and PZ himself does from time to time. Besides, why does being intellectually angry at something imply that you're an angry person? I don't see why there should be a connection.
Here ya go, Dave!
I actually find it stunning that you could find that paragraph 'stunning'. PZ is simply making the point that a lot of atheists come to the conclusion that the God of the bible does not exist in exactly the same way they came to the conclusion that Santa Claus doesn't exist - thinking about the evidence for the claims and working out the probabilities based upon what we know about the universe.
Stuart, no sense in arguing since Chad is just trying to ride PZ's coattails by getting enough comments to lift his post to the "top five".
p.s.- As a fulfilled atheist I see no reason in rubbing it in to all the religious people who are constantly worried about underperforming for their overlord(s). It makes them feel better if I'm cranky.
I beg to differ. All the atheists I know respond to tragedy by saying "There is no god. What can I do to make things better?"
One wonders why happy and fulfilled people need to repeatedly tell everyone that.
I'm still wondering where all these bitter, angry atheists are. I keep hearing about them, they must be all over ... but I can't find any.
"I'm still wondering where all these bitter, angry atheists are. I keep hearing about them, they must be all over ... but I can't find any."
Atheist rapture.
Confirmation bias, much?
People tend to write about two things: 1) enthusiasms, 2) complaints. When people feel mild to moderate contentment, they don't typically run to update their blog or send a letter to the editor. ("Dear Sir, I am writing this letter to tell you that everything's going pretty good, I guess. Carry on.") This tends to create a false impression of the typical writer's state of mind.
Secondly, how often do you read PZ's blog when he's not writing about something you feel strongly about? Maybe you should read more of his biology posts, or his fluffy squid stuff. All those posts show him as a happy, fulfilled atheist, taking joy in the natural world and the geekier corners of human nature.
Trying to increase readership in the new year, eh? May you succeed!
Orzel's right. The entire subject has BDTD infused to the marrow of its bones. Tedious ideas and tedious rants and tedious feelings all add up to the endless repeating of the Te Deum.
Atheists need to get a life without God.