Something else I should add...
Quote:
My fourth consciousness-raiser is atheist pride. Being an atheist is nothing to be apologetic about.
And then he continues with...
Quote:
On the contrary, it is something to be proud of, standing tall to face the far horizon, for atheism nearly always indicates a healthy independence of mind and, indeed, a healthy mind.
Dawkins fails to mention something else that I think is indicated by ones lack of belief in a God or gods. Aren't most atheists
intelligent too? True, most atheists are freethinkers and have healthy and independent minds, but they're also typically far more intelligent than the general population.
Later in the book, somewhere before page 109, Dawkins hits on how religious belief and intelligence seem to be inversely proportional, but he should have added it to the above statement too. I guess I'm nit-picking, but this is part of the reason why I speak up openly and honestly when asked about my religious beliefs. I could care less if someone finds my atheism distasteful. I'm well aware that I'm an intelligent person as are most atheists. I don't want to be mistaken for a theist any more than I'd want to be considered a believer in astral projection, telepathy, Reiki, faith healing or any of the other countless examples of bunk. Being a theist should be literally humiliating.
I just realized that I'm probably going to piss off a lot of people with some of the things I say in discussing this book. Good.
Edited by: Chris OConnor
at: 1/22/07 11:08 pm