Atheism-lite

[jack_ryder]

Questions of belief and tolerance of other's belief systems have been obsessing me lately (ferkster and I are working on a play about it right now.) I was interested in this article by Dylan Evans which posited a kind of halfway position where atheists could appreciate some aspects of religious belief without accepting the literal truth of, say, the Bible.

Salman Rushdie has written a very good rebuttal of Evan's position.

My favourite line:

Intelligent design, an idea designed backward so as to force the antique idea of a Creator upon the beauty of creation, is so thoroughly rooted in pseudoscience, so full of false logic, so easy to attack that a little rudeness seems called for.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

[blockquote]I think many scientists are still a little dumbfounded by religion's refusal to back down in the face of good evidence and argument.
[/blockquote]

It's more sinister than just 'being right'; it also gives legitimacy to completely intolerant and intolerable viewpoints: homophobia, misogyny and racialism are harder when you're on your own - an iggerant no-nothing lowlife - but hey if GOD establishes my prejudices for me then I'm free to form blocs and ram it into the statutes.
It's craven, it's against good practice so methodically established by science and philosophical enquiry, and it is terrible for humankind, but it suits morons right down to the ground.