[lbo-talk] A time of doubt for atheists

[Carrol Cox]

I haven't followed this thread very closely, and apparently my one
response was not very clearly written (or not based on very careful
reading), since what I intended as a mere echo of what Kelley was
arguing was seemingly construed by her as a disagreement (or else I
didn't read her response carefully enough. Carl (C.G.E.) gave an
interesting definition of true atheism a few weeks ago: true atheism is
not being interested in or concerned by the question, "Why is there
something rather than nothing?" That expresses what has been my
consistent attitude for over 60 years: The question is of no interest to
me -- except as a pure intellectual game having no relevance to anything
else.

In that context, a few questions and observations.

Who coined the subject line of this thread? And what was the point of
the subject line as first used? How would the person who coined it and
the persons who supported him/her have felt about a subject lines such
as "Time of doubt for devotees of spirituality"? The phrase is awkward
of course because there is no noun to name those who while rejecting any
specific organized religion pronounce their belief in the importance of
spirituality. The obvious name (spiritualists) has long been used for
other purposes. I believe that someone in the thread used the word
"deist," but I can't believe he/she was serious. That's simply an 18th-c
euphemism for atheism.

I note that the two people on the list who are overt Christians seldom
get involved in these brou-ha-has, and when they do they greatly improve
the tone of the conversation. Probably because if you have a belief with
a name and an intellectual history there is less need to be so defensive
about it. (I refer to Chip & Carl G.E.) Those becoming upset in the
current thread seem to be people who believe without quite knowing what
it is that they believe in. That would probably make one rather
sensitive.

I believe in X.

What is X?

Why are you always attacking me?


:-)

I remember this conversation I had back in the late '60s with a friend
in the English Dept., a left liberal in his politics. I used to ride him
quite a bit on this or that, and he always took it in good humor. Then
one day I switched my tone, and asked a real question: "Q," I said, "if
you could have the kind of political movement you wanted, what would it
be like?" He blew up at me. A similar conversation. I was at the home of
a couple that I had worked with politically quite a bit, and one of them
observed that P was really doing some good organizing on the west side."
I asked, "What is he organizing for?" and she blew up!

Curious.

Carrol