[lbo-talk] A time of doubt for atheists

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Jul 24 11:44:50 PDT 2005


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



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