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Old 08-28-2012, 10:20 AM   #440
Itse
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Location: Helsinki, Finland
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A few pointers;

Few atheists in Finland (and I think this goes for most of Europe) give a toss about Dawkins or any other antitheistic spokesman. I would not even know who would be the guy they'd interview for an "atheist" opinion here. We don't have bookstores filled with books about religion written by atheists. There are no (notable) public speakers, no popular books and no real debate outside of certain practical issues. If you think what you see on TV (Dawkins apparently among others) is somehow "real" or representative of atheists, maybe you should go out more.

Also, to claim that atheists like talking religion is like saying all people who don't care about hockey talk about it all the time. Most just don't care and wish for the discussion to move on.

And there is no quarantee that an atheist has a specifically scientific world view. A lot of people frankly just don't care much about how the world works, and know very little about it. While there is a correlation between education and atheism, there are plenty of really ignorant atheists with odd conceptions of how the world works.

Atheism is not a belief structure, it's a lack of a specific belief. You might at best call it a belief, but that still does not come even close to making it a "religion".

And btw, religion could be actually be called a western/mid-eastern concept that doesn't really match with how people define worldviews and beliefs in large parts of Asia (especially). Which is why calling Buddhism a religion is sort of like calling samurais aristocrats. Not really the same.

An atheist can also believe in gnomes, crystal healing, that vitamins are useful if you spread them on your skin or that soap operas are real. Not very scientific any of that.

Atheism is not about anything other than not being a theist. The fact that it correlates with some things does not make those things part of atheism.

The one really infuriating thing about religions for me is their constant demand that everything in the world be defined on their terms and based on how it relates to their particular worldview. The really frustrating religious people to talk with are those who refuse or are unable to see the world in any other way.
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