{"id":3266,"date":"2010-03-16T03:16:50","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T16:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=3266"},"modified":"2010-03-16T03:16:50","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T16:16:50","slug":"dawkins-at-atheist-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/03\/16\/dawkins-at-atheist-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawkins at atheist convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reports from the Global Atheist Convention<\/a><\/strong><\/span> were not encouraging of respect, tolerance and the nurture of a healthy society.<\/p>\n

In reading The Age article, Dawkins delivers the sermon they came to hear<\/a>,\u00a0I was struck by the<\/p>\n

1. lack of scholarship<\/strong><\/span>, let alone grace, in the ‘Nazi Pope’ comment – Surely the\u00a0scholar that Dawkins clearly is in science would have investigated and found out that all German youths at 14 years, which included the current Pope,\u00a0were conscripted<\/span> into Hitler Youth, the Nazi fascist cause at\u00a0 that time.<\/p>\n

2.avoidance of serious conversation with the subject matter<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0as for example when Dawkins says, ”It’s just surreal (that theologians believe in miracles) and completely gives the lie to the claim that the sophisticated theologians should look down on fundamentalist wingnuts. They are all the same.”<\/p>\n

3. personal aggression<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>– ‘playing the man and not the ball’. \u00a0As\u00a0in ABC’s Robyn Williams’ comment on\u00a0Dawkins’ remark concerning\u00a0Senator Fielding’s belief in creationism:<\/p>\n

“I can give you a devastating argument against religion in two words,” Williams said in his introduction. “Senator Fielding. Richard Dawkins said his IQ is lower than an earthworm, but I think earthworms are useful.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u00a0also disagree with Senator Fielding on\u00a0creationism but I pray to God that I would not belittle his person because of this difference of opinion.<\/p>\n

4. gross over generalisations<\/strong><\/span>, “They are all the same.”<\/p>\n

5. dismissive arrogance<\/strong><\/span> as above, “they (sophisticated theologians and fundamentalist wingnuts)\u00a0are all the same.” Also Dawkins’ statement that Mary MacKillop’s canonisation by ”Pope Nazi” was ”pure Monty Python”. As much as many may have reserves about \u00e7anonisation, this mockery is arrogant in its dismissal and uncaring and disrespectful of other’s beliefs. Not the sort of society most of us want to live in. What lies behind such conduct? – surely not the building of a caring and compasionate society.<\/p>\n

6. Why does a person who is a scholar in one field of study suspend their scholarly approach\u00a0when in another field of study?<\/strong><\/span> Surely Dawkins’ unscholarly grand-standing will start to wear thin on even the most convinced atheist?<\/p>\n

The Australian newspaper report on the conference, Celebrating life beyond belief<\/a>, likewise teems with\u00a0the atheist speakers’ simplicisms, ridicule, easy laughs and self-congratulation.<\/p>\n

In the light of\u00a0the above, I was intrigued by the thoughtful discernment in\u00a0\u00a0Why atheists’ ridicule won’t win friends and influence people.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evaluating the convention depends on what one considers its purpose. If it was to validate hardline atheists to themselves and give them confidence, it was a triumph. If it was to take a mature look at how to advance the cause of secularism, politically and socially, the speakers should probably have spent less time ridiculing religion and more on positive and practical ideas.<\/p>\n

. . . Also unworthy were ABC science presenter Robyn Williams offering “a devastating argument against religion in two words: Senator Fielding”; former Hillsong member Tanya Levin: “I’m finally getting to hang out with the adults”; and Rationalist Society president Ian Robinson, asking whether there were any believers in the audience. “OK, I’ll speak really slowly.” (Wild applause after each.)<\/p>\n

What was missing was any sign of self-deprecation. Atheism will be a mature movement in Australia when atheists can laugh not just at the religious, but at themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also Atheist bus in Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reports from the Global Atheist Convention were not encouraging of respect, tolerance and the nurture of a healthy society. In reading The Age article, Dawkins delivers the sermon they came to hear,\u00a0I was struck by the 1. lack of scholarship, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3287,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions\/3287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}