The old atheists said there was no God. The so-called “New Atheists” said there was no God, and they were vocally vicious about it. Now, the new “New Atheists” — call it Atheism 3.0 — say there’s still no God, but maybe religion isn’t all that bad.
“I don’t know if anybody is going to be able to convince me that God exists,” Sheiman said in an interview, “but they can convince me that religion has intrinsic value.”
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I remember reading a blog one time where the author was trying to describe his political philosophy. He said “I’m not a conservative, but I caucus with them.”
I feel that way about Christians. I’m not a Christian, but I caucus with them. I believe that religion, (in it’s modern form, at least) generally does more good than harm. (With the exception of Islam. They keep telling me there’s a moderate strain out there, but I’ve never seen it.)
So even though I can’t personally get behind that whole Jesus thing, I am not anti-religious. And those militant atheists are really, really annoying. (Hey losers- try actually reading the constitution. Show me where the phrase “Separation of Church and State” is. Here’s a hint- it’s not in there.)
Besides, I don’t think I’m an atheist anyway. I don’t know whether there is a God or not. (Does that make me agnostic? I just can’t decide…)
But I do know that if there is, he doesn’t want us flying planes into skyscrapers, exploding suicide bombs in pizzerias, or blowing up abortion clinics. And I’m pretty sure he couldn’t care less whether or not we eat meat on Fridays after 4:00PM. But maybe that’s just me.
I’ll take it!
And I’m with you on the God thing. I can’t find any proof. I can’t even work out a way where it makes sense. But my life is much better for believing, and that’s good enough.
This is why I love USA Today; trying to sound all hip and modern with their “3.0″ bullshit. I think a better term would have been atheist accommodationists.