Confessing to an atheist heresy

[rug]

May 21, 2012 - 7:39AM
Godless Gross

Heresies come in all shapes and sizes. This is my heretical stance: I, a professional atheist, don't give a tinker's cuss if the current crop of secular litigation challenging the teaching of religion in schools fails. In fact I almost secretly hope that the Christians win against the latter day litigious lions. Let me explain this sacrilege.

Inevitably faith has a role in politics. And just as predictably I rail against the right wing fundamentalists who I consider have too much say in US and therefore global politics. But those commentators are just the most visible. Christianity impacts from both left and right and centre. The divide of Church and State is a very nebulous thing.

We were reminded of this again when the inspiring Christian President of America threw his hat in the ring on gay and lesbian marriage notwithstanding that it is a bell weather issue for many Christians. No sooner did President Obama make his landmark statement than he was subjected to tirades about how he was too late or too reluctant in his position. Maureen Dowd's article is just one example.

These criticisms fail to take into account the particular pressures of a democracy. President Obama has a duty to be careful and considered on matters of moral gravity. The power of the position that the President has taken is that he journeyed to his place slowly and waited for opinion in the US to get to a similar place. For him to pre-empt the views of his community by being too strident, too early would have been political suicide. He would have been vilified and the position of gay and lesbian marriage probably undermined.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/godless-gross/confessing-to-an-atheist-heresy-20120516-1ypyb.html

Dick Gross has written and broadcast about living and dying without a god for over a decade.

[laconicsax]

1. Oh, brother...

[rug]

3. I bet you liked this part.

"Will you be part of the atheistic Inquisition burning me for my blasphemy and apostasy?

"Must we separate Church and State at any cost?"

[laconicsax]

5. I can't say I particularly liked any part of the article

Those bits did strike me as particularly laughable, though.

[dimbear]

2. Bell weather. An unfamiliar term. I assume that means the nippy Christmas breeze.

Time for bells.

Unrelated to the rather literary term bell wether.

[ElboRuum]

4. Actually, its bellwether, one word.

And I see this being screwed up more and more. I wonder if bellwether will be this year's loose/lose.

[dimbear]

6. The point is that a wether is an animal. It can have a bell around its neck.

You can find the flock by the tinkly noise. Contracted or not. (They are a little smaller because of the operation.)

A castrated ram, as the dictionary says.

[PufPuf23]

7. There is exactly zero reason for this debate to occur except

ideologues stirring the pot of humanity.

[aka-chmeee]

8. Couldn't get past the man's obvious belief

that "faith" is a virtue and entitled to his respect and consideration. A person of faith can earn my respect and as a person is entitled to consideration until they demonstrate otherwise, but their "faith" is something I cannot respect or consider a virtue.

[SwissTony]

9. Oh, God. What nonsense.

"The major signal that the government has sent atheists like me is to elect a PM who is herself an atheist. We almost need no other signal. It was a two for one signal for the government also got rid of Kevin Rudd, who is very ostentatiously religious and competed with another Anglican, John Howard, in 2007 to court the evangelical vote by sucking up to Hillsong and other Pentecostal congregations. Atheists have our signal from the government that we matter - and accordingly, I am one happy vegemite".

In Australia, nobody gives a rat's if you're atheist/religious as long as you don't ram it down peoples' throats. Getting rid of Rudd wasn't anything to do with his religion. It was simply because he was seen as a liability for the Labor Party. And choosing Gillard wasn't a 'signal' to us atheists. Thee's a good chance Gillard will be toppled before the next election and that won't be a signal to Anglicans/Catholics/whoever.