I’m at least as atheist as the rest of you godless, hellbound lot, but can you please pick better representatives than Gervais and Dawkins.
I am not interested in what transphobes have to say about atheism or laundry detergent or Warhammer or anything else. I do not want to see their smug big faces and read their trite little quotes.
There are better examples, particularly funny, humanist writers: Pratchett, Vonnegut, Le Guin. I’m sorry they happen to be dead.
The thing that Gervais and Dawkins have in common more than anything else is sneering at people. Asserting the stupidity of others and punching down.
The thing that Vonnegut, Pratchett and Le Guin have in common is compassion and empathy, resulting in anger about injustice and cruelty.
Richard Dawkins is now going around calling himself a "cultural Christian" and praising Christians who are as Islamophobic and transphobic as he is.
So he evidently values promoting bigotry far more than anything else.
@michael_w_busch @forestine @Nickiquote
It's not a new thing though: Dawkins has been doing conservative CofE ritualism for decades.
And Gervais has always been an arse.
@Nickiquote @sashin @michael_w_busch @forestine
Yes, Dawkins has written about how much he loves the ritual forms. This dates or localizes him, since the CofE has long since morphed from social obligation to rampantly empty pews.
Belief has often been regarded as ann unnecessary frill and probably in poor taste.
@iaruffell @Nickiquote @sashin @michael_w_busch @forestine How is doing the rituals of a religion, and accepting the ethical directives of that religion, anything other than being an adherent of the religion?
In fact it's worse. Dawkins is "effectively christian" for no better reason than habit. He's prejudiced out of intellectual laziness. He can't even say god told him to do it.
@SecondUniverse @Nickiquote @sashin @michael_w_busch @forestine
Totally not here to defend Dawkins! When I read him on this, and that was 30 years ago, it was all about the social elemnts, not the ethics, at least explicitly.
But it shows how he is a recognisable type of British conservative of a certain vintage, including the intellectual snobbery
He is a man of his class and background and, latterly ,attempting to provide an intellectual veneer to their associated prejudices.
Yeah, there was a certain narrative of "there's no God and this isn't illegal enough for police to get involved, whatchagonnado"?
Meanwhile nobody seemed to think about creating communities of like-thinking people, helping people to get out of cults, or at least to open their minds to other interpretations of their holy texts, or generally concentrating how to be a good person.
Have you heard of The Skeptics with a k podcast?
https://www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/skeptics-with-a-k
They also have a presence here on mastodon:
They practice compationate skepticism. They don't punch down.
Skeptics with a K is the podcast for science, reason and critical thinking from the Merseyside Skeptics Society. Each episode features Mike Hall, Michael Marshall, and Dr Alice Howarth chatting about the things which interest them, often from a skeptical angle.
The guys at: Puzzle in a Thunderstorm are move vulgar, but they too are passionately anti conservative.
https://player.fm/podcasts/puzzle-in-a-thunderstorm
On Mastodon:
https://mastodon.world/@piatpod
@forestine @Nickiquote Were you in any way involved in the "atheist community" on YouTube?
At first is was fun. Then Pat Condell went full islamophobe. So did Thunderfoot. And then all that bullshit you're talking about. DMCA abuse. People tearing strips off each other for no good reason. Drama, drama, drama.
Nick
forestine
Michael Busch
Isabel Ruffell
Sashin
SecondUniverse (she/her/they)
Juho Mäntysalo
Zivan - Childless Cat Guy
Pino Carafa