The article is rather disingenuous in representing the Atheist viewpoint, especially Dawkins, for whom the author has a particular dislike.
What we are seeing a resurgence of is the willingness to question faith. Faith should not be an off limits discussion, especially when that faith is being used as a weapon to spew intolerance, hatred, violence and ignorance. This is all faiths, from the big three monotheistic faiths down through all the festive variations from A to Z or Rastafarianism to Pastafarianism.
The author states that Whatever else God may be, he is most assuredly not dead
God was never alive to begin with. The existence of God as an idea that refuses to go away; like that picture you saw on the internet that was so disturbing that it is forever burned into your retinas? You could get away with that tortured construction. But then again, that is all god, any god has ever been. An idea; perhaps even a question. Our ancestors did not understand, so they called it god. They wanted a spiritual enforcer for a worldly authority, so they called it god. From all over the world, cultures emerged and created gods. Funny thing is that with a few notable exceptions, the gods mirrored the people who created them; gods being created in the image of man, who then are given stories of creating man in their image. Gods were animals. Gods were the sky. Gods were the water. The stars. The night. Food and Starvation. Death and birth. Kings, emperor and messiahs became gods or at least called themselves gods, buttressing their earthly power with some non-existent supernatural authority. When cultures clashed and fought, conquered and were conquered, traded and interacted their was a god bleed, gods moving from culture to culture, sometimes taking aspects of previous gods, sometimes merging into new ones. As cultures changed, their gods changed with them, and like the people who made them the gods reproduced, married, consorted, killed and raped. Sometimes in that order.
While gods were sometimes called upon to enforce morality, they were never the source of that morality. Morality comes from a combination of biological imperative and social contract. Religion was an early form of social contract, but we have much better ones. While some are quick to point out that our morals come from god (presumably the Christian flavor of god), this is simply not the case. The Old and New Testament are not moral books. They have some high points that you can, from the perspective or our current social condition, agree with, and points that you can, also from our current social perspective, disagree with. You cherry pick at any given time and glibly ignore (or make tortuous excuses for) the parts you dont agree with. The same can be said of the Koran, the Talmud, the Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh or even the Kama Sutra (which requires as much physical as theological flexibility).
Now before Pascal's wager comes up, I will dismiss it. Pascal's wager is predicated on it being your particular imaginary friend that rules the everafter. You might have given your heart to Jesus, but it is Thor that rules the universe and he thinks you are a twat and Valhalla has a strong policy against twats. Sorry.
No god, no easter bunny, no tooth fairy and no Uncle Mikey. They are all stories; stories that help a culture explain their interpretation of good and evil or how to act in a particular situation.
As Uncle Mikey asks Can you tell the difference between Good is Evil? Is the man being good to the cow? Or evil? You could ask the same thing about Zeus, especially in reference to the story of Io, but you may come up with a different answer.
Shayne
What we are seeing a resurgence of is the willingness to question faith. Faith should not be an off limits discussion, especially when that faith is being used as a weapon to spew intolerance, hatred, violence and ignorance. This is all faiths, from the big three monotheistic faiths down through all the festive variations from A to Z or Rastafarianism to Pastafarianism.
The author states that Whatever else God may be, he is most assuredly not dead
God was never alive to begin with. The existence of God as an idea that refuses to go away; like that picture you saw on the internet that was so disturbing that it is forever burned into your retinas? You could get away with that tortured construction. But then again, that is all god, any god has ever been. An idea; perhaps even a question. Our ancestors did not understand, so they called it god. They wanted a spiritual enforcer for a worldly authority, so they called it god. From all over the world, cultures emerged and created gods. Funny thing is that with a few notable exceptions, the gods mirrored the people who created them; gods being created in the image of man, who then are given stories of creating man in their image. Gods were animals. Gods were the sky. Gods were the water. The stars. The night. Food and Starvation. Death and birth. Kings, emperor and messiahs became gods or at least called themselves gods, buttressing their earthly power with some non-existent supernatural authority. When cultures clashed and fought, conquered and were conquered, traded and interacted their was a god bleed, gods moving from culture to culture, sometimes taking aspects of previous gods, sometimes merging into new ones. As cultures changed, their gods changed with them, and like the people who made them the gods reproduced, married, consorted, killed and raped. Sometimes in that order.
While gods were sometimes called upon to enforce morality, they were never the source of that morality. Morality comes from a combination of biological imperative and social contract. Religion was an early form of social contract, but we have much better ones. While some are quick to point out that our morals come from god (presumably the Christian flavor of god), this is simply not the case. The Old and New Testament are not moral books. They have some high points that you can, from the perspective or our current social condition, agree with, and points that you can, also from our current social perspective, disagree with. You cherry pick at any given time and glibly ignore (or make tortuous excuses for) the parts you dont agree with. The same can be said of the Koran, the Talmud, the Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh or even the Kama Sutra (which requires as much physical as theological flexibility).
Now before Pascal's wager comes up, I will dismiss it. Pascal's wager is predicated on it being your particular imaginary friend that rules the everafter. You might have given your heart to Jesus, but it is Thor that rules the universe and he thinks you are a twat and Valhalla has a strong policy against twats. Sorry.
No god, no easter bunny, no tooth fairy and no Uncle Mikey. They are all stories; stories that help a culture explain their interpretation of good and evil or how to act in a particular situation.
As Uncle Mikey asks Can you tell the difference between Good is Evil? Is the man being good to the cow? Or evil? You could ask the same thing about Zeus, especially in reference to the story of Io, but you may come up with a different answer.
Shayne