Comments on: New Atheism, Old Arguments http://paul.dubuc.org/2007/07/17/new-atheism-old-arguments/ Welcome friends, family and other interested persons! Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:07:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Paul Dubuc http://paul.dubuc.org/2007/07/17/new-atheism-old-arguments/#comment-45 Paul Dubuc Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:18:56 +0000 http://paul.dubuc.org/2007/07/17/new-atheism-old-arguments/#comment-45 Hello Neal, I've had atheist friends like that as well. I guess they are more "old school" than these "New Atheists." "Fundamentalist atheists," as you call them, are probably more accurately labeled anti-theists. I try not to use "fundamentalist" in the pejorative sense. Christian Fundamentalists usually identify themselves as such whereas no atheist would go by that label. Literally, atheism is belief in no god. It's not necessarily an anti-god attitude. I'm afraid my sensibilities are a blend of modern and postmodern. I haven't got a good home in either camp and I think some of the characterizations of each present false dichotomies.  I embrace much of what emergent Christianity is doing, but I think it owes more to its modernist predecessors than many want to admit.  I think truth is in the mix.  I can certainly fit Rollins' wrestling with and surrender to God in my experience though I have never been an atheist (only felt like one sometimes perhaps). Hello Neal,
I’ve had atheist friends like that as well. I guess they are more “old school” than these “New Atheists.” “Fundamentalist atheists,” as you call them, are probably more accurately labeled anti-theists. I try not to use “fundamentalist” in the pejorative sense. Christian Fundamentalists usually identify themselves as such whereas no atheist would go by that label. Literally, atheism is belief in no god. It’s not necessarily an anti-god attitude.

I’m afraid my sensibilities are a blend of modern and postmodern. I haven’t got a good home in either camp and I think some of the characterizations of each present false dichotomies.  I embrace much of what emergent Christianity is doing, but I think it owes more to its modernist predecessors than many want to admit.  I think truth is in the mix.  I can certainly fit Rollins’ wrestling with and surrender to God in my experience though I have never been an atheist (only felt like one sometimes perhaps).

]]> By: Neal Locke http://paul.dubuc.org/2007/07/17/new-atheism-old-arguments/#comment-44 Neal Locke Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:15:36 +0000 http://paul.dubuc.org/2007/07/17/new-atheism-old-arguments/#comment-44 I have several friends who are professed atheists, but they are about as turned off by Richard Dawkins as they are by James Dobson. Fundamentalists (of both varieties) have a hard time making their case to a post-modern audience. That's why I like Pete Rollins view of the subject in "How (not) to Speak of God." I'm butchering his logic, I'm sure, but he says something to the effect that all Christians constantly alternate between phases of wrestling with God (atheism in the literal sense: anti-God) and periods of flowing with god (theism). He defines himself as an (a)theist. Either way, theists and atheists are labeling themselves in relation to God. That makes much more sense to my postmodern, pluralistic sensibilities than religions (or irreligious) fundamentalism. I have several friends who are professed atheists, but they are about as turned off by Richard Dawkins as they are by James Dobson. Fundamentalists (of both varieties) have a hard time making their case to a post-modern audience.

That’s why I like Pete Rollins view of the subject in “How (not) to Speak of God.” I’m butchering his logic, I’m sure, but he says something to the effect that all Christians constantly alternate between phases of wrestling with God (atheism in the literal sense: anti-God) and periods of flowing with god (theism). He defines himself as an (a)theist. Either way, theists and atheists are labeling themselves in relation to God.

That makes much more sense to my postmodern, pluralistic sensibilities than religions (or irreligious) fundamentalism.

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