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vincentML -> RE: Why are so many non-Believers so narrow minded? (7/3/2010 12:16:41 PM)
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I read through this thread and wondered if Marini was right. Am I close-minded to religious belief as an atheist? Speaking only for myself here so if some other atheist doesn’t like what I have to say, well tough nuggies.
The simple answer is Yes. It seems so freakin obvious. How could any atheist deny it? I am closed-minded against religious belief. I own it but how to explain it?
In reading a history of the Reformation I came across the fact that Martin Luther wrote a tract called “The Freedom of a Christian.” Luther was set free by the Gospels from ecclesiastical authority, from the “false” sacrament of the Mass, the payment of indulgences to escape Purgatory, and from the veneration of relics. The Word of the Book gave him an evangelical enthusiasm which made him intolerant of papal and council doctrine. His freedom came from that epiphany.
I was not struck dumb on the road to Damascus like Paul, nor did I go through a conversion like Augustine, nor was I “born again” like Martin. But I very much had an epiphany over time that has been reinforced by reading and conversation and which brought me to the realization that I am free from belief in the existence of a supernatural world. I am free to live my life without laboring under the superstition of demons, angels, and gods; or the rapture of heaven and the pain of hell. I am liberated from the wishful thinking that my personality and memory will survive the death of my brain.
In sum, what is often described as atheistic narrow-mindedness is simply the enthusiasm of Liberty. Sometimes, that Liberty reveals itself as intolerance against religious thought, and so it is, because I have rejected those otherworldly concepts. I very much try to guard, however, against intolerance of religious people.
I think the OP was right on the mark. Marini should not have been castigated for the question she asked. There was no need for atheists to get defensive about the framing of the question. I take no offense at the question. I do not join those who say, “Oh boo hoo, the religious are also narrow-minded.” I do not care if they are. Speaking for myself, the answer is yes, as an atheist I am narrow-minded and it is so because I have Freedom from superstition and the supernatural.
Perhaps all of this has already been said, but I felt the need to express myself. Don't ask me what nuggies are. An expression from my childhood. [:D]
Rock on, Marini.
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