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Great White Shark Caught On Tape by Two Hilarious Pidgin Fishermen

263
Achilles Tang1/15/2012 9:02:06 am PST

re: #246 Killgore Trout

I don’t think so. One of the things that I dislike about Hitchens and Dawkins is their outright hostility towards religion. I think Carl Sagan was much more measured and respectful which made him a more effective critic. A lot of atheists are real dicks about any mention of god or having to witness a public prayer. I happen to be an atheist but I think the world would be a much less colorful place without religion and ritual.

I observe some rituals that derive from religion, and I admire old churches, religious art and music and so on. That is not an issue with most atheists.

As to Hitchens and Dawkins, (and Harris and and Spinoza and Hume and Shelly and Darwin and Russel and Warraq and Twain and Hirsi and Sagan and Einstein and Freud and Russel and many more) they have done a service to helping atheism come out of the closet, and the truth is that it is impossible to be openly critical of religion without sounding insulting to the believers. It is a situation that can only be dealt with through painful honesty, or silence.