As for atheist activists who sometimes react negatively to projects like “God’s Not Dead,” Sorbo believes their responses are often times driven by fear.
“I think they’re fearful and [believe] that there must be something out there,” he said of vocal activists. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten angry over something I don’t believe in.
#sacredsunday
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/21/actor-says-new-movie-hes-in-with-duck-dynasty-stars-could-bring-agnostics-to-faith/
I've personally never met an angry atheist, but I'm sure they're out there. I think his reasoning is flawed though. Atheist activists seem to largely be motivated by wanting to save others from the psychological harm of religion.
ReplyDeleteJames Bennett Hmmm. I'm not a Christian, but my observation of people like Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens is that they don't appear to be motivated by kindly thoughts of saving others from harm. Rather they seem to take considerable pleasure in being able to feel superior and to heap vituperation and scorn upon those who don't agree with them. Maybe they are not 'angry', but they are certainly aggressive and rude. Stephen Fry is at least always polite.
ReplyDeleteI have read both of the authors you mention, and I disagree with your interpretation of their motives. They certainly strongly disagree with religious points of view and are unapologetic about it, but they clearly articulate how they believe religion is a social ill. Assigning additional motives seems like an excuse to ignore their stated motives.
ReplyDeletePersonally - I've always suspected that to a great extent there was a profit motive. Nice and polite doesn't sell many books. And do we really need an excuse to ignore self serving statements from anyone ever ?
ReplyDeleteI prefer to focus on the substance of an argument rather than the tone. You can call their arguments self serving if you like, but to do so is to ignore the meat of the debate.
ReplyDeleteThere are two separate questions and I think Mr. Sorbo is conflating the two. The first is "is there a compelling reason to accept religious claims?" And the second is "on the whole is religion an institution that benefits people?". Mr. Sorbo assumes everyone agrees the answer to the latter is "yes" and therefore have no reason to fight against it. In this he is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI respect your beliefs on this issue. I try to leave the debates for others though. It seems to me like y trying to debate the relative merits of unrelated things. Say apples and arithmetic...
ReplyDeleteWhether religion is a net benefit to society is directly related to atheist motivation which is the point of your post. Atheists only have no reason to fight against religion if religion is socially benign. It's apples to apples.
ReplyDeleteOh. Well I meant the point to be to stimulate discussion about the trend toward religious themed movies this year.
ReplyDeleteI think it's noteworthy that they have been presenting a variety of viewpoints with less stress on dogma and more on independent thought about the subject.
I think it's better to have dialog rather than simply to tell others that they're wrong. More persuasive and engaging is more satisfying to me.
Just out of curiosity, did you read the article or watch the trailer ? I especially liked the part about what wonderful people his Atheist friends are. With the notable exception of my social media experience, I have felt the same way. (take a look at my profile page sometime)
I did read it but that doesn't change the point I am making. I also know many religious people I respect but that doesn't change the fact that the core idea presented regarding atheist motivation is the result of faulty reasoning. I prefer not to dance around ideas but dig deep into their merits or lack thereof. Mr. Sorbo is welcome to present his ideas and those if us who disagree with him are free to disagree. This has nothing to do with whether or not I like him. There are plenty of religious folks I like and many atheists I don't. His idea that atheists fear a supreme being is without merit.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if maybe some of his motivation might to be increase the box office take ?
ReplyDeleteI'll take him at face value. This isn't the kind of project one does for money (nor is writing books for atheists for that matter). He will likely make money off of it, but I think he honestly believes what he's saying. I also think he's wrong.
ReplyDeleteted kelly " I think it's better to have dialog rather than simply to tell others that they're wrong ". Yes, my viewpoint exactly. Though it can be very difficult to get a reasonable dialog going with someone with strong religious beliefs of a particular denomination.
ReplyDeleteYep (@DG)
ReplyDeleteI understand (@JB) what you mean. While I don't completely agree, I also don't completely disagree with what you say.