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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Antireligious - HASSERS are Antireligious atheists & activists who take direct opposition to some religions in some contexts.

HASSERS 2nd Statement
(Dec '07 - Apr '08)
replaced by 'Atheist' May '08

Antireligious

H
ASSERS are Antireligious atheists & activists who take direct opposition to some religions in some contexts.


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Antireligous (wikipedia)
  1. is opposition to some or all religions in some or all contexts.
  2. People who are antireligious may see religions as dangerous, destructive, divisive, foolish, or absurd.
  3. This opposition may be confined to
    1. just organized mainstream religions such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism,
    2. extend to all organized religions including cults and Satanism,
    3. or may more generally include all forms of superstition or belief in the supernatural.
The concepts of Antireligious, Atheist and Antitheist differ.

Atheist (wikipedia)
  1. the absence of belief in deities.
  2. affirms the non existence of gods
  3. rejects theism.
Antitheist (wikipedia)
  1. a direct opposition to
    1. belief in any
      1. deities or
      2. gods or
      3. God or supernatural beings.
Activists (wikipedia)
  1. Activism is intentional action or inaction
    1. to bring about social or
    2. political change.
  2. This action is in support of, or opposition to,
    1. one side of an often controversial argument.
  3. Activism can be
    1. writing letters to newspapers or politicians
    2. political campaigning
    3. economic activism
      1. boycotts
      2. preferentially patronising preferred businesses
    4. rallies and street marches.
  4. Activism sometimes has nothing to do with protest or confrontation
    1. religious, feminist or vegetarian/vegan activists
      1. try to persuade people to change their behavior directly
      2. rather than persuade governments to change laws.
  5. Transformational activism
    1. is the idea that people need to transform on the inside as well on the outside in order to create any meaningful change in the world eg.
      1. Peacekeeping
        1. is a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace.
        2. monitors and observes peace processes in post-conflict areas.
        3. assists ex-combatants to implement signed peace agreements.
Notable antireligious people (wikipedia)











In 2006/7 several
authors wrote about Antireligion.
  1. Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion)
  2. Sam Harris (End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation)
  3. Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell)
  4. Christopher Hitchens (God is not Great)

  • Douglas Adams, science fiction writer.
  • William Blake, poet, painter.
  • George Carlin, comedian, author.
  • Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA.
  • Richard Dawkins, atheist, evolutionary biologist.
  • Daniel Dennett, philosopher, scientist.
  • Harlan Ellison, science fiction writer.
  • Johann Hari, British atheist journalist.
  • Sam Harris, author, scientist.
  • Bill Hicks, comedian.
  • Christopher Hitchens, political writer.
  • Marilyn Manson, singer, artist.
  • Alistair Horne, British historian.
  • Enver Hoxha, former leader Albania.
  • David Hume, Scottish philosopher.
  • Aldous Huxley, philosopher, author.
  • Thomas Jefferson, American founding father.
  • Elton John, singer.
  • Vladimir Lenin, religions exploit the working class.
  • John Lennon, sang "and no religion too" in Imagine song.
  • Karl Marx, religion is the opium of the people.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, anti-Christian.
  • Michel Onfray, French philosopher.
  • Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist.
  • Bertrand Russell, British philosopher.
  • Carl Sagan, Astronomer, popular science writer.
  • Socrates, Greek philosopher.
  • Mark Twain, American humorist, satirist, writer, lecturer.
  • Voltaire, Gospels were fabricated, Jesus did not exist.
  • Mao Zedong, Marxist proponent of state atheism in China.

3 comments:

  1. A skeptic should not be an atheist. A skeptic 'suspends judgment' whereas an atheist has made a judgment and claims to know what is not known, just as a theist does. A skeptic should be an agnostic not an atheist. The scientific approach should be based on doubt, uuncertainty and probability especially since the arrival of Quantum Physics.

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  2. It depends on what you mean by Atheist. As an atheist I have found there to be insufficient evidence for me to subscribe to the idea that God exists. I do not know that God definitely does not exist. In this sense I am agnostic. For all practical purposes however, I am an atheist.

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  3. Atheism is a position of not having faith in the existence of god or gods. Since any deity worth the title exists outside of the natural realm, they can't be "known", in any real sense of the word. Knowledge of their "existence" depends then on faith, and agnosticism is the default position. If you are being intellectually honest, then, we are all agnostic. But, I think that it was Carl Sagan who said that he was agnostic about god in the same way that he was agnostic about santa claus.

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