The Militant Tendency Within Atheism/Secular Rationalism

[cronus]

A serious topic. Atheists are often accused of being militant. They are also likely going to be scapegoats after the coming global socio-economic collapse. Even now in parts of the US atheists and bright kids who ask adult questions are being bullied, simply for asking questions or swearing when the answer is cow-manure. So with approaching changed times surely it is sensible to turn the myth of the militant atheist into a reality? Doesn't need explosive action, a bit of camouflage clothing would be enough from a memetic perspective, a defensive militarism. To enhance group solidarity in changed times and so forth.

[Babel]

And to what aim would 'we' live up to the idea of the militant atheist? I don't see a benefit for that.

[JimC]

It is fashionable these days for those who are writing about some form of non-religious future society to publicly avow that they are not militant atheists like that intense, aggressive and intolerant Dawkins guy...

So common it's become a meme for the chattering classes...

[cronus]

Various things to consider once you accept the hole in the global economic hull is actually there. Attempts at rebuilding a 'coal/carbon' based civilization must be either stalled or stopped in the aftermath, of a world with no fiat currencies. Some attempts at 'a dirty carbon economy in the aftermath could be very bad for the planets biosphere/atmosphere and future. There are other ideas but the CO2 issue is not resolved simply because the consumer world we have today is soon to be no more. CO2 will continue to trump other issues as a global rational consideration amongst survivors.

[pErvinalia]

What does atheism have to do with global economic meltdown/recovery/reconstruction?? We should be militant socialist. Capitalism is the problem, not religion.

[Svartalf]

We need to go back to medieval christianity, back when money was teh eebil.

[Babel]

Various things to consider once you accept the hole in the global economic hull is actually there. Attempts at rebuilding a 'coal/carbon' based civilization must be either stalled or stopped in the aftermath, of a world with no fiat currencies. Some attempts at 'a dirty carbon economy in the aftermath could be very bad for the planets biosphere/atmosphere and future. There are other ideas but the CO2 issue is not resolved simply because the consumer world we have today is soon to be no more. CO2 will continue to trump other issues as a global rational consideration amongst survivors.

i'm afraid I don't see why atheism is relevant to that discussion?

[JimC]

Various things to consider once you accept the hole in the global economic hull is actually there. Attempts at rebuilding a 'coal/carbon' based civilization must be either stalled or stopped in the aftermath, of a world with no fiat currencies. Some attempts at 'a dirty carbon economy in the aftermath could be very bad for the planets biosphere/atmosphere and future. There are other ideas but the CO2 issue is not resolved simply because the consumer world we have today is soon to be no more. CO2 will continue to trump other issues as a global rational consideration amongst survivors.

i'm afraid I don't see why atheism is relevant to that discussion?

Scumple is the master of the random conceptual jump...

Often it it meaningless, sometimes entertaining, occasionally surprisingly apposite...

[Babel]

Seems like it's the former.

[Blind groper]

Ding to the New Scientist, there are a billion confirmed atheists in the world, plus 1.5 billion apatheists. The latter do not really believe or disbelieve. They just don't give a damn.

That ratio of unbelievers makes me think that 'militant atheists' are a definite minority.

[DaveDodo007]

Didn't Pappa work out that we needed to kill seven religious people each, though some Ratz just got greedy and somebody over at Ratskep grassed us up to the fuzz. We tend to not mention it in polite society anymore to avoid all the kurfuffle.

[JimC]

Can mine be all Taliban, please?

[Babel]

Or boko haram?

[FBM]

I think, to be fair, we should draw lots for them.

[cronus]

Easy to use all the coal and oil and methane in a single generation with technologies available today. The efficiency of capitalism must be degraded or we'll have a dead planet. Capitalism's defence mechanism, the global military-industrial complex centred to the USA, must be disabled for less efficient socio-economic-cultural forms that are more long lasted to prosper. We must attack the Death Star of our age.