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HermesTheMessenger•

Brian, thanks for sharing.

The article is quite good and makes some important points.

Do you know if this PDF is the current version (May 2004) from Prof. Georges Rey;

  • Meta-atheism: Religious Avowal as Self-Deception

http://philosophytalk.typepad.com/blog/files/MetaAtheism.pdf

EDIT: Wait ... Prof. Rey has a web site with a link to a Google Docs version of the paper dated October 2009; http://sites.google.com/site/georgesrey

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BrianOP•

I saw the mention at the top that he'd further developed the argument, but hadn't found where. The long version there looks like it goes into much more depth. Thanks!

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HermesTheMessenger•

For Christians, they believe in a god mainly because they are afraid of other Christians and want to get along with other people, not because they think that literally there is a world making fantastic being that monitors when birds drop out of the sky.

If I find a transcript, I'll post it, though the point of the video starts at the ~5:45 mark through to the end.

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wonderfuldog•

they believe in a god mainly because they are afraid of other Christians and want to get along with other people,

So, they have a "mutual lying and let's hate the person who questions our lies" club?

Hell of a way to run a society.

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MIUfishAtheist•

I think it varies considerably.

A close friend of mine, liberal protestant regular church-goer, has made a number of comments to me recently that has led me to believe that he doesn't believe much if any of it. His wife is much more into it, though, and he enjoys the community, so he puts on the relevant appearances. It's pretty interesting.

I know some true believers as well. They're a little more frightening.

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sleepyj910•

thanks, that's a neat perspective

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