Letters to the Editor
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Person...
...of course I've read The God Delusion. I try not to comment on things of which I'm ignorant, because that's hypocritical. I actually respect Dawkins quite a lot, because he's got a great intellect and at times he's quite ecumenical about things like spirituality and culture and has even made statements about being open to scientific exploration of the paranormal, which I think is fantastic. Open-mindedness is what it's all about. But then he confounds me by (and this is how I see it) getting too into his atheist rock star persona and bashing religion in media appearances and such. Plus, if your book is called The God Delusion, that's pretty loaded. You don't have to be a Ph.D. to surmise that the author is accusing people who believe in God of being delusional. That's a pretty crass insult.
I'm an author, so I understand the need for provocative titles. Just saying.
As for angry atheists vs. doormat atheists, why do those have to be the choices? Of course you shouldn't let yourselves be marginalized, but I think the "culture war" thing is overblown. As a journalist I monitor the media pretty closely, and I've missed the "war on atheism" thing. On the whole, I think you're in a passive, indirect battle: forces in the culture are trying to take us to a dominionist, fundamentalist place that's pretty crazy and scary, and that excludes people who choose not to believe in a Deity. OK, that's ugly. No question.
But I'll say it again: no group ever won its fight by getting in the other guy's face and telling him he was a delusional, primitive idiot. Educate the public about atheism. Do good things to show the less-enlightened that non-believers can be just as humane, giving and loving as believers, and sometimes moreso. Fight against ridiculous campaigns to teach ID. But stay above the muck. Avoid the silly attacks on nativity scenes and crap like that; it makes you look petty. Take the high road. Be strong, noble, reasoned and intelligent and prove to the "atheists aren't patriots" crowd that you're better than they are. But don't harangue and insult. All you do is prove them right when they say you want to kill religion.
You may want to, but you never will. EVER. EVER. It's too ingrained in us. But at least in your lifetime you can end atheism being the new homosexuality.