My concern with the use of the term "atheism" is both philosophical and strategic. I'm speaking from a somewhat unusual and perhaps paradoxical position because, while I am now one of the public voices of atheism, I never thought of myself as an atheist before being inducted to speak as one. I didn't even use the term in The End of Faith, which remains my most substantial criticism of religion. And, as I argued briefly in Letter to a Christian Nation, I think that "atheist" is a term that we do not need, in the same way that we don't need a word for someone who rejects astrology. We simply do not call people "non-astrologers." All we need are words like "reason" and "evidence" and "common sense" and "bullshit" to put astrologers in their place, and so it could be with religion.I basically agree. The problem comes when the Astrologers are in charge, writing laws, attacking non-astrology based education, jailing Capricorns, and fighting wars against the Ophiucian apostates. Then you need to stand up for Astronomy as a "non-astrologist."
[Via Andrew Sullivan]
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