tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post4993562390941607740..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: Off to LARussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-49859038259640299012009-10-01T16:10:45.399+10:002009-10-01T16:10:45.399+10:00Maybe it just goes to show that terms like "m...Maybe it just goes to show that terms like "moderate" and "extreme" are so relative as to be almost useless?<br /><br />Good luck in LA btw! :-)Parrhesianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-61119288696833556052009-10-01T03:26:32.587+10:002009-10-01T03:26:32.587+10:00Here I am, just arrived in LA! And yes, I also ten...Here I am, just arrived in LA! And yes, I also tend to think I'm pretty moderate. But there seems to be a view around that any explicit arguing against the truth of non-fundamentalist religion, even if civil and thoughtful, is unacceptable because it alienates "moderate" religious folk (meaning mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics, not just non-literalists and other genuine liberals). Since I don't subscribe to that, I guess I'm considered hard-line or extreme.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-51949778967595202542009-09-30T19:13:54.519+10:002009-09-30T19:13:54.519+10:00Hmm, I didn't realise I even WAS a hardliner u...Hmm, I didn't realise I even WAS a hardliner until I read your description of what it means to be a hardliner.<br /><br />I agree that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right, insofar as the active form of freedom does not impinge on the passive form of freedom, but doesn't that mean that neither you nor I are hardliners? Wouldn't a hardliner think religion so disastrous that we should expunge it from the Earth entirely?<br /><br />For me, it's just about putting religion into the appropriate box (which is far, far away from politics, education, medicine and science). That doesn't mean religious PEOPLE can't fulfill roles in those avenues, but that religious (un)THINKING has no place in them. And here I was, thinking I was being quite moderate!Parrhesianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-39602112819685156262009-09-30T02:08:32.195+10:002009-09-30T02:08:32.195+10:00Yes to all that. I too don't think that religi...Yes to all that. I too don't think that religious people are ipso facto bad people, I too don't consider genuinely moderate Christians and other believers to be my enemies, I too realize that philosophical deism cannot be refuted, even though I see no good reason to actually believe in a deist sort of God. I haven't exactly remained a cultural Anglican but I did have a cultural Anglican upbringing of sorts (at my school, chiefly - I can still sing some of the hymns, and recite 'and there were, in the same country, shepherds, abiding in the fields etc.' <br /><br />And notwithstanding all that I too am a hardliner for all the reasons cited. And one more: I dislike the way 'accommodationism' seems to entail misrepresenting non-accommodationism. I dislike accommodationism's apparent total inability to characterize its perceived opponents accurately. In short I dislike the consistent resort to rhetoric.Ophelia Bensonhttp://www.butterfliesandwheels.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-11680384876509399662009-09-30T00:57:43.849+10:002009-09-30T00:57:43.849+10:00"Not only is atheism almost exclusively male,..."Not only is atheism almost exclusively male, it almost exclusively white."<br /><br />By what criteria is it almost exclusively male/white? I know several female atheists and atheists of color, and know a bunch more from the internet. How much of a preponderance of white and male do you need before you make the claim that it is "almost exclusively" so?<br /><br />Anyway, seeing as you're probably talking about atheism in the US, I would guess that it has a lot to do with the fact that the US is predominantly white. I'm willing to bet most of the atheists in, say, India, are not white.<br /><br />As far as females go, again, I think you overstate your case. Just for example, ERV and Ophelia Benson are pretty prominent skeptics at least on the internet, and there are lots of smart godless ladies on PZ's blog.<br /><br />-Dan L.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-46309974485849513892009-09-29T22:01:12.432+10:002009-09-29T22:01:12.432+10:00Is the list of speakers too heavily weighted towar...<i>Is the list of speakers too heavily weighted towards men? (As to that, last I counted only about 4 out of about 27 speakers are female, leading one person on PZ's blog to describe the line-up as a "cock forest").</i> <br /><br /><br />Not only is atheism almost exclusively male, it almost exclusively white.<br /><br />Why is that?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-10202674848067313292009-09-29T19:40:36.001+10:002009-09-29T19:40:36.001+10:00I have the same opinions that you have expressed h...I have the same opinions that you have expressed here. I await your thoughts about the AAI convention.NewEnglandBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07190715223856189053noreply@blogger.com