New York Times has a story about a guy who’s putting up atheist stuff where a nativity used to be.
Guy seems like a real prize. But there’s this part of the story that got me wondering.
This always angered Damon Vix, who worked off and on in Santa Monica and considers himself a devout atheist, so to speak. How could it be, he asked himself each year, that the city could condone such an overtly religious message?
Can you be a devout atheist? What does that entail? Devoutness to what?
December 22, 2011 at 7:31 pm
I kinda want to punch that guy in the nose. Charitably, of course.
December 22, 2011 at 7:58 pm
How do you charitably punch someone in the nose? Inquiring minds want to know.
December 22, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Ask Saint Nick!
December 23, 2011 at 12:19 am
Well… if faith is belief in something not proven (in the mind of secular media, of course), then you can be a faithful atheist. It is also very popular to be a evangelical atheist which nearly breaks the bank on irony. Most atheists I know swear up and down that what they hate most about Christianity is the evangelism! Moving right along, if you have this faith, then it stands to reason that one can have devotion as well… hence, devout atheists. I actually know atheistic literal neopagans who attend pagan rituals even though they don't believe in
divinity.
But if you can worship and not believe… can one be devout in an orthopraxic way? If so, then the answer is an unqualified yes.
December 23, 2011 at 1:27 am
And what or whom do they worship – devoutly???
December 23, 2011 at 2:28 am
@ Lynda: They mostly worship their own cleverness.
December 23, 2011 at 3:44 am
I'm still amused by the term "Christo-Pagan". Heard it a few years ago on a chat board and this article reminded me of that term. (off note, I royally pissed off the pagans/atheists/agnostics when I told them that term is an oxymoron.)
December 23, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Does the NYT get the inherent problem they've foisted upon themselves? How can the government grant this bozo the right to post an atheist display if they deny Christians that same right? If one can be a "devout" atheist, the obvious implication is that atheism is a religion.
December 23, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Well, maybe you CAN be a DEVOUT atheist, particularly if you are religious about your atheism! I mean, the word RELIGION is rooted in the Latin word for "to bind", and any "Religion" worth its salt is all about "binding" its adherents to a point of view and a way of life based on that point of view. Most atheists, especially the "evangelical" sort who spend time and energy proselytizing others about the value of their "belief" that there is no God, share one feature in common with their opponents, the Theists: Both sides hold positions based exclusively on FAITH. Sustaining a faith requires devotion to it, and so believers of any stripe develop "therapies" (i.e. "devotions") to support their enthusiasm for that belief–whether it's focused on setting up creches or tearing them down. Vix's devotion differs only by degrees from any believers.
So, in the spirit of the Season, I'd say, "Yes, Virginia, Atheists can be devout. We see it especially at Christmas time."
Fr. Martin Farrell, op
December 23, 2011 at 3:51 pm
There's a place near our house called the Washington Ethical Society. They meet every Sunday morning. It is, in essence, a Church for Atheists. So, I guess if you are a "worshiper" at this particular institution and attend services every week, you can be called a devout atheist.
One wonders what their services are like. I suppose the opening hymn each week is "Let's Get Ethical" sung to the tune of "Let's Get Physical."
December 24, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Matt, borrowed from a commenter in one of you older posts, too good not to share:
Christian doctrine is ‘there is a God’
Atheist’s doctrine is ‘there is no God’
I am a Christian, I believe in God and I use the bible, history and religious tradition to support my belief system.
An athiest believes there is no God and uses the ‘Theory’ of Evolution to support their belief system.
Christians proselytize………….Atheists proselytize.
Christianity is a faith based belief system…it cannot be proved.
Atheism is a faith based belief system….it cannot be proved.
December 24, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Every public place, every day, and especially at Christmas without a sign of Christ and God is a tribute to atheism. So, atheism needs not be devout. Fallen human nature does a very good job at “evangelizing” atheism. Being a human being, the atheist needs to ask God for the gift of Faith and theological understanding, or at least love of God, called religion. Lacking this petition to God as in: “Thy kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer, the atheist repudiates all men’s desire for God and rejects all men’s longing to be with God, with his own. The social aspect of the worship of God, in unity, builds nations and reinforces the freedom to which God calls all men to be free. Atheism diminishes and eradicates the “WE” of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, because in annulling the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of the universe, the Sovereign Person, Jesus Christ’s citizenship in the universe, the atheist imposes himself as King of the universe…and every human being must bow to atheism, the bottomless pit. Fallen human nature is suffering but to endure fallen human nature without God is hell. MERRY CHRISTMAS IN BABY JESUS CHRIST.
December 26, 2011 at 9:05 pm
@healthily sanguine, one charitably punches someone in the nose if one inflicts the blow for the sake of his correction. See, e.g., St. Nicholas of Myra breaking the nose of the heresiarch Arius.
If it's good enough for Santa Claus…
January 8, 2012 at 7:12 pm
I am a 'devout' atheist. I am sure there is no god or supernatural being. I am as sure of this as there are no unicorns BUT, give me some reasonable proof and I'll join your belief but I still won't follow the god of the O.T. He has an anger problem.