Austin Cline: Significance of Atheism - Making Atheism Matter
18 12 06 - 00:00 Is Atheism Morally & Intellectually Significant?Question: Does atheism have any moral or intellectual significance for society today, or is it simply irrelevant?
Response: The mere fact that a person doesn’t happen to believe in any gods isn’t very meaningful. Thus, if atheism is going to have intellectual or moral significance, it must be for other reasons. Those reasons can’t be found simply in critiques of religion or arguments against theism; instead they must be found in a general program of reason, skepticism, and critical inquiry.
George Smith has labeled such a program a “habit of reasonableness.” Unreflective and unthinking atheism is no more rational than unthinking theism — and it is without question that atheists are capable of being as unreasonable and irrational as the most bizarre theist.
Because of this, being a skeptical atheist requires more work and effort than simply being an atheist — it requires consciously and consistently striving to reject intellectual laziness and exercising our reasoning abilities.
What this means is that we must not focus simply on what we think; instead, we should focus on how we think. This is the issue of freethought, the ability to come to independent conclusions on issues without relying on things like authority, tradition, or emotion to make decisions for us. Critical thinking skills must be learned and practiced.
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