-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
On a recent show of Soul to Soul, Oprah interviewed Diana Nyad, the long distance swimmer who, at age 64, swam from Havana to Key West. During the interview Oprah mentions that Nyad told the producers that she (Nyad) is “not a God person.” Nyad responds: “I’m an atheist.” Oprah responds incredulously: “But you’re in the awe.” Oprah just can’t believe that an atheist could feel awe. While atheists often use reason to understand reality, they have the same emotions exhibited by non-atheists. Atheists just don’t feel the need to affix the “God” label to their feelings.
Nyad saw no contradiction between her atheism and her ability to experience awe, or as she calls it: “weep with the beauty of this universe and be moved by all of humanity.” Oprah was having none of this when she said “I don’t call you an atheist then. I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery, then that is what God is.”
Nyad, maybe sensing Oprah’s uneasiness, offered a concession to the faithful by saying that her “definition of God is humanity and the love of humanity.” That an atheist would make a theist uneasy indicates the theist’s lack of confidence in their worldview. The comfort of theists is not a primary concern for those who advocate reason.
Nyad also went on to explain she’s a “spiritual” person and believes in souls that live on after death. While atheism is not a set of beliefs, it is simply not believing in any god, most atheists don’t accept the other beliefs that accompany God belief. For all the reasons that belief in God unreasonable, belief in the soul is also unreasonable. Nyad’s beliefs freely crisscross the atheist-theist divide.
Oprah’s prejudice against atheists reinforces negative stereotypes. Her viewers will see Oprah’s prejudice as a trait to be imitated and the cancer will spread. For her viewers who already hold anti-atheists biases, those biases have been validated.
Many Christians have characterized Oprah’s beliefs as a form of pantheism, where the universe, or nature, is identical with divinity. While Oprah calls herself a Christian, pantheism is generally not accepted as part of Christian theology. Oprah’s promotion of Eckhart Tolle and his books has done nothing to ingratiate her with Christians.
Overt displays of bigotry against non-believers are tolerated if not encouraged by our society. Studies show that atheists are among the least liked people. This dislike keeps many atheists in the closet. The anonymity of the internet allows atheists to come out on-line while maintaining their disguise at other times. On the internet, people can learn counter-arguments to theological claims and use their own mind to decide which is more compelling.
H/T: Dave Niose, JT Eberhard, Jerry Coyne, Mano Singham, Hemant Mehta, David Edwards.
What Mike said…. Believe or Not….
Recently I was told by a woman I have known casually for about 25 yrs, that I am the most miserable person on earth because I do not believe as she does. Interesting. I am not the one going from door to door repeating gossip and spreading lies about others. That seems to be a Christian virtue in her universe.
I don’t give two hoots what Oprah thinks! Especially about my religion. If she thinks I do, she is having delusions of grandeur.
HumpinDog 1, October 19, 2013 at 9:51 am
itchinBayDog 1, October 19, 2013 at 9:53 am
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You pups are too dogmatic.
now i don’t feel so bad that after all the years she has been on tv, i’ve never watched her. or “dr” phil.
My
feelingscomponents have been hurt over and over because people don’t believe in the machine god.Can atheists and/or theists believe in a machine god too?
Don’t worry, I will get over my hurt components.
Dave, I love to listen to very smart and eloquent people, no matter their political, moral, religious, etc. stance. Hitch was @ the top of that list.
Yeah, some of you humans need to embrace the theology of the 8th Day Dog Adventists like we profess here in the dogpac. Get away from that Opray apCray. Listening to her is like having word press moderate your conversations on line.
We dogs here at the dogpac watch television. Not much Oprah. She has a winter home down here in FL which is nearby by the sea. She needs to understand that on the 8th Day God Created Dog. After I read the article to the dogpac some of them sprinted over and left a sea of dog poop in her yard.
Nick,
We lost Hitchens to the same varying process of decay that all creatures have faced for billions of years, a fate we all face. Fortunately the fruits of science prolonged his life a little longer than nature would have allowed on its own.
This is why I call myself an ‘absolute atheist,’ and a non-supernaturalist. I do not see any evidence for anything supernatural whatsoever; I do not see any evidence that anything “intelligent” exists that is not composed entirely of inanimate particles.
That does NOT mean I believe we know all the laws of physics or even know all the particles and types of energy; it means I see good reason (and no counter evidence) to conclude that in principle all things, EVERYTHING in the universe, is ultimately composed of inanimate parts. It also does NOT mean I think everything is “predictable” even in principle.
The evidence precludes any supernatural beings, or parts of beings (like an eternal soul), or supernatural knowledge, energy, or actions. In principle I think everything in the universe is inherently explainable, and there are no infinity paradoxes (infinite awareness, infinite knowledge, eternal existence, etc).
That is also not a religious stance since religion requires “faith” which is belief without evidence: My beliefs are conclusions based on evidence, and meet my threshold of certainty for calling them absolute: If I had to bet my life (or anybody’s life, or anything else) on a choice between science and the supernatural, I will choose “science” without qualm and with good reason: It has a far better track record than wishful thinking.
I am not surprised. Oprah can be entertaining but as a life coach, please. She is like all humans with biases and prejudices galore. The difference is that she has hundreds of millions of dollars and people hang on her every word. Nyad should not have given in but I understand why she did. One does not cross Oprah..
Oprah is the type of person that produces ardent atheists. When Christians whine about atheists being in your face, shit like this is one of the reasons. However, the class and dignity is the best way to counteract the Oprah’s of the world. You do need a few Hitchens though, and you folks lost a real force when he went to eternity w/ God!!
I really like Nal and his posts. But, he’s obviously racist. I never saw it before, but to have negative thoughts about Oprah, just as thinking out prez is a “bummer,” is “thinly veiled” racism.
It’s difficult to know where to start. The easiest counter to Oprah’s absurdity and her guest’s accommodationism is simply to reference Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian Nation.” (A short but very much concise and digestible read.) He does much of the work as regards undoing the standard talking points, fallacies, and reinforced stereotypes perpetuated by the religious, specific to Christianity in the US.
Moreover, reading any of the so-called New Atheists is wise if one wishes to better understand the overall worldview, but there remain myriad sources — Sagan, Clarke, Asimov, Feynman, et al. Such minds are remarkable when it comes to articulating the wonder of nature and the shallow depth of bankrupt and blinding faith.
As far as the previous comment on Newton: so what. Newton believed in alchemy and Einstein thought the universe was static: doesn’t make them right. The only authority in science is evidence, and even then it’s open to change in light of new evidence, which is science’s greatest strength. Simply stated, supply evidence 1 deity, 10 deities, 84,739 deities, or -54 deities exist and we anti-theists will accept it. Until then there’s no reason to, particularly when nature supplies its own elusive explanations.
Oprah and those like her are mortified at their own mortality, thusly strengthening the stranglehold that religion has upon what should be an increasingly science-literate world.
And as Hitchens said, “The beauty of science far outranks the charms of superstition.”
I wouldn’t say she’s prejudiced as much as she’s ignorant, and delusional in thinking that she can define someone else’s beliefs. And yes, I’m an atheist. Nyad’s wishy washy responses just made things worse. What was needed was a straightforward “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
David,
Taking on Oprah these days is taking on a cultural icon, but somebody has to do it and I’m glad you did. Oprah feeds her viewers pablum and the imagine it profound. Besides Eckard Tolle, a “new age” BS artist, her endorsements of others like Dr. Phil and Tony Robbins have shown poor judgment in people. She’s achieved stardom of the unimpeachable wisdom kind in many people’s eyes, but the reality I fear is far more mundane and she’s just another huckster who’s hit the lottery.
“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” Isaac Newton,The Principia:Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.” Bill Gates,The Road Ahead.
Or even: I believe in Nature’s God. For Everyone must obey Nature’s laws.
I am a Deist….and that is more what a Deist believes…a natural God, not a ‘revealed religion’.
Suggested response to the issue:
I subscribe to no religion I have been exposed to. This is the definition of atheist. No theism.
Or perhaps the response I sometimes use: I don’t know.
Or: I believe that studying evidence is a better means to truth than faith. Muslims and Christians and Jews and others all use faith and then arrive at different conclusions. Faith doesn’t seem to be reliable.
Or even: I believe in Nature’s God. For Everyone must obey Nature’s laws.
(I have been disowned by portions of my family for my non-belief. In their religions non-belief = amorality. To them it is impossible to be moral without faith. I must be a rapist, child molester or worse because I have no morality.)