-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.
If you are gonna censor my comments then I will go bark on another channel and no longer offend any of you.
nick spinelli 1, October 20, 2013 at 9:22 am
Dredd, Hitchens spoke forcefully and eloquently against the abuses of the NSA before most people even knew anything about it. HE SUED THE NSA.
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Good for him on that account.
He seems highly conflicted and inconsistent if that is so.
Do you have a link to the case or info on it … I would like to know his theory of the case.
Mike S.,
Your comparison of Hitchens to Buckley is most apt.
*****
Christopher Hitchens’ lies do atheism no favors
I’m also an atheist and believe the religious right is a problem. But so is Hitchens’ intellectual dishonesty
BY CURTIS WHITE
6/23/13
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/23/christopher_hitchens_lies_do_atheism_no_favors/
nick spinelli 1, October 20, 2013 at 9:19 am
Ah, I see the guest bloggers have started teaching patsylvania a lesson. Who is the alpa in your pack? patsylvania, you’ll be double, tripled teamed..even more sometimes. Hang tough. They’re paper wolves.
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Oh Nick, help save patsylvania from those paper wolves with paper truth, paper justice, and paper the American way.
So, Hitchens the Barbarian … was he for the military NSA spying on all Americans as well as the military torturing, killing, and maiming in the name of the god of Oil-Qaeda, the paperous Oilah Akbar?
Don’t try and pick him apart. He wore your ilk’s scorn as a badge of honor. He just wouldn’t comply w/ your Iraq stance. Otherwise, he was your hero. The groupthink he abhorred is exposed long after his death. He’s smiling.
Dredd, Hitchens spoke forcefully and eloquently against the abuses of the NSA before most people even knew anything about it. HE SUED THE NSA.
Ah, I see the guest bloggers have started teaching patsylvania a lesson. Who is the alpa in your pack? patsylvania, you’ll be double, tripled teamed..even more sometimes. Hang tough. They’re paper wolves.
Since Hitchens supported the Iraq war and torture, would he not have also supported the military NSA spying on all Americans?
When it comes to ultra vires usurpations of power, I’ll blame the usurpers.
patsylvania
1, October 20, 2013 at 8:09 am
When truth puts others at risk, shut up!
*****
Lies put us at risk. Still, let’s have our “leaders” mislead us into wars. Don’t tell me what I don’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss.
Were you picked on as a child? Get over it! Don’t drag around your baggage and try to blame it on the government. How are you upholding the Constitution? You haven’t yet revealed it to me, I might join your group!
Tony C. 1, October 19, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Dredd: The Higgs boson is unstable. With a mass around 126 GeV, it will decay to lighter particles, on average, in about 1.26 x 10^{-22} seconds (about 12.6 sextillionths of a second, if that helps).
It is quite doubtful anything useful can be “made” of Higgs bosons, either on purpose or by accident. Plus they are all one thing, and not even fermions; it would be like trying to make something out of soap bubbles likely to pop at any moment.
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Good point.
Things were moving very fast way back then too:
(The God Particle, Lederman, p. 1). 😉
My but that was an impressive display. Sounds vaguely familiar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5Mr5eCF2U
But blaming the victims of civil rights abuses is certainly a novel tactic.
Personally, I don’t let others decide what causes I find noble or not, nor do I let evidence of wrongdoing by the government go unnoticed.
Thank you kindly Gene H.
Where my other comments about the Lard at?
The Lard is good for Sunday but Krisco on Monday through Saturday or you will get fat as Harpo, I mean Oprah.
Truth be told. In days of old when knights were bold and rubbers weren’t invented. They tied a sock….
Woooord Press, Wooord Press
Wooord Press, Word Press , Word Press.
Aaaa men, Aaaamen.
Ahey men A men A men
Agamenman.
Stand for something or fall for anything? Yeah, the most powerful enemy is ignorance! Stand for something someone else has determined to be a noble cause and you could fall for any trendy new conspiracy theory? The hubris in this world! Americans have become junkies for social bandwagon leaping before looking. And blame others for their DUMPTH!
There you go, Dredd.
Where da comments at?
–Blazing Saddles