Message from @whiic
Discord ID: 641108277907685406
not sure how many of you have arrived here from the wreckage of the atheist/secular movement, but I'd be curious about your thoughts on this: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/30/new-atheism-the-godlessness-that-failed/
I like SSC but I can't relate. Movement Atheism never appealed to me at best I found it a disappointing distraction. People I admired like Dawkins writing long useless books about "god no reals" instead of doing serious work.
I'm "here" because of GamerGate. That is, that what created Sargon.
I don't think godlessness failed. But the institutions were set up as an antagonist to Christian conservatives, which made them atheist progressives by being the negative image of that they opposed: communists, socialists, feminists (ironically because feminism has Christian roots).
GG was a lot of fun. If anyone can find a mirror of the old 3Dog hangouts hit me up. Oliver made them private a while back....
Atheist progressivism was set to fail because it opposed Christian conservativism in both economic and social issues, and USA is a bipolar system where you always have to pick between cancer and AIDS.
Atheist activism had it's roots in 1st Amendment constitutionalism, ironically.
They just kept on attaching various other agendas into it, and making it hegemonic opposite to evangelical conservativism.
Freedom *of* religion =/= freedom *from* religion. The former is the US position the latter is the French.
So it's OK to be religious but you could be jailed for being irreligious?
The evangelocon argument to bringing Christian rules to court houses.
Basically, free to be Christian, but no freedom to be not Christian.
1st A protects especially freedom **FROM** religion, mind you.
*"**Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion**, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."*
1st A specifically prohibits theocracy, ensures right of disbelief in particular religion (whether atheist or member of another religion).
1st A is especially and only freedom **FROM** religion, not freedom of.
It does not say you are free to do animal sacrifice or human sacrifice or other freedom **OF** religion.
Not at all. I'm saying that the current liberal atheist position is inherited from European Continental thought and not related to the 1st.
It states that the government cannot impose a religion.
I'm sorry but the latter is also the basisi of US position on religious freedom.
It's freedom **FROM** religion.
Not even state merely federal. By the 10th.
It does not state "you are free to practice religion". it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
**or preventing the exercise thereof**
Oh. That part. So it's both freedom from and of.
Yep
But it does include "from" as well.
You cannot say it's only "of".
It goes all ways
Many Christian conservatives think it's only freedom "of" but not at all "from".
They use that as an argument for unconstitutional laws that prohibit atheists from running for any state office.
An interesting experiment is comparing the Alexa ranks of Sam Harris's website to the alexa rank of Atheist movement organizations. Basically, it seems like half the atheist movement transitioned into the SJW movement as Scott Alexander points out, but also that the other half of the atheist movement moved to outlets like Quillette, SamHarris.org, Joe Rogan Experience, AiU, etc.
Yeah, because the non-SJW atheism didn't exist. It was split up to individuals who opposed SJWs.
Every single atheist **institution** in USA was pro-SJW.
That's because they made the mistake of thinking *everything* in conservativism was wrong.
And there's undoubtedly something good with it.
This is a misunderstanding of the state and federal. The constitution sets limits on **federal** power. Not the state or local or sovereign. This is clearly stated in the 9th and 10th.
Both economically and in the pro-family thinking (although even conservatives twist it into being just anti-gay, rather than actually focusing on keeping heterosexual families intact).
Atheist movement committed pretty much suicide.