They're not bibles - they're books by people who think pretty much the way I do.
I'm reading "The End of Faith" at the moment, and while I agree with an awful lot of what Sam Harris says, there's a fair bit I don't agree with. Still, that's the whole point of this, really - atheism is NOT a religion. Atheists have no rule book, no code of behaviour, no centralised tenents, canons, dogma or prophets. We think for ourselves. A boss I had once described managing a team of systems experts as akin to "herding cats" - which I think is a pretty fair simile for atheists too.
By contrast, you really have to leave your common sense at the door if you go to a church, mosque or temple. You're attending a gathering of people who believe corrupted, rambling and inconsistent writings from a different time and place, which advocate many behavioral practices and beliefs which by any modern definition are actually insane.
I don't have all the answers in life, and neither does anyone else. This is for sure though - I'd rather live by my own rules, they make a hell of a lot more sense than any religious book.
1 comment:
Sam Harris is a great writer, but I disagree with his views on torture and his disagreement with the pragmatists.
Richard Dawkins is very scientific, and people without the necessary biological requisites can find it to be very challenging.
Overall, Hitchens, Harris and Dawkins form what can be dubbed the "trinity" of atheism, and I must say that their writings are far better than what the religious authors can throw into the market so far.
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