Gentle Reader, I would like to inform you that I now have A Rule for commenters. Oh, okay, make it a strong guideline.
If I publish a post on the very general topic of religion, please be aware that what I'm inviting discussion of is the effect of religion on the world. When I say, for instance, that I'm talking about worship of gods, I am not talking specifically of the Abrahamic god.
I am not, as many Christian commenters seem to think, talking specifically about Christianity.
You may see the Christian religion as a special case, because you happen to believe it to be The One True Religion, but I don't, and nor do all those believers in other books and other gods. It is, I must say, frightfully presumptuous, and quite egotistical of you to assume that I'm singling Christianity out, when I didn't even mention it.
If I mean a piece to be specifically directed at Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Jainism, Mormonism, Wicca, Hinduism, Scientology, or the worship of Bo Diddley's third-best guitar, I will say so.
</rant>
—Daz
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Is the worship of Bo Diddley’s third-best guitar something that has regular meetings? If so, I might reconsider my atheism and join up…
I wouldn’t bother. It sounds good, but it turns out to be quite square…
This is something that always gets me, the way that christians talk about god assuming that their version of god is the one and only and that the word god automatically refers to that god. Humans have invented hundreds of thousands, if not millions of gods. The word god could refer to any of them.
Well said!
“When I speak of religion, I mean the Christian religion. When I speak of the Christian religion I mean the Protestant religion; When I speak of the Protestant religion I mean the Church of England.”
The spirit of Parson Thwackum in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones lives!
There is this arrogance about Christians that assume their’s is the only god on the market, I have seen many whines about using a lower case g on god because they fail to understand that it is not a proper noun. Spelling Zeus with a lower case z would be wrong, as would any other god’s name with a lower case but not a general term for the plethora of gods that have been inveneted.
As was said many years back (have forgotten by who) we are all atheists I just believe in one less god than you do.
rustiguzzi
Thanks! I had a vague memory of that quote, but couldn’t pin it down.
Stephen Mynett
I prefer it as “We are all atheists, I just disbelieve in one more god than you do.” (Dawkins, I think, but don’t quote me on that.)
The OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form) has it in verse, one of 21 limericks under the heading “atheist”:
“There’s Vishnu and Neptune and Thor,
Plus hundreds more gods you ignore
As nonsensical, foolish,
Perhaps even ghoulish.
Ask an atheist; he’ll add one more.”
@rustiguzzi: I haven’t heard that version before, I’ll have to try to remember it.:-)
I’ve tried to make it clear to Christians in the past that I see nothing unique in their god. He/she/it is simply one deity among thousands that I don’t believe in.
Thanks to the Atheism UK site, I found the quote I was looking for: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours” – Stephen Roberts