h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, you can find evangelists in any group of people. I am the anti leaf-blower evangelist! (no, I really am)

No...why, is he stealing my material?

There's the American Atheists, if you're American. http://www.atheists.org

If you believe in God but not religion, you're a Deist, I'd say.

One of my acquaintances describes himself as a militant agnostic: "I don't know and you don't either!"

That's why I liked the article, it tends to stimulate discussions - it wasn't all meant as critique on your article, the discussion-horse just ran away with me once again (ho, steady...).
And as I said - I like Darwin the Ferret, and it IS a good joke - I still don't think it fits the image perfectly, but so little religious symbols do, so why should the ferret? - I just added the finches cause I had to smile about the workings of my brain, I guess - a sturdy education in sciences can "ruin" your mind for good .

as for atheists converting - well, no atheist I know (and there are many) ever tried to convert somebody, but maybe I only met the lazy or non-missionary ones . How relaxing in contrast to christians, religious people, esotheric people - most of THEM try to convert me all the time... I only know 2 who leave my personal belief in peace as I do theirs.
so it really *was* my personal preconceptions, as I said - refreshing to know that there are some atheists who "strike back". (I'm an agnostic myself, non-missionary normally with pretty the same view as yours ... only when somebody is too obstrusive, I can't resist...).

Great article. It gave me a good look into the mind of an Atheist and also had a great comparison with Agnosticism. My only comment would be on lumping all the "eastern religions" together. Maybe stating a few names like Budda and Daoism.

I give it an 8.

Thanks for being so courteous, Courtesy! The list wasn't really meant to be an all-inclusive list, so I think I'll leave it as is.

To anyone who might be interested in further study in this vein, I have completed an article describing the Failure of Christianity to Stand Up to Reason, a less light-hearted romp through the logical pinholes of popular dogma: http://www.h2g2.com/A213247

A very funny article.

The definitions for atheist/agnostic are a bit dodgy, but then all of alt.atheism has been arguing about them for ages.

As far as I understand it:

atheism: Belief in no god / lack of belief in god. (The gap between these is a huge and scary semantic debate.)

agnosticism: Lack of an opinion regarding the existence of god.

Atheists also acknowledge the *possibility* that there is a god. Anything is possible until *proven* impossible, and you can't prove or disprove god.

hello there,
there is yet another atheist among us methinks, i bet you are down the pub on sunday mornings with the rest of us, all i have to say is "two nil to the tottenham"...
visit my page arcane questions at http://www.h2g2.com/A212626 for a laff...

Love the idea of Darwin the Ferret, it would indeed add marketing appeal to atheism. Quite amusing, and I don't think you really offended anyone, which is quite a trick when you start talking about religon (or lack of religion).

A reasonably amusing article. From what I have seen of approved
Guide entries, this piece may be a little too biased . It kind of reeks of 'bwah hah hah you pussy christians are inferior to Me!', whereas a good guide entry might tend a bit more towards some reasonable level of enlightened insight.

I like the bit about Darwin the Ferret, but I think Darwin the Mountain Gorilla gets the point across a bit better.

Your definition of 'atheism' as 'without religion' is somewhat questionable. 'Atheism' literally means just that, 'without theism'. There are religions that are not theistic.. many of them.

The term 'religion' is from latin, 're-ligio', same root as 'ligament'. It means reconnection, rebinding. Again, not a universally applicable term as many people who concern themselves with spiritual matters do not consider themselves to be 'seperate' from divinity, and thus have no need of reconnecting with it. The Christian mythology, if you look past the dogma, has elements of this, actually... I have always considered it a great irony that Jesus' mission seems to have been the abolition of religion, not the establishment of one.

I take issue with your comparison of atheism and agnosticism; agnostics avoid committing themselves to a 'belief' and prefer to use their noggins to seek answers and ask questions. Atheists are know-it-alls. Agnostics know they know nothing.

Merriam-Webster defines theism as: "belief in the existence of a god or gods; specifically : belief in the existence of one God viewed as the creative source of man and the world who transcends yet is immanent in the world" (misspelling of 'imminent' is theirs, not mine ). Therefore, being without theism means being without belief in the Christian god, nor any other sort of god. A religion, minus the gods and higher powers, is called a philosophy. Atheists can ascribe to any personal philosophy they choose.

Athiests are not necessarily know-it-alls, but I've covered that in another forum. I'm sorry the line upset you, but it was only meant in fun, just sort of keeping in tune with the rest of the article. I've already invited another researcher to write an article that makes fun of atheism, since I don't see any point in taking my beliefs too seriously. Refer any further questions in this vein to the disclaimer on my homepage.

Maybe you mistook my tone; I wasn't upset or offended at all by your comparison of atheists and agnostics I simply chose to take issue on an intellectual basis concerning your dialogue!

Hinduism is just one example of a well-established religion that has its roots in a complex philosophical system. Hindu peasants and villagers surely worship a jumble of various gods and goddesses, but Hindu scholars recognize only 'brahman' or 'ultimate being' and consider all other things, including the pantheon of divinities, to be aspects of that whole. As it were, Hindus recognize that their gods are simply symbols of the human condition.

Wiccans worship natural forces and laws, and the 'goddess' of wicca is generally understood to be representative of a gaian ecosystem.

There are many religions centered on animism also. Cows, goats, dogs or whatever are seen to possess 'powerful spirits' akin to human nature.

North American Indian shamanism tends towards a wholly mystical view of the universe and really seems to imply that the observer is the only thing that is 'real'.

These are just a few examples of 'non-theistic' religions traditions; I suspect we don't have a better word for it because eastern religious concepts are foreign to us. Theism has become synonymous with any belief in divinity, but semantically it is better recognized as conviction of the existance of a divine purposer in Western culture.

I see now what you meant with the agnosticism line. True, agnostics do not commit themselves to a faith, but they are more open-minded to new faiths than atheists, who would study them and understand them, but reject them as a viable cosmology. So an agnostic would be more likely to drift to odd fringe groups like the Heaven's Gate cult, but this is not to say they would do so in significant numbers.

Atheism is not a precisely defined belief system. There are those who reject the idea of gods, but do believe in a sort of spirit. These types could be drawn to those pantheistic views as those you desribe. Others reject any notion of spirituality, and believe there is only life, death, and whatever you choose to fill the space in between. This is my view, and my article displays that bias.

Actually, agnostics are not really generally in danger of drifting to
fringe cult worship, and I believe the term you are looking for in this instance is 'flake'. Flakes can come in many stripes, and I know of many atheistic flakes. Carl Sagan, for example. Now that I come to think about it, I consider SETI to be a flakey cult for atheists. So there you go.

Atheism as you describe it IS a preceisely defined belief system, with 1 tenet;

I believe there is no spirit/afterlife/god/force/afterlife.

This is an out of hand rejection of an important aspect of human existance and society, and like any belief, it cannot be disproven, proven, or really ascertained to be meaningful to anyone except the holder of the belief.

I thank you for pointing out for me that agnostics are more open-minded than atheists tend to be. The danger, of course, in being open-minded, is that you sometimes wind up having your brain plop right out of your head.

It's approved! Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but there it is, sitting on my homepage, waiting to debut on the main page. There are no omissions, and very few changes made at all, none of which impact the message. The Heaven's Gate crack is still there, plus the "hairy, skinny guy," and Darwin the Ferret in his glorious entirety.

Thanks once again to everyone whose opinions/suggestions/encouragements helped make this a worthy piece.

good for you i just need people to help me get mine approved now as well!!
any way many crongratuations as i am sure u deserve it!

Another fun run success story!