Hi All,
In my quest to get out of my dark night of the soul, I have started reading again.
I just finished The Twilight of Atheist by Alister McGrath. I wasn't what I expected to be honest but it was a very interesting read nonetheless.
I have to admit that I was ignorant on the history of atheism and the enlightenment which this book covered in pretty great detail. I just assumed that the atheism of the enlightenment was a result of science / rational argument. Apparently, this was way off. In fact, Voltaire wasn't an atheist...he was a deist who thought that the church had corrupted the image of the one true God.
A lot of the "leaders" of the enlightenment were atheists not because of rational argument but by a choice. They chose to throw off the shackles of God in order to be their own sources of meaning, truth, morals, etc.
This started me to wonder about a lot of the atheists that I encounter on the internet. A lot, not all, of them seem to be more angry at God rather than simply not believing in him. I couldn't imagine going to a astrology forum and trolling all of the people on the forum for believing in horoscopes or tarot cards.
Freud's suggestion cuts both ways. It could be wish fulfillment that people believe in God to make them feel safe, but it could also be wish fulfillment that people don't believe in God to bypass judgement. Any thoughts on this idea that atheism may be a form of wish fulfillment?
In my quest to get out of my dark night of the soul, I have started reading again.
I just finished The Twilight of Atheist by Alister McGrath. I wasn't what I expected to be honest but it was a very interesting read nonetheless.
I have to admit that I was ignorant on the history of atheism and the enlightenment which this book covered in pretty great detail. I just assumed that the atheism of the enlightenment was a result of science / rational argument. Apparently, this was way off. In fact, Voltaire wasn't an atheist...he was a deist who thought that the church had corrupted the image of the one true God.
A lot of the "leaders" of the enlightenment were atheists not because of rational argument but by a choice. They chose to throw off the shackles of God in order to be their own sources of meaning, truth, morals, etc.
This started me to wonder about a lot of the atheists that I encounter on the internet. A lot, not all, of them seem to be more angry at God rather than simply not believing in him. I couldn't imagine going to a astrology forum and trolling all of the people on the forum for believing in horoscopes or tarot cards.
Freud's suggestion cuts both ways. It could be wish fulfillment that people believe in God to make them feel safe, but it could also be wish fulfillment that people don't believe in God to bypass judgement. Any thoughts on this idea that atheism may be a form of wish fulfillment?
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