2 thoughts on “ATHEISM, ARGUMENTS AND META-ARGUMENTS: “Passionate Apathy” / DarkAntics”

1. Telling this poster that there are bigger problems than religion isn’t building a cliche’; it’s merely telling the truth.

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2. Apathy is an argument in itself; it proposes that doing nothing is on the same level as doing something; it proposes that factors other than interpersonal argumentation will alter or create our physical and social world. As the video presenter acknowledges, there often seems to be plenty of evidence to back that assertion. Many thought the Scopes monkey trial had buried creationism and biblical literalism once and for all. Today, both are probably more robust than ever even in the face of the mountains of scientific evidence in 2014 that dwarfs what was known in the 1920s! So the apathetic atheist being lampooned here may not exactly be an idiot; he or she may simply contend they are viewing history dispassionately and prudently.

   But is prudence an apt recipe for being fully engaged in life? Argumentation is part of life and interpersonal argumentation can and does, in my view, alter or recreate our physical and social world. Cultural memes take time to root and the emergence of the New Atheism is a relatively young phenomenon whose trajectory has already made significant inroads in our culture–thanks largely to profusion of voices on the internet and social media.

   I thought the presenter makes a particularly good point about how the particular approach you bring to discussions of atheism and theism is important. It is amazing how many people want to talk about these things and how much fun it can be to discuss it with them.

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