The Wise Atheist

Do you know the relevance of evolution to your absence of religious creeds? How to maneuver the odds against you to work in your favor.

by Lloyd Harrison Whitling

Atheist wisdom, derived from the Principles of Atheology, an awareness of the processes of evolution, and keeping at the forefront an awareness of the proper processes and methods of ¹fruitful discussion, determines how successful secular people will be at countering the ongoing attacks made by radical Christians (and now, ²Islam) against us. That we know we do not deserve their anger, their demonization, and their threats (too often carried out) is not enough. We will not survive into any kind of bright future without our hard, focused work at least equaling that of the radical tribes betraying the trust of their moderate fellow believers to turn them into accomplices against us. We will fail, and the book burnings will begin anew to destroy all records of scientific advancement and methods if we do not at least equal their cunning, their facility of tongue, their practiced glibness to defend ourselves and aim to turn the tables to defy their destructive inroads against religious freedom and freedom of thought.

In a correct interpretation of morality, atheists hold the high moral ground, but we fail to recognize that of ourselves and wrongly associate morality with religious concerns. We take the word of our self-proclaimed foes that morality comes inherent to goddism, that without beliefs we are amoral and therefore immoral, and fail to recognize their intentions to tarnish us in the eyes of onlookers rather than proclaim anything of actual truth or value. 

Not even education can cure stupidity. What is stupid is to continue on a path that works against one's own best interests, to make the same mistakes time and again and not seek new approaches that bring the results one seeks. A wise atheist who often argues against the religious will look for ways to make his points clear and teach them to other atheists and hope they are not too stupid to understand the need for them. That will have to be his only purpose, for against the religious he has already learned a basic truth: Not even education can cure stupidity.

Wise atheists would stay mindful of lessons from evolution and regard themselves according to a metaphor of predator and prey. Since we remain innocent of any predatory inclinations, we must view ourselves as prey for the religious, and act accordingly in a defensive mode wherein we fortify ourselves and the accomplishments we have gained from science against belief-induced insanity.

Wise atheists would recognize that, while evolution is a blind and amoral process of nature, moral lessons can be taken from that to allow us to perceive humanity's role in the overall scheme of material existence, and of secular-mindedness against an affinity for anecdotal belief. We do take those lessons in an informal, unconscious way. Wise atheists would set them down and discuss them among themselves to iron out the kinks, and present them to the world replete with references as a complete set of the principles from which secularity and atheism arise, an atheist "Bible" exceeding the value of any set of religious scriptures, because of superior rectitude.

Wise atheists will seek out other atheists and learn from those who are knowledgeable, and give counsel to the neophytes among them. Wise atheists will recognize their own beliefs as such, not to deny them, but to avoid representing them as unconditional truths. Beliefs held "until we learn otherwise" can be corrected over time, and refined to maintain accord with new discoveries and information. Beliefs held onto by the forces of one's own emotions are no better than those beliefs recognized as religious, and serve to limit the scope of one's horizons in just the same way. That which cannot be, or has not been, sufficiently tested and verified must be construed to be belief (not knowledge) for so long as that remains true, its value no greater than any other personal opinion.

Wise atheists will readily recognize what others need to learn and refrain from condemning them for their ignorance, and for the defective thoughtforms others have induced into their minds. Not one of us can claim omniscience for ourselves, and so we all have our own need to learn. Others with different views can as easily be presenting newer information of high rectitude as to be offering misinformation. Over time, with experience, one learns to recognize the mythology inherent to our cultures. Beware of strange ideas: they are the ones most apt to be true.

By taking lessons from evolution, wise atheists will perceive that (as prey) they must align themselves with those whose interests coincide with their own for the defense of what they hold in mutual esteem. While that may require us to suffer through displays of public piety, our numbers added to theirs may oftentimes be sufficient to counter the attacks of those who work to betray our freedoms and rights, and so be worth risking nausea and aggressive proselytization that can be nowhere near as unsettling as the increasing risk of suffering enforcement of the same under theocratic rule.

Wise atheists know that truth will win in the end, but not if it never gets told, and not if it never survives.

Wise atheists will be those who recognize the value, purpose and potential of civilized discourse. Like any other human activity, rules must be applied that are designed to foster and maximize accomplishment. Rules against personal attacks and demeaning demonization require mindful and careful preparation of one's thoughts about to be presented. Logical fallacies must become commonly understood among the members of whatever group with whom the wise atheist interacts, the most common and capricious of those being the many variations of ad hominems (attempting to discuss the writer or speaker of a message rather than its content), red herring and strawman statements (attempts to lead the discussion astray from its topic so nothing can get accomplished), and outright falsehoods (most commonly known as lies but, if unintentionally so, simply mistakes and misinformation).

Wise atheists will not demonize a person for simple ignorance, but will aim to provide corrective information. Only when such a person is recognizably a troll will that effort halt along with all further discourse.

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Footnotes:__________________

1: Other than the religious, Internet trolls wreak havoc against any constructive accomplishment. Whether seeking a personal sense of fun at others' expense, or to satisfy an immature need to demonstrate a false sense of power over others by use of baiting techniques and passive aggressive personal attacks, the best defense against these vandals is to never respond. For a decent critique and enlightenment about them read <http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm>; <http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/bully.htm> ; <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll> ; <http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm> ; <http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/troll.html> That should give you a good start!  RETURN

2: By construing Christianity to be the equivalent of atheism, Islamics put us into the midst of their ongoing struggles with what they see as crusades against them, thereby also associating us into the position of enmity. Those not openly Muslim are regarded to be atheists whatever their beliefs. Xianity, and most religions, display this onerous characteristic. RETURN

"To deny a right to the experience of pleasure is immoral unless that denial can be justified by a valid presentation of how pain will result from that experience in an amount that would render the expected pleasure regrettable; or, if it can be shown that pain will be induced in others innocent of any involvement. The role of science in moral issues should be to test that, predict that, and find harmless ways to demonstrate that."

— L. H. Whitling in the eBook, Secular Morality —