| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
15 Oct 2006 02:51:10 AM |
| Object: |
Atheist groups are on the rise |
So it appears that the EAC(ntieoc)'s covert, clandestine, super secret
deconversion program is working!
(I note that the author says that atheism is a "belief", which it's not,
in an otherwise encouraging article.)
---
Atheist groups are on the rise
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
Contra Costa Times
October 14, 2006
When Richard Golden put the word out that he was starting a group for
atheists in Walnut Creek, Calif., about a dozen people showed up. Two
years later, 80 are dues-paying members and several more drop in on
twice-monthly meetings to chew on everything from particle physics to
court cases.
Horrified by escalating religious violence and alarmed by the Bush
administration's "faith-based initiatives," which make government money
available to religious organizations, atheists are coming out of the
closet -- and organizing.
"Local groups are springing up all over the place," said Ellen Johnson,
president of American Atheists. Active groups have grown by about 90
percent over the past six years, she said.
In the past few years, groups affiliated with American Atheists have
taken root in Berkeley, San Francisco, Davis, Calif., and Silicon Valley.
National membership in the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group of
atheists and agnostics that monitors the separation of church and state,
grew from 5,000 in 2004 to 6,400 members by the beginning of 2006, said
co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor.
Meetings and rallies, once the province of older folk, now include
younger people with tattoos and dreadlocks. The Internet, radio spots
during Al Franken's Air America radio show and campus groups are
responsible, Johnson said.
But atheism appears to be gaining ground also as a belief, not just a
wave of political activism by those who fear the wall between church and
state is being disassembled. Books challenging religion like Letter to a
Christian Nation by Sam Harris and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
have been best-sellers on Amazon.com.
"Our primary conviction is that there is no supernatural world -- there
is only one world, the world that is the subject of scientific
investigation," Johnson said.
Two University of California at Berkeley sociology professors found that
the proportion of Americans with no religion doubled from 1990 to 1998,
but has leveled out at 14 percent.
The study "reflects a growing backlash against the role of organized
religion," said Claude S. Fischer, one of the authors. "People on the
political left have reacted against the organization of churches on the
right. Their statement is a reaction: `If that's what religion means,
then I'm not religious.'"
---
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-atheistsoct14,0,233216
0.story
or
http://tinyurl.com/vgahm
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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| User: "Denis Loubet" |
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| Title: Re: Atheist groups are on the rise |
15 Oct 2006 02:39:05 PM |
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"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-AD57FA.00511015102006@news.giganews.com...
So it appears that the EAC(ntieoc)'s covert, clandestine, super secret
deconversion program is working!
(I note that the author says that atheism is a "belief", which it's not,
in an otherwise encouraging article.)
---
Atheist groups are on the rise
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
Contra Costa Times
October 14, 2006
(snip)
But atheism appears to be gaining ground also as a belief,
(snip)
Aargh! Gnash!
--
Denis Loubet
dloubet@io.com
http://www.io.com/~dloubet
http://www.ashenempires.com
.
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| User: "Chris Johnson" |
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| Title: Re: Atheist groups are on the rise |
15 Oct 2006 02:59:56 PM |
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Denis Loubet wrote:
"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-AD57FA.00511015102006@news.giganews.com...
So it appears that the EAC(ntieoc)'s covert, clandestine, super secret
deconversion program is working!
(I note that the author says that atheism is a "belief", which it's not,
in an otherwise encouraging article.)
---
Atheist groups are on the rise
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
Contra Costa Times
October 14, 2006
(snip)
But atheism appears to be gaining ground also as a belief,
(snip)
Aargh! Gnash!
Yeah, that one made me cringe, too.
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Atheist groups are on the rise |
16 Oct 2006 01:11:09 AM |
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In article <vNSdna8gFvDEE6_YnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@io.com>,
"Denis Loubet" <dloubet@io.com> wrote:
"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-AD57FA.00511015102006@news.giganews.com...
So it appears that the EAC(ntieoc)'s covert, clandestine, super secret
deconversion program is working!
(I note that the author says that atheism is a "belief", which it's not,
in an otherwise encouraging article.)
---
Atheist groups are on the rise
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
Contra Costa Times
October 14, 2006
(snip)
But atheism appears to be gaining ground also as a belief,
(snip)
Aargh! Gnash!
Sadly, most others who i meet don't get it either.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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