My Weekend With a Bunch of Atheists

[rug]

September 16, 2015
By Danny Wicentowski

I was seventeen when my yeshiva class assembled for "the talk." We shuffled through the school's dining hall and into an adjoining common area, and there stood a bearded, middle-aged rabbi in a rumpled white dress shirt and black suit. Over the course of two hours, he conclusively proved the divine origin of the Torah. He ripped fatal holes through Christianity and Islam's claims to authenticity. He name-dropped Seinfeld creator Larry David and other Hollywood friends.

At the end of the speech, the rabbi clutched his black velvet yarmulke above his head and bellowed that he would rather leave Judaism than follow its customs out of habit or some shallow sense of comfort.

"If you don't want to be here," he said, firmly replacing the yarmulke atop his salt-and-pepper hair, "then just leave!"

Eight years later the memory bubbles through my mind as I hasten across Washington University's campus. Classes are out for the summer, meaning the place is deserted save for a wedding party, some cricket players and, for the next three days, several hundred atheists. That's why I'm here.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/my-weekend-with-a-bunch-of-atheists/Content?oid=3013657&showFullText=true

[Humanist_Activist]

1. I've been meaning to go to a Gateway to Reason conference or meeting, life keeps getting in the way.

It looks interesting, if I can go next time, I will.

[rug]

3. He provided a pretty thorough report.

If his impressions are accurate, it's an eclectic group of attendees.

[struggle4progress]

2. That's an interesting read:

... because he's talking about race, and he's trying to do it with the utmost sensitivity, the questioner quickly devolves into babble.

"So, I have a lot of black friends," he begins. "I have a lot of atheist friends. I have zero black atheist friends. What's the best way to have these conversations...without being offended? And without coming off as, I'm trying to embarrass or talk down to, I feel like sometimes that can come across very condescending. How do I do that with my black friends, knowing this now, and to have an opportunity...?"

His question trails off into merciful silence. I'm cringing with muscles I've never felt before ...

[Jim__]

4. Interesting essay.

He's right, of course, but there's something else gnawing at me. This convention is designed to appeal to people just like me, the heretics, the disappointers of forefathers, the forsakers of tradition. But if atheism could wash away belief like Noah's flood, I wonder, what would be left? What would be built in its place? Would it be good?

[rug]

5. He is a thoughtful writer, isn't he?

[Jim__]

6. Yes. Thoughtful is a good description for that essay. - n/t

[Tikki]

7. "Can I be a good person inside without an inner supernatural belief system running my outsides?"

That seems to be the question he is supposing.

Atheists already know the answer to that question.

Tikki

[MellowDem]

8. Sounds like the writer...

is still in a bit of a bubble.

I used to remember thinking when I was a believer that any world without religion would be awful, because what could replace those institutions and community?

Now I realize the immense amount of privilege and arrogance that thinking relies on, it's pretty cringeworthy to read again.

And the excusing of violent Bible passages with "it's a metaphor", it's like a broken record. If it is a metaphor, what kind of message is God sending by using genocide as metaphors? Doesn't really make things seem alright.