Who is the most persuasive advocate for atheism alive today?

[The Night Owl]

Who is the most persuasive advocate for atheism alive today?

If anyone feels that the most persuasive advocate for atheism alive today is not on the list of choices, then feel free to name that person.

[Bozita]

1. Hagee ... It ain't even close.

[The Night Owl]

2. LOL! Indeed. {EOM}

[Warpy]

4. I was going to say "televangelists"

and there's little need to distinguish among them.

They've been preaching prosperity theology and right wing politics for too many years to keep the sheep in line now that it's all falling apart.

Of course, most of the straying sheep will remain believers. The more I see, the more I think that sort of thing is hard wired.

[Dorian Gray]

27. The Westboro Baptist

Group may give him a run for his money.

[msongs]

3. the pope

[hendo]

5. Dawkins easily

too bad he is kind of a dick about it.

[The Night Owl]

8. What Richard Dawkins might say to you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2xGIwQfik

:evilgrin:

[TZ]

18. He's an evolutionary biologist....

Wouldn't you be a bit defensive if being told CONSTANTLY by uneducated people who have never studied science in their life that they know better?
I studied evolutionary biology and when the fundies hear those words its "ding..gotta save the heathen scientist"! Tends to make one cranky.

[hendo]

28. evolution and religion do not

necessarily contradict each other, and the fundies are not representative of the faith as a whole.

[Mythsaje]

6. I find arguments for atheism and religion equally unconvincing

:shrug:

Personally, I'm getting bored of the debate. God, no God. Blah blah blah blah. Why don't we just forget about God and spend some time thinking about how we might forge a better relationship with our fellow HUMANS? For starters.

The older I get, the more agnostic I seem to become. Oddly enough, this doesn't seem to be leading me to atheism. In fact, I'm pretty tired of both sides of the argument. Nobody knows either way and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.

Frankly, I'm not sure I even CARE anymore. God, shmod.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. I am there, too God,schmod -- the only difference being is that the older I get

the more spiritually aware I am that there IS GOD...but, big deal! I am not going to argue the matter with anyone who believes differently. Seems like that would be an extreme waste of my time and theirs.

[Mythsaje]

9. Oh, no. I won't argue about it.

What a waste of time. It seems to me that some atheists spend as much time thinking and talking about God as does the average Christian.

Now there's irony for you.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. exactly ..

which to my way of thinking just strengthens my side of the argument that INDEED there MUST be GOD. ...it is the old ..."I think thou does protest too much"

[samplegirl]

11. George Carlin

[lutherj]

12. I would recommend a book called "God: A Failed Hypothesis"

by Victor Stenger. I found it more concise and to the point than the books by Dennett, Harris, or Dawkins, although I enjoyed these too. As I recall, in all these books the authors stated specifically that they are addressing a Judeo-Christian notion of a personal God, not the more rarified notions of God as referenced by Spinoza, Einstein, or Jefferson. I suspect that Dawkins and Dennett and Harris would regard the "God, Shmod" sentiment as a kind of default atheism. Harris explicitly states an interest in eastern religion and spirituality.

I personally think that after the last 7 and half years of the Bush administration, aided and abetted by the religious right, that it is more than high time that Judeo-Christian religion be called on the carpet and made to account for itself. There's too much at stake to give in to the self-fulfilling prophecies of a doomsday cult.

[readmoreoften]

13. I actually haven't found an argument to make me believe in God.

:shrug: No one ever logicked me into *not believing*. It's like who has the most compelling argument for there being no ZZeaVElg8s?

"Well what's that?"
"It's the layer of happiness that engulfs the fourth dimension? Who convinced you not to believe?"
"I dunno. What you said just doesn't make any sense. I didn't need any convincing one way or the other."
"So you have your beliefs; I have mine. Being non-ZZeaVElg8s is also a belief."

This is what it sounds like to me.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Meet Margaret Downey. Not a recognized name, yet.

http://www.margaretdowney.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Downey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72K6a_09Sxw

[HamdenRice]

15. None of the above. This guy ------>

Greg Epstein, or someone like him:

http://www.harvardhumanist.org/about-us/chaplain/

The others may be fine for strident "preaching to the atheist choir," but to reach out and have a dialogue that actually changes anyone's mind, one would need a more open minded, humanist like Epstein.

[trotsky]

16. Intellectually, Dawkins is nearly unassailable.

That's why his detractors have to switch the focus to his "fundamentalism" or his attitude (i.e., "being a dick").

[HamdenRice]

17. The question is "most persuasive"

Being right (for the sake of argument) and being persuasive are too different things.

[trotsky]

19. The OP did not make that distinction.

If going by power of argument alone, Dawkins is probably at the top of that list.

[The Night Owl]

20. I almost wish I had asked people to choose who makes the best case for atheism...

...rather than who is the most persuasive advocate for atheism. Persuasiveness is not what I consider to be the best criteria for judging the merit of an argument. Indeed one can be persuasive and full of shit at the same time.

[HamdenRice]

21. I answered the question you asked

And between two people who believe the same thing (atheism), trying to convince, say, a liberal Christian of the rightness of their positions, the one who calls the Christian delusional at the outset will probably not get anywhere, while the one who says, let's discuss our beliefs, may.

[Ishoutandscream2]

22. For me, honestly, George W Bush pushed me away from agnosticism

straight to atheism. I know that sounds simplistic, but the man conveys everything wrong with religion, especially today's version of "Christianity." That, along with his surrogates who he would talk to on a weekly basis, like Falwell, Robertson, the Colorado preacher who was exposed for having paid for gay sex (can't recall his name for some reason), et al.

The most persuasive, and probably the most "non threatening" would be Richard Dawkins. Unlike Maher, who uses a haughty and sarcastic tone toward religion, Dawkins is respectful of other opinions and argues brilliantly and with respect against organized religion. Dawkins is a very good spokesman, in my opinion, for those who are atheists.

[varkam]

23. oops - self-delete

:hi:

[varkam]

24. Why, Christians themselves, of course

:evilgrin:

[The Night Owl]

25. I'm suprised that Daniel Dennett has not gotten any votes yet. {EOM}

[Rob H.]

26. Voted Dawkins

but Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation is a good read, too, short and concise.

[Evoman]

29. Why am I not on the list? Thousands of people, upon setting eyes on me, have lamented that there

is no god.

You gotta admit, that's pretty persuasive.