[ExI] Tolerance

[Stefano Vaj]

2009/12/7 Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com>:
> I take the term "fundamentalist" to apply to one who embraces the literal
> and unalterable truth of some written revelation from one or more deities.
> Since an atheist is one who declines to accept such revelations as the basis
> for knowledge claims, I'm puzzled by how you define an "atheist
> fundamentalist". Would this be one who holds that one or more gods has
> revealed the unalterable truth that no deity exists?

"Atheist fundamentalism" is a contradiction in terms only if you take
atheism to mean exclusively "critical atheism".

It is perfectly possible not to believe (any more) in a personal,
ghost-like deity but at the same time having one's holy scriptures,
dogmas, ethical universalism, belief that "faith" is a moral duty,
that if facts do not comply with doctrine then facts be damned, etc.
Take some variants of marxism, or Scientology.

I suspect however that whenever this is the case we are still facing
the dear, old monotheistic concepts and mentality, irrespective of the
fact that traditional middle-east derived religions might be
vehemently opposed by this kind of atheism, under a thin "secular"
veneer that can be easily deconstructed. In fact, we should be always
vigilant IMHO in order that we stay ourselves as clear as possible
from such temptations.

-- 
Stefano Vaj