Is confrontational "New Atheism" undermining the cause of atheism?

by EdenOne 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  wizzstick

  I was really surprised the hear of the hate crime, murder of three Muslim girls, by an atheist.

  Looking at the below link, it can't see any evidence his atheism was the reason for shooting these girls.

  Chapel Hill shooting
  

  According to the police report

  On February 10, the Chapel Hill Police Department said their investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parkingAlso

  Also:

  According to his current wife Karen (who has also announced that she is divorcing him), he did not commit the shooting due to religious bias, but because of a longstanding parking dispute, and that he had problems with several other neighbors.

  Atheism doesn't have 'doctrines' from old books that suggest killing 'non-believers'.
  

  Unlike certain religions.
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  I think both groups do good and we should have people that are confrontational and debate in a manner that holds their opponents accountable for using fallacy and cheats to defend their case (ala dawkins/harris/hitchens). Folks like that, that didn't back down, played a huge role in planting doubts in me early on because while I still held on to the JW lies for some time, I knew that many of the terrible things they said about god really had no defense that was intellectually honest. Some people are ready to be held accountable for their lack of logic. At the same time, others will be much more likely to be won over by different approaches like establishing atheist groups that demonstrate that atheists are no less moral or purpose in life than theists.

  I say let everyone fight against the insanity of religion in their own way and they'll reach different groups of people. One group may turn off a few people to atheism, but they'll reach others that would otherwise been content to stay put were atheists only seeking to "form alliances" with them. One group may turn people off, and the other will reassure them. One group may fail to reach some due to their pulling punches, the other group will find them. There's a time and a place for both points of view and both strategies.