Atheism Symbol
Mostly I claim to be a pantheist so discussions affecting atheism and theism I normally determine to be of some curiosity. The current discussion amongst atheists about a symbol for their disbelief I declare especially interesting
The definition of religion is not so simple and will be different for different people. Religion is not just holding a position concerning God. Religion extends to mean purpose and adoration of artefacts, places or even symbols. Proudly exhibiting a symbol is a basic sign of religious conduct and it seems the atheist population are searching around in a venture to agree as to what that symbol might be.
An atheism symbol naturally takes atheists a step nearer to becoming a religion. Where will it end? Soon we will see faithful groups of atheists taking a pilgrimage to the Galapagos Islands in praise to their founder. Will Galapagos become the New Jerusalem? An atheist venue as a setting of ultimate reverence, hmm, one more standard ticked for what it is that establishes a religious family.
The point of interest is the one with regard to the candidates for the new atheism symbol. One significant candidate, and a symbol which It seems has become desired as a car sticker in North America, is the Darwinian fish. For those who havent seen the Darwinian fish it is the same as the Christian fish, also common on cars except that the Darwinian fish has legs added. It could be argued that the Darwinian fish is amusing to some degree, nevertheless under analysis it is not very well reasoned.
A second symbol I have noticed as a candidate for the symbol of atheism is a line diagram of an atom; three long ellipses, representing the paths of electrons, orbiting a central dot which is the nucleus. This is yet one more poorly reasoned symbol.
It is correct that some theists reject evolution and in its place they champion creationism or something else which is similarly inaccurate. Nevertheless you do not have to support creationism in order to be a theist. It is quite possible to be a theist and accept evolution. Evolution has no influence on the proposition of whether or not there is a God of theism. Only scientific ideas which are wrapped up in philosophical materialism can oppose theism. Some scientists have all too habitually been eager to peddle the notion that evolution is necessarily materialistic, however that supposition is false. Evolution can survive on its own without any requirement of a principle of materialism being added. Materialism, for the record is a philosophical outlook which has no foundation in science and which should not and cannot be supposed to be true. If you affirm materialism as a truth then you are in fact stating an opinion. I am sure that touting dogma as matter of fact was one more contender for what is needed for a group to be considered a religious association!
The atomic symbol, as should already be understood, is conveying a symbol of matter or of materialism. It is not representative of any factual representation of the world. Rather it is more representative of a materialist doctrine for which there is no solid foundation to be maintained over any other philosophical view. Both the Darwinian fish and the atomic symbol are not an expression of disbelief all the same assertions of belief in materialism.
The deduction I am arguing towards is; if an atheist asserts that evolution establishes non-theism then he is distorting the evidence. Evolution does not necessarily deny theism. Evolution only contradicts those whacko theists who believe in creationism. Creationism is not a prerequisite, or a consequence of theistic belief. If the Darwinian fish is representing evolution as an idea that is wrapped in materialism, then the atheist is no longer someone who is merely negating a judgement. The atheist has now become someone who is touting a judgement in a specific and non-provable philosophy. The atheism symbol therefore takes on the role of being an assertion of a belief, rather than the negation of a viewpoint.
The adoption of a symbol may not in itself make any statement about the religious nature or otherwise of atheist groups. Adopting the Darwinian fish or the atomic diagram in the role of atheism symbol however probably does take the attitude of atheism a step closer to being a religious stance.
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