Nick, I too am interested in Sarbajit's reply, but I can tell you there are developing differences in the U.S.
In the current becoming-adults generation there is a growing number of what sociologists have labeled "nones". This is a group that is not religious, but also Atheism is not a particularly salient part of their identity. That is, if given a list of religious to choose from, with "Agnostic" and "Atheist" appended to the list, they would still prefer to check "None of the Above". (The more common phenomenon is a survey in which they check or say "No" for all options, hence, "none"s.) I hypothesize that, in America, in the recent past, this group would have been quite small. For the past group, which I assert includes you (and me), Atheism was a deeply held belief, that could easily be understood as a "religion" in and of itself. However, for this new group, it does not seem to be like that at all. Eric P.S. Nicholas Rowland, a sociologist, and I have collaborated on some undergraduate research regarding these issues. On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 09:32 AM, "Nicholas Thompson" <nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > > > > > > > >> > > >Sarbajit, > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Given your range of experiences with the religious, I am curious for your reflections on atheism as a religion. When push comes to shove, are we atheists any the less religious, in the very broadest senses of that term? In what ways? > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Nick > > > > > > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Sarbajit Roy >Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 8:51 AM >To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group >Subject: Re: [FRIAM] just faith > > > > > > > > > >Platinga's view is fairly well aligned with the beliefs of my own faith even though our "God" may be different. We all develop our own models of reality, apparently the trick is to ensure that these models are robust enough accommodate everybody else's gremlins, devils, zombies, or maulvis and still continue to function. > > > > > > > > > > > > > >I probably know more Muslim's personally then half the members on this list. My neighbour is a Muslim and I also employ Muslims. India is a secular country whose 13% Muslim population is free to migrate anywhere in the world which will take them in - not many do. India's Muslims when asked (by foreigners such as the BBC or the NYT) usually volunteer they consider themselves to be better off in India vis-a-vis their brethren in Muslim countries like Pakistan or Iran (notwithstanding the occasional bouts of communal frenzy which develop over pigs feet or beef entrails being thrown by the butchers of each community). > > > > > > > > > > > > > >India was ruled for over 200 years by Muslims as was China (Yuan dynasty). America probably needs to experience Muslim rule for some time to develop a sustainable and robust reality model. The "Dune" SF series was heavily influenced by Islamic models. > > > > > > > > > > > > > >OT: Interestingly, "Islamic science fiction" is an emergent discipline in the Arabic world to attract younger followers to the world of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Sarbajit > > > > > > > > > > > > > >On 9/17/12, Roger Critchlow <<#>> wrote: > > > > > > >> Reading > > > > > > >> <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/sep/27/philosopher-defen> > > > > > > >> ds-religion/ > > > > > > >> was > > > > > > >> a rather odd experience this week, mixed in with Sam Bacile, the > > > > > > >> Salafists, the zombies, and whatever. > > > > > > >> > > > > > > >> The review is by a non-believer (Thomas Nagel) who finds the book, > > > > > > >> written by a believer (Alvin Plantinga), very interesting, even though > > > > > > >> he doesn't believe it. Plantinga's day job is analytic philosophy, so > > > > > > >> he gets very precisely into what he thinks it is that his faith and > > > > > > >> his beliefs do for him. Finally, the main argument is sort a grand > > > > > > >> slam of creationism: we wouldn't be able to correctly figure out how > > > > > > >> the world works if the deity, more specifically the deity that Plantinga believes in, wasn't helping us > > > > > > >> along the way. Why would natural selection by itself care anything about > > > > > > >> the truth? > > > > > > >> > > > > > > >> As the reviewer says: "The interest of this book, especially for > > > > > > >> secular readers, is its presentation from the inside of the point of > > > > > > >> view of a philosophically subtle and scientifically informed theist—an > > > > > > >> outlook with which many of them will not be familiar." > > > > > > >> > > > > > > >> -- rec -- > > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > >============================================================ > > > > > > >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > > > > > >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org> > > > > > ============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > ------------ Eric Charles Assistant Professor of Psychology Penn State University Altoona, PA 16601
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