From Pharyngula, PZ Myers' blog:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/
Atheists in the movies aren't that common. Most seem to be cast as amoral
opportunists — the villains. They are rarely cast as the hero, and when
they are there is only one atheist stereotype allowed in that role, and
Will Smith filled it perfectly.
The acceptable atheist is the one who has faced so much tragedy, whose
life has been damaged by cruel fate to such a degree that his declaration
that there is no god is understandable. He is a failed Job; he's
portrayed not as an actual contented atheist, but as someone who has
broken under the burden a god has placed on him, and is therefore a
sympathetic figure, and also is implicitly endorsing the audience's
beliefs about god. Job without god, after all, is just a deluded loser.
That's the standard trope: the atheist is a broken man, a nihilist, a
cynic, someone who has come to his disbelief as a consequence of a
devastating emotional experience. This is the kind of atheist theists are
comfortable with — but it's not the kind of atheists the New Atheists
(wann) are, and especially not the scientific branch. We don't fit into
their unthinking convention, which is probably why they stuck us with the
label "new".
There are atheists who look on a tragedy and cry, "There is no god," in
despair. But we are atheists who look on beauty and complexity and
awesome immensity and shout out, "There is no god!" and we are glad.
That's the distinction we've got to get across. We are fulfilled, happy
atheists who rejoice in the superfluity of the old myths. We generally
don't have a tragic backstory — quite the contrary, we've come to our
conclusions because we have found natural explanations satisfying and
promising.
wann: who are not "new".
(end of quote)
Is it any wonder I love this guy?
Chak
--
I like the scientific spirit - the holding off, the being sure but not
too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against
them: This is ultimately fine - it always keeps the way open.
--Walt Whitman
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