Last year when the UK initiated Atheist Bus Campaign was in full swing I think there was a little spike in the ancient and ongoing debate between Theists and Atheists. The argument often descends into childish or spiteful rhetoric and head honcho, top banana amongst the non Believers, Richard Dawkins is regularly described as “shrill”. I’m sure “shrill” is Dawkins’ middle name!
It can actually become quite boring. If ever you’ve read the comments section in any of The Guardian’s articles on faith you’ll know what I mean.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re getting it all wrong.
I’m sure a much more rewarding and edifying experience would be to bring together some of the less strident, but no less compelling voices...not to debate, not to argue, not to score points, but simply to hang out. You know – eat some food, enjoy a walk in the woods, make sandcastles on the beach, look at the stars...whatever.
In my head, I’ve kinda compiled a short list of Atheists who I think are completely top people – inspirational in their field, interesting and seemingly in love with life.
I’ve come up with a similar list of Jesus followers who have really informed my own way of looking at Scripture and walking the Way of Jesus.
I’d love to bring this bunch of folks together.
I’ve got a funny feeling they’d get along famously
Any thoughts?
Any obvious omissions?
Lovely Atheists
Eddie Izzard
Billy Connolly
Dr Brian Cox
Jesus followers
Desmond Tutu
Rob Bell
Brian McLaren
Erwin McManus
6 comments:
At one point I'd have agreed totally with your top two - but think Billy C has lost it a bit since he advertised the lottery.
Eddie Izzard ran past our house on his run and stopped to shake hands with Kev - he was exactly as he appears on the TV.
Top bloke.
...just watched a bit of Eddie on the TV tonight.
Great idea. I think to help them all get started you could ask George Stroumboulopoulos along, as I think he has at one time or another spoken to them all, or at least most of them anyway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Strombo)
George Stroumboulopoulos is a new name on me.
I'll have to check him out
Strombo hosts one of the few shows on TV that I watch these days - 'The Hour' on CBC. It's a chat show/news program which is on Monday-Friday at 11pm. He has some great guests on from all walks of life, and from both ends of the political and religious spectrum, plus everything in between. It streams on the cbc.ca website, but I'm not sure if that will work in the UK. If not, I'm sure that youtube will have some clips. He also has a radio show on CBC.
Nice idea, but here in the states (as you Brits say) we have the Christian equivalent of the Taliban, and I'm not kidding. The fundamentalists are as fascist and close-minded as you may have imagined. I totally pissed off my constitutional law professor when I set him straight after graduation that the religious right would never compromise on anything (that was the core of his new attempt at publication-- that somehow they would give ground). The U.S. is not G.B. (yall seem to be a bunch of agnostics to my Kentucky soul) and there can be very little compromise with these folks, thus the crazy American politics. I wish your Commonwealth all the best in its attempts to be inclusive.
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