Angry Atheists

“Every atheist I’ve met has been an angry, spiteful wretch—
It’s as if, between our minds, they build a barrier.”
But… if everyone you met would soon fall victim to a plague,
The conclusion we would reach is… you’re a carrier.

If the element in common isn’t evidence or sense,
Isn’t logic, isn’t fashion, isn’t season
Isn’t anything to point to, not that anyone can see…
Why, there’s only one conclusion; you’re the reason!

Stuff follows: [Read more…]

Two Books, Again

There was a man who had a book
Of Things Which He Believed;
He followed it religiously—
He would not be deceived.

The story in its pages was
The Truth that he adored—
The world outside its ancient script,
He faithfully ignored.

When someone found a falsehood
Or a small mistake inside it
(Or even some tremendous flaw)
He eagerly denied it.

The Truth was there inside his book
And never found outside
If something contradicted it
Why then, that something lied

And when he met another man
Who had another book,
He fell not to temptation—why,
He didn’t even look.

And, surely, there are other men
With other books in hand
Who walk, with views obstructed,
Here and there across the land

****

There was a man who had a book
(I find this quite exciting)
Who looked upon a tangled bank
And then… he started writing.

He wrote about the things he saw
And what he saw them do
And when he found mistakes he’d made
He wrote about them, too

He shared his book with other men
And women that he met—
They found the catch is bigger, when
You cast a wider net.

They shared their observations
So that everyone could read;
They worked as a community,
The better to succeed.

They found they saw much further,
And discovered so much more
When they stood upon the shoulders
Of the ones who’d gone before

It’s a book that keeps evolving,
Always growing, as we learn.
Many people help to write it:
Would you like to take a turn?

I had forgotten about this one, and was reminded while searching for a response to yet another claim that atheism leads to nihilism leads inexorably to suicide. The most passionate people I have known have been atheist scientists.

Nothing To Talk About

Wow, it has been a long day. So nothing new today, but one that has been on my mind recently, what with Rock Beyond Belief coming up, and the Reason Rally, and the Global Atheist Convention, and more, and because just so damned many believers telling me what I must, as an atheist, believe.

My faithful friends were wondering,
And I was wondering, too,
When atheists get together—
Just what all do they do?
They have no common purpose,
And so I find it odd,
To think they join together
And talk about “no god”.

(continues, after jump:) [Read more…]