After meeting with various religious groups for decades, the White House Friday had its first official meeting with atheist organizations. The reaction from many religious leaders was neither “accepting” nor “tolerant” — even though their groups loudly demand such treatment for themselves.
The organization which met with Tina Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement — the President himself did not put in an appearance — is the Secular Coalition for America. This 501(c)(4) non-profit lobbying organization has ten member non-profits, including American Atheists, the Council for Secular Humanism, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, and the Secular Student Alliance.
Council Nedd, chair of In God We Trust:
It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation.
Paliban Daily: Atheists Visit White House – Religious Right has Fit
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March 5, 2010 at 12:42 am
Unrelated(?)– Epicurus was not an atheist, though he did believe that the gods were both unwilling and unable to prevent evil. Ataraxia and whatnot.
The attribution of the quote to Epicurus was made by a Christian thinker, Lactantius, who, naturally, judged this manner of thinking to be utterly atheistic.
[Sorry, yes, boo, atheists in the White House. Might as well just hand over the keys of power to the Soviets now! Vote Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip in 2012!]
March 5, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Regardless of which side one is on in the God vs No God argument, the question Then whence cometh evil? seems a little stupid to me. It comes from us. Even if there is a God willing and able to stop evil, I think it is a plausible argument that it is OUR responsibility. If there isn’t a God, even more so. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and diseases aren’t evil, it’s just unfortunate that we haven’t yet gotten smart enough to get out of the way. The rest of the stuff…well, we do that.
…but, yes, to get back to the actual point of the article. Alwqays amazing to see how few folks of any stripe REALLY believe in freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom to assemble, etc. Mostly, we just like it when WE’RE free to do what we want.
March 8, 2010 at 10:14 am
There were and are several religions that believe that god is not omnipotent and/or benevolent, for example, ancient Greek Olympian relgion, Judaism, and Manichaeism. So at least Epicurus’ first two questions do not produce a contradiction, if not all four.