Why we are heathens
Heathens is a fair enough term, and I've used it to describe myself on a number of occasions. Skeptics and unbelievers works too. Atheist has its uses. The term 'bright' and 'rationalist' bother me for some of the same reasons Baggini mentions.
Additionally, 'rationalist'
means something else, and I am not one of them
quote:
in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive
I would regard myself as something more akin to a rational empiricist - but that's a little clumsy.
'Bright' has the 'dim' problem. Dennett thinks we can avoid this by referring to non-brights as 'supers' or some other positive term, but I don't think that's going to work.
Heathens are naturalists
I'm happy with this. I am, and I think the kind of people Baggini is trying to draw in are also, naturalists. We are metaphysical monists.
Our first commitment is to the truth
This simply does not help. Just about everyone believes they are committed to the truth in some fashion or another.
We respect science, not scientism
A lot of people that call themselves atheists now are often accused of scientism. The fact is, it is the best method for learning about the raw facts about the world. Science is however, constrained by ethics so there are some things we simply cannot study the way we would other things. So as a fact of life, we have to use less reliable means of determining truth.
We value reason as precious but fragile
Humans are imperfect reasoners. I'm cool with that.
We are convinced, not dogmatic
We are as certain as we can be, but even then our knowledge is forever tentative.
We have no illusions about life as a heathen
I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.
We are secularists
Sounds good to me.
Heathens can be religious
I'm not so sure about that. If you strip away all the supernatural, the dogma and the irrational from a religion you are just left with philosophy.
Religion is often our friend
Religion is a friend that gives food to the homeless while talking about itself all the time. It's the friend that can drive you to believe killing someone is not only good, but morally imperative. Religion is a friend that often discourages you to have other friends who are not also friends with that religion.
To be honest, it's a friend we could do without.
We are critical of religion when necessary
Which is often. At least at the moment. Maybe one day it will be less necessary to criticize it.
This manifesto is less concerned with distinguishing heathens from others than forging links between us and others
That might work, but I suspect it won't. After all, the word
'Atheists.' is considered to be controversial by
at least one American company. I don't think a rebrand is going to be sufficient to overcome that kind of crap.