1. Comment #13282 by Fedler on December 16, 2006 at 6:38 pm

Good piece! Although, I admit cringing when Pat Robertson was quoted as saying "Evolution is the atheists religion." Apart from the fact that he was given air time (which is annoying), it's also annoying to keep hearing believers saying "Well, atheism is a religion, too!", basically which means "Atheism is just as bad as religion" (especially when said in a tone reminiscent of a snotty elementary school playground).

A. That statement implies that they, too, believe religion to be bad, but perhaps feel helpless/unwilling to change it (cowardly), and

B. As has been pointed out on this site before, nobody every committed a crime in the name of atheism.

Overall, it's good to see atheism getting more air time.

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2. Comment #13301 by Zaphod on December 16, 2006 at 9:59 pm

Yep evolution is my religion lol. So is gravity, the theory of relativity, the round world theory, the theory that the sun isn't a god and the theory that fairies aren't in my garden. All my religions.

My favourite religion is this though. Its the theory that really hot stuff can burn me. I love this religion because it stops me getting burnt. Love it.

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3. Comment #13314 by Aussie on December 17, 2006 at 1:52 am

"Evolution is the atheists religion."

As above, you can redefine words such as "religion" to mean anything you like and then draw inappropriate conclusions.

Using the same approach you could implicitly redefine "devil worship" to be the worship of a supernatural being of any kind.

Having done that we can now refer to Christians as "Devil Worshippers".

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4. Comment #13322 by beepbeepitsme on December 17, 2006 at 3:16 am

By the way that many people use the word religion, and by their loose definition of what constitutes a religion, then virtually any or all areas of study would be defined as religions.

This is ridiculous, but it doesn't seem to deter them.

When theists claim that "atheism" is a religion, what they really seem to be saying is, "well, you too are religious," with the inference that all religions or all beliefs are of equal weight, credibility or veracity. Pooh to that as an argument.

Let them have their tu quoque fallacy. Afterall, they don't have much.

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5. Comment #13353 by Doonhamer on December 17, 2006 at 7:22 am

What gets me is that it's only ever evolution that they have a big problem with. But many (the vast majority) branches of science conflict with creationism.

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6. Comment #13395 by rednukleus on December 17, 2006 at 11:50 am

They do have much, beepbeepitsme. They have the majority of the population and great political power. The whole purpose of Richard's efforts are so that people like us don't sit back and laugh, "Let them have their fallacy." It's not OK.

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7. Comment #13566 by Thrall on December 18, 2006 at 12:29 pm

Again, another good portrayal of the issues from NPR. Nice and balanced and gets the point across.

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8. Comment #14282 by clark on December 21, 2006 at 10:28 pm

Very nice, and astonishingly balanced.

"Evolution is the atheists religion".....well, maybe not - after all, the term "atheist" (which, admittedly should probably not even exist, since there are so few instances in which it is actually necessary to invent a term for something that doesn't even exist) expressly and specifically indicates the ABSENCE of religion...so, please don't substitute one....and if you must, can we at least agree that it should be "reason and logic"?

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9. Comment #14691 by Insecure on December 24, 2006 at 11:12 am

Interesting stuff.
Most download manager programs (Flashget tested and working!) will download a realmedia file with the rstp:// protocol. This is what the smil file contains inside it.
In short, anyone having a problem getting this to play, try this direct link to the file and see if you are more successful. Try it in downlload managers and/or mediaplayers.
rtsp://real.npr.org:80/real.npr.na-central/atc/20061215_atc_13.rm

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10. Comment #15379 by ashvetz on December 30, 2006 at 9:02 pm

I agree with Thrall. We should thank NPR for taking a critical look at atheism in today's society. We can present all the logical conclusions and scientific evidence we want, but that alone is not enough to make a difference. I believe that most atheists find their way to it on their own, and all the "preaching" we do is mostly "preaching to the choir."

While I'm not a fan of the show "House" (I'm a strictly "Law & Order" and "Daily Show/Colbert Report" guy) its good to see an atheist character making headway into pop culture. Except for that character on "Dawson's Creek." That just conjures up images of "Amos & Andy."

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