About Us
April 23, 2007 11:17 am
In December of last year, I began work on a book entitled “The Good Atheistâ€. The reason for wanting to write this book was a reaction to the events that were happening all around us; from the violent sectarian uprisings in the Muslim world, to the growing Christian fundamentalist movement in America. I wanted to try and combat the problem of growing religious intolerance and hatred.
The problem of growing fundamentalism is religious in nature, and as such, cannot be solved by the current religious institutions. They are themselves partly to blame; they have propagated a system of belief that is driven by the dangerous mechanism of faith; a process that requires adherents to blindly accept religious doctrine as true, regardless of any evidence to the contrary. Fundamentalism is an irrational emotional response to the many inconsistencies of doctrinal teachings, as well as a reaction to Bronze Age platitudes. In this sense, the only way to effectively combat this growing threat is through a rational, secular, and humanist approach.
Equally important is the need to try and quantify the role of atheists in society. As the fastest growing minority in North America, atheists are misrepresented and misunderstood by the general public. It is often erroneously assumed that non-religious individuals must be immoral and corrupt, an assumption that is completely false (in fact, studies have shown that on average, atheists tend to be more generous, more law abiding, and have a lower divorce rate than their religious counterparts). Religious critics often cite atheistic movements that have caused terrible suffering, such as the Chinese and Russian Communist regimes. It is noteworthy that although the movements themselves may have claimed to be anti-religious, in truth they were political religions that suffered from the same irrational fundamentalism as their theological counterparts.
As work on the book continues to progress, this website will serve as a way of discussing the issues that comprise it, as well as gather feedback from the atheist community as to what they feel makes an individual a “good atheistâ€. It will also attempt to expose the growing dangers of fundamentalism in the world, by discussing recent religious and political events.
If you have any comments, or questions, you can email me at jacobfortin@gmail.com
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6 Comments
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March 26, 2008
I feel like becoming an atheist was my religious experience. I really never cared about any religion , but never called myself an atheist when i started college one of my best friends converted me , and i felt that self actualization. i would like to thank him on your site .
– thanks Leroy Brumage
and thanks Jacob
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April 10, 2008
I always knew that there was no God. It took time for me to have the courage to admit it to others. I’m a born-again Atheist.
Thank you for being there. The last episode was quite different from the others and thanks too for letting me get to know you a bit more. The humor you guys generally display keep things entertaining but it is when you really start to talk or even rant to each other that I listen. PS. You don’t need music in the background. It’s distracting.
Keep Talking!!!
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April 10, 2008
I always knew that there was no God. It took time for me to have the courage to admit it to others. I’m a born-again Atheist.
Thank you for being there. The last episode was quite different from the others and thanks too for letting me get to know you a bit more. The humor you guys generally display keep things entertaining, but it is when you really start to talk or even rant to each other that I listen. PS. You don’t need music in the background. It’s distracting.
Keep Talking!!!
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April 21, 2008
Ever since i was little i have always been generally “afraid” or “uneasy” of religon. Probably because of the horror stories of Christian extremists from America. Thankfully, Canada has almost no people like that. So, this eventually led to my converting to an Atheist, and i have never been more satisfied with any beliefs since. Now that i am older, and more interested in the world, The Good Atheist has been a great way for me to learn about other atheists and how we “theists” are surviving in this crazy world. My greatest thanks for people like you, who are making the world a better place.
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April 24, 2008
Alright, i feel completely stupid, after finding out that a “theist” is not an Atheist. What i really meant, was a “non-theist”. Just thought i might point that out..
..oops!!
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January 26, 2010
So this was the one that started it all huh? I was listening to the early podcasts and so I thought I’d check out the first ever post on TGA as well. And I find it pretty fitting it would be about your book. As much as I love TGA you’re not a very punctual bunch. But I know you do your best and thats all one can ask, and believe me I am grateful.
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