Re:As religious faith has declined, ideological intensity ha...
by ud_0 on Thursday June 17, 2021 @05:27AM
(#27537739)
That is a sweeping and nebulous claim, and somewhere within it is the premise that atheism is a symptom of insufficient reflection and awareness.
To get a sense of how condescending that comes across, imagine if I turned that around by saying: "Religious people have more atheistic tendencies than they're aware of. By understanding atheism and/or science, these tendencies can be recognized."
A huge number of HNers would immediately see all the things that are wrong with this sentence: it generalized a diverse group, it alleges their world view is invalid and incomplete, and it's an obvious attempt of the speaker to redefine other people's convictions in terms that are easier to attack.
To get a sense of how condescending that comes across, imagine if I turned that around by saying: "Religious people have more atheistic tendencies than they're aware of. By understanding atheism and/or science, these tendencies can be recognized."
A huge number of HNers would immediately see all the things that are wrong with this sentence: it generalized a diverse group, it alleges their world view is invalid and incomplete, and it's an obvious attempt of the speaker to redefine other people's convictions in terms that are easier to attack.