Atheism of Indifference

I think the larger question is what Atheism is and is not…. There is a basic difference between the way moderns and medievals look at religion. Medieval religion was a series of propositions about the universe that was either true or false, there is a God; there is not a God; there was a creation, matter is eternal; there is providence there is not providence, there is award and punishment.

For moderns, for a whole variety of reasons, we do not view religion that way. We regard religion as self expression, and subjective experience and the truth of a propostion is owed to the intensity with which it is believed. I happen to think that the medieval way of looking at religion was correct. That whatever religion is, it is a picture of the universe that is either true or false.

…there is another problem which is the atheism of complete indifference. Most Americans are atheists not because they believe that God does not exist but because they spend all their time shopping.

Leon Wieseltier

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I thought these were some interesting insights although I am not sure I would want to lift up medieval religion as a guiding light…

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