What To Do About Bill Maher
Bill Maher is a great guy, both with his comedy and with his views on religion. He is a problem for most atheists out there though, because of his views on atheism. Maher always states he is an “agnostic”, and I have no problem with him claiming that. I don’t exactly agree with his definition of that either, but I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.
When anything comes up about atheism, Bill Maher reacts in the same way, by claiming that atheists are people who “are certain there is no God”. This portrays atheists in a negative light, because there are very few people who actually would agree with this definition. An atheist is not someone who makes a statement about God’s non-existence, but one who makes a statement about their disbelief/lack of belief/non-belief in God.
The Atheist Jew wrote a great article on this subject, which provoked me into writing my opinions here. The Atheist Jew argues
I have a feeling he is just trying to appeal to the masses by not labeling himself as an atheist. A term that causes many a theist to flinch. By labeling himself as agnostic, he is just trying to be accepted.
It is evident in everything he says beyond avoiding the atheism label, that he is an atheist.
An atheist doesn’t have to say “there is no God, or no afterlife.” Most of us say or thin that “there is no evidence for God or an afterlife, so why even consider something that has no evidence to back it up?”
As an agnostic atheist myself, I’m not against agnosticism at all, and I think Bill Maher is doing a great job making people question the “unquestionable” beliefs of religion. However, he should realise that agnosticism and atheism are not views on the same thing. Following a view of “I don’t know” is fine, but if the question is “Do you believe in God?” and you do not, then you are an atheist.
It is a shame that in a world where information is free and open to everyone, Bill Maher hasn’t read the article on atheism from Wikipedia, or even browsed an online dictionary to find out the general views on such words. On The Atheist Jew’s blog, I made a comment in which I proposed my idea:
Send Bill Maher and open letter from a few atheist bloggers.
The way I see it, there are a load of atheist bloggers who have been publicizing the movie because of it’s stance on religion. We are giving it the thumbs up, and we are doing it for free, because we think it is the right thing to do. However I suspect that quite a few of these bloggers would feel offended for the same reasons I have gone over here, simply because Bill Maher is painting his most loyal supporters with a negative image.
In the letter, I propose we thank Bill Maher for all he has done to expose religion for the ridiculous beliefs it is comprised of, and argue our case, including the standard definitions you find in most dictionaries, perhaps suggest a few articles from Wikipedia and About.com, and ask him to stop putting atheists down.
If this were a fundamentalist preacher saying these things, we would all have a rant about how misunderstood people are on the concept of atheism, but when it is one of our own (a self-hating atheist perhaps?) the issue suddenly disappears. Perhaps people have too much respect for Bill Maher to do anything, but when it is someone who we can guarantee has an open mind (unlike the fundamentalist preacher) I think we should act on it.
What do you all think?
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I tend not too worry much about the various labels we disbelievers give ourselves. It’s too far removed from the understanding of most theists to make a difference and while we can argue amongst ourselves about it endlessly it’s not as important to me as simply displaying disbelieve in a positive role. I’d much rather see us all embrace the term atheist just like the same was the LGBT community embraced the term queer but whether Maher calls himself an atheist or not doesn’t detract from the good he’s doing by pointing out the silliness of religion. I think an open letter regarding the issue would be ungrateful.
@Lloyd Lowe
I don’t want to be ungrateful to Maher, which is why I suggested opening the letter with praise and keeping its tone light and not negative. I don’t tend to worry about labels either, but when someone who is more or less on our side, I think we should make sure that they aren’t offending our side, especially if it is over a simple misunderstanding of what atheism means.
So atheists don’t deny that God exists, they just don’t believe in Him.
@makarios
How can we deny something that there is no evidence for in the first place. A god cannot be seen, and is purely a faith matter (as many theists constantly push on us). To deny something is to completely reject it as the truth. This is not what most atheists do. In fact, most of us would never dream of saying “there is no God” for the simple reason that we do not know absolutely everything about the universe and beyond. I am open to the possibility of a god, I just don’t believe it is the best explanation, and that there is no reason to believe in one when you have natural explanations.
Evil Bible is making me question my definition of “atheism” as “lacking belief”, though I haven’t done a good analysis yet:
http://www.evilbible.com/Definition_of_Atheism_1.htm
@Mark C.
I don’t like the definition “lack” either, probably for the same reasons they list there.
Well, ok, I forgot your problem with the word “lack”. Make that “without belief” instead, then.
Listen: There is no god.
I do not have to take a defensive, reactive position as you propose.
@Cheryl
I never said you had to take a defensive position. I said the majority of atheists are of the agnostic variety (or weak atheists).
That’s funny Adrian. The moment that I saw Bill Maher on the Daily Show I also thought about writing him a letter about that particular subject. Seems that I am not alone :).
Also, given 33% of voters arguing that it’s not that important – and I have to agree with that somewhat – I’d also advise that such letter would have to be VERY light-hearted. Basically saying, hey, you just called me a fundamentalist, I’m sorry if this offends you, but according to the dictionary, if you don’t believe in god, you’re an Atheist as well.
So welcome to the group!
We should possibly go even more light-hearted, by simply pointing out the true definition. There is no need to say “you’re actually an atheist as well”. He’s a clever man, I’m sure he can put 2 and 2 together.
Do we need another name for those of us atheists who are convinced, based upon overwhelming and compelling evidence, that there is no god?
Leaving open the possibility that a god in some form, some where at some time may actually exist is like be concerned over whether the sun will burn out in three million years rather than three billion years.
Can anyone rationally deny that all thought and emotion is the exclusive product of the physical brain? It is clear based not only the available and compelling physical (empirical) evidence, but upon the fact that there is absolutely no credible evidence to the contrary, that there is no “spirit” or any supernatural causation effecting humanity.
Is it improper of me to declare publicly my affirative belief that all gods are nothing but figments?
Gene C. Sproul
I was looking for a place to write Bill Maher after his comment that all Americans are stupid. Now that I think about it does anyone really give a dam what he says? I think he is a arrogant prick! but thats me.
I don't like the term atheist because it literally means "against a belief in god". The reason why I don't like that is because it gives undue credence to the very concept of god. If I'm an atheist, then I'm also an a-afterlife-ist, or an a-immortal-soul-ist, or an a-satanist, or an a-spaghetti-monster-ist, or an a-space-teacup-ist (lookup celestial teapot and flying spaghetti monster if I've lost you)