Militant convictions

May 17th, 2023

I could be a bit of a hypocrite here — since I have some convictions that are completely militant and beyond any questioning from me. You know — my derision and disapproval towards those who willingly disobey traffic laws, those who litter, those who waste food on one side of the scale, those who hurt others (physically and mentally) because they can, and those who purposely make the lives of others miserable and who control other actions and thoughts of other people.

That doesn't stop me from being against the absolutist militancy of (usually very prominent and very smug) atheists. And I am an atheist myself, or agnostic on some days — but someone who doesn't believe in the actuality of supreme power and has no dogma or set beliefs. And I appreciate the job militant atheists are doing — going against the rotten corruption and greed and infantilism and parochialism and the drunk power of organized religions with all their institutions.

But I draw a line at one point — I cannot accept the contentious dismissal of anything and everything even remotely spiritual and mythical by the militant atheists. It seems to me that this is an ignorance of the reality of human nature — we all have an impulse (religious or spiritual or ethical or political) that is common to all humankind. It is not possible to find a human being who doesn't believe in something. Even nihilists believe in nothingness, which is something. And it is wrong to go against that impulse, while it is correct to go against those who use this impulse for extending authority over others.