This myth runs along lines very similar to the claim that all atheists have faith like theists, and sometimes this idea is also expressed by claiming that 'atheism is a religion.' Since some theists cannot imagine living their life without worshipping their god, they also cannot imagine atheists living without worshipping something, like money or themselves.

 

Read Article: Atheism & Worship: Do Atheists Worship Anything?

It is difficult to overestimate the capacity for traditional religions to construct or merely justify intense hatred of "others" — outsiders who fail to meet specific religious standards. Secular ideologies are not immune to such problems, of course, but religions can provide something not possible in any purely secular ideology: the transcendental endorsement or even commands of a god. Case in point is David Popescu, a conservative Christian politician in Canada who espouses levels of hatred and violence that are otherwise almost unheard of. Read more...

Jean-Paul Sartre was acclaimed by the people of France in ways normally reserved for rock stars in other countries. When he died in 1980, fifty thousand people lined the streets of Paris to watch his coffin go by. What did he do to merit such respect and attention? Sartre's philosophy may not always be easy, but he did not simply write for the sake of academic and professional philosophers. Sartre developed a philosophy designed to transcend academia and help people live according to authentic, freely chosen values. By aiming some of works at people with little or no philosophical education as well as using novels and plays, he ensured that his philosophy reached the widest possible audience.

 

Book of the Week: Sartre, by Neil Levy

Epistemology is important because it is fundamental to how we think. Without some means of understanding how we acquire knowledge, how we rely upon our senses, and how we develop concepts in our minds, we have no coherent path for our thinking. Many debates between atheist and theists revolve around basic epistemological principles. Without understanding this and understanding the various epistemological positions, people will just end up talking past each other.

 

Read Article: What is Epistemology? Philosophy of Truth, Knowledge, Belief