The first time I heard the term culturally Christian was from Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion. The term applies to those who grew up in a Christian environment and understand the biblical references, but who do not follow the Christian faith.
The more I thought about it, the more things that I find analogous in everyday conversation. Heaven, Hell, spirit, soul, and even God still means something to me. However, now it's as a shorthand way of speaking of something that has nothing to do with Christianity, or even anything supernatural.
Bronze Dog just did a terrific post on What the Soul Means and explained how he views it. It's very eloquently written and does a very good job of explaining how something normally viewed in a supernatural way can be used in a naturalistic definition.
So I've decided to go with my idea and start a list of atheist analogies to terms that Christians relate to. As always, my definitions and explanations only apply to myself and other atheists are welcome to give their views.
Listings:
Atheist Analogies #1: The Soul and the Afterlife
Atheist Analogies #2: Morality
Atheist Analogies #3: Religious Experience
Atheist Analogies #4: Signs and Omens
July 7, 2009
Atheist Analogies Index
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1 comments:
Thanks for the link love.
I'm impressed with how people have been responding so far. Of course, we'll have to see what happens when a woo stops by.
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