to draw in the intellectual public
As far as the science and religion folks are concerned, I've never considered any of the fellow residents (including myself, of course) to be true intellectuals with any unique or novel insight. It's actually mostly regurgitating the likes of popular contemporary authors who have had best sellers that did well in circulation. I have yet to run into any true genius. Certainly those that do fit into the genius category are engaged in other matters.
Genius is like a marksman who hits a target which others cannot see
The atheists here for whatever reason can not help to cross over from "I am an atheist, which only means that I lack belief in god" to "I am an atheist who lacks belief and also believes that god does not exist." Therein lies the problem. Therein lies the absurd contradiction the atheist is committing.
He goes further by using science as an authority from which to speak:
"I do not believe in God and science does not either. Science too is atheistic. Science is immensely successful, therefore I am right and you are wrong"
This is hijacking science strictly for the purpose of promoting a personal worldview, for science is not in the business of proving or disproving the existence or non existence of a god of any kind.
Atheism has meant many things throughout history. Historically, the idea of atheism, from what I understand, has been used generically to rebel against the power of "the church," to usurp the influence of religion in general, to exert will over people, and most recently, to do battle with
the idea of faith and grace. Atheism is attempting to respond on an intellectual battle field. It is mostly an "empire of thought" created to do battle with the "empire of religious thought."
But atheism too has something to share. I believe that.
Atheism has always been the underdog throughout history. Ironically, there are individual biographies that tell us of atheists that became "believers" in the truest sense.
What is the response from the atheist camp? Is it that these converted intelligent atheists, who have told us they lived their lives strictly by logic and reason alone, suddenly became delusional, were traumatized somehow, and as a result, converted back to believing in santa claus, tea pots, and unicorns, or caught a religious meme because some religious person sneezed on them?
![Razz :P](https://www.booktalk.org/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)