conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a story about Heaven, Readers, Pharyngula with the genre: Religion & Spirituality, Religious Studies?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this story could be 'The Happy Atheist'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first five paragraphs for this story.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Happy Atheist
  Suppose, says Hitchens, you were a religious believer; you would then be persuaded that a benign and all-powerful creator supervises everything, and that "if you obey the rules and commandments that he has lovingly prescribed, you will qualify for an eternity of bliss and repose."
  I know of no religious framework that offers such a complacent picture of the life of faith, a life that is always presented as a minefield of the difficulties, obstacles and temptations that must be negotiated by a limited creature in his or her efforts to become aligned (and allied) with the Infinite. St Paul's lament can stand in for many: "The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, I do.... Who shall deliver me?" (Romans 7:19, 24). The anguish of this question and the incredibly nuanced and elegant writings of those who have tried to answer it are what the three atheists miss; and it is by missing so much that they are able to produce such a jolly debunking of a way of thinking they do not begin to understand.
  First of all, that "complacent" faith that he claims doesn't exist is everywhere. Turn on your television. Watch a football game, and see the Christian players credit God with their touchdowns. Watch our politicians piously declare that they are praying for our troops. Watch televangelists milk their audience with blatant hucksterism; haven't you ever heard of the "prosperity gospel"? Give the good reverend a portion of your Social Security check and the wealth will come back to you tenfold. The bulk of religious thought is "naive, simpleminded and ignorant." Turn off your television and walk over to the local converted grocery store that is now being used by one of those fast-growing, evangelical/​charismatic/​Pentecostalist churches; ask anyone in attendance, and he will tell you (as long as you don't mention him by name) that Hitchens's characterization is correct. By faith will you be rewarded with paradise.
  That second accusation, that we "do not begin to understand," is a subtler and more dishonest claim. Actually, it's clear that Fish doesn't understand.
  There is the touchstone, the common element that atheists and theists share, and that lies at the heart of those works that Fish praises and thinks the godless philistines neglect. We bond in the human experience; only the superficial and bigoted critic thinks some of us miss the point because we don't believe in the divinity of Anu and Marduk—or Jesus or Muhammad.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me another paragraph.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The rest of the story is a quest, as Gilgamesh tries to find a way to bring his friend back from the dead, or to win immortality for himself. There are deities and monsters involved, some interesting mythical figures, trips to the underworld, and so on—all quite thrilling stuff, as long as you're willing to recognize that it's all poetry and allegory and storytelling. What I, as an atheist, find most satisfying, though, is the reality. It's a story of loss. And most important, the quest fails—his friend Enkidu is not returned to him, and Gilgamesh realizes that he's going to die someday, too. He gets no glib, empty promise that if he only does the right rituals, then everyone will get together again in a paradisal afterlife. We live, we die, and people grieve; that's the hard truth.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The rest of the story is a quest, as Gilgamesh tries to find a way to bring his friend back from the dead, or to win immortality for himself. There are deities and monsters involved, some interesting mythical figures, trips to the underworld, and so on—all quite thrilling stuff, as long as you're willing to recognize that it's all poetry and allegory and storytelling. What I, as an atheist, find most satisfying, though, is the reality. It's a story of loss. And most important, the quest fails—his friend Enkidu is not returned to him, and Gilgamesh realizes that he's going to die someday, too. He gets no glib, empty promise that if he only does the right rituals, then everyone will get together again in a paradisal afterlife.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The rest of the story is a quest, as Gilgamesh tries to find a way to bring his friend back from the dead, or to win immortality for himself. There are deities and monsters involved, some interesting mythical figures, trips to the underworld, and so on—all quite thrilling stuff, as long as you're willing to recognize that it's all poetry and allegory and storytelling. What I, as an atheist, find most satisfying, though, is the reality. It's a story of loss. And most important, the quest fails—his friend Enkidu is not returned to him, and Gilgamesh realizes that he's going to die someday, too. He gets no glib, empty promise that if he only does the right rituals, then everyone will get together again in a paradisal afterlife. We live, we die, and people grieve; that's the hard truth.
  There's more to the godless view than just the "jolly debunking" and the assumed lack of understanding that apologists for faith attribute to us. We do not escape sorrow, we do not lack for joys, and we try as hard (I think even harder) as believers do to find meaning in our lives. We simply do not accept the shortcut of magical thinking that allows the lazy-minded to follow the path of religious escapism.
  For inspiration, I must express appreciation to those notorious atheists who blew open the doors for the public recognition of a self-respecting community of the godless: Richard Dawkins, Susan Jacoby, Daniel Dennett, David Silverman, and so many others. Loud and proud, people! For aggressive advocacy, I credit the crew at the Usenet site talk.origins, where I cut my teeth on the creation/evolution debate. For trying to keep me honest, thanks to the Horde, that diverse mob of vociferous commenters at my website... even if they do call me "poopyhead" all the time.
  The deepest gratitude has to go to my parents, who in addition to providing a fortuitous arrangement of alleles in a pair of gametes most importantly brought me up in an open-minded family in which we were all encouraged to live freely and independently. It might be a little self-serving, but wow, they really did a good job parenting.
  And, of course, I should share all the credit with my wife, Mary, who not only tolerates a hell-bound heathen husband but also worked late nights going over and over the text. She was completely indispensable.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: There are deities and monsters involved, some interesting mythical figures, trips to the underworld, and so on—all quite thrilling stuff, as long as you're willing to recognize that it's all poetry and allegory and storytelling. What I, as an atheist, find most satisfying, though, is the reality. It's a story of loss. And most important, the quest fails—his friend Enkidu is not returned to him, and Gilgamesh realizes that he's going to die someday, too. He gets no glib, empty promise that if he only does the right rituals, then everyone will get together again in a paradisal afterlife. We live, we die, and people grieve; that's the hard truth.
  There's more to the godless view than just the "jolly debunking" and the assumed lack of understanding that apologists for faith attribute to us. We do not escape sorrow, we do not lack for joys, and we try as hard (I think even harder) as believers do to find meaning in our lives. We simply do not accept the shortcut of magical thinking that allows the lazy-minded to follow the path of religious escapism.
  For inspiration, I must express appreciation to those notorious atheists who blew open the doors for the public recognition of a self-respecting community of the godless: Richard Dawkins, Susan Jacoby, Daniel Dennett, David Silverman, and so many others. Loud and proud, people! For aggressive advocacy, I credit the crew at the Usenet site talk.origins, where I cut my teeth on the creation/evolution debate. For trying to keep me honest, thanks to the Horde, that diverse mob of vociferous commenters at my website... even if they do call me "poopyhead" all the time.
  The deepest gratitude has to go to my parents, who in addition to providing a fortuitous arrangement of alleles in a pair of gametes most importantly brought me up in an open-minded family in which we were all encouraged to live freely and independently. It might be a little self-serving, but wow, they really did a good job parenting.
  And, of course, I should share all the credit with my wife, Mary, who not only tolerates a hell-bound heathen husband but also worked late nights going over and over the text. She was completely indispensable.