Bitter Clinger

I must confess that I am a bitter clinger.  Well, maybe not so bitter.  Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."  This is a good kind of clinging, which has made me more of a joyful clinger.  Had it not been for the divine afflatus, life would have been a bitter pill indeed.  As it is, my life has been a challenging adventure, punctuated by moments of sublime insight.

Atheism is enjoying a vogue of late.  It's cool and sophisticated to be an atheist.  It would be really cool to be a gay, atheist, disabled, minority, activist, community organizer, if you could swing it.  But, aside from all of its political connotations, what is atheism?  It is commonly defined by what it is not.  It is not faith in a supreme being, adherence to religious teaching, or membership in a religious organization.  Ayn Rand, anathema to most left-wingers, was an atheist.  One of the wonderful things about Ayn, was that she had so many other things to talk about than what she did not believe in.  Some of my best friends are atheists, but they are fun and interesting in spite of this peculiarity.  Contemporary atheism is part of the culture of resentment.  It is not so much a question of being an atheist as it is being against religious sentiment, organization, and expression.

I contend that to be compelling and competitive atheism must be passionately for something. Outspoken atheists believe that the shortcut to hegemony is to silence and deprecate clingers. That won't work. Atheists must compete with clingers for supremacy in the free market of ideas. And, after everyone has had their say, I'm going to meet my friends for dinner and talk about something else.