Made In God’s Image

By AM Saturday, June 11, 2011

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The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence - Abu Ala Al-Ma'arri

This time last week I was at the world atheist convention in Dublin. It was an event I enjoyed immensely. Good debate, interesting and informed panellists, and many different points of view, on occasion resulting in sharp clashes. Even the religious had a presence there. The Muslims turned up by design (not intelligent design) while the Christians turned up by mistake. The Muslims sought to undermine a scientific approach to understanding the world in favour of creationism while the Christians handed out hate filled tracts about gays. Neither made much headway. The Muslims were given the intellectual coup de grace by Maryam Namazie during her keynote speech at the close of the convention on Sunday afternoon. The Christians only realised they were handing out daft tracts to atheists after about the 50th.

Richard Dawkins and Hamza Tzortzis of the Islamic Education and Research Academy
discuss religion outside the World Atheist Convention in Dublin
Photo: Atheist Ireland
While being an advocate of atheism I am not an atheist activist and don’t have an affiliation to any group other than the Rationalist Association which comes courtesy of signing up for a year’s subscription to the New Humanist magazine. Which I think has now lapsed. So conferences of this type are not something that I frequent. But this was one not to be missed. So close to home, the promise of intellectual exploration, and the sheer presence of so many vibrant strands of thought and ideas from all walks of secular life beckoned me.

To boot I felt good about the fact that the convention took place in Dublin. Atheist Ireland did well to stage the event. It was great to have so many people stand in the capital of a divided country parodied throughout the world as a religious backwater, and not a Catholic or Protestant amongst us.

Dublin, the capital of a country where a malign church influence held sway for so long was now host to something entirely different. The priest, if he decided to stand outside, would be unable to beat anyone with his blackthorn stick for fear of having it rammed down his throat. Those days when strutting arrogant clerics could berate citizens not enamoured to their moral code are behind us, hastened doubtlessly by public revulsion at widespread clerical rape and systemic hierarchy cover up.

At the convention after much wrangling and discussion it was accepted that the sovereignty of the state derives from society and not from gods; free expression should be limited only by the need to respect the rights of other people; state education can only be secular; science must be taught free from religious input or interference; that there is no such thing as the right not to be offended; the law must be secular and that religious law has no place in arbitrating on civil matters or family disputes. Also launched was the Atheist Alliance International, an overarching body to coordinate the activities of atheistic types across the globe. Tanya Smith from the Atheist Foundation of Australia is its first chair.

Humanity is the highest form of life. Atheists in that sense are made in the image of god in a way that his followers are not. We believe what he does in that we are certain we were not created by any higher being. The products of a long process of scientifically verifiable evolution, human beings, the more we come to discover about our past including our origins, the less inclined we are to believe that our eventual deaths are punishment because a talking snake persuaded Adam and Eve to eat an apple.

Since the convention I have sported an ‘A’ pendant, one of two which I purchased for myself and my daughter who accompanied me there on the last day. It does not stand for apple.