Atheist preachers

[truehyuga]

I would draw on all my skills as a professional strawman and bring myself down with such a ridiculous bang that the world would here it.

[plethora]

^^^ I'm luvin' that avatar

[Operator_020]

Hi Whateverman.

EDIT: I don't mean to be too critical about the high-fiving.  Just trying to make the thread more interesting.

I thought you made it more interesting.

020

[bertatberts]

  Atheist preachers = honest Christians

At last!!!!

What's the difference between a preacher who's secretly an atheist, and an atheist who converts to Christianity?  Both sides hold 'em up as victories.

Seems pretty pointless.

The question is moot, because the latter is impossible.

God actually did speak to the person

And what would the rational person do then? I suggest you think hard about the answer to that question.

[Graybeard]

What defendable rational basis can there be for turning to faith?

God actually did speak to the person

You yourself said there were irrational reasons for converting. I would put it to you that all you have is someone's word that they heard God talking.

I would also ask you to think of the number of murderers who say that God told them to do it. Bearing these points in mind, why did you accept the story that God actually spoke to the person as opposed to his hearing voices in the head?

[trish]

Mother Teresa said in writings kept secret til after her death that she felt the absense of God.  I think this is not the same as admitting to being an atheist.  I'm sitting alone in my living room, feeling the absense of my husband, who is currently at work.  Noticing his absense is not the same as believing he doesn't exist.

[William]

^^ Trish that doesn't hold up because you can produce evidence of your husband, and it is reasonable to expect he will return after work.

[Ambassador Pony]

I hope he will not be noticing an absence of dinner. That casserole isn't going to bake itself, missy.

Hi, I'm Pony.

[screwtape]

Mother Teresa said in writings kept secret til after her death that she felt the absense of God.  I think this is not the same as admitting to being an atheist.  I'm sitting alone in my living room, feeling the absense of my husband, who is currently at work.  Noticing his absense is not the same as believing he doesn't exist.

I've not read the letters lately, but from what I recall, the message and tone conveyed in them was one of utter despair.  Her thought was not that yhwh had just popped out for cigarettes.  She was having a total crisis of faith.  She was searching for reasons to continue to believe, but found none.  At least, that is my recollection.

[bertatberts]

Mother Teresa said in writings kept secret til after her death that she felt the absense of God.  I think this is not the same as admitting to being an atheist.  I'm sitting alone in my living room, feeling the absense of my husband, who is currently at work.  Noticing his absense is not the same as believing he doesn't exist.

I agree that she never actually stated she was an atheist, but if you read her writtings, it is the only conclusion you can come too. this was posted on this thread (page 1)

William already gave the source of what I'm talking about. It's the book entitled "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" which contains Mother Teresa's letters to her confessors, confidants and superiors within the catholic church.

Here's another quote from one of Mother Teresa's letters which clearly expressed her lack of faith:

Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.

[red bold mine]

At best, she was an atheist who wanted to believe very badly but couldn't. The letters reveal a severe cognitive dissonance that was emotionally very painful to her. She believed in belief but couldn't bring herself to actually believe.

Having no faith is stating she is without belief in a god/gods, that  is an atheist. ok.

[Jim]

^ Although, Mother Theresa appears to have been a reluctant, unsure atheist.  Unlike some of the pastors that Dennett interviewed, who were sure, but felt trapped, or felt that they could still help people and didn't need faith to do so, so remained in the clergy.