Saturday, May 31, 2008

A friend of...?

Various groups use the phrase "a friend of so-and-so" as a discreet reference to or query about membership. "A friend of Bill (W.)" is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, "a friend of Dorothy" is a gay guy, "a friend of Tom" is a Scientologist, etc.

I think atheists should have our own "friend". So... should an atheist be a friend of Charles? [Darwin] Richard? [Dawkins] David? [Hume] Paul? [Myers; "PZ" lacks euphony]

Sam and Chris don't make the short list because they're doofuses.

My preference is for "A friend of Richard."

Update: The Turkish Prawn adds the excellent suggestion: "A friend of Doug." [Adams] I have to say that's as appealing to me as "A friend of Richard."

8 comments:

  1. I favor Richard (Dick D.?)... who else is so unapologetic, and yet so delightfully pleasant and amicable as he burns your beliefs to ashes? :)

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  2. Charlie is my Darwin, too! But I think there should be a string of increasingly complicated hand gestures to identify other atheist bangers,like some of the gang kids in my neighborhood.

    And tattoos!

    Christ Davis, FCD

    ReplyDelete
  3. I may be being a pleb here, but I didn't think Darwin was an atheist. I seem to recall that he did not exclude the idea of a creator.

    Keep in mind, I'm not pushing any particular view here. Just trying to get my facts right.

    BTW, though I can't call my self an atheist (though I don' have any particular moniker), but if you're looking for a poster boy for the movement, my vote would be for Douglas Adams.

    [joke] Or do I not get a vote? WHAT? Keeping the believing man down!? I'll show you all! I'll prey up a really bad case of the wedgies on ya all! [/joke]

    Turkish Prawn
    http://foxandmaus.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're not a pleb, my fine dendrobranchiatic friend, and you're mostly correct. AFAIK, Darwin did little influential work directly in the philosophy of religion, and he struggled with faith for much of his life.

    He is still, however, an iconic figure to most atheists due to the specifically religious controversies over his scientific work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How about "friend of Baruch (Spinoza)" or "friend of Euthyphro?"

    ReplyDelete
  6. What about a 'friend of Thomas' i.e. Doubting Thomas? Whnever i had a questions of faith when i was younger my mother would always say, "You're my doubting Thomas."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Friend of Wallace. Sure he was a spiritualist, but SOMEONE must remember the coauthors.

    ReplyDelete

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