Calling all true atheists! A great book to read is Beginners Guide To Blasphemy by Richard E. Wackrow (available at Amazon). It’s time to come TOTALLY out of the closet!
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What in the wide, wide world of sports is a true atheist?. Is it anything like a true Scotsman?
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Just read the book. If you need a definition, you don’t really know.
“I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this margin is too small to contain.” (look, I even throw in a source)
Why can’t you just give us a short summary of the book?
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Im guessing you want us to buy it, not read it.
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No, I do want you to read it. Basically,Wacro is a very strong atheist who writes about the distinct differences between atheists and agnostics. I find him very compelling on the subject and like his straightforward style of writing. If you’ve ever heard of Richard Dawkins “OUT” campaign, you will be familiar with what Wackrow has to say.
Oy. Apparently you don’t understand that different people have different definitions for the same words.
I asked YOU what you meant by something YOU wrote. I’m not going to buy and read some book just to get answer to a simple fucking question.
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What do you mean by “very strong atheist”? An atheist that participates in strongman competitions, a person that is at or near 7 on Dawkins’ scale, or perhaps something else? Based on the title of the book, Beginners Guide To Blasphemy and assuming that the title is representative of the content of the book, I suspect that you actually mean that he is an antitheist or antireligious. However, not all atheists are antitheists or antireligious. And here I suspect you will find the source of some of the confusion and ambiguity here. So I think a clarification will be in order.
I don’t find the title of the book attractive because my objective isn’t to be blasphemous (or more generally, to define myself in terms of beliefs I have no respect for, and then confuse that with disrespecting people by deliberately provoking them). My objective is to be rational and objective and to have good reason for whatever beliefs I subscribe to. And to be an ethical and truly kind person that a theist might assume was a fellow believer and be challenged and surprised to find I do not fit their caricature of the godless.
That’s not to say I mightn’t do or say something innocuous that a believer considers “blasphemous”, which would be their problem, not mine; or to say I should walk on eggshells not to offend their tender sensibilities. But it just seems to me like a guide to how to be blasphemous is approaching things from the wrong angle and probably with the wrong attitude.
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They’re the Captain America version of Atheists? 
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One can make a case for making an effort to blaspheme. Which is to desensitise religious people to make them less uptight, and to better accept that not all people agree with their religion, and that one does not need to respect their religion just because they have a book they consider holy. It’s a power game; the religious want their share of power, and by being uptight about what they consider blasphemous is one of their ways to keep a stranglehold on society. Just like it’s a power game in authoritarian states where you can end up in jail or in big trouble for criticising the head of state, historically the king or emperor, later horsecocks like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein, etc… Contemporary examples include the Kim clan, Putin, Erdoğan in Turkey, and soon perhaps also Trump.
As an example of what was once considered blasphemous: the skit in the video below (by a Norwegian comedy trio that was by and large inspired by Monty Python) was first aired in Norway in the 1980s here, and it caused quite the stink – lots of angry people called in, calling it blasphemous, etc. Likewise, Monty Python’s Life of Brian was at first banned at cinemas here (giving the movie quite the boost in Sweden, where they could boast that it was “so funny it was forbidden in Norway”).
Today, the skit is just a silly and outdated slapstick joke – and Monty Python is way funnier anyway. People have long since moved on, even the uptight religious ones, at least out in public. Still, the skit was kind of a gate opener for making fun of priests, the church, and religion on TV. I’m not saying it is the only reason, as decades of general secularisation has contributed strongly. But making fun of religion and allowing blasphemy is also an important bit.
That is also my prime objective, but sometimes I think blasphemy (however one might want to define it) is in place.
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One only need give any dictionary a cursory read to understand that.
When they come here, they are usually strident and closed minded, and make the irrational absolute claims theists make. Maybe if he offered something salient from this book he’s peddling we could get a better idea of what he means. Or he could just explain it of course, but prima facie, the term “true atheists” does not bode well.
I don’t disagree; comedy and ridicule have an important role, as that which is ridiculous is worthy of ridicule. I think it’s important to push at the level of society; I just don’t lead with it in interpersonal relationships much as it tends to produce way more heat than light and does flirt at times with assholery. It’s kind of like how I don’t take MAGAts seriously and will ridicule and shame them when they are, say, demonstrating against drag queens or something but I don’t harass them when they are grocery shopping. Or like how I will challenge my fundagelical brother about his moral relativism when it suits him but I will not curse in his home or dig into a meal he offers without letting him pray first. To me that’s just needless confrontation and disrespectful of his personal privacy, given that he manages to (just barely) honor mine.
Other’s mileage can and will vary, of course.
As an example on a not strictly religious level, I have boundless admiration for Ricky Gervais, who can really pull off speaking truth to power with humor and yet savagery (e.g., his deliberately last turn as host of the Oscars, which is so priceless I rewatch it now and again). I see loosening myself up into that sort of “I don’t care” lather as a personal goal, but I’m not there yet. And unlike Ricky, I’m not rich enough to insulate myself from all the consequences, either; I don’t want my neighbors turning on me, when I need their cooperation in the midst of this apocalypse, lol.
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Why should I pay money for a book written by someone who thinks they know what I am or should be, better than I do myself?
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Indeed. I think the market for such a book is those who don’t know themselves or aren’t sure of themselves and are repeating the pattern promulgated by theists and others, that you need someone to tell you how to “do it right”.
I concur, Ricky Gervais is a genius, his stand up is hilarious, and when he compered the Golden Globes, it was one of the funniest things I have seen.
He is a master of irony.
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Don’t be shy . . . tell us how you really feel.
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Is there a place I can read this for free? I’ve read about ‘true’ christians, ‘true’ muslims, ‘true’ jews. I rarely hear the word ‘true’ atheist. I wonder what separates a “true” atheist from a “false” one? are they separated from true and false scotsmen?
bible is free, quran is free, torah is free, and they all claim whoever reads is is a “true” believer.
i wonder if that book is also free for “true” atheists
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A true Atheist doesn’t believe in the existence of gods. A false atheist is someone who lies about being one.
For example, there was this Christian girl that lied to me about being an Atheist just so she could go into a relationship with me because…. I avoid dating religious women. So… she lied, she wasn’t an Atheist at all. I looked online and found a ton of stuff on her helping with churches from a year ago before we got together.
There were some small things that lead up to me concluding that this was not the behavior of an Atheist. Not to mention we were mysteriously getting Christian magazines and pamphlets getting sent to my address when she was staying with me (to which she blamed her aunt), another lie. Anyways, I was with her for 3 months and it was part of several reasons (aside from lying) why I left her.