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Originally Posted by Infinite_Loser
Oh, please... Do explain to me this age of 'enlightenment and reasoning'? Being an atheist seems pretty easy to me; Just deny the existence of God because He can't be observed/proven and then cover the other side of the argument by stating that anything observable can't be-- And isn't-- God (As it would defy his very nature). Simple  |
I think Charlatan is referring to that period beginning in the 17th century and developing in the 18th and 19th centuries, when being able to openly question the existence of God became a bit more safe. It was a period that espoused reason, meaning that no longer should we take things purely on faith. We need evidence such as observation. It opened the world up to ideas such as David Hume's writings on miracles, in which he writes:
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"...we may conclude, that the Christian religion not only was first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: and whoever is moved by faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.”
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With the age of reason came empiricism, which open us up to the scientific age. Faith is fine, so long as there's evidence to support the investment of our energies into such a thing. One example of this, perhaps, would be the realization that following Christ's teachings tends to make other people happy. I would put faith in that, even though I'm not a Christian.
Ultimately, the Age of Enlightenment was not opposed to religion per se, but it certainly was willing to critique it and put it up to the challenge of the reasoned mind. If you want to see an opposition to religion, we should discuss modernity.
So if you think atheism is easy, as you say, be sure you say so after having read all the major philosophies between the 17th and 20th centuries, and, to be certain, read some of the major literary works that sprung out of modernity. I recommend James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian." Trust me, a lot of thought went into this.