Written by Robin Marie, Davis, California:
″The Puritan wanted to be a person with a vocational calling; today we are forced to be.″ — Max Weber.
The atheist community engages in discussion about an impressively broad range of topics. Holy books, doctrine, churches, church tradition, dogma, holy wars, holy persecution, ignorance, intolerance, fundamentalism, Jesus, Islam, sin, drawing Mohammad, the Eucharist, Lent, the mega-pixy – all these topics and more are not only debated about, but learned about. Atheists are, in general, an inquisitive bunch, with a desire to understand and command that which they criticize. However, even with this admirable curiosity, I would like to suggest that we broaden our area of concern even wider – outside of the realm clearly labeled religion and belief, and into the cultural sphere where many of the beliefs have their most subtle but also some of their most powerful consequences.
