[It's a news of some significance that the culturally-politically backward and conservative US society, as compared to much of old Europe - the Scandinavian nations in particular, is now having its atheist TV channel. It, however, remains to be seen how it is received.]
I/II. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/just-graffiti/gods-disloyal-opposition/ God's disloyal opposition August 9, 2014, 12:02 am IST Gautam Adhikari <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/author/gautamadhikari/> in Just Graffiti <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/just-graffiti/> *|* Edit Page <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/> WASHINGTON: Good heavens! Now the gods, or God if you prefer, must contend with some serious media opposition. American Atheists have announced the launch of Atheist TV, available through the streaming service Roku and the internet. At its launch party last week American Atheists president David Silverman said the channel would provide a breadth of content, from science to politics and comedy, all focussed on "our common freedom from religion". Note the preposition; not freedom 'of' but freedom 'from' religion. For religion, say atheists, oppresses. Those Indians who are aware of the origins of atheist thought might shrug at the news. Scholars of religious philosophy broadly agree that the world's first atheists probably emerged in ancient India. For instance, in the recent book Imagine There's No Heaven: How Atheism Helped Create The Modern World, Mitchell Stephens says that the first known atheist may have been Ajita Kesakambli in the 4th or 5th century BCE. Asked by a king to give his view on religion, Ajita said: "It is an empty lie, mere idle talk, when men say there is profit therein". He rejected the claim that some blessedly enlightened beings have "understood both this world and the next". Stephens goes on to list the arguments of the Charvakas, a sect of non-believers in India, who rejected the supernatural and insisted: "Only the perceived exists." However, India today, along with America, has the largest proportion of religious believers, perhaps nearly nine out of 10 persons, reveal recent global surveys. Atheists are vastly outnumbered in the world as a whole. A 2012 Pew survey suggests atheists comprise just 2.01% of the world population. But if you add the proportion of the 'non-religious', the overall percentage of non-believers may tally between 16% and 18% of humanity. But the numbers are growing. Even in deeply religious America, those who don't believe in any particular religion plus atheists and agnostics are today said to total close to 20% of the population. Statisticians caution that surveys on religious belief are difficult to conduct because people vary widely in how they personally define religion and faith or atheism and agnosticism. Without entering into complex debates on definition or any argument over the existence or non-existence of a divine prime mover and cosmic godfather, we could select two aspects of atheism that, to my mind, are eminently humane. Atheist TV, its promoters assert, will advocate the absolute separation of church and state and a view of life that emphasises the here and now and provable. In other words, it won't present science fiction or pseudo-scientific claims as science fact. This fits neatly into a secular view of life. In that worldview, assertions of bigoted charlatans, who masquerade as scholars, that ancient Indians knew about stem cells, motor cars and computers should either find no place in modern discourse or must be vigorously dismissed. Atheists and non-believers are well positioned to challenge such idiotic obscurantism. Secular science forms today's foundation of knowledge. A second happy feature of atheism and non-belief is that all need for an exclusive religious identity is obviated. Every devotee of any religion defines a path to truth at the exclusion of every other religious view. Implicit, and sometimes explicit, hostile difference and potential violence are ingrained in religious belief no matter how each belief-system asserts peace and tolerance towards all. Religion divides us. Secular humanism emerged in modern civilisation as an antidote to religious division. A humanist advocates a sober, even humble, understanding of nature and the current extent of knowledge. A humanist celebrates uncertainty to advance incrementally our understanding of life, its origin and the future of the human race. Writes British philosopher A C Grayling in his book The God Argument: "Having intellectual courage to live with open-endedness and uncertainty, trusting to reason and experiment to gain us increments of understanding, having the integrity to base one's views on rigorous and testable foundations, and being committed to changing one's mind when shown to be wrong, are the marks of honest minds." Religion offers quick palliatives to our existential anxieties. Life is harsh, you'll be happy in heaven; or, the gods know what they are doing even when things go grievously wrong; it's all for the good, piety will save you. Really? I wonder, says the humanist. II. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/02/arts/television/atheist-tv-has-its-premiere-on-roku-and-online.html?_r=0 Believe It Or Not, Atheists, TV for You Atheist TV Has Its Premiere, on Roku and Online AUG. 1, 2014 By NEIL GENZLINGER <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/neil_genzlinger/index.html> Atheists are angry, and watch out, because now they have a television channel. This week the organization American Atheists announced the premiere of Atheist TV, available through the streaming service Roku and over the Internet <http://www.atheists.org/atheistTV/live>. That news will certainly prompt assorted knee-jerk reactions in some quarters, and perhaps some confusion: "Atheist TV? It'll be full of incest and smut and debaucheries of all kinds. Oh, wait; that's HBO." "Atheist TV? It'll be nonstop mockery of conservative Christians and Republicans and Middle America. Oh, wait; that's Comedy Central." "Atheist TV? It'll be godless wiccans and flesh-eating zombies and serial killers and all manner of other people who lack the Judeo-Christian morals that built America. Oh, wait; that's practically every mainstream network and cable channel." At a party on Tuesday night celebrating the premiere, David Silverman <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqjbvHpiz60>, president of American Atheists, described a channel that won't be any of the sordid things that certain religious types might envision, but that will be a challenge to a lot of things those people hold dear. The channel, he said, will "provide a breadth of content, from science to politics to comedy, all centered around our common freedom from religion." American Atheists, founded in 1963, is a serious organization that advocates the absolute separation of church and state and a view of life that emphasizes the here and now and provable. The channel, Mr. Silverman said in the first streamed broadcast, will have no psychics, no ghost hunters, no "science fiction presented as science fact," and will be "a place we can call our own, where we can speak the truth as frankly as we want." It intends, he said, "to promote the idea that religion can and should be criticized." That will make it a lonely outpost. Religion isn't hard to find on television, including some negative images of it -- see the debate over the Muslim characters on the new FX drama "Tyrant" <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fxs-divisive-tyrant-still-talking-720055> -- but not many outlets that rely on advertising dollars are willing to ask probing questions about religion as big business, religion as an instigator of wars, religion as a suppressor of intellectual inquiry. At first, Atheist TV will be limited, offering interviews with leading atheists, film from atheist conventions and other content from the Richard Dawkins Foundation <https://richarddawkins.net/> and like-minded organizations. But it has plans to introduce original programming. Among the people helping to bring that about, the channel has announced, will be the producer Liz Bronstein, whose credits include reality shows like "Whale Wars," <http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/whale-wars> on Animal Planet, part of Discovery Communications -- a company that Mr. Silverman slammed hard on Tuesday night. "The TV networks kowtow to the liars who make money off of misinformation," he said, singling out for special contempt outlets that mix silly supernatural gunk with more serious science and nature shows. "The Discovery Channel treats ghosts like they're real," he said, adding later, "Bigfoot, psychics, aliens, ghosts, spirits, gods, devils -- all bunk, all pushed by the so-called truthful and scientific stations in an effort to placate the waning religion segment at the expense of the growing segment of atheists who should be, but are not, their target audience." Whew. If he sounds peeved, well, it's hard being an atheist in the United States, where plenty of people behave in decidedly un-Christian ways, but to speak ill of Christianity or other religions can be career-ending. How low in the hierarchy are American atheists? Dogs had their own channel <http://dogtv.com/> before atheists did. Sarah Palin <https://sarahpalinchannel.com/>, too. So expect a fair amount of bluntness when Atheist TV gets rolling. The outlet may have enemies in Very High Places: At the Tuesday event, seven minutes into the streaming of the first broadcast, the Internet feed in the room gave out. But if that was God sending a message, Mr. Silverman wasn't deterred. "Atheist TV is live," he said, "and it's going to stay live, 24/7, until the sun burns out." -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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