Recent news has caused quite a stir in the atheist blogosphere: Leah of Unequally Yoked has decided that she's no longer an atheist, but a Catholic now.
Hemant of Friendly Atheist is taking this at face value without passing judgment, but others such as Jen McCreight and PZ Myers are calling it a shame:
Hemant of Friendly Atheist is taking this at face value without passing judgment, but others such as Jen McCreight and PZ Myers are calling it a shame:
Jen outlines her reasons for feeling this way, and PZ cautions his readers to at least be intellectually honest:
We are, after all, supposed to be the logical ones. It would be ironic for atheists to resort to fallacy when a voice in our community converts to Christianity. But we're all human and prone to that sort of groupthink when someone defects from our group.
My two cents: I'm going to just take the news of her conversion at face value and assume that she's neither trolling nor doing this as an experiment. Given that, then I'll say what I'd say to any friend, family member, or acquaintance who decided to convert to a religion: while I don't support your conversion, I support you wholeheartedly in your freedom to do so without harassment.
We've read too many horror stories of the crap people have to take from their friends and family when they come out as atheists; none of us should aspire to be like that when one of us decides to go the other way.
I haven't talked to Leah in person or read very many of her blog posts, but she seems smart. She'll figure her beliefs out on her own. And if she decides that she needs to believe in the Christian god in order for the universe to make sense to her, then so be it. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
