Saying it’s OK to walk away from God says that deity exists.

Well, not necessarily, not if it’s used figuratively. Julia Sweeney’s “Letting go of god” uses a similar construction, but it’s clear when you hear it that what she is letting go of is the idea of god. It might be clearer to say “walking away from the idea of god” or “the concept of god”, but simply saying “walking away from god” has more dramatic punch. I guess it depends on whether the author prefers impact or absolute clarity; sometimes it’s hard to have both.

In this case, my suggestion was almost the same premise, but due to semantics and not to offensiveness. The thing is, you can’t walk away from something that doesn’t exist.

Thought about language here. “Do not ~denigrate~ believers.” The word denigrate stems from Latin meaning “to make more black”. Many African American scholars find its usage offensive (because it implies that black is evil) and suggest “disparage” as a substitute.

On that note, Jacob wrote:

we need to let people know that its OK to walk away from God.

(please read friendly banter into this…) If you’re an atheist, that’s a rather interesting comment, since from your perspective, God doesn’t exist. Right?

@GBG:

When people do things like this it gives the religious one more reason to say “atheism is just another religion” and drag us down to thier level.

We aren’t a religion. We don’t need our own commandments and “ways of living”.

Um, ok. That seems a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

No, we aren’t a religion, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t adhere to a set of principles. I intend to lead by example. I am very interested in a “way of living” that is altruistic, egalitarian, benefits the most people and increases happiness for all. I insist on calling myself an atheist, and letting people see for themselves that I am a moral person and can lead a moral life.

The fact that my beliefs on morality happen to coincide with Humanism doesn’t make me religious. The primary point (IMO) that you have to make to the religious is that you can have morality without religion.

Therefore, I would say Humanism sums it up for me- no adjective added. It makes it much simpler since the two are basically the same.