NEIL ARMSTRONG IS BEYOND BELIEF

Neil Armstrong died a today at the age of 82.When you grow up American, you can’t help but see Armstrong as this near-mythical figure like an apostle, a founding-father or some foreign king. Long before you have a clue what stains are placed on a man’s mind and body in the pursuit of space travel, you are already awed by the accomplishment and by the winner’s aura of the title “First.” As a young writer, I have come to admire him for a different reason: he was a man who chose his words well. Few writers will ever experience the pressure of a single sentence carrying with it the aspirations of his entire species.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

It’s so grossly grandiose that it would sound cheesy in any event other than stepping out of a lunar module you manually landed onto the surface of the moon. I would have said something different. I would have said, “holy fucking fuck!” and so would you.

One more, much less known, from the vault of reaaly cool Neil Armstrong quotes that is the internet:

"There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth's protective layers," he once said. "There are places to go beyond belief."

AHTEISM AND AGNOSTICISM

There is an almost indistinguishable line between having no time to write and having no inclination. Take right now: I checked Facebook, Questionable Content, XKCD and Twitter in the space between these two sentences. As the writer I exist in a sort of hypertime, warped and completely unrelated to the time you experience while reading. None of the above, by the way, gave me any clues as to what I should write about this morning. Fuck it. Tweet again. Let's talk about God.

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The funny think about God is that despite possessing almost no knowledge, people generally have their minds made up. In the everyday world, arguments for or against are rarely marked with striking insights or structural sophistication. People simply are or are not fans; their reasons are rooted in impressions, not logic.

That said, we do see some movement, and it's headed away from the supernatural. The Washington Post reportsthat religion is waning in the United States. According to the “The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism,” the proportion of Americans who self-identified as religious is down from 73% in 2005 to just 60% today. The explanations for such a sharp statistical drop are as numerous as they are elementary--any freshman sociology student could guess just as well as so-called experts quoted in related articles all over the web. I won't be getting into them. Still, it is exciting isn't it, that we may be on our way to a religious minority?

I perused the comments sections of a few referring websites at 8:30 in the morning looking to battle some theists on the watchmakerargument or gays causing hurricanes before breakfast. Surprisingly, and I want to go as far as to call this a sign of the times, most of the arguments people were having over this story had neither to do with whether God exists nor with the cosmo-moral implications of pushing God out of society; all anyone cared about was the difference between "Atheism" and "Agnosticism."

4 points about atheism and agnosticism

•  It doesn't much matter. Neither are a religion, political perspective, or cohesive school of thought. If you care, it is only because you're intellectually curious, so stop screaming at strangers over the internet for it.
• Don't consult a dictionary. No dictionary is the canonical authority on the English language, and they are generally terrible when it comes to terms with definitions that vary with different analytical frameworks. Every philosopher and social scientist already knows this.
• If yous till care, I prefer the epistemic definition: The the claim is: "God exists." A theist believes "God exists." An atheist believes NOT-it, "God does not exist." An agnostic, on the other hand, withholds judgment: "I do not believe that God exists or does not exist." 
• Because agnostics don't believe in God, they are often lumped in with atheists, who technically believe something quite different.

 

In my lifetime, I have convinced maybe three individuals to give up their religion and only one of them became a full-fledged atheist. I am told that three is an exceptional number; the whole endeavor is generally considered impossible.

My lucky three had a few things in common. They were all young: ages ranged from 12 to 16. I was a teenager as well. They all loved to talk about religion but knew almost nothing about it. The youngest was a laser-focused Christian, all clean-hair and pre-sapient adolescence. She delirious took up any debate and any opportunity to remind us all of God’s love. Next, an angry, teenaged, gothic boy who, through natural rebellion, didn’t think much about his white, protestant parents and really wanted to be right about something. The eldest, Kaia, was a stunning, young, black and Asian woman with wit, and charm, pride and passion. She is the only one whose name I still remember.

Arguments swayed every one of them. There were no fresh tragedies to acutely shake their faiths. There was no depression or desperation. I did not have to “witness” or promise them anything. I spoke with them and changed their minds. Some people convert to atheism as they would to a religion, but most come to it like this—one good argument can do the impossible.