As I write, in New York in mid-December, the city is full of Christmas trees and menorahs. I would be inclined to say, as an old Jewish atheist, that these things mean nothing to me, but Hannukah songs are evoked in my mind whenever an image of a menorah impinges on my retina, even when I am not consciously aware of it.
Neat! I like how casually he mentions it; not as a big “I Am An Atheist” announcement, but as a passing reference to explain a point. This may be the first time he’s come out in print as an atheist, though; he’s currently listed on the Celebrity Atheists site under the Ambiguous category. If that’s true, it makes me like the casualness of it all the better. It makes me think that the atheist movement is having an effect, and making it less of a big deal for people to declare their atheism in public.
Anyway. Neat.
*****
Addendum: He’s no longer listed as Ambiguous in the Celebrity Atheists list. I just updated the listing.
Academics have been being open and casual about their atheism for years, surely? I don’t know if this is a change. Scientifically interested people who might read that book are less likely to be shocked by atheism in the first place, even if they aren’t atheists themselves.
It’s still a cool little raindrop in the deluge, though.
Isaac Asimov was open about being a “Jewish atheist” decades ago. Sometimes, he called himself a “humanist”, since he figured the word “atheist” said more about what he didn’t believe than what he did (which kinda makes sense to me). You should pick up a copy of **I. Asimov**; it’s a pretty interesting memoir.
You can hear an interview with Oliver Sacks over at Radio Open Source from Nov 16th 2007. Well worth listening too like so much of that program.
http://www.radioopensource.org/speaking-of-music-again-oliver-sacks/
This is such an exciting time for me, as one of the things I’ve been interested for a very long time is why on earth humans like art, and most specifically music. There are a number of books coming out, apparently (this is the second I’ve heard of, the other is “This is your Brain on Music) that set out to explain that link. Now all I have to do it get some time to read…
I am interested in this issue in part because it’s tough to argue with a Believer when they point out powerful human desires that seem completely separated from principles of natural selection.