Sorry Jim! I was putting the case in an extreme manner is true....but these are issues dear to my black and rotten heart. Being raised on a diet of corrupt liberal existentialism, I have fundamental problem with people declaring themselves to be anything at all without extremely good reasons. It's a sickness....
be-jazz, they're very good questions...just one thing though - it's not that I necessarily am a hardcore atheist in the way I've been describing it. I'm just trying to think about it from the standpoint of both the consistent atheist and the consistent believer in order to work out what's really at stake....of course I'm presenting these positions in extreme ways, but I do think this is where the question of belief/religion eventually leads...they are matters of life and death, after all....or inorganic transference of matter into other states.....
Just to amuse you, here are some quotes from Zizek on Catholicism and the Commandments:
Zizek: 'When I discuss Christianity with superficial Catholics, their usual line of defense is to say, 'You atheists, you cannot really understand what is a religious experience.' But how do they know what is an atheist experience? I am almost tempted to claim that it is more natural for us to believe. To be an atheist, my God, is a very difficult thing.'
Zizek: 'In our post-political liberal-permissive society, human rights can be seen as expressing the right to violate the Ten Commandments. The right to privacy is, in effect, the right to commit adultery, in secret, without being observed or investigated. The right to pursue happiness and to possess private property is, in effect, the right to steal (to exploit others). Freedom of the press and of expression - the right to lie. The right of free citizens to possess weapons - the right to kill. Freedom of religious belief - the right to celebrate false gods. Human rights do not, of course, directly condone the violation of the Commandments, but they preserve a marginal 'grey zone' which is out of the reach of religious or secular power. In this shady zone, I can violate the Commandments, and if the Power catches me with my pants down and tries to prevent my violation, I can cry: 'Assault on my basic human rights!''