R**********n 发帖数: 523 | 1 方舟子:美国无神论者知多少?
《科学与无神论》2000年第05期
美国虽然把“我们信任上帝”印到了钱币上,但并没有法定的国教,不过绝大部分美国
人都自称信仰基督教。盖勒普最新的民意调查表明,约85%的美国人认为自己是基督徒
,包括59%新教教徒,26%天主教徒;特别值得注意的是,有约三分之一的美国人是原
教旨的基督徒,认为《圣经》的每一句话都是真理,必须按其字面意义理解、执行。剩
下的,有5%是其他宗教的信徒,包括2%信犹太教。只有6%的美国人自称没有宗教信
仰,还有4%不知道自己信什么。在被明确问到是否信上帝时,86%的美国人自称信上
帝,8%的美国人不信上帝但是信某种“宇宙精神”(相当于以前的自然神论者或泛神
论者),只有5%的美国人什么都不信,换句话说,在全体美国人中,算得上属于无神
论者的,只有13%。
是否信神,显然跟科学知识的多寡、教育水平的高低有关。一般来说,科学知识越多、
教育水平越高,则越不信神。国际权威学术杂志《自然》在1998年公布了一项调查结果
,在美国科学家当中,不信神的占了多数,有60.7%表示不信或怀疑神的存在,与一般
美国人形成了强烈的反差。特别是,杰出的美国科学家几乎都不信神:在美国科学院院
士中,只有大约7%信神,生物学家具有最低的信仰比例(5.5%),这可能与他们具有
进化论的知识有关。调查者认为,杰出科学家普遍不信神的原因,是因为具有“超级知
识、理解和经验”。这个调查结果,跟一些科学家的个人经验相符。例如,诺贝尔生理
学奖获得者、DNA双螺旋结构的共同发现者詹姆斯·华森在1996年接受采访时,说:“
我不认为我们的存在有什么目的,我们只是进化的产物。你可以说‘哎哟,如果你不认
为人类的存在有目的,你的人生一定是苍白的’,但是我只指望有一顿良好的午餐。”
在被问及他是否认识许多有虔诚的宗教信仰的科学家时,他回答:“实际上没有。偶尔
我会遇到他们,而感到有点难堪,因为我无法相信会有人接受神启的真理。”
就象有神论有多种形式,无神论也有多种形式,有广义和狭义之分。在这里我所说的无
神论是广义的,指的是不相信存在人格化的上帝,不相信存在任何超自然的事物。这个
定义,不仅包括了不可知论(我认为在这个意义上称为疑神论更合适),也包括了自然
神论,因为它认为神即大自然,神是大自然的代名词,同样不相信人格化的神和超自然
的事物。自然神论一般也被视为在有神论盛行的时代,无神论的一种隐蔽形式,是现代
无神论的前身。美国的缔造者们全都是自然神论者,不仅不信奉基督教,而且往往反对
乃至憎恨基督教。从这个意义上说,美国的缔造者们,也都可视为无神论者。他们包括
独立战争时期最重要的启蒙思想家之一托马斯·潘恩。美国最早的四位总统:乔治·华
盛顿、约翰·亚当斯、托马斯·杰菲逊和詹姆斯·麦迪逊。美国最伟大的总统林肯在早
年是怀疑论者,晚年虽然经常提到“上帝”,但明确否认自己是基督徒,乃是自然神论
者。
一般美国人把无神论者当成了可怕的、不道德的人物。但是,许许多多最伟大、最杰出
的美国人,都是公开的无神论者(不公开的不知还有多少)。除了上面提到的那几位美
国缔造者,还包括:
女权活动先驱者苏珊·安东尼(Susan B. Anthony)、伊利莎白·斯坦顿(Elizabeth
Cady Stanton)、玛格莱特·桑格(Margaret Sanger)。
大哲学家爱默森。
大作家或剧作家马克·吐温、海明威、阿瑟·米勒、阿西莫夫。
大诗人罗伯特·佛罗斯特。
大科学家爱因斯坦、林纳斯·鲍林(化学家、两次诺贝尔奖获得者)、斯金纳(行为心
理学创建者)、斯蒂芬·温伯格(物理学家、诺贝尔奖获得者)、卡尔·萨根(Carl
Sagon,天文学家)、费曼(物理学家)、詹姆斯·华森(生物学家、诺贝尔奖获得者
、DNA双螺旋结构发现者。共同发现者英国的克里克也是无神论者)、爱德华·威尔逊
(Edward O. Wilson,生物学家、社会生物学创建者)、斯蒂芬·杰·古尔德(
Stephen Jay Gould,生物学家)、理查德·利奇(Richard Leakey,古人类学家)。
大发明家爱迪生。
大农艺师路瑟·伯班克(Luther Burbank)。
大建筑师弗兰克·洛伊德·莱特(Frank Lloyd Wright)。
大企业家卡内基、亨利·福特、比尔·盖茨。
著名电影导演或演员卓别林、沃尔特·迪斯尼、马龙·白兰度、凯瑟琳·赫本、伍迪·
艾伦、杰克·尼可尔森(Jack Nicholson)、朱迪·弗斯特(Jodie Foster)。
史密斯森创建了史密斯森研究院(Smithsonian Institute),尤金·德布斯(Eugene
V. Debs)开创了平民保险业,大律师克伦斯·达娄(Clarence Darrow)为人们争得了
劳保和失业福利,赫尔德曼-朱利尔斯(E. Haldeman-Julius)开创了廉价软皮图书业
……他们也都是无神论者。
可以说,在这个无神论者“臭名昭著”的国度,无神论者恰恰包括了各行各业最杰出的
精英。 | n********n 发帖数: 8336 | 2 Meet A Few Rich Atheists!
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/meet_a_
“...the God in whose hand THY BREATH IS, and whose are all thy ways, HAST
THOU NOT GLORIFIED” (Daniel 5:23).
Bill Gates
Microsoft Cofounder and CEO, was interviewed November 1995 on PBS by David
Frost. Below is the transcript with minor edits...
Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?
Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis.
The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer
in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it
can have a very, very positive impact.
Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you
know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?
Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why
things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not,
but I think religious principles are quite valid.
Gates was profiled by Walter Isaacson in a January 13, 1996 TIME MAGAZINE
cover story. Here are some excerpts compiled by the Drudge Report:
Isaacson: Isn't there something special, perhaps even divine, about the
human soul?
Gates: I don't have any evidence on that.
“Gates face suddenly becomes expressionless,” writes Isaacson, "his
squeaky voice turns toneless, and he folds his arms across his belly and
vigorously rocks back and forth in a mannerism that has become so mimicked
at MICROSOFT that a meeting there can resemble a round table of ecstatic
rabbis."
Gates: Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very
efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.
George Soros
The multi-billionaire, financier and philanthropist was profiled on the
newsmagazine 60 Minutes, broadcast December 20, 1998.
Steve Kroft: Are you a religious man?
Soros: No
Kroft: Do you believe in God?
Soros: No
Warren Buffett
The multi-billionaire, financier, atheist and business man. The following is
taken from--Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger
Lowenstein (Doubleday, 1995), page 13...
"He did not subscribe to his family's religion. Even at a young age he was
too mathematical, too logical, to make the leap of faith.”
“He adopted his father's ethical underpinnings, but not his belief in an
unseen divinity.”
Larry Flynt
Publisher of more than a dozen adult magazines, including Hustler, his life
is profiled in a 1997 film directed by Milos Forman titled, The People vs.
Larry Flynt. In the epilogue of his autobiography, An Unseemly Man, Flynt
says:
"I have left my religious conversion behind and settled into a comfortable
state of atheism.”
Flynt recanted his earlier claim of having becomes a Christian and dismissed
it as the result of a manic-depressive episode. In 1984, Larry Flynt sought
out the services of Madalyn Murray O'Hair (a God-hating feminist wretch)
and announced in his magazine, Hustler, that he was an atheist.
Judgment Day is Coming!
You have just heard from four of the richest men in the world.
It is tragic and sad when men deny their Divine Creator, the very One Who
keeps them breathing (Acts 17:25). The prophet Daniel would say to these men
the same thing he said to king Belshazzar, “...the God in whose hand THY
BREATH IS, and whose are all thy ways, HAST THOU NOT GLORIFIED” (Daniel 5:
23).
We read again in Romans 1:21, “...when they knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened.”
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your MISERIES THAT SHALL COME
UPON YOU. Your riches are corrupted…” (James 5:1,2). |
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