If you haven’t heard, Stephen Fry made waves recently with this interview wherein he declares that a world which exists with such suffering as bone cancer in children must clearly be created by a madman. He makes a valid point.
In the melee that’s followed he’s been accused of being ‘spiritually blind.‘
It’s an interesting accusation, spiritual blindness, and one that we atheists get often. Yet if we consider the issue a bit deeper, in order for one to make the rational, logical, evidence based decision to become an atheist, we must examine the very depths of our spirituality. – the very opposite of being spiritually blind. It’s not as if any of us wake up one day and in the course of one conversation we declare ourselves without belief in a deity. No, we come to the conclusion thoughtfully and often over years of self reflection and soul searching. I would therefore contend vigorously that atheists are amongst the most aware creatures alive.
We can look at it another way of course. An atheist is typically well read and informed because their resources are as limitless as their curiosity. On the other side of the spectrum, a religious person is mandated to be bound to a single fallible text, often accompanied by a narrow interpretation and without any countering evidence. Who is most likely to be blind?
I suspect the accusation towards atheist concerning spiritual blindness is more of a subconscious projection: when faced with the reality of their dilemma, in this case Stephen Fry’s logical point of how an omniscient god can allow innocent children to suffer, it’s easier to deflect the issue and make an illogical allegation.
Truth will out kids….and here’s to spiritual awareness…..
Frankie
Frankie Wallace 
February 7th, 2015 at 01:13
Like your way of thinking but, then again, I’ve generally found atheists to be very thoughtful and highly educated people. The God problem (whether he exists or not) is a little bit of a red herring though. That is, the discussion always centers around the god of religion, usually Christianity. If that’s the only god available to man, I’d surely be an atheist too. As the Pascal Wager states, “If there is a god, he is infinitely incomprehensible.” Somewhat along those lines, I believe that’s it pretty easy to demonstrate that even if God exists that the God of the Bible is not that God.
February 7th, 2015 at 15:51
thanks for the feedback! if you watched the clip stephen somewhat addressed your point…he gave an analogy of meeting the twelve gods of olympus instead…he mentioned he’d be much more willing to listen to them, considering they didn’t hide their human ness nor claimed to be omnipotent…..i might take your claim one step further and say the discussion usually centers around a monotheistic god… may your weekend be excellent…frankie