You're absolutely right that religious people have often described atheism as appealing and attractive (because of the moral license it provides), and have argued that religious belief takes sacrifices and is therefore hard. But still, they describe the allure of atheism as *dangerous* and harmful, or at least not beneficial. So I should rephrase my point: I'm not aware of any religious believers who have actively *advocated* for atheism because of its alleged social and psychological value. But the reverse is quite common: many atheists "believe in belief", as Dennett writes. They think religion is useful or even indispensable for the common people (but not for them, which is very paternalistic indeed), and it's wrong to take it away from them. Are you aware of any religious believers who have mirroedr that argument, so who "believe in disbelief"? I'm not.
Thank you. I'm much clearer on what you were arguing now.
I am also not aware of a theist's flipside to Dennett's "belief in belief"--that disbelieving in God has value. I speculate that that might be because it's clearly not true: the social/psychological benefit of religious belief is so empirically obvious that even many atheists see it. Indeed, the closest I can get to a claim about the social/psychological benefit of disbelief is from atheists claiming it will make people happier to not believe in sin and/or punishment for sin.
You're absolutely right that religious people have often described atheism as appealing and attractive (because of the moral license it provides), and have argued that religious belief takes sacrifices and is therefore hard. But still, they describe the allure of atheism as *dangerous* and harmful, or at least not beneficial. So I should rephrase my point: I'm not aware of any religious believers who have actively *advocated* for atheism because of its alleged social and psychological value. But the reverse is quite common: many atheists "believe in belief", as Dennett writes. They think religion is useful or even indispensable for the common people (but not for them, which is very paternalistic indeed), and it's wrong to take it away from them. Are you aware of any religious believers who have mirroedr that argument, so who "believe in disbelief"? I'm not.
Thank you. I'm much clearer on what you were arguing now.
I am also not aware of a theist's flipside to Dennett's "belief in belief"--that disbelieving in God has value. I speculate that that might be because it's clearly not true: the social/psychological benefit of religious belief is so empirically obvious that even many atheists see it. Indeed, the closest I can get to a claim about the social/psychological benefit of disbelief is from atheists claiming it will make people happier to not believe in sin and/or punishment for sin.
So, solid point!