I am the atheist in that I have never known a state of having any belief in god. If you consider how belief is formed in your brain then whatever neuro-chemical pathways are needed: I don’t have those and I’m unlikely to because the theist arguments diminish in scope whilst the science just works.
I am the new atheist in that I don’t see theism as deserving any intrinsic respect nor that it has any truth value except within its own fictional worldview. I see theism as an anti-humanism as worse as any state-ism. To me at the top is the individual, below is the state and other legal fictions we permit to exist. The state works for the people, as do other legal fictions. In this respect I am the new anti-theist as my view is an untenable view to the established churches that view it the other way around, with a god as the ultimate ruler of all, then a state whose mandate for power is guided by god, then the civil service, then the people. I believe any hierarchy can be restated in terms of the people. It is simply a game between agents and we redefine the payoff matrix.
I am the new atheist in that I believe that we give the universe meaning and we define its purpose. I do not see see why we substitute god with “existence“. The universe has no intrinsic meaning or purpose and thus it has no pre-destination. That is not a nihilism but it means that the universe is what I call purpose-ready and we evolved an essence which is our humanism. Our morality is arguably objective.
I am the new atheist as I don’t believe such constraints to purpose exist. We decide our purpose and we’re in a universe that permits this to happen. The nihilism is found in the theist who sees purpose as dedicated to god. A cruel trick indeed that would make all of this a pointless existence. We give the universe life and so we give it meaning. To consider it to be a “cold dead universe” makes as much sense to me as looking at a box of paints and saying that you see no works of art. A lack of imagination is what is cold and dead not the materials that have formed and not the science that says how you can use these materials.
I am the new atheist in that I view death as simply the irreversible loss of information that is you. To correct this we have the technology to store the memories today and we will have the technology to re-life these: This Life, Your Life, Next Life, Your Move. I’m a new atheist in that I have a goal of post-scarcity for society and I know how we can transition to that state.
I am the new atheist in that I am the optimist of where humanity can be through our own intrinsically evolved nature. I look with disdain at the destruction that is promised in the eschatology of many traditional religions and with disrespect I say that need not come to pass. I do not want others to have fear of the fabricated evils of theology and its cursed punishments imposed upon them.
I am the new atheist in that I want to have fun, to be happy, to explore, to learn, to understand, to know, to choose, to win and to lose, to change and to try again.