Excellent explanation, but I bet it went right over Dave’s head. Let me give it a shot.
Dave, you, as a religious person believe that god endowed all men with noses, right?
I, as an atheist, do not believe that god endowed all men with noses. I can plainly see that all men have noses, but I disagree with you on the source. We can come together on issues regarding noses without having to agree on where they came from.
In the same manner, I fully believe in and endorse the notion of natural rights without believing in a deity to convey them.
As Sam eloquently said, it is our inherent humanity that gives us those rights.
By the way, to everyone else here, including the author – atheism is not a belief system. It is the lack of a specific belief. That does not in any way create a group of people who have anything in common other than lacking that specific belief. It makes as much sense to refer to atheists as a group as it does to refer to all non-blondes as a group.
My father once told me he was thinking of joining an atheists club. I responded with ” Is that kinda like the Organization of Anarchists?”. I think the ‘atheist club’ lasted about 3 months and fell apart. Go figure.
