As you may know, 'Rational Dissent' refers to the 18th Century protestant movement which challenged the established church hierarchy by claiming that reason and rationality is where answers lay, not in church dogma. My use of it as the title of my blog is what I would like to think of as an updated rational dissent, in which even the idea of God is also taken apart by rational dissent. One of the aims of this blog is to put forward ideas of a new Age of Enlightenment in which we can pick up where they left off in the 19th Century. A lot was achieved through the scientific revolution, 'natural philosophy', secularisation and ideas on liberty, and democracy. However I think so much of this has been stifled over the centuries. I am not suggesting "going back" to the 17th and 18th Century ideas but more going forward from where they left off. New ideas need to be discussed openly and rationally. Religion needs to be challenged. The Internet should become the new coffee houses and blogs should be the new leaflets.
So why add yet another blog on atheism and scepticism when there are already so many great bloggers (much better than I) out there? Well, while I would identify myself as a part of the atheist/sceptic community (albeit not a prominent one) there are a few points I still feel need to be made and I would like to offer my own 2 cents on certain topics. As I have a background in political activism (I would not count myself as "active" these days though) I feel as though I don't share the unabashed confidence in certain areas of the scientific community. Not science itself, and I'm not about to come out as a climate change denier by any stretch of the imagination - but my scepticism extends to motives within the scientific community. While we still live in a society that has a profit motive at its core, I feel it is healthy to investigate the motives behind certain scientific claims and solutions. I hope to explain this further in future posts and hope that this little introduction doesn't attract the ire of those who I feel are "on the same side of me". Trust me, I'm all for the scientific method and reasoning, I am just outlining the social and political angle I will be taking in regard to this issue.
Well, so much for my "quick" introduction. I hope to be more diligent with this one than my other one. I guess I feel as though I have more to say on these topics than the lighter ones on my other blog.
