NorthOfNorth wrote on Aug 23
rd, 2011 at 6:33pm:
Soren wrote on Aug 23
rd, 2011 at 9:07am:
I think atheism, being essentiaqlly a reaction, is mainly a first generation phenomenon. That is, most atheists are converts, rather than keepers of an inter-generational tradition. This explains some of their vehemence: their atheism is a quest for self and reaction against mum & dad (both literally and in the societal sense).

This from a resident of one of the most secular countries on earth.
Soren wrote on Aug 23
rd, 2011 at 9:07am:
In this sense being an atheist is perpaps a bit like being gay: it may be novel and exciting, not least because of its transgressioon value but it's hard to pass it on to the next generation.
I think 'neo-Christian' sects is where you'd look to find gays... In denial that is... Would at least explain why they're so obsessed with homosexuality.
A bit of demarcation creep there - secular, as every schoolboy knows, is not the same as atheist.
As for homos, the point is that you can't make a trans-generational tradition, complete with institutions, arts and cultural capital out of what is essentially deviance dressed up (if that's the expression I want) as 'personal discovery' issues. And so there is no atheist culture.
More broadly, being gay and being an atheist are about 'you'. Marriage and religion, and all the other stuff of culture and civilisation, are not about 'you' but exactly the other way around: 'you' are about them.
This is why, for example, student centred education is bollocks on stilts with bells on. Education is about transmitting and saving knowledge. Areas where real knowledge is saved and transmitted illustrate the point.