"Atheism in its own way can become an article of faith" [abc.net.au] Stan Grant clearly has no idea what he is talking about.
He clearly knows very little about what motivates atheists. Atheists are independently minded people who have no need for any “articles of faith” , no creed, no doctrine, or divinity; no priests, no strictures, or diktat ..no demigods or idols or places of worship and indoctrination. We don’t need or want organisation or leadership, by Dawkins or anyone else, we arrived at our position of disbelief and rejection of religion and god, not by being preached at by atheist proselytisers, but by using our own powers of reason and logic.
From what I can see of his words, and with @David1955's added observation, I see what you write as being way beyond his powers of comprehension.
@anglophone I’m sure you’re right…sad to say!
@anglophone Actually met him, most regrettably, and in my honest opinion he would be very hard pressed to tell his arse from his elbow even with an Encyclopaedia of Anatomy.
I laughed out loud when the (sordid) history of Western religion was referred to as an “Age of Enchantment”. Run that by the decimated, dispossessed indigenous cultures of Australia, New Zealand, the Americas and elsewhere—and the “relocated” Africans—before you get too full of your own misty-eyed nostalgia, Mr. Grant. Looks more like an Age of Enchainment to me. And while I have the floor I would also point out that mass produced, promoted and distributed Religion looks a lot more like tribalism on steroids than a gossamer-winged flight into the realm of the transcendent. Your self-serving bullshit runneth over, dude.
The more educated and intelligent the population becomes the less it relies on stories of comfort and the hope that someone is in control.
But is is not an article of faith as can be seen on this site we have people of many differing views, with only one view in common, we do not have a standard of behaviour that is codified (although the cultist rarely follow their's)
But members of cults have to group things to feel comfortable. We are this group that are that group they can not cope with the fact that people are happy with no belief in a sky fairy.