Atheist shoes being sold out of Berlin, who knew?
Not for me, I think. I’m more inclined, inappropriately enough,to Church’s. On the other hand an atheist tote bag, stripped of any pretty sentiment (“nichts, nichts, nichts…jawohl”), now that is something that could tempt me, and probably will…
The site’s owners explain their logo—a black hole—as follows:
There are already hundreds of symbols for atheism and none of them tickle us in quite the right place… either they’re too sciency, or too literal, or just plain ugly… Well, our solution is inspired by a Christian friend (thanks Matt) who accused us of having god-shaped-holes. And we think a gaping, BLACK HOLE is absolutely perfect… And what says “I believe in nothing” better than nothing?
In its mad way, that’s just perfect, and so much better than the simpering nonsense on display in the New York Times today in an article by T.M. Luhrman, a Stanford professor of anthropology.
Yet believers and nonbelievers are not so different from one another, news that is sometimes a surprise to both. When I arrived at one church I had come to study, I thought that I would stick out like a sore thumb. I did not. Instead, I saw my own doubts, anxieties and yearnings reflected in those around me. People were willing to utter sentences — like “I believe in God” — that I was not, but many of those I met spoke openly and comfortably about times of uncertainty, even doubt. Many of my skeptical friends think of themselves as secular, sometimes profoundly so. Yet these secular friends often hover on the edge of faith. They meditate. They keep journals. They go on retreats. They just don’t know what to do with their spiritual yearnings.
“Spiritual yearnings”? Good lord. Whatever turns you on and all that, but nichts, nichts, nichts…jawohl just seems like a lot less fuss.