Gore Vidal said, "I'm a born-again atheist." What do you think he meant?
by 
Jim in a Nautilus COAT
ANSWERS: 14
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He is a twice born. First the natural birth same as any of us. Second the initiation into atheism. That would qualify for the second birth. . This would be the Hindu interpretation of the statement. Gore Vidal is a very privileged holy man!
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Hightlighting the paradox of the "Born Again" paradigm
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He grew up in so many ways...
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Born Again Atheist was my "name" when I first joined answerbag. It is a very good name. As far as meaning, I'd say that we are all first born atheist then get corrupted later in life. Some return to atheism and some never left. I am the later, but still like the term.
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That there was a time he believed in religion, but now he no longer does so, so he was born-again in the idea that there is no god.
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I think he meant that he was an athiest, believed the Truth for a little while and then decided that he'd rather do things his own way and seek the praises of pseudo-intellectual humans with his philosophy than honor God.
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He was being fashionably against the grain by combining the element of born-again, which is a primarily Evangelistic phenomenon with it's mortal enemy, secular Atheism.
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Dunno, suppose I think its nonsense.
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He started out being religious and saw the light/dark. :)
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I think he might have meant he embraced atheism with all the zeal born again christians exhibit.
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He has had a disappointment and now his faith wavers.
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Having read some of Vidal's work, I'm thinking he is pointing out the absudity of being "born again" in a fundamentalist religious context. He has a pretty good flair for the dramatic! How better to point this nonsense than to assemble two dissimilar statements into a paradoxical whole? Here are some related quotes by Vidal which reveal his understanding of religious delusion. http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_GVidal.htm
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I don't know his history, if he was ever religious and all. But I would read that to mean that he was religious and then came to an epiphany of rational thought. +5
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I am not an Atheist but sounds to me he is either mocking the Christian faith, or making a very perverse, and contrary statement concerning Atheism. Remember, Christianity is the only "religion" that confess or professes this adage. Being "BORN-AGAIN".
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