Atheism: Worldview or Objective Point of View

Is atheism a worldview or an objective point of view?  I ask this question in response to two blog posts found in The Washington Post section On Faith.  Both posts are written by prominent atheists and both posts are addressing secular studies as found in universities. However, the authors of the posts seem to disagree as to the status of secular approaches to education.


In his post "College should teach how to think, not what to think" A.C. Grayling addresses the perception by some that the New College of the Humanities in London is an "explicitly atheistic institution."  Grayling argues that this is not the case.  However,

"it is a college dedicated to careful thought and responsible argument, based on evidence and reason, aimed at achieving greater understanding of ourselves and our world. The fact that such inquiry tends to lead to secularism and (which is a different thing) lessening in the prevalence of religious belief, speaks for itself."

Notice what Grayling has said.  Secularism is the highly probable result of "careful thought and responsible argument, based on evidence and reason."  It is a "fact" that this type of "inquiry" lessens "the prevalence of religious belief."  The implication being that religious belief can only be the result of careless thought and irresponsible argument, which is not based on evidence and reason.

Grayling's understanding of secular approaches to education differs from Herb Silverman's.  In his post "A religious and secular studies major" Silverman argues that,

"any credible religious studies program that incorporates a variety of worldviews should also include a secular worldview."

Like Grayling, Silverman asserts that a secular approach to education assumes "the naturalistic worldview promoted by atheists, humanists, and other secularists, with arguments supported by evidence and critical thinking."  However, unlike Grayling he does not assume that such an approach necessarily leads to an abandonment of religious belief.  In fact Silverman seems to assume that atheism is a worldview among others (including religious worldviews), which as a worldview is subject to criticism.  He states,

"And yes, I agree that atheism should be examined as critically as all religions in an academic setting."   

So on the one hand we have Grayling who seems to argue that atheism is the result of arguments based on evidence and reason.  On the other hand we have Silverman who seems to argue that the naturalistic worldview as promoted by atheists is supported by arguments based on reason and evidence; nonetheless, atheism itself is to be subjected to critical thinking in the same way as all other worldviews.  In short, Grayling seems to understand atheism as an objective point of view; whereas, Silverman seems to understand that atheism is one worldview among others.

I want to end this post with a question that I hope will encourage response.  Is atheism an objective point of view, or is atheism another worldview among others?  I will attempt to offer my opinion on this question in a cogent manner in the next few posts.   However, there is some groundwork that will need to be put in place first.  Therefore, I will try to show in the next post why I believe that all people have a worldview, and why I believe that all worldviews are based on primary assumptions not ultimately subject to evidence or reason.
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A.C. Grayling's Post
Herb Silverman's Post