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Oprah Winfrey refuses to accept that long distance swimmer Diana Nyad is an Atheist because she experiences "awe." WTF?

Courtesy of Raw Story:

In a conversation with Nyad on the Oprah Winfrey Network’s Super Soul Sunday, Winfrey seemed baffled that the 64-year-old swimmer could be an atheist and “a person who is deeply in awe.”

“I can stand at the beach’s edge with the most devout Christian, Jew, Buddhist, go on down the line, and weep with the beauty of this universe and be moved by all of humanity — all the billions of people who have lived before us, who have loved and hurt,” Nyad, who recently completed a swim from Cuba to Florida explained. “So to me, my definition of God is humanity and is the love of humanity.”

“Well, I don’t call you an atheist then,” Winfrey replied. “I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery that that is what God is. That is what God is. It’s not a bearded guy in the sky.”

“It’s not bearded but I guess there is inference with God that there is presence, there is a — either a creator or an overseer,” Nyad pointed out. “I don’t criticize anybody. Because you know what? The definition of life is, we will never know.”

She added that she saw no contradiction in being an atheist and being a spiritual person.

“I think you can be an atheist who doesn’t believe in an overarching being who created all of this and sees over it,” Nyad said. “But there’s spirituality because we human beings, and we animals, and maybe even we plants, but certainly the ocean and the moon and the stars, we all live with something that is cherished and we feel the treasure of it.”

Winfrey agreed: “Well, I believe that and feel that so deeply. It’s why every time I enter my yard or leave, I say, ‘Hello trees!’”

This may seem a minor thing but it REALLY irritates me.

And the reason why is because it is an example of this constant subliminal prejudice that people of faith have for those of us who are unwilling to suspend out disbelief long enough to accept the existence of ANY deity.

Now I consider Oprah Winfrey to be a relatively reasonable and intelligent woman, however there is not doubt that she sees the world from a very narrow perspective, and is unable to recognize that somebody who does not believe in God can feel awe, or amazement, or joy.

The reason I named this blog "The Immoral Minority" is because THAT was the label given to me by the Religious Right, and then I set out to prove that not only was that assumption incorrect, but also that many of those Fundamentalists who lay claim to a superior morality are anything but moral.

I think I have had some great success in that endeavor.

However the other important thing I wish to convey is that those of us who are non-deists are just as moral, or immoral, as those who hide behind the veil of Christianity.

I want to establish that a religious label is no indicator of the type of person who wears it. And further I want to point out that those who constantly tout their religiosity should be the FIRST to fall under suspicion.

"For no man is less moral than he who wears it like a badge upon his chest and consistently draws it to the attention of all who cross his path."

Let me state for the record that I was overcome with awe the day my daughter first entered this world, that I have often been caught watching clouds lazy drift across a pale blue sky, and that there have been sunsets and sunrises that literally took my breath away.

I have lived, and loved, and sacrificed for others, just like all of those humans, both religious and nonreligious, who came before me. And I have done all of that as a proud, ethical, and deeply moral Atheist.

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