Cornel West on a Healthy Atheism

I'm an athiest and I think that brother West is a great man, disagreement does not necessitate hatred.

I'm a de facto atheist and I love this guy. One of my heroes.

Cornel West has been my inspiration for a long time. He gives me faith in humanity.

Brother west is a real man of honour and values and being an atheist I revere him way more than some well renowned atheists.

Let the phone be smart you gotta be wise....I love this guy

I love Cornell, I’m an atheist and a socialist from the rural south, I’ve been hearing him speak since I was a teenager and he has left a profound impact on me. I will always hold in my heart a deep respect for him and what he does.

0:12 What made that microphone slide extra funny was that grinding sound.

His wisest words (that I've heard so far). A true leader- most of all because his message transcends racial, religious, and political boundaries. To see the whole picture engenders compassion, and real compassion drives an honest person to perceive the whole. The less easy a noble aim is, the more noble and important it becomes. We all gravitate to the ideas we think the most true, and naturally defend those ideas against all those who can't see eye to eye with us; yet in spite of all our divisions and disagreements as individuals and tribes and nations, ultimately we are all human beings on a tiny speck in a backwater of this stupendously vast and mysterious cosmos. We are all primitive hominids whose similarities encompass us more than our imagined differences. This is the truth, and no amount of propaganda can truly disprove or bury it. Many do not see, or even deliberately choose not to see the nature of our collective predicament (whence comes the lion's share of our species' problems)- which is that we are all one, and that this statement is true in spite of all our ignorance and competing agendas. From the perspective of cosmic harmony, to harm another is the same as harming yourself- and by harming oneself, you deprive others of your potentially very good work. To silence others is to silence yourself, for in our interconnectedness the tables can always turn on a dime, and the shoe is perpetually capable of finding itself on the other foot. So many media icons- when they aren't promoting hatred and division- sell platitudes and slogans cooked up by focus groups and public relations advisors, messages designed to lull the fragmented masses to sleep and lead them in the paths of war, without changing anything of substance in the system, and without truly committing themselves to this aforementioned truth of our common destiny. Far too few of our so-called "thought leaders" authentically promote the message Brother West is preaching here, which is the same message that all great souls have preached since time immemorial, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, religious, political or scientific affiliations: namely, that we're all in this together, and failing to deeply integrate this basic truth leads every individual- and thereby their nation and world- to needlessly march unthinkingly off a precipice into untruthful conflict with their brothers and sisters, their elders and children, and in the end leads humanity into an adversarial relationship with the whole web of life on this incredibly beautiful and delicate and sacred planet. Divided we shall undoubtedly fall, but together we can stand higher than we have ever stood before. But we have to be willing to put aside our personal prejudices, and reach out and listen to those we perceive as different from us. No one person or group understands the totality of our problems. Only through good-faith communication can we collectively as a species find our way forward into the best possible future. It's not about being a Yes-man or abandoning your principles, whatever they may be. It's about recognizing our common humanity, and working from there to transcend our differences and thereby working towards the common good: a better future for us all. Honest and respectful communication is the cornerstone of progress and peace.

"Let the phones be smart; you got to be wise." Wow.

“In the academy, everybody wants to be smart. That’s nothing but idolatry. Nothing but idolatry. Let the phones be smart, you’ve got to be wise.” God, I love this man.

←Another atheist who loves Cornel West. I agree with what he says about love and justice, and well pretty much every thing else I've heard him say.

I'm agnostic with inclination on Christianity as a religious language to communicate with God. A portion of this is due to Dr. West, Dr.MLK, Dr. Cone, Dr. Aslan,Dr. Spong, Dr. Erhman. Whom with their knowledge, wisdom, and experience have collectively helped me to understand a most complicated subject of theology in a healthy, more beneficial way for myself, and others around me.

It's fine to ask questions. It helps move from a bad place to a better place.

To understand God we need to explore our innermost cosmology.. You are not the body... You are not the mind... You are the soul... Soul is the omnipresent, omnipotent...., The eternal God which exists in each one of us.... Idol worship is misleading.... Have love for your self... Explore....

Hebrews 11:38 ".....the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground"

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God on him. (kjv) II Corinthians 5:21

I believe in love and justice, I just believe it comes from us. All we have is each other. The hardest thing to do is to make THIS WORLD better. The next, is not in our grasp

You got me dead centre, Cornel - I have indeed taken part in the idolatry of Intelligence.

Teach Dr. West. Teach.

Wow this is what was in my mind towards most atheists but didnt know how to explain it. I am muslim and I love this guy. PS. I want hell if my prophets are not in the heaven that I thout is heaven.