I am not a fan of Alonso, never was, but if that is what he really said then my estimate of him got up quite a few notches right now. Seems to me that he is quite a rational guy.
Hmm, this makes it very difficult for me to hate him, damn.
I never could stomac stupid comments from sportsmen (like Senna, for instance, as good as he was as a driver, but his opinions...well ) about how God helped them to achieve whatever they did. People are being murdered, raped, robed... every second around the world and some people have a nerve to think that their competitivness in some sport is Gods priority #1 over kids dying for hunger, women being raped etc....
Anyway, nice to see Alonso has his brains working properly.
Taken from a personal glimpse of the drivers as regular guys, I couldn't agree with you more; damn good to hear that us atheists are not freaks -- not that I ever felt that way. But still, I'm hardly a mainstream personality. All these "Christian Athletes" (or any other religion) really annoy the hell out of me for the very reasons you listed. It takes some chutzpa to believe that god/s are more interested in pulling for you that they are in fixing all the blatant injustices in this world. I mean, honestly other than the drivers themselves, the fans who follow them, and the bucketfuls of money involved in the overall scope of problems with this world, I would think that a sky-pixie would be least interested in being a fan of any particular driver as opposed to getting involved with the myriad if real problems we're faced with and not with the super-rich playing their games. Be it F1 or any other sport. Such as Nadal coming out out with similar views on an extended interview a few months back. Good on him as well. The more the better to fight ignorance. Plus I like the guts they shown in doing so, for even is secularism is rather mainstream in Europe, it's still not quite mainstream to manifest said beliefs; especially when appealing to a Global audience.
Refreshing to see rationality come to the forth without much (any?) witch-hunting going on. And yes, it does (and will) make a difference if we can finally start speaking up. Enough with the superstitious/mythological mind-set and all of the PC cr*p that surrounds it -- we are in the 21rst Century after all!
And sorry you have to start liking the guy. But there it is.;)
~Confirmed atheist in foxhole -- or in an OR to be exact. And hardly alone.
[edited to add content]
Edited by RedFury, 04 May 2010 - 03:34.