Except that the skeptics/materialists abjectly refuse to acknowledge the bleak implications of their own philosophy. To a man (or woman). You simply NEVER see them discussing what living in such a spiritually dead and nihilistic universe would imply, would imply about their own personal lives among other things. The unexamined life...
I agree.
They tend to ignore the plight of many individuals, and seem to think meaning can be found in lives that are bound for a great deal of suffering or where lives appear to be arbitrarily cut short within the materialistic reality they virulently insist we all ought to believe is the gospel truth.
There is this complete disconnect with logic regarding how meaning does indeed depend for many people, on a sense of continuity, and of progress. But when progress is arbitrarily cut-off in a universe that only respects universal laws, rather than the individual, there obviously is no meaning for that victimized individual.
Then in addition, they somehow delude themselves into thinking a mechanical universe - where life itself somehow magically appeared via inert lifeless elements, combined purely by accident via a certain set of environmental controls that had no feeling or teleology - is sufficient basis for one to rationalize or feel life is meaningful.
Really what these Shermer brand of Neo-Atheists are up to is old philosophical word games. They have redefined "meaning" existentially - i.e. there is no actual meaning objectively within reality itself. The meaning comes from what we each give it, and that to them is all the meaning you need. Then they rely on a host of existential philosophical polemics that have been built up since Sartre, Kafka, etc. and other modern thinkers to argue their materialistic based existentialism.
So anyone daring to take these guys on, should be ready for a long and dreary excursion into existential argument ad nauseum. But in the end really - it is truly a nihilistic belief system that does indeed view consciousness as a temporary, soulless entity - soulless as in we only exist here and now for a brief moment - only to perish forever on physical death - because consciousness itself is a purely physical phenomena. And that such things as "love" - "hope" - "friendship" - even the desire for longevity and progress, are all kinds of false promises in the human condition - for nothing we love will last, including ourselves.
There is no hope, because there is no tomorrow. All that we are given is a brief moment of light - to wonder at it all, and then we are to be put away forever. And from that, we should be sufficiently content to find meaning - individual meaning.
It is to me, a small minded belittling kind of faith. The Neo-Atheists are like children, who go to the ice cream store, and think the only thing that is necessary for man to have meaning is an ice cream cone. It is shallow - about as intellectually shallow as materialism itself.
My Best,
Bertha