Posted on 05/04/2011 10:09:17 PM PDT by TheConservativeCitizen
“RELIGION SHOULD BE TREATED WITH RIDICULE, HATRED AND CONTEMPT”
Atheism, or “antitheism,” which was once considered taboo in America, has gone somewhat mainstream in today’s society. Books like Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great, Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, and Sam Harris’s The End of Faith were New York Times bestsellers. Faith-bashing films like Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous and Ricky Gervais’s The Invention of Lying have done reasonably well at the box office. The left never seems to miss an opportunity to point out the latest goofy statements or antics by groups purporting to speak or act in the name of Christianity, while being quick to (often angrily) point out that Islamic Extremists don’t represent Islam as a whole.
As is the case with the author’s brother-in-law, many of those who lack the courage to attack Christianity outright often look for examples of “Christian” silliness to hide behind. None of this surprises me, mind you.
My faith teaches me not to judge others; God will handle that. (Don’t misconstrue this to mean that I don’t criticize and “pass judgement” on the political beliefs of others, which I do with gusto.) However, there are two aspects of atheism that have always puzzled me: the need to ridicule, deride, or even fear Christians and their faith, and the anger and hatred that many atheists display; the Bill Mahers of the world.
Well-known atheist Christopher Hitchens, for example, says that religion “should be treated with ridicule, hatred, and contempt.” Hitchens is quick to point out of course that Christians themselves should not be treated this way; it’s Christianity, which is somewhat akin to supporting the troops but not war. (Although most anti-war folks I know don’t ridicule, deride or show disgust for the troops.)
“It is entirely appropriate to ridicule absurd ideas rather than to treat them as serious and give them respect. Only serious ideas based on reason and evidence are worthy of intellectual respect. The ideas that we critique and ridicule have historically led to or facilitated war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. They have enslaved millions, impeded medical and scientific research and are now draining vast sums of taxpayer dollars to propagate more of these ridiculous ideas. These ideas have resulted in untold amounts of violence, death, torture, and suffering as well as the profound intimidation and physical molestation of our young. Ridicule and even sneering condescension are about the mildest critical reactions that we can have for the enormity of the mind-boggling injustices perpetrated in their name. I can readily empathize with those of us who consider the behaviors prompted by these dogma to be illegal and criminal.”
Greg Epstein, “Humanist chaplain” at Harvard University and author of Good Without God: What a Million Nonreligious People Do Believe, has a different view of the role atheism and its believers should play in society. He has described the “New Atheists,” (Hitchens, Dawkins & Co.) as “atheist fundamentalists,” imparting a bit of mindlessness and hypocrisy to those who approach Christianity with ridicule and derision. Epstein believes that atheists have allowed themselves to become defined by what they don’t believe. “Humanists,” as he refers to atheists, would be better served by respectful coexistence with believers. Mutual acceptance of the beliefs and conviction of others –or the lack thereof — allows for common ground on issues of shared concern according to Epstein.
Epstein has hedged a bit lately in an apparent concession to the New Atheists: “What I’m more concerned about,” he says, “are religious people who’d be fine with ‘Humanism,’ and are interested in working as equals with me. We’re not here to erase you — we’re here to embrace you.”
************************************************************ Call me crazy, but when I attempt to conger up a list of influential atheists who embrace Christianity, I draw a blank. The Bill Mahers and Christopher Hitchenses of the world are much more vocal.
Probably for the same reasons Christians ridicule and put down atheists.
Insecurity.
Because they are trying to convince themselves that they are right and how best to do that than attack.
Heck, we have people on FR who call themselves Christians go to great lengths to ridicule other Christians.
Your average Atheist does not ridicule Christianity or any other religion because he really doesn't care.
The Attention Whores who happens to be Atheist criticizes Christianity because they want to sell books to those people that are fascinated by Attention Whores and Christianity is a safe target.
The Attention Whores who happens to be Atheist never criticizes Islam because they are afraid to die.
Why do atheist ridicule Christians?
I believe that, subconsciously, they fear they may be wrong, and would like confirmation in the here and now that they are right.
Ridicule can make some hide or change their beliefs.
I saw “the invention of lying” and while I’d have to watch it a least one more time to really form a serious opinion about it on first impression it did not strike me as anti-religious.
It has a ridiculous, if very clever concept - that there is a world in which nobody ever lies, and basically just blurts out the truth, no matter how hurtful. And it is true that the expression of religious belief (in life after death and the big man in the sky, iirc) is presented as ANOTHER lie told by our lying (but brilliant) protagonist. However, as with most of the lies told in this sort of bizarro world story, this makes people happy, it gives them comfort.
Now, right now I’m realizing I can’t really opine on this movie any futher without another viewing (although there is a sweet joke right at the end, so if you ever watch it don’t give up on it before the very end). But I didn’t see it as mean spirited about relgion at all, no more than it was mean spririted about people in general.
But, like I say, maybe I missed it and others might well see it differently.
OK, now I’m going to blah blah on for a moment...
I also never saw that song “what if God were one of us” as anti-relgious or anti-God either. In fact I saw it as rather religious, because didn’t Jesus become “one of us”?
And I always liked the line that poor, tired God was all alone, with “no one calling on the phone/except the Pope, maybe, from Rome”.
You see, to me this song was not only not anti-Religious, but it was actually pro-Catholic.
But I’ve seen it condemned, so maybe I missed the point, or perhaps these are just differences of opinion.
I know nothing about the group (or person) that did that song, so if I learned more about them (or him or her) perhaps that would change my view.
Anyway TCC, hope I didn’t take your thread too OT.
Oh ye of no faith.
One of the better arguments I heard from a friend was to a Mormon.
He was asked why he didn’t believe in “A” god, at least.
To which my friend replied “Well, if I believed there was a god I would then have to choose from the many gods. Which one would I choose?”
Funny and sad at the same time. You had to be there. My Mormon friend couldn’t answer the question and my atheist friend had just check mated him once again.
I almost spoke up but then we would be talking different doctrine and the conversation would get confusing.
Oh well.
I don’t believe in atheists.
Pascal’s wager...
That song never sat very well with me. I always thought of Jesus, who is God, as actually being one of us. He was tired, beaten beyond recognition for no crime He had committed, but as payment for every single sin we have committed in the past, present and into infinity. Then just as He had endured all the punishment, His Father turned His back on Him.
That song paints a picture of a god I have never seen. It is a picture of a fluffy cloud sort of god that has no clue as to what it is like to be human. The God I know was one of us. He knows exactly what it is like to be human and He paid for every human frailty we have with His life.
So yes, I find that song disturbing because it shows an ignorance of God. That there are so many people who identify with the song makes me aware that there are many people who have no idea about who the Living God is.
Because atheists serve at the pleasure of Satan, whether they know it, disbelieve it or deny it.
“Atheists never criticize Islam because they are afraid to die.” I don’t know if you would consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali an “Attention Whore”, but in her book Infidel she is most critical of Islam as an exMuslim who has lived in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. She and her colleague Theo Van Gogh produced a movie about Islam called Submission. He was assassinated, and she had to leave her post in the Dutch Parliament and flee to the US. The last I heard, she was working for and protected by a conservative think tank, I believe The Heritage Foundation.
Because they aren’t really atheist. They believe in and despise God and those that follow Him.
BTTT
I was wrong, she is with the American Enterprise Inst. Here is a link about her being hated by the left.
http://andrewmcintyre.org/2010/07/18/how-the-left-hate-ayaan-hirsi-ali/
Because they are evil.
And they want Islam to prevail.
you couldn't be more wrong. There are different groups of Atheist but by far the largest group is pro-statist such as Communism and Fascists.
The Statist atheist are the scariest of all group out there including the theocracy of Islam.
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